Dark Sun Cover Poll

[Henrix]

In the 4e preview book about worlds and monsters and stuff they talked about how they were going to show more pictures of the fantastic worlds, and not just adventurers.

And then the campaign book shows just a couple of adventurers close up?
That's a very interesting way of introducing a setting.

 

[Klaus]

Agreed.

What frustrates me more is that Wayne Reynolds CAN do better. He does it for Pathfinder a lot.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Wow, looks like this thread should have been a petition.


Silverblade, I really like your Dark Sun pieces! Is it ok for you if I use them for our upcoming Dark Sun campaign?

Sure, be my guest, that's what I love to hear!
I make Dark Sun and Spelljamer art as I *adore* those settings and the visuals they inspire in my "Evil DM" (tm) brain
And also for all these years I've been trying to encourage a renaissance of them, by inspiring folk with art...my cunning plan has worked!

So I love when folk use my piccies in their games and to inspire more Dark Sun and Spelljammer fun !

 

[dangerous jack]

Voted for something different - I think the old cover suits a creature catalog. But the new cover drained away some of my anticipation for dark sun (although I still plan on buying it). If it has to be 2 adventurers, why couldn't it be a more evocative piece (DMG2 springs to mind).

 

[Anthraxus]

I also voted "something else", as the old image does fit the creature catalog well. I'd just like to see a better image- Brom would be cool, or just a re-try by Reynolds...

 

[Sir Robilar]

the new cover drained away some of my anticipation for dark sun (although I still plan on buying it).

That's how I feel about it. With the other cover it would have been an instant-buy for me. Now I will pay more attention to what's inside.

The new cover looks a little flat, as if the two had been asked to pose for a photograph. And I agree, WR can do much better.

Didn't they change the original cover for the Player's Handbook because there was a Tiefling on it and some country complained? Maybe this could work again. I mean, the image is somewhat discriminating against, uuuh... bald people, isn't it?

 

[SSquirrel]

It's Dark Sun, so I'm buying all the books anyway really. I'm very glad the old artwork wasn't ditched or just relegated to a partial 2 page bit inside, but I would have loved to see it remain on the CS. It is on one of the covers tho, so I should be ok.

I don't think the new art is summed up as 2 adventurerers in a desert, b/c those are some pretty non-standard pieces of armor gear from a quick glance. Certainly fits what we might expect to see in Dark Sun. 2 people on all these covers is less interesting, but how do we sum up the world best? a view from a hilltop w/ the desert around, big red sun ion the sky, Tyr below...a very Mos Eisley kinda moment really. That is something I have in my head anyway.

 

[Jhaelen]

The old one was Wayne Reynolds trying to be Brom... I mean, its not Brom, but its nice that they tried.

The new one... they didn't even tried. It's the Wayne Reynolds style that I have come to dislike since 3E

This.
I always thought, W.R.'s covers were an adequate choice for the Eberron material. But for Dark Sun? Sorry, doesn't work for me, at all.

This is the first thing I've seen that I don't like about the 4E Dark Sun setting. In earlier editions of D&D they had 'main artists' whose job was to establish a certain style for a setting. Darksun had Brom, Planescape had DiTerlizzi, etc. I want the uniqueness back!

 

[JeffB]

What frustrates me more is that Wayne Reynolds CAN do better. He does it for Pathfinder a lot.

It's so funny how we all see things differently- I am a big fan of WAR- his late 2E, 3E, Eberron, and 4E work (in general), but I absolutely (edit- Vehemently Dislike) the style he is doing in Pathfinder. I browsed through the PF book a few weeks back at a Game store, and I thought to myself "His D&D work is soooo much better"

 

[Ssadral]

Yeah I don't really like the chosen cover, but there is some time before the books release and plenty of time to come up with another cover.