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<blockquote data-quote="Iron_Chef" data-source="post: 750125" data-attributes="member: 4530">It's Todd Morasch that did the art so many people (including myself) object to. It's just garish, cartoony and amateur-looking in most cases. It's hard to screw up drawing inanimate objects, but Morasch manages to do so repeatedly when it comes to armor (less so with weapons), making them look as unappealing as possible (see the Grotesque armor for just one example). His monsters and people are generally even worse. To make matters worse, whatever he's using to ink his work is really cheap looking too.Artwork aside, Arms &amp; Armor is probably Bastion's best book in terms of overall utility for players and DMs alike. Spells &amp; Magic is primarily only useful if you want different styles of magic, as most of the book is made up of alt.spellcasters like the dragon mage, rune caster and mirror mage, etc. There is very little in the way of new spells and items. Probably the best feature is the item class called Strange Brew, some kind of alt.potion (memory's a little foggy here). Alchemy &amp; Herbalists and Pale Designs appeal to so narrow a market that I don't see them being all that useful, especially when a decent selection of such items is available elsewhere. Ink &amp; Quill, their free online book, was well written but of such limited appeal that there was no point in publishing a print version, I'd wager. Minions and Villains were both really unimaginative and a poor value compared to books that give you more bang for your buck, like Creature Collection II, Tome of Horrors, Secrets &amp; Societies, The Wise and the Wicked, etc. Heck, even Enemies &amp; Allies was a better investment than Villains.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Iron_Chef, post: 750125, member: 4530"] It's Todd Morasch that did the art so many people (including myself) object to. It's just garish, cartoony and amateur-looking in most cases. It's hard to screw up drawing inanimate objects, but Morasch manages to do so repeatedly when it comes to armor (less so with weapons), making them look as unappealing as possible (see the Grotesque armor for just one example). His monsters and people are generally even worse. To make matters worse, whatever he's using to ink his work is really cheap looking too. Artwork aside, Arms & Armor is probably Bastion's best book in terms of overall utility for players and DMs alike. Spells & Magic is primarily only useful if you want different styles of magic, as most of the book is made up of alt.spellcasters like the dragon mage, rune caster and mirror mage, etc. There is very little in the way of new spells and items. Probably the best feature is the item class called Strange Brew, some kind of alt.potion (memory's a little foggy here). Alchemy & Herbalists and Pale Designs appeal to so narrow a market that I don't see them being all that useful, especially when a decent selection of such items is available elsewhere. Ink & Quill, their free online book, was well written but of such limited appeal that there was no point in publishing a print version, I'd wager. Minions and Villains were both really unimaginative and a poor value compared to books that give you more bang for your buck, like Creature Collection II, Tome of Horrors, Secrets & Societies, The Wise and the Wicked, etc. Heck, even Enemies & Allies was a better investment than Villains. [/QUOTE]

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