D&D 5E (2024) Here's The Covers of BOTH of November's Forgotten Realms Books

We've known for some time that in November, WotC will be releasing not one but two Forgotten Realms books--one aimed at players, the other at Dungeon Masters. Thanks to Game Informer, we now have a look at the covers of Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerun. The article showcases more art, and is well worth checking out--and for those who want more, the print magazine has a full feature previewing the books.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I love how these threads bring us all together to share in our negativity and complaining . . . . fandom is fun sometimes . . .

I would often agree with that sentiment for discussion in general (despite being overall negative on the current edition myself), but this is a thread about a) an official product release and b) WotC's attempt at marketing to get people excited for said release. Official products invite commentary both positive an negative by nature, and no one's obligated to go along with a corporation's attempt at getting us excited.

This preview clearly is meant to appeal to fans of specific NPCs in the setting. But for people who care less about the NPCs and more about the setting, it's not going to do much. And then too, art is going to draw both fans and detractors in any scenario. Once the book is out, as Remathilis indicated, we can judge the books for more than their covers. But for now, the covers are all we have, so that's what's getting judged.

If someone truly wants to have an upbeat, negativity free discussion, the forum does have a mechanism to allow that.

 

[guachi]

I think the covers are poor but what's worse is the trade dress. It's downright terrible. I have no attachment to any of the characters on the cover but they look too cartoony.

They're posing not actually involved in any kind of heroic action scene that draws me in. It's like they are all about to break into some kind of D&D on Ice skating scene at Disneyland and not about to face dangerous peril.

 

[mamba]

Sure they are different. But the second picture has a greater range blur than the first. The first figure is crisp, but the caster at the back is blurred.

agreed

The new book has only two levels - crisp for the characters (and the rocks they are standing on) and blurred for the background.

to me these characters are about as blurred as the mage from SCAG, no one is even remotely crisp

 

[Paul Farquhar]

to me these characters are about as blurred as the mage from SCAG, no one is even remotely crisp

Weird, I don’t see it. Not that I would see it as a problem, but I’m just not seeing what you are seeing. Some kind of blue dress optical illusion?

Edit: I think the SCAG illustration was built on a pencil drawing, therefore there are dark lines defining the facial features of the foreground character. That may be what you are seeing. The new illustration was all done on computer (by a human, not an AI though). Ergo the faces have smooth colour shading.

 

[Zardnaar]

SCAGs not great. Better than this though.

 

[Jahydin]

Ooof...

I think they'd be better off picking something out from the DALL-E 3 thread.

 

[Corinnguard]

This preview clearly is meant to appeal to fans of specific NPCs in the setting.

For me, the cover for the new FR Player's Guide would have been more appealing if it had starred that White Dragonborn from BG3.

 

[GothmogIV]

Dark, brooding, threatening. This is how the Realms were portrayed when I started playing in them back in the 80s. Now it's the twee Muppet show.

 

[pukunui]

View attachment 412398
Dark, brooding, threatening. This is how the Realms were portrayed when I started playing in them back in the 80s. Now it's the twee Muppet show.

I really miss that old FR logo.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

View attachment 412398
Dark, brooding, threatening. This is how the Realms were portrayed when I started playing in them back in the 80s. Now it's the twee Muppet show.

Back in the '80s you also had halflings getting high off of cheese. The forgotten realms were never serious.