die_kluge said:
Synicism, your statements have merit, but I can't help but judge the book by its cover. I'm a d20 writer myself, and if I thought for one second that my work was going to exist within the confines of a book with a cover such as that, I'd pull my work immediately, and/or demand that the publisher put a different picture on it. In fact, the publisher I write for, gets my suggestions on what kind of cover I think the book should have, and I give them feedback on it. The very fact that AP puts whatever cover they feel appropriate, in my mind, speaks volumes for the kinds of quality and the kind of process that they have in place. I'll not support them in their endeavors.
So am I. As a matter of fact, I wrote for Avalanche because I had a friend in the company. I didn't appreciate the covers that were going on my stuff, but after while, I just stopped caring.
The APL guys are very knowledgeable about what they do. To be honest, in terms of the historical research that goes into their usual product, I was way out of my league.
As a freelancer, you know that when you write for a company, you write a work for hire. By and large, you don't keep the rights to your piece. And I doubt there is a single publisher who *won't* insist on that kind of a relationship, although I've seen many a contract that failed to take basic principles of copyright law into account.
But I digress. The company pays you to write a manuscript and when you're done, it belongs to them. Then they pay someone else to draw art for it.
The art is, frankly, secondary to the text. And that's the way it should be. I don't care what the pictures in a game book look like. I care about what the text says. If I judged books by their covers, I'd never have bought Seas of Blood, Beyond Monks: Art of the Fight, or Masters of Arms. And I've been very pleased with all of these.
At the same time, some books I snapped up because they looked cool on the cover frankly weren't worth the paper they are printed on. Sword and Fist and Deities and Demigods, anyone? Looked great. Should have bought those GURPS supplements I wanted instead. Darn my FLGS and its no returns policy.
Generally speaking, Avalanche puts out some good stuff if you want historical-type roleplaying. Their editor in chief is a phD in history.
You're not objecting to the quality of the book. Most of APL's books lately have been very high quality. Their bindings are solid, the paper is sturdy, and the ink doesn't run. You're objecting because you don't want to see a fantasy swordbunny on a book cover.
I agree that the cheesecake marketing angle isn't very mature. But neither is the kind of backlash Avalanche has been getting. In a freelancer-driven market like d20, consumers (that's us, folks) really need to do some homework before grabbing up the new shiny book on the shelf.
Would you rather have a good book with a lousy cover or a great-looking paperweight that you would never put anywhere near your gaming table?
