Monte on covers

[SSquirrel]

No offense to MEG Hal, but the Fall of Man cover doesn't appeal to me. It's not bad, but it reminds me a lot of the 2e/Elmore style that I just can't stand, and thus makes associations in my mind that make the product unappealing to me. That, and I already own Darwin's World, so I have all the post-apoc RPG goodness I need.

Woah. I've seen other people say things similar lately...like they have Champions and thus need no other superhero games. That strikes me as a bit off. Most every game system has SOME neat idea to lift or a nice way of making a certain mechanic work well. I've always been a big fan of Aberrant and thought it did super hero gaming very nicely. I bought 4 Color to Fantasy and found an awesome d20 supers system. I downloaded 4 others but didn't find one as good and the ideas didn't mesh quite as easily into D&D or into 4C2F to steal. I still haven't utilized said purchase, but its given me many cool ideas.

Just a thought, but I wonder if this isn't another reason for the choice of safe, but bland, covers vs. artwork. While a great cover can certainly help sell a book, artwork is very subjective and, in general, people are less likely to get excited (positively or negatively) about the faux-book covers. Of course, playing it safe has other costs - for example...

You may be onto something on the "art is subjective" angle. part of Monte's bitch as well is the fact that all the others are just photoshopped whereas the core books were actual sculptures commissioned and high quality photos taken. I know every company can't afford that, but when I can look at 5 different gaming company products and see how completely interchangeable it all is on the outside, it DOES cause me to wonder about the contents. When I flip thru some of that stuff it also just doesn't look good on the inside. Bad art, unbalanced or sloppy mechanics, dire need of proper spellchecking, etc.

I love the art for Fall of Man. It evokes just the kind of campaign I've been wanting to run for months now - so just based on the cover, I'll at least take a look at the book. If it had been faux-book, I'd probably have no idea what the book was about and never even notice it.

What like Shadowrun? *grin* I mean there's a skeletal Space Needle in the background, we have at least human elves and dwarves present (cigars and shotguns even), MEG Hal said it's set in 2050....sounds totally like Shadowrun with the serial numbers filed off. This is not a bad thing as I enjoy Shadowrun and I've been waiting for someone to do a decent conversion of it to d20 (previous ones I've found sucked big and bad), so cool enough. I'll have to hop over to MEG's site and check out more info on the world, but I agree I'm interested in the game too. Maybe blend super powers as well to really weird it all out.

Hagen

 

[trancejeremy]

Heh - yeah, I also thought the Fall of Man cover really looked Shadowrun-ish. Which I think is a good thing, having formerly been a big Shadowrun fan. (Though presumably from the title of the game, the world is actually ended, rather than just changed)

 

[trancejeremy]

I think most of the faux-book cover books tend to be splatbooks of some sort.

For instance, the Quintessential series from Mongoose, the Path of ______ series from FFG, the one word series from AEG, and to a certain extent, the critter books and Relics & Rituals books from S&S.

OTOH, some companies seem to use it for all their books. Fast Forward, for instance. And Bastion Press kind of goes for that look - it's weird - they have a painting in the middle half of the cover, then the top and bottom 1/4s look sort of book-ish. (At least their non-Oathbound stuff). And hmmmm, FFG's Dragonstar stuff also has something of a bookish look.

So, I dunno. I guess it's more widespread than I thought.

Anyway, I do miss the full-page pictures, but OTOH, in some cases, I don't like the cover art. For instance, that Brom guy. Most of his paintings seem to be of some sort of corpse, with flat colored background. That doesn't do much for me. Nor do the playboy bunny Avalanche Press covers.

Covers I do really like: Lords of the Night: Vampires (you see each sort of Vampire in the book menacing someone), Way of the Witch from Citizen Games (which has an attractive but non-sleazy woman on it), and Atlas Games' Seven Cities (which is a real neat landscape, water color, I think).

I think if you have a really nice painting, you get the best effect by making it take as much of the cover of as possible.

 

[buzz]

Woah. I've seen other people say things similar lately...like they have Champions and thus need no other superhero games. That strikes me as a bit off.

I own plenty of supers RPGs.

Really, I was just turned off by the cover. When I want post-apoc, I don't really want "D&D meets Gamma World"; I want Gamma World (which, AFAIC, is Darwin's World; I want nothing to do with S&SS's version).

Like any good cover, it conveyed a message, and the message to me was "Hey, Buzz, this is something you're probably not going to be interested in."

Not to mention, I'll be lucky if I can get my group to play DW; I'm not looking for yet another post-apoc RPG that I may never play...

 

[beta-ray]

I guess I am with the "don't really care all that much about covers" camp. I would think the "average" person (if there was one), would prefer a pretty cover... As for me, as long as it is within "taste", subjective I know, I can live with it.

I can live with the faux covers ok... Yeah it is a tongue sticker if poorly done but livable. If it is an "embarassing" illustration though, that's a bit tougher. For me, it's mainly an issue of content... but I understand how people could buy due to a cover.

 

[d4]

You thought the cover of Malhavoc's Arcana Unearthed
looked like GURPS Basic? I don't see any resemblance.

there was a previous cover for the GURPS Basic Set back in the early 90s that had "people floating in bubbles on a black background" somewhat similar to the AU cover.

 

[Mista Collins]

Don't judge a book by its cover!

 

[Ottergame]

there was a previous cover for the GURPS Basic Set back in the early 90s that had "people floating in bubbles on a black background" somewhat similar to the AU cover.

Yep, I got that book. It really does look a ton like the AU cover.

 

[Monte At Home]

i don't agree with that, and i don't really think Monte does either.

I don't. Which is why I refered to it [valuing covers over text] as hyperbole and to those who said it as people who couldn't understand the contents of the book in the first place.


Edit: fixed a typo.

 

[SSquirrel]

Borrowed from MEG's site...I guess it isn't so much Shadowrun..altho Asphalt Samurai is pretty close to Street Samurai *grin*

" Earth is a foul place now….
The planet lies in ruins and man hold precariously to his survival. Strange creatures out of fantasy have invaded from another world and brought with them conflict and magic. The many gods of that other world have come with these elves, dwarves, ogres, goblins and humans and they have awakened the one god of earth who has been quiet for so long. Magic and technology are at odds with one another, seeming to be sentient beings battling for supremacy. Mingling with nuclear and toxic waste magic has warped and created things no one could imagine…and then there are the nightmares. Creatures spawned by our own dreams to bring us ruin and make earth a living hell.
Welcome to the world of Fall of Man: A Post-apocalyptic, gothic horror, fantasy earth setting.
Features:
A complete game within itself using the Open Gaming License by Wizard’s of the Coast and compatible with the 3.5 and modern edition rules.
All new core classes like the Asphalt Samurai and the Gifted.
All new races using racial levels allowing characters to become more in tune with their own kind.
Familiar races of fantasy abound though they all have a twist.
A new “gritty” combat system that is deadly, fast, and fun.
Level progression through 30th level with core classes, racial levels, advanced classes, and master classes.
New magic system that blends with standard magic in 3.5 but adds many new layers such as toxic and nuclear effected spells.
Plus a new barter and trade system, Primal conflict rules between magic and tech, divine and magic, etc.
More feats, skills, spells, and items."


It still sounds like a very cool game that I look forward to seeing on shelves.

Hagen