New cover art for the Revised PHB and DMG?

[Kai Lord]

I thought the cartoons were very well drawn..."Well, it either throws the ariious Bigby's Hand spells, or its a +2 backscratcher."

And the Elf and Dwarf on the picture of all the races near the start were very nicely done, IMO. That is my everlasting Image of how elves look.

My apologies to the elves in your campaign. I take it all your half-orcs look like John Lithgow then? That group shot of the races in the 1E PHB isn't exactly the most inspired piece of art....

 

[Welverin]

How could no one have mentioned Arnie Swekel yet? He is the god of 3e art.

 

[Scarogoth]

Another Librarian at heart, I guess

I like the tome covers too. It would be nice to see some new interior art though.

Just to add my voice to the "I like the ancient tome-like covers" look. I have a tonne of gaming books that all have encounter-type pictures on the front -- but the PH, DMG, and MM -- they're like the ... um, pauses so as not to offend anyone ... "Urtext holy book of some religions", and I enjoy the "seriousness" imparted by that look -- the sacrosanct nature those covers imply. However, to echo Sir Osis, some new art inside would be appreciated -- just don't be tempted to lose the parchment look and line art. That's all part of the experience for me, too.

 

[drs]

My vote would go for the plain look of the 2ed class books. The new look is too Dungeons and Dragons the Movie (Bad IMO), and 1ed art never did look to inspiring. Then again maybe I'm just a boring fuddy .

No qualms with the interior though ('cept the obvious, elves and halfings).

 

[Scarogoth]

Re: AAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Not that I'm NOT agreeing with you... I, too, think that there's something a little wonky with the Arcane Archer, but my brain permanently tries to adapt it by making out that she's looking down... it's perfectly possible to get the ears on the same level as the forehead -- she just needs to look DOWN.

Unfortunately, she's quite clearly holding the bow UP! So, usually in cases like this, my brain explodes, which is always a bit messy, I find...

 

[Corinth]

And yet the armor on the goblins in Moria is covered in spikey bits, and their shield are very strangely shaped. Then there's Sauron's get-up in the prologue...

Their armor and shields aid them in climbing through Moria. Sauron's armor is animated Gothic plate in its design, which is damn effective and functional. You can have plausible designs that look cool, y'know. The stuff in the PHB isn't plausible; the users would die if they relied upon it.

 

[Alzrius]

Their armor and shields aid them in climbing through Moria.

I have a hard time believing that. When you're climbing you're pulling your own weight up, along with anything else on you. Armor and shields are heavy by their very nature, since they have to stand up to powerful blows. Thus, putting spikes on armor and shields to act as climbing aids is doomed to failure. The spikes would bend or snap into uselessness with all the weight being put on them if they acted as anchors, and would then be twisted pieces of metal with no function except being dead weight. Armor and shields just are not made for being climbing tools.

Sauron's armor is animated Gothic plate in its design, which is damn effective and functional.

Except for that helmet, which was apparently made to completely and utterly encompass the entire head, with tiny slits for eyes, and virtually no way to breath. He must have lived in that thing, because I can't see how he ever got it off. Of course, since Sauron was apparently eight feet tall and a hulking brute, he's probably tougher than your average grey-bearded wizard anyway.

You can have plausible designs that look cool, y'know. The stuff in the PHB isn't plausible; the users would die if they relied upon it.

I agree with the former statement, but disagree with the latter. I don't want to hijack the thread more than it has been already though. I just want to point out that this is fantasy gaming, and some unorthodox designs can get in, just like they did in Lord of the Rings. Heck, D&D probably is being more true to LotR than ever, since its "wacky" armor and shield designs mesh pretty well with what we see in the first LotR movie. +2 Shield of Throwing-And-Pinning-Enemy's-Neck-To-A-Tree anyone?

 

[Numion]

Their armor and shields aid them in climbing through Moria. Sauron's armor is animated Gothic plate in its design, which is damn effective and functional. You can have plausible designs that look cool, y'know. The stuff in the PHB isn't plausible; the users would die if they relied upon it.

I don't find saurons outfit very plausible.. it's got very large spikes, even. Gladiators in ancient rome used to fight in all kinds of funky armors, so I've already got the imagery for it. Not too hard to conceive. (They didn't always get to choose the outfit, but still.)

 

[Melan]

Exactly. And gladiator armor was mostly for show - about as relevant to battle as a clown's outfit is to life in the realms of Suburbia.

I dunno. I don't want the art to be historically accurate. But I want it to follow the feel of the great works of fantasy - the Conan stories*, LotR, Leiber's Nehwon stories and so forth. The spiky designs with the freak iconics just doesn't scream "fantasy" to me - it screams "WOW! We are trendy and daring!". It isn't as bad as the 2e art, and as I said, some of it is plain brilliant (Wayne Reynolds, Arnie Swekel, some Lockwood&Sam Wood), but just about all iconics are... Inappropriate. Just compare the 3e racial lineup with the one in the 1e PHB. Sure, the old picture isn't much better technically, but it is a lot more evocative to me. And no, it isn't nostalgia - I started my D&D career with 2e.
Okay, maybe Regdar, Jozan and Tordek could pass as actual D&D adventurers if they got some decent armor.


*And, lest I forget, Conan usually wore chain armor, but the artists usually depict him bare-chested...

 

[Zander]

You say they should stick to fantasy, but by your description, what you really want is historically accurate armor. Which is it you really want?

How about a gauntlet with five dagger-like blades attached to it? Or a main-gauche with a main blade flanked by two spring-loaded smaller blades? Pure fantasy, right? Wrong! Both of these actually existed. What I'm advocating is fantasy without the punkish fashion statements. If that means greater historical accuracy, that's fine but it doesn't have to be. The line between fantasy and reality is much finer than most people realise. I'm quite happy to have double headed weapons. What I have a problem with is a character with a buckle fetish, armour composed of little pieces and patches, clothing with oversized stitching and goggles. Since when are goggles "high fantasy", "low fantasy" or anything other than modern or sci-fi? If someone had shown me some of the 3E illustrations before the books were released and told me they were for Mad Max RPG, I would have believed them.

If it's historical accuracy, I'd have to submit that D&D is the wrong game for you. D&D has always been about high fantasy, and the look they have, regardless of the label you put on it, is definately high fantasy, not quasi-scifi. This artwork, like I said, really jives perfectly with the genre that D&D places itself in. A more realistic look would be more appropriate for a lower magic, "low-fantasy" genre, and would therefore be incompatible with D&D.

I wouldn't describe the LotR as "low fantasy". D&D is very much in the LotR vein whatever Col Pladoh might say.