PHB, MM, DMG covers

[RFisher]

The new logo is so amazing, I have no words to describe it.

When it comes right down to it, I completely agree.

(But I can't completely rule out that nothing could make it "a bit better".)

 

[Glyfair]

There is an Easter Egg on the WotC main page, but it's a random link.

 

[Darth Shoju]

Hmmmm...

[SBLock]Do you have to be logged in as something other than a guest? Because it is just taking me to a wallpaper page...[/SBLock]

 

[Glyfair]

Hmmmm...

[SBLock]Do you have to be logged in as something other than a guest? Because it is just taking me to a wallpaper page...[/SBLock]

Nope. Turns out it's a random page, not a standard link.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Better ones became available, so I've added them to the thumbnail list in my first post. The new ones are in a vertical strip of three, so look smaller in the thumbnail, but are better when actually viewed.

Cheers

I revise my earlier statement... the Tiefling's pose is almost as ridiculous as the girl's. Let me, the sissy wizard, throw my staff arm WAY back so that I can bare my paltry chest at the monsters as I cast lightning off at a 90 degree angle to my own line of sight....

Perhaps this is him "casting" Tasha's Hideous Laughter.

 

[Nifft]

I like 'em. Much better than the "fake book" look.

For some reason, I kinda like the "fake book" look, and would have liked it even more if the design were more abstract.

Huge fan of WAR's artwork, but I don't like art on the cover of my books. Oh well, it's not that bad.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Geron Raveneye]

The Player's Handbook should at least have FOUR adventurers on the cover. I mean, it's like a friggin' no-brainer. Even moreso with it being 4E.

There should be a friggin' adventuring party on the cover, not two poor, clueless berks looking like they think they're bad-arse and can handle the dungeon by themselves, with their awkward and more-flashy-than-effective combat gear. The warrior isn't even carrying a longbow on their back.

Four adventurers, the fighter, cleric, rogue, and wizard, doing battle with a red dragon, with lots of action apparently going on in the scene.....
in a cavern with stalactites and stalagmites being smashed and falling from the titanic clash of man and beast.....
a big honkin' mound of treasure in the background, and cave-tunnels leading out in various directions.....
three or four half-red-dragon lizardfolk trying to aid their draconic lord and master (and probably sire), maybe getting blasted by the party wizard or flanked by the cleric's summoned angels/archons/whatever and the party's rogue.....

I know this has been used on the cover of an adventure already, but it's the closest I came to find from my personal favorite, Lockwood...
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/dnd/02/forge_fury.jpg

Is missing a hoard, though...and some magic SFX for the elven wizard.

The Monster Manual should at least show a menagerie of critters on the cover, not one lone demon, screaming and charging forward like a shmuck ready to die, skull-tipped wand held out to the side like a useless trinket that's no good for blasting stupid adventurers to bits.

Maybe instead a mage's menagerie, inside an elaborate, gothic dungeon vault......
with said mage being an arcanaloth, a fey'ri, or better yet (and more iconically D&D) an illithid, pointing down towards the viewer (and the four adventurers at the bottom of the picture), magic sparking to life at its fingertips........
as some of its monstrous thralls advance on the adventurers......
orcs, goblins, minotaurs, fire elementals, drow assassins, griffons, dire bears, ogre magi, vrocks, ghasts, monstrous spiders, thri-kreen, a beholder, a young black dragon, a wyrmling green dragon, etc.......
and other, more benign creatures locked up in cages in the background, some hanging from the ceiling.....
gold dragon wyrmlings, young bronze dragons, gnomes, hound archons, pixies, grigs, etc......

For that one, I actually think this one here would be nice...
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/magazines/01/beholder.jpg
Or this..shows off nicely what happens when you underestimate a dragon.
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/01/dragonfire.jpg

The Dungeon Master's Guide might show two armies clashing, perhaps through a crystal ball with the faint reflection of someone (or something) observing the big conflict.....
an old blue dragon fighting a vicious battle with a silver dragon, claws and breath weapons flying back and forth, each hovering in the air over a battlefield, with other, smaller dragons clashing in the background.......
and beneath them, on the ground, battle two great armies of men and beasts, artillery and spells......
a monstrous, chaotic swarm of orcs, goblin worg-riders, black knights astride nightmares, hill giants launching boulders with their bare hands, trolls charging forward and goading the goblins onward, lizardfolk hurling javelins, ogres riding triceratopses, monstrous shamans and witches hurling fire and lightning at the army of the silver dragon, etc......
and a host of humanoid soldiers marching up beneath their draconic allies, some mounted knights charging in, a unit of pikemen ready to stop the enemy cavalry, elven arcane archers launching a storm of ensorcelled arrows, dwarven halberdiers rushing forward behind the knights, a cadre of elven warmages firing bolts of acid and flame at the opposing trolls, cloud giants retaliating against the enemy hill giants, scattered mages and priests atop shield guardians and hurling Ice Storms and Flame Strikes, a gaggle of gnomes clambering about siege engines that launch a hail of darts, grapeshot, and pots of alchemist's fire, a pack of halfling outriders on warponies trying to execute a flanking maneuver as others bombard the enemy flank with sling bullets, while a small squadron of pegasus-riding elven lancers fly over the halfling outriders for support......

A few suggestions...
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/dnd/01/dragonstrike.jpg
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/01/temeraire.jpg
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/03/memories_of_ice.jpg
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/03/barfight.jpg

And yes, I think Lockwood is one of the best modern D&D artists around. Your taste may vary.

 

[Alnag]

It is sure thing, that Lockwood would be cool. But he was in lead in designing 3e look (remember all the sketches), so if they want to make it different, they just started with something completely different. I hope he will appear at least later with some arts. Now we will be feeded Eberronish...

 

[Pbartender]

I know this has been used on the cover of an adventure already, but it's the closest I came to find from my personal favorite, Lockwood...
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/dnd/02/forge_fury.jpg

Is missing a hoard, though...and some magic SFX for the elven wizard.



For that one, I actually think this one here would be nice...
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/magazines/01/beholder.jpg
Or this..shows off nicely what happens when you underestimate a dragon.
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/01/dragonfire.jpg



A few suggestions...
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/dnd/01/dragonstrike.jpg
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/01/temeraire.jpg
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/03/memories_of_ice.jpg
http://www.toddlockwood.com/resources/images/galleries/new_art/03/barfight.jpg

And yes, I think Lockwood is one of the best modern D&D artists around. Your taste may vary.

You just killed his poor little website's bandwidth by linking those pictures here.

Toddlockwood.com, we barely knew ye...

 

[Klaus]

Y'know, the WAR cover to the first Dungeon issue that featured the Dungeon Iconics was pretty much "characters in the middle of nowhere", but it was better composed than the PHB cover.