Tired of Core Covers?

[Geoff Watson]

So is anyone else tired of seeing D20 companies immitate the covers of the Core books? It was a neat idea for the first few companies, but it's starting to get a little, I don't know, passe? Just my own opinion of course. I don't expect to see companies currently doing it to stop but I'm hoping that new companies don't jump on that bandwagon.

It's annoying. The ones who write 'Core Rulebook' on them in a lame attempt to trick people into thinking they are core rulebooks are the worst though.

Geoff.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Not at all. In fact I think more companies should do this. Then I would not get turned off by covers from certain companies whose products I would not want to have on my shelf (aka Avalanche).

So is anyone else tired of seeing D20 companies immitate the covers of the Core books? It was a neat idea for the first few companies, but it's starting to get a little, I don't know, passe? Just my own opinion of course. I don't expect to see companies currently doing it to stop but I'm hoping that new companies don't jump on that bandwagon.

 

[ascendance]

I'm disappointed. I thought the guy who started this thread was just going to plug his new line of vinyl/leather/pleather/fun fur/whatever covers for the core rules.

 

[Nikchick]

I have to admit that I was tired of the "faux tome" thing back in the early 90s. I mean, c'mon, I was part of a gang of college-age kids who wanted to do that idea back when WW was working on the third edition of Ars Magica. WotC did a good enough job of it (far superior to the afforementioned edition of Ars Magica!) and some of the other folks (Fantasy Flight in particular comes to mind) have done very nice versions as well... I just thought the whole treatment was a bit, well, early-90s for my taste.

On the other hand, I thought the design of Oriental Adventures was fantastic, and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book was also very very pretty in its "simple tome" style. I really like the non-D&D-tome cover treatments, and covers like the Dune game or the Darkside Sourcebook for Star Wars; much, much, much preferred over the "Core book" style.

Nicole

 

[RangerWickett]

So, peeking closely at the cover to PhB, I would say that the original artist used oil paint to make the image of the leather bound with clamps and shackles book. It was then tweaked using something like photoshop or frontpage to give maximization of contrast of both color and lights and darks. I presume the font itself was rendered by a professional calligrapher.

Actually, at GenCon 2000 they had the actual covers of the books in the art gallery. I looked most closely at the Monster Manual, and took a photo of it (quite against the rules, in fact). The covers were actual physical items, sculpted and painted, or perhaps constructed from various items. I don't recall too closely. I do think that the scales on the Monster Manual were wood with paint, whereas the DM's Guide was actual blue leather with a . . . wood or plastic . . . lock. I remember asking if WotC would be willing to sell versions of the core books with actual, thick covers, instead of just photo-scans of the original covers. They did look pretty cool, and I'm pretty sure there was little digital manipulation aside from adding in text and probably adjusting the contrast and brightness. Nicely done stuff.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'm disappointed. I thought the guy who started this thread was just going to plug his new line of vinyl/leather/pleather/fun fur/whatever covers for the core rules.

Kidding aside, I wouldn't mind if somebody would be brave enough to market such thing like Chessex did with Dragonskin cover.

But unlike Dragonskin I prefer an adjustable cover (usually sold with school yearbooks) that can handle the various thickness of the books, whether it's the 200-page format of the Player's Handbook to the 340-page format of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Sourcebook.

 

[Walter_J]

Actually, at GenCon 2000 they had the actual covers of the books in the art gallery. I looked most closely at the Monster Manual, and took a photo of it (quite against the rules, in fact). The covers were actual physical items, sculpted and painted, or perhaps constructed from various items. I don't recall too closely. I do think that the scales on the Monster Manual were wood with paint, whereas the DM's Guide was actual blue leather with a . . . wood or plastic . . . lock. I remember asking if WotC would be willing to sell versions of the core books with actual, thick covers, instead of just photo-scans of the original covers. They did look pretty cool, and I'm pretty sure there was little digital manipulation aside from adding in text and probably adjusting the contrast and brightness. Nicely done stuff.

I do believe I read something a WAYS back on the wizards website about the book covers being constructed items (for lack of a better term). I went back and did a little searching, but couldn't find it. Which is typical. Three months from now, I'll stumble across it

Anyway, I'm pretty sure your close if not right on the money.

Walter

 

[am181d]

Here's the URL for the article on Wizard's website about how the 3E core rulebook covers were built:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/3E_covers_feature.asp