D&D 5E (2014) Yawning Portal Art works comments.

[jasper]

Please no comments about the maps.
MEEPO HAS THE MUMPS! Page 17. When I first saw the pic that is what I thought.

 

[Prakriti]

The Sunless Citadel art is some of the best I've seen. The image of Calcryx is just beautiful, and it does a great job of illustrating what the characters are seeing: the broken chain, the absurd mounted heads, and Calcryx herself. Same with Belak and Yusdrayl. The only thing I'm unsure about is why Meepo is pictured in a somewhat threatening pose. He looks like he's about to garrote someone with that leash.

Overall, I like that the art emphasizes NPCs, encounters, and dramatic moments in the adventures. Some of the older adventures seemed to use art as decoration, and as such, it had far less practical value. "This is somewhere in the Underdark. See, there are mushrooms." or "Here's a hodgepodge of different elements found throughout the campaign." But this is stuff that you can show to the players and say, "This is exactly what you're seeing right now."

From that standpoint, the art in Yawning Portal gets a 5/5. It's high-quality and practical.

 

[jasper]

I did like Calcryx pic.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Having grown up playing those old 1e modules, I definitely have nostalgia tied with the art. In fact, even putting that aside and looking at the art now, it does a great job conveying the feel of those adventures. And yeah, I was disappointed how much of the great art from ToH was omitted in this book.

That being said, the art is very good in this book. Lots of really good pieces that stand on their own.

 

[aco175]

I was looking at the picture of the drow with the tentacle whip in Against the Giants. Great art, but I still do not like the octopus tentacles. I would rather see something else like snakes from the Salvatore books. I did not read it so if it is specific to the story I can go with it, but if it is the way all drow scourges/whips look than I'm just "meh" about it.

 

[Prakriti]

I was looking at the picture of the drow with the tentacle whip in Against the Giants. Great art, but I still do not like the octopus tentacles. I would rather see something else like snakes from the Salvatore books. I did not read it so if it is specific to the story I can go with it, but if it is the way all drow scourges/whips look than I'm just "meh" about it.

That's a tentacle rod (a magic item from the DMG), not a scourge whip.

 

[jasper]

Page 59 great dragon horde art,
page 89 the gibbering mouther umm meth.
Page 100 White plume scene. What are the women fighting about? Nice scene