Quote from: saskganesh;1020947AD&D PHB. It's the only cover I've seen homages to in other media, most particularly comics

This has got to be it.  It's the only one I've seen homages to outside of RPGs.  It's also by far the most common one to see homages to in other RPGs.  It is the RPG of the fad-era mega-popularity of RPGs too.

Several of the others mentioned here are more relevant to my own personal experience, but can't be considered as the most iconic in RPGs.

Within the hobby, the 1e cover. Outside the hobby, the Mentzer red box cover. It's the only one I recognized when I started playing, as it was in a lot of comic books in the back half of the 1980s.

Quote from: Xavier Onassiss;1021047This thing is all over the place....

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Agree with this one.

Another vote for AD&D 1e PHB.

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Quote from: David Johansen;1020918No, the most iconic is the Elmore dragon on the red box.  It's meh at best as far as favorite goes.  I just threw favorite into the mix because I think there are far, far better covers.  They just aren't as recognizable or well know.

Pretty much this.  Whatever is your favourite, sadly, it ain't half as iconic as this one:

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1021233Pretty much this.  Whatever is your favourite, sadly, it ain't half as iconic as this one:

The Moldvay cover would be more iconic as it was the entry D&D during the massive fad era when the largest group was familiar with the game.  Neither is really up with the 1e PHB though.....not really close for recognizable outside the hobby or referenced other places.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1021233Pretty much this.  Whatever is your favourite, sadly, it ain't half as iconic as this one:

:unless of course, you mean iconic as being an icon.

Then it's the AD&D 1e PHB, the only RPG cover to be recognized, copied and parodied both within the RPG hobby and without.

Over and done.

Quote from: Xavier Onassiss;1021047[ATTACH=CONFIG]2160[/ATTACH]

Yeah this image is what comes to mind as the Iconic RPG image.

Quote from: CRKrueger;1021277:unless of course, you mean iconic as being an icon.

Then it's the AD&D 1e PHB, the only RPG cover to be recognized, copied and parodied both within the RPG hobby and without.

Over and done.

Honestly, I've actually never seen that cover in my 30 or so years of gaming.  Most of the gamers I know or met haven't either (There IS a signifigant number who have, it's like something close to 55/45.)  But you could be right, I honestly don't know.

It might even be a neck and neck race between both covers.

For me it is the Elmore red box.

Quote from: CRKrueger;1021277:unless of course, you mean iconic as being an icon.

Then it's the AD&D 1e PHB, the only RPG cover to be recognized, copied and parodied both within the RPG hobby and without.

Over and done.

The only other cover I've seen homage to is the Moldvay Basic cover.  Since it was the game readily available during the massive explosion of popularity of D&D in the early 80s I assume it's more recognizable by the population at large than the later Menzter cover, despite Mentzer being available longer.......and possibly/probably outselling Moldvay?  I've only seen a couple of those.  

Christopher Brady, I think you're confusing "this was my first game that I have nostalgic association with" with "this is an icon of the game at it's peak that's the most universally recognized cover by the population at large".  They aren't the same thing, not remotely.  I started with OD&D, but readily accept that it's "art" is unfamiliar to most people.  I played a hell of a lot of RQ in the day and consider its cover to be an icon - it'd be like the cover you refer to - well known by anyone into RPGs, but not so much outside.  Same with Traveller......which is massively cool.

From a bit different perspective on art and what iconic could mean (a bit twisted, but not too far), the 1e PHB also wins on being the absolute best representation of what the game was about.  That scene of a massive party of PC's and retainers cleaning a room, ready the map, stealing everything not nailed down, moving corpses, etc. really told you what the game inside did.  It and the 1 DMG (mostly the back on it unfortunately with the City of Brass) have such wonderful art on the covers telling you what D&D was all about.  They're extremely evocative.  The less said about the 1e MM cover the better tough - seen lots of homage, or is that mockery, for it too actually!

Quote from: RMS;1021345... Christopher Brady, I think you're confusing "this was my first game that I have nostalgic association with" with "this is an icon of the game at it's peak that's the most universally recognized cover by the population at large".  They aren't the same thing, not remotely.  I started with OD&D, but readily accept that it's "art" is unfamiliar to most people.  I played a hell of a lot of RQ in the day and consider its cover to be an icon - it'd be like the cover you refer to - well known by anyone into RPGs, but not so much outside.  Same with Traveller......which is massively cool.

It seems to me there's no one "right" way to slice up the population to be able to clearly make "most people" statements.

Also, "iconic" could be about head counts or it could be about style, or some mix of both, and is also subjective and sliceable in different ways. There are certainly roleplayers who aren't familiar with the art from earlier editions of D&D. I regularly saw the old covers when that's what there were, and had to double-check which AD&D art was from which book - I get the DMG and PHB art mixed up, and never paid them much attention when browsing other people's copies of those books, as they both looked like demons and things which were really unlikely to appear in my games. To me they symbolize other people playing AD&D, and me giving it a look and just being repeatedly put off by everything I saw. They're icons of the advanced version of that game that seemed weird to me.

QuoteFrom a bit different perspective on art and what iconic could mean (a bit twisted, but not too far), the 1e PHB also wins on being the absolute best representation of what the game was about.  That scene of a massive party of PC's and retainers cleaning a room, ready the map, stealing everything not nailed down, moving corpses, etc. really told you what the game inside did.  It and the 1 DMG (mostly the back on it unfortunately with the City of Brass) have such wonderful art on the covers telling you what D&D was all about.  They're extremely evocative.  The less said about the 1e MM cover the better tough - seen lots of homage, or is that mockery, for it too actually!

The art angle for the meaning of "iconic" seems much more sensible to me than how much of "the population" recognizes it. Why would that be "twisted".

I see your point that the AD&D PHB seems like a great representation of the stereotypical D&D party doing various things to a dungeon room, which is nice and also why I too thought it's a great icon for AD&D.

To me the TFT covers I picked above for icons of TFT similarly show what the main gameplay of those games are about. Melee is about combat, and the risk of death at any time from tactical situations, as the woman behind the victor with a spear shows (if she's a foe, she may be about to kill him with a charge from the rear). Wizard is about balanced combat between wizards and fighters, nicely illustrated even if there is no "rips your face off into a bubble" spell, unless that's the Death spell. The other covers also nicely illustrate one of the main campaign experiences, again combat with tactical aspects of arranging fighters to screen against encircling more numerous foes, protecting the wizard from getting engaged, and using terrain to gain a defensive advantage. The TFT orcs seem to be given pause by the party's deployment. That's a great visual of what a typical TFT combat might be like.

For a variety of reasons... not all of them good ones, not the least of which was the era.

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Quote from: RMS;1021345The only other cover I've seen homage to is the Moldvay Basic cover.  Since it was the game readily available during the massive explosion of popularity of D&D in the early 80s I assume it's more recognizable by the population at large than the later Menzter cover, despite Mentzer being available longer.......and possibly/probably outselling Moldvay?  I've only seen a couple of those.  

Christopher Brady, I think you're confusing "this was my first game that I have nostalgic association with" with "this is an icon of the game at it's peak that's the most universally recognized cover by the population at large".  They aren't the same thing, not remotely.  I started with OD&D, but readily accept that it's "art" is unfamiliar to most people.  I played a hell of a lot of RQ in the day and consider its cover to be an icon - it'd be like the cover you refer to - well known by anyone into RPGs, but not so much outside.  Same with Traveller......which is massively cool.

From a bit different perspective on art and what iconic could mean (a bit twisted, but not too far), the 1e PHB also wins on being the absolute best representation of what the game was about.  That scene of a massive party of PC's and retainers cleaning a room, ready the map, stealing everything not nailed down, moving corpses, etc. really told you what the game inside did.  It and the 1 DMG (mostly the back on it unfortunately with the City of Brass) have such wonderful art on the covers telling you what D&D was all about.  They're extremely evocative.  The less said about the 1e MM cover the better tough - seen lots of homage, or is that mockery, for it too actually!

Here's the thing, though.  Which cover 'style' has TSR/WoTC reused multiple times?  I've seen more variations on the red box design than anything resembling the 1e PHB.

Also, I take exception to either cover showing what D&D is about.  The Fighter vs. Dragon is awesome, but completely misleading, D&D has always been a team game, and it doesn't matter how high a level a single character, even a fighter with max results on Con and Hit Die rolls is lunch meat against a dragon.  And the PHB image is accurately realistic as to what happens in the game, you have the Thief/Rogue player off doing his own thing, the casters focusing on something else and the Fighter kibbitzing about, bored usually, but it's not very representative about what D&D should BE.  A game in which a party of adventurers cooperate against challenges and foes.

I personally think (despite the fact that I actually kinda really like both covers myself) that they're terrible.