Love the color art thread, so I wanted to seed this one...
 
In modern RPG settings, how would you feel about photography not traditional art?

What I've seen of photography in gaming products always ends up looking like a bunch of gamer dorks... and maybe a couple of 'hawt' girls they've hired... trying to look tough but failing.
Doing it right would probably cost as much as getting decent illustrations.

I personally wouldn't want it.  I expect it would look too posed and fake simply because it would be. Whereas a drawing has the illusion of reality. At least for me.

Quote from: rway218;828030Love the color art thread, so I wanted to seed this one...
 
In modern RPG settings, how would you feel about photography not traditional art?

Even seen Cyberpunk v3? Awful doesn't even begin to describe.

We use photographs for some of the characters, both PCs and NPCs. We started for Call of Cthulhu. We also use photos from period films and TV shows for characters in our Honor+Intrigue campaign.

We don't exclusively use photos though. Some characters are drawings others are from period paintings. Whenever possible I use an actual painting for real life NPCs.

For game rules...probably not.

Couple of LARP books use photos instead of art. CyberWorld: Dark Age was the first I saw, then soon after got Cthulhu LIVE. Both look pretty good.

Its been tried in CCGs too to varying degrees of success. The Star Wars and Star Trek CCGs come to mind. There was also a martial arts CCG that was all photography.

Even Lost Worlds fighting books got in on the act. You can now pit Lou Zocchi vs Micheal Stackpole. (Zocchi: Magician with Dice Bag vs Meresin: Dwarf with Warhammer.)

Flying Frog has a series of board games that use live art. Last Night on Earth, Fortune and Glory, Touch of Evil.

The advertisements for Immortal I got used live art. But the game itself apparently did not?

Indiana Jones RPG used (badly) stills from the movie. Didnt one of the Star Wars RPGs use stills from the movies?

Probably more out there I have not bumped into yet.

Quote from: Omega;828056Probably more out there I have not bumped into yet.

Unhallowed Metropolis had a mix of well-done illustrations and less-well-done photography that reminded me of Goth Night at the coffeehouse.

Photos in a modern setting RPG could work, but I think it would be better if it;s touched up and changed somewhat, rather than just a direct photo.

Quote from: danskmacabre;828069Photos in a modern setting RPG could work, but I think it would be better if it;s touched up and changed somewhat, rather than just a direct photo.

That is more along with what I'm thinking.  Distance photos (telephoto) grainy, b&w.  They would have to be taken as people acted out a scene, not knowing when it is taken, or seeing the angle.

Quote from: rway218;828030Love the color art thread, so I wanted to seed this one...
 
In modern RPG settings, how would you feel about photography not traditional art?

Stills from films/TV shows work. Beautiful landscape photos work, as do photos of space.


Photos of LARPers do not.

In principle, I guess it could work well for print products.

In practice (A), even if it could be done well, I don't think I've ever seen it actually done well.

In practice (B), I use PDFs pretty much exclusively.  Photos tend to be more complex than drawn artwork - lots of color gradients, details which an artist wouldn't bother to draw, etc. - and I assume this would make them slower to render.  I don't like PDFs which are slow to render.

One of my goals while a publisher was to do an RPG that was done with photos instead of art. A Touch of Evil and the other games in the series show that it can be done fairly well.



But without competent costuming and photography its going to not look as good.

Quote from: Omega;828108But without competent costuming and photography its going to not look as good.

Those are nicely done... I'd bet they weren't cheap though, and I suspect cheap is what motivates a lot of previous attempts at using photos in RPGs.

Quote from: Omega;828108One of my goals while a publisher was to do an RPG that was done with photos instead of art. A Touch of Evil and the other games in the series show that it can be done fairly well.

OK, yes, I have now seen it done well on at least one occasion.  

Quote from: Simlasa;828117Those are nicely done... I'd bet they weren't cheap though, and I suspect cheap is what motivates a lot of previous attempts at using photos in RPGs.

Art always comes at a cost, I don't understand why some people think photos are cheap.

My newest project is being put together with stock art.  That wasn't cheap, just ready made.