Quote from: jibbajibba;424798The key to a good cover is can it sell a Shit game.

So this cover wins



Game was dire but I was at the UK Games Day where it was released and I have never seen a game sell faster.

I detect fail.

Quote from: danbuter;424633

Fuck yes.

RPGPundit

Quote from: winkingbishop;424816I like True20 the game just fine as well.  My comment was about the cover alone.  It is suck...and minty.

The trade dress for it, in general, is just crap.

I can't get into True20. It's just waaayyy too bland for me.

What was the thinking behind True20, I wonder.  

Did Kenson just go, "hey, I created this great set of alternative D20 rules but I want to present it in the blandest and ugliest way possible"?

Maybe he just has an unhealthy fixation with the uglier tints of green?

Or perhaps he felt bad for the artists who weren't good enough to even do work for GURPS?  

I suppose we'll never know...

Jgants,

 How much influence does any RPG book author have over what the artwork is or which artist gets assigned to it?


- Ed C.

Quote from: Benoist;424897I can't get into True20. It's just waaayyy too bland for me.

For a time, it was my system of choice, but eventually got annoyed/bored with the wound table, which  kind of sucked for me, because, although I think hit point systems work well for supers, I don't like them for most other genres. My eventual solution was to create a hybrid system, that uses both.

Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;424771

Every cover for Stormbringer has been great, IMO, but this one is the best (although 5th ed. comes close).

My personal favourites (in addition to the above Stormbringer cover):

1. The Otus covers for the Basic and Expert D&D rules.

2. Dave Trampier's PHB (1e AD&D) cover.

3. Pretty much any cover illustrated by Angus McBride (MERP and Rolemaster).  These are pretty good:

Quote from: Grymbok;424709I like that - who's the artist?

It's called "The Caves of Chaos" by Michael Komarck.  It's from the Player's Handbook II for D&D 3.5.  Overall, I think his artwork does a good job of capturing an "in media res", which I think is important for game art.  In fact the reason why I like the Dark Conspiracy cover better than the Star Frontiers cover, even though both have the same distinctive Elmore look, is that the Dark Conspiracy cover depicts an "in media res" situation while the characters on the Star Frontiers cover look posed (unless you want to assume the woman is in shock after getting shot down on her way to the mall).

Angus McBride got it right every single time.
Also, these:
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Yeah, I'll chime in with those praising Angus McBride. I don't think you can find an example of him getting it wrong.

Simple, but great:




Pure '80s:






A personal favourite from SR3:




Finally, the best and worst Shadowrun cover:

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;424649

Quote from: winkingbishop;424626Quite fond of this one for the wrong reasons - AD&D Unearthed Arcana:

That's a good call. As a general rule, I really dislike Easley's color artwork, but UA is a fantastic cover.

Yep. I like it so much that I made it the centerpiece of my 5-panel DM screen.





Ok, covers done right. (Brace yourself, you asked for it...)

Dungeoneering games:

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set

Red signal color, Conan the Dragon Slayer, glowing sword, treasure, all in a box - perfect storm for a mass market game of its day. Also, in the mid-80s the slick Elmore style was state of the art (no pun intended).

Swords & Wizardry Core Rules

The perfect homage to two icons - the red idol cover and the cartoony style of Erol Otus. Sending all the right messages to the intended target customers. (Other than the new cover of the Complete Edition...)

Tunnels & Trolls (German Edition)

Again, an adventure situation, this time more about exploration, a (stealthy) dragon, sword, treasure, plus a mysterious sorceress; again, all in a box. It only lacked the mass market distribution.


General fantasy:

Midgard:

When James Maliszewski asked "What cover encapsulates your vision of D&D in a single image?" I took the liberty of interpreting "D&D" like most non-gamers do (synonymous with the whole hobby), and thought of that image and situation.
Probably my most favorite RPG cover ever.

Rolemaster Spell Law:

"Sneaking about an evil warlock's castle, using a cloak of invisibility? I want to be that roguish wizard! (Well, wait, not in that situation... I could do better than him...)" Any cover leading to that line of thought does something right.
The graphic style is a bit simple (for a cover illustration) but it was very evocative of the game's subject matter.

Rêve de Dragon:

The French original to Rêve: The Dream Ouroboros (praised by boulet above) came in a very sturdy slipcase including three softcover booklets and a 4-panel screen (which repeated the georgeous wraparound slipcase artwork by Florence Magnin). The booklets had matte, chamois-colored covers with a small line illustration in red ink, plus spot varnish - very stylish.
The GM book showed a pseudo-medieval tavern scene which mirrors the act of what the players do during the game. Of all RPGs I've ever seen, this is the one that put the most thought into what game elements to illustrate, and how. And it was profusely illustrated throughout, by just one artist: Rolland Barthélémy.

Oniros:

About one year after the slipcase edition came a stripped-down introductory version of Rêve de Dragon, in one softcover book. Here we have a situation similar to the one on the German Midgard book.

Literary worlds:

MERP (German Edition):

Here the task is simple - just show iconic scenes and/or characters from the source.
(This particular McBride cover seems a bit dated by today's standards, but it was very effective in its days.)

Agone:

Normally I don't like collage-style covers but this one is just pulling the eyes in with its overabundance of detail.

Stormbringer (German Edition):

That famous Achilleos poster image. On a boxed set. (Sales-wise only one other image would have been stronger/better: the Rodney Matthews cover that the book publisher used for the omnibus paperback edition of the novels.)


Modern day fantasy/SF:

MEGAIII (Casus Belli Special Edition):

This one screams multi-dimensional, time-travelling adventure. It's the closest thing to a Valérian RPG (Valérian being one of the main sources that inspired the Luc Besson film The Fifth Element). Dirt-cheap, published as a magazine.
(The cover was done by a famous comic book artist, Oliver Vatine.)

Nephilim:

Variations of the VTM design are looking soo old today, but back then this was very mysterious, clearly one of the games that I wanted to buy and love for the cover alone.

Koyake Yuuyake:

Probably the most charming RPG ever written, in a My Neighbor Totoro kind of way: Japanese nature spirits help people in need, without being seen. This cover captures the mood perfectly, hinting at the playfulness of the child-like "faerie" creatures in a rather tranquil moment.