Speaking of Angus McBride covers, this box set cover got me to buy the game.

I have said this before, but European (Spanish, German, Italian, and French) versions of games like HeroQuest, Chaosium's RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu, and Stormbringer/Elric/Hawkmoon have far more class.

They just seem to do a better job.








This one is the American version and is quite poor.

Judge Dredd a terrible game?
Oh come on it wasn't that bad. It has some innovative game mechanics that it stole from FASA and Car Wars. The only thing it lacked was playtesting, and homebrew solved that.

Better than D20

Jong, am I to assume that you call Universal Brotherhood best AND "worst" mainly because it is a massive spoiler?

RPGPundit

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;425241Tunnels & 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.

Originally a Dragon Magazine cover. I can't recall the issue number. Dragon Magazine has an amazing number of covers that were "done right" back in the early-to-mid 80s. For that matter, there were plenty of Dragon's covers that were "done right" throughout its entire run.

the Forgotten Realms box, yes. I remember seeing that pic in ads in Dragon Magazine and being totally won over.  Also the first three of the BECMI set. I liked the cover of the Expert box the most.



The game itself may have been terrible, but the Aria RPG had great covers, especially the Worlds book.

Quote from: RPGPundit;425453Jong, am I to assume that you call Universal Brotherhood best AND "worst" mainly because it is a massive spoiler?

RPGPundit

Yes. The volcano ad delivers the satire element magnificently and without actually spoiling the plot. Unfortunately, there's the little problem of that GIANT FREAKING MAN-BUG stealing the whole show. *facepalm*

[snip Clyde Caldwell's Dragon/Schwerter&Dämonen cover]

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;425461Originally a Dragon Magazine cover. I can't recall the issue number.

I know. That's probably where the Fantasy Production people saw it first, considering that they not only operated one of the oldest game stores in Germany, but that they were the driving force behind RPGs in Germany, having translated both Tunnels & Trolls (for their own company), and Dungeons & Dragons (originally for Knaur and Schmidt Spiele, but the rights went to a competitor), and created Das Schwarze Auge (for Knaur/Schmidt, as a replacement for the lost D&D deal).

But Schwerter & Dämonen was the first professionally published RPG in Germany, some weeks before D&D and DSA.
(Midgard, mentioned upthread, was the first German RPG, written and published semi-professionally, years before S&D.)

It's still a bit weird that DSA "won" the battle because their first covers belong clearly in the "done wrong" category, especially when compared to both S&D and D&D.

Quote from: Peregrin;424588One of my most favoritest covers ever.

Quote from: Tim;424609I lusted after Runequest III for months as a kid, based almost solely on this cover. It just seemed so serious and grown-up and real!

Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;424771Oh the ducks....


Actually this cover is one of my all time favorites. I think it was Stormbringer 4th edition, but it was also front of Drager & Dæmoner (Dragons & Demons), one of the first roleplaying games in Danish. I don't know if it was a translation of RuneQuest or Stormbringer, but it was awesome... and had ducks.  

Fuck yes. Also, Angus McBride for Godhood.

Oh, all these covers are Chaosium games. What a surprising development

Quote from: Lawbag;425360Judge Dredd a terrible game?
Oh come on it wasn't that bad. It has some innovative game mechanics that it stole from FASA and Car Wars. The only thing it lacked was playtesting, and homebrew solved that.

Better than D20

Love that "some innovative mechanics it stole from ..."  

It was a poor game but with excellent background. One of the strengths I guess with a game based on a comic lisense was that the artwork was uniformly great but give me access to the JD back catalogue and even I could furnish a book with good artwork.

I think Savage Worlds is a natural for a JD game. Their's Probably a Savaged Judge Dredd out there somewhere. I did my own Savaged Strontium Dogs  (http://www.jibbajibba.com/StrontiumDogs/STRONTIUM%20DOGS.pdf) and in effect the two are pretty inter-changeable.

Quote from: Aos;425267I have never read any Valérian, and it looks like very little has been translated in to English. I'll have to see if I can find a volume or two in Spanish; it looks awesome.

Too bad the translations don't cover many albums. It's prime scifi inspiration material. Laureline and Valerian are really close to my heart, even childhood role models for me.

QuoteYes. The volcano ad delivers the satire element magnificently and without actually spoiling the plot. Unfortunately, there's the little problem of that GIANT FREAKING MAN-BUG stealing the whole show. *facepalm*

Yeah, well, I do get that point. On the other hand, if it hadn't had the man-bug, I would probably never have picked up that book and made it pretty much the only Shadowrun game I ever ran in my life.

RPGPundit

Spot the theme









That's right sexy girls sell books. Though I must say I was pleased with this baby



Yes there is still a girl on it but she is dressed quite conservativly.

I have no control over the art of my books so its always a plesant surprise to see the covers.

Ian, don't take this the wrong way, but those covers in this thread, really?

I think it's really cool that your games are published, but the cover art seems a tad bland.They don't tell me a lot about the game inside and they hardly exudes plot ideas and atmosphere, to me at least.

Again, not a critique of you or the game(s), but I don't think your covers really get it (or get it wrong for that matter).

Quote from: Ian Warner;426097That's right sexy girls sell books.

Or indicate a serious fetish issue on the author's/publisher's part?
One cover is one thing. But a whole series of them? Now I start wondering, to be honest.