Worst Old School Art?

Christopher Brady · June 20, 2017, 02:02:27 PM

Quote from: Barghest;970039I liked it well enough; I could never think of a reason that people in Sigil wouldn't dress that way, after all. It fits the Jaded Dungeoneer approach well enough.

I agree.

Quote from: Barghest;970039...up to the point that wondering how the hell Hennet kept track of all those buckles took me right out of the fantasy mindset I was aiming for, and dumped me into "No, wait, how the fuck is that supposed to work anyway?"

MAGIC! I think Prestidigitation could actually do all the buckling needed... Yeah, I'm overthinking it.

Barghest · June 20, 2017, 05:56:23 PM

Quote from: Christopher Brady;970173MAGIC! I think Prestidigitation could actually do all the buckling needed... Yeah, I'm overthinking it.

I always imagined the morning routine among the adventurers: the Wizard studies his spellbook and memorizes his spells, the Cleric fervently prays for her spells, and the Sorcerer...spends forty-five minutes fastening all his buckles.

Eric Diaz · June 23, 2017, 01:09:57 PM

I like a lot of old school art, and Russ Nicholson is probably my favorite, maybe because FF books. OD&D books have bad art IMO, but who can blame them at this point.

For me the worse art is 2e revised version. They already had better stuff to work with and they choose to go with this. I get actually annoyed by looking at it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1090[/ATTACH]

EDIT: it has something to do with the colors, I think. Everything looks like it was colored by crayons or pencils, and boring as hell. I can't explain exactly, but the picture above should suffice. I used to have a version of 2e that was all blue-ish inside, but I can't find that art anywhere nowadays, I would appreciate seeing a few pieces or a link if somebody has one.

Voros · June 24, 2017, 12:52:55 AM

That does look terrible. I really like a lot of the original 2e PHB and DMG art although it may not be cool to admit it.

RPGPundit · June 25, 2017, 03:10:43 PM

Quote from: Eric Diaz;970951I like a lot of old school art, and Russ Nicholson is probably my favorite, maybe because FF books. OD&D books have bad art IMO, but who can blame them at this point.

For me the worse art is 2e revised version. They already had better stuff to work with and they choose to go with this. I get actually annoyed by looking at it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1090[/ATTACH]

EDIT: it has something to do with the colors, I think. Everything looks like it was colored by crayons or pencils, and boring as hell. I can't explain exactly, but the picture above should suffice. I used to have a version of 2e that was all blue-ish inside, but I can't find that art anywhere nowadays, I would appreciate seeing a few pieces or a link if somebody has one.

Jesus that is stunningly awful. It's like they were really trying to find the least appealing images possible.

Dumarest · June 25, 2017, 03:15:25 PM

I was always perfectly happy with black-and-white art and frankly found the full-page color art in 2nd edition to be a waste of space. Although I did like this piece:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1098[/ATTACH]

Somehow it put me in the mind of Harryhausen Sinbad movies, which is always a good thing.

But I thought 2nd edition AD&D was not considered old school?

Voros · June 25, 2017, 03:43:18 PM

Quote from: Dumarest;971458But I thought 2nd edition AD&D was not considered old school?

Much disputed in the Church of the OSR.

crkrueger · June 25, 2017, 03:48:39 PM

Quote from: Voros;971467Church of the OSR.

Voros · June 25, 2017, 05:25:35 PM

I'll repeat myself from another thread:

This factionalism over minor variations in rules is reminscent of the various splinter denominations of the Protestant Reformation. Except extra silly. Is desecending AC the new Trinity?

crkrueger · June 25, 2017, 05:35:51 PM

Quote from: Voros;971495I'll repeat myself from another thread:

This factionalism over minor variations in rules is reminscent of the various splinter denominations of the Protestant Reformation. Except extra silly. Is desecending AC the new Trinity?

What's not really all that silly is you being a geek who continually tries to jab geeks who annoy you by pretending they have some metaphorical relationship to real world groups and conflicts responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.

Voros · June 25, 2017, 05:41:53 PM

I am a geek but I don't make excuses for geeks.

As for the metaphorical relationship to those responsible for death of thousands, I assume you mean the OSR Taliban?? Not sure that I ever used the term, just defended the idea that there are assholes out there who take the variations in the rules of D&D far too seriously. I compare them to the Church, the Pope and Protestant splinters for humour and irony. It is bathos to mock their earnestness about something so insignificant.

crkrueger · June 25, 2017, 05:51:59 PM

Quote from: Voros;971501I am a geek but I don't make excuses for geeks.

As for the metaphorical relationship to those responsible for death of thousands, I assume you mean the OSR Taliban?? Not sure that I ever used the term, just defended the idea that there are assholes out there who take the variations in the rules of D&D far too seriously. I compare them to the Church, the Pope and Protestant splinters for humour and irony. It is bathos to mock their earnestness about something so insignificant.

Which brings us back to your "I supposedly don't care about this enough to comment like you do, but I DO care enough about it to be annoyed by what you say and thus I'll instead pretend I'm above the fray by mocking your level of interest." schtick you've had going here since day one.

Voros · June 25, 2017, 05:54:23 PM

So you don't think earnestness about games of pretend requires the occasional poke in the nose to remind everyone that it is just a game?

crkrueger · June 25, 2017, 06:25:15 PM

Quote from: Voros;971507So you don't think earnestness about games of pretend requires the occasional poke in the nose to remind everyone that it is just a game?

Occasional...I do not think that term means what you think it means. You're a little closer to raison d'etre.

Also, honestly, 99.99% of SRSBNS talk is always someone propping themselves up at someone else's expense.

Unless you're some professional comedian, there is no Court Jester who shines a comic eye to better the individual or someone who really "Keeds because they love". There's only people who are pissed at what someone else said and want to come up with a way to make themselves seem better than that person.

Voros · June 26, 2017, 01:29:23 AM

Hmm...that's an oddly defensive idea of humour. I would say that humour and irony can be used to maintain a sense of perspective about oneself and others. I realize some proclaim irony dead due to 9/11 or 4chan 'ironically' racist trolls but I still think a healthy sense of irony is needed to make it through the day sane.

Perhaps the internet brand of humour and supposed irony is more often the toxic brand you are discussing. But posters here like Spinachat, Anon and Nexus and others are often at their best when approaching a subject with humour so I can't completely buy your argument.