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Post by stonetoflesh on Sept 25, 2015 17:49:22 GMT -6
Leafing through my PHB at hand, some of the pieces are OK but as a whole the art feels bland and uninspiring. Not because it's necessarily more or less politically correct than I'd like, but most of it is just kind of boring. Talysman pretty well summed it up for me: Back on topic: what bothers me about a lot of D&D art, especially for later editions, is not how the characters and monsters are dressed or undressed, but how there's nothing really going on in the art. It's fantasy people or creatures sitting or standing around, or stiffly posed. The pictures don't tell a story about what just happened, or what might be about to happen. And no, a picture of a guy swinging a big-ass sword, or a monster shooting flames, does not count as something happening.
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Post by aldarron on Sept 29, 2015 8:27:45 GMT -6
I flipped through the books the other day at the local B&N, and I have to say that probably the biggest issue for me is that there is so much art. I want my rulebooks to be crisp and clean rulebooks, not like an art portfolio with words scattered on and around the pictures. You can have a nice book of artworks, or you can have a nice book of rules, but superimposing one on the other is neither attractive nor helpful in my opinion.
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Post by Malcadon on Sept 29, 2015 19:06:58 GMT -6
I flipped through the books the other day at the local B&N, and I have to say that probably the biggest issue for me is that there is so much art. I want my rulebooks to be crisp and clean rulebooks, not like an art portfolio with words scattered on and around the pictures. You can have a nice book of artworks, or you can have a nice book of rules, but superimposing one on the other is neither attractive nor helpful in my opinion. Unless its the Mordheim rulebook.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Sept 29, 2015 21:18:57 GMT -6
It's true, I think a lot of books totally overdo the art. RPG art should be there to deal with undesirable* white space, plus maybe one or two high-quality and highly-detailed full-page pieces. But at least 5E has moved away from the arty borders, even if they do still find it necessary to do textured backgrounds.
* White space by itself is not always undesirable.
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Post by geoffrey on Sept 30, 2015 8:47:07 GMT -6
I like RPG art that serves a distinct purpose. I thoroughly hate "adventurer posing for the camera" art. I know what an adventurer is, thank you very much. But what about some weirdo monster or magical thing? Now THAT would be well served by an illustration, perhaps with adventurers interacting with it. In other words, the art should assist and illustrate the text, not merely be tacky decorations splashed about.
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tog
Level 4 Theurgist
Detect Meal & What Kind
Posts: 148
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Post by tog on Jun 19, 2016 16:33:24 GMT -6
I was at the game store yesterday, and pulled the new Monster Manual down & took a look at the art, and was seriously like "MEH." I like bits of 5E rules (particularly Advantage!) but the MM art - I can't even see hating it; it just has no spirit to it. It's professional and well-done art, but it just doesn't inspire. I don't care for Lamentation of The Flame Princess, but the art there is not only well-done but evocative of the game's atmosphere.
LotFP art says to me "dark creepy fantasy", Dungeon Crawl Classics art says to me "gonzo craziness", 5E art says to me "generic fantasy art #3546".
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