"Best / Worst Rulebook Cover?" Topic

Curious – best rulebook cover? Worst?

Best: ATZ 2nd Edition
Worst: ATZ 1st Edition (the original cover by He Who Shall Not Be Named)

I second that thosmoss!

The worst…..Extreme Panty Explosion. No matter how cool the artwork is going to be on it, the title alone is just going to destroy it.

For my money, worst: HOTT. Garish colors. A vanilla fantasy image that looks bad for no valid reason.

Best: AD&D Players Handbook (1st Ed.)

That wizard in white just invited you into that game. Perfect.

That Gygax game where they mis-spelled [on purpose] "Lejendary". Or those Disposable Heroes covers with the close ups of the bug-eyed figures.

Worst: DBA. Sorry if someone's five-year-old did it, it should never have gotten further than being affixed to the fridge with plastic, magnet-backed butterflies.

I'm sure there is more 'polished' artwork that is nonetheless poorly executed, but I'm sticking by my ranting guns.

Was it the WRG 6th Army lists that had the Late Roman mariobarbuli expert scoring XXCC? The only one to make me LOL so far.

Best: Guts 'N Glory

Granted, I am a tad bit biased, but hey, is this going to be an actual poll? If so, then I'll definitely vote.

Worst: Perhaps the Rules with no picture whatsoever on the cover.

'Snappy Nappy' – though I'm not sure if it is the best or worst. It is definitely … er … unique.

Best: Although I haven't played Warhammer in years, I've always really liked the cover of the first Empire army book. I even went so far as to make conversions of the central figures for my army.

Worst: Any of the "Song of" titles. I know there are many who really like the rules, but the covers keep me from cracking any open. Sorry.

Worst: Traveller20.

Worst: DBA
Best: Hmmmmm.

I agree with religon about HOTT.

Ah yes, T20, the space janitor and his dog. T&T blocked the image link, and I can't find a large scan on the web.

So you just have to imagine a space janitor and his dog.

Worst: Any of the "Song of" titles. I know there are many who really like the rules, but the covers keep me from cracking any open. Sorry.

Yup. They look like coloring books.

One of my favorites was the cover of House Rules Napoleonics.
It was the portrait of Boney on the white horse.

Hey, I kind of like the "Song of" covers.

The covers, along with the interior art, is supposed to look "old school", like Basic D&D & AD&D module covers, etc.

But the 1st ed. Monster Manual was pretty bad.

Worst: Armies of Arcana (the older edition with blobby figures that looked like a two year old did them). Of course, I thought the rules matched the "quality" of that cover, so kudos to the truth in advertising! 8)=

Best: I'm partial to the artist who does the FoW books, even though I don't play the game any more.

Although I liked Piquet, the cover always reminded me of Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove" album.

Best: Empire 3
Superbly executed concept. Nce box. Pity about the actual rules :P

Agree on HOTT for the worst.

But the 1st ed. Monster Manual was pretty bad.

That's because it was done by Sutherland, whose art in that era looked like it was done in a High School notebook, with all the quality that implies. Thing about it, it's not like they lacked decent artists (Trampier and Otus immediately come to mind), but nonetheless the MM, PHB & DMG were crammed full of mediocre Sutherland art.

To be fair, I believe he did get better…

Damon.

My current favorite cover art is the box art on Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
Worst would be something by Larry Elmore (Ok, he's not a bad painter/illustrator but his stuff turns me right off… whereas truly bad art can sometimes still have charms that draw me in).

Best- Classical Hack: Alex & his Companions crossing the Granicus, I believe. Beautiful illustration. Can anyone supply info on how to get a print of this painting?

Worst- ATZ 1st ed.

Hoser

I concur with regards to Elmore – his stuff is all the same. *yawn*

Best: Anima Tactics

If we consider boardgames, I'd nominate Florida by Overlord Games as one of the worst. I nearly fell over when I saw it on a shelf at my FLGS.

link

DBA so bad it is good! Same for HOTT!

DBA so bad it is good!

Take a stroll through RPGNow and its affiliates, looking at covers.

Best – Original Traveller black and red books. Even carried on through the suppliments

Worst – HOTT hate the odd shapes and colours.

Best- Classical Hack: Alex & his Companions crossing the Granicus, I believe. Beautiful illustration. Can anyone supply info on how to get a print of this painting?

The work is by author and illustrator Peter Connolly: link

You might try contacting the publisher of Classical Hack for ideas on how to obtain a copy of the illustration.

Cheers,
Scott

AA's 'Darkstorme' is nasty:

link

Looks like a mugging rather than a skirmish, and once you have noticed the orc's flaccid, strapped-down moobs, they cannot be unseen.

Always liked 'Heavy Metal' guru Richard Corben's painting for 1st ed. 'Beyond the Supernatural':

picture

My current favorite cover art is the box art on Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
Worst would be something by Larry Elmore (Ok, he's not a bad painter/illustrator but his stuff turns me right off… whereas truly bad art can sometimes still have charms that draw me in).

Looking at a lot of Elmores stuff from the 80's-mid 90's, you can see his deep down infatuation with Stevie Nicks in his artwork….

I have to give props to some of the BattleTech covers from the late 80's too. I'll change my "Best" to the BattleDroids/BattleTech cover. HOTT is still the "Worst."

Best – FGU's Citadel

Worst – Probably Miniature Wargame's book of Pub wargmaes – great little games in a terrible wrapper !

Best: VOR: The Maelstrom slipcover with a detail from the box art showing the Growlers charging the Union troops.

Worst: Latest Edition of STARGUARD. Which is a shame becaise I have always loved the game itself.