Who likes the new cover?

[Chuk]

It seems kind of inappropriate to me. It looks kind of neat, but it almost seems more super-heroish. Not trying to slam the actual quality of the art, which is excellent, but more the composition and selection of it.

I think I like the 4th edition one better.

[Killer Shrike]

Looks great to me. High Fantasy is superheroish, which is one of the reasons the HERO System is so good at depicting it.

It will also help sell the book because its active. When you look at the old FH cover, its very static. With this cover the action leaps off the page and is in your face with all the exciting and fun possibilities of the HERO System.

Personally, I think its very fitting. :)

[JohnTaber]

STORN DID IT! HE ROCKS!

Nuf said. :)

[Polaris]

I really liked the cover. I do, however, mix in an almost "superhero" feel into my fantasy games, tho. I liked the color mixes and of course the drawing. It also kind of reminds me of an Everquest feel (that is NOT meant as an insult... I also like EQ, and I am NOT saying that it was inspired by EQ or anything... just that it has kind of a "heroic fantasy" feel to it). Finally, I liked it because I think it commands attention on the shelf. My FLGS has a TON of RPG books. They do place Hero in a rather favorable location in the store (they know that Hero sells well). However, anything that can draw the eyes of customers to the book is a good thing.

Polaris

[Tempuswolf]

I like 4th Ed cover much better, subtle and evocative. I concur that the 5th Ed cover comes off more as a superhero comic book splash page than a fantasy book cover.

[MarkusDark]

First off, Storn's art is great, don't get me wrong about that.

But I agree that the cover seems a bit off. The triangular slope of the heroes seems to lead your eye to nothingness, and the blue heroine blasting a lightening bolt from her spear seems out of place. Almost the rest of the book is in earth tones and this color really stands out as a distraction. I think someone in dark green and just readying the spear would have worked better. The back page does seem to have that "large group of Super Villians" feel to it that I have seen in so many other covers.

Still, I couldn't have done a job anywhere near that. And it is always easy to be an armchair art critic. But that won't stop me from buying a copy - or my friend from buying 5 :)

[Rob_Knotts]

I liked the gritty feel of old cover (spearman vs an orc/ogre on a snowy mountainside), but I also think the new "superheroic" cover seems appropriate to the modern fantasy gaming market. Look at other fantasy games like D&D or Exalted, fantasy gaming nowadays is already leaning heavily toward the superheroic. By the time ICE's Fantasy Hero came out, I'd had a lot of experience in the more subdued fantasy gaming found in systems like GURPS, so I found the old cover quite appealing. Compared to it's modern peers, however, I find the new superheroic Fantasy Hero cover just as a appealing.

[Old Man]

Erm, does anyone have a link to the art online, or do I have to go to a major con to see it?

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Old Man
Erm, does anyone have a link to the art online, or do I have to go to a major con to see it? There is a link on the Main New page.

[Old Man]

That's what I get for bookmarking directly to the forums.

The cover's pretty good, but I have to agree that the blue-clad spearperson does make it look more like Champions. I'l have to reserve my final opinion until I see the cover in person. The online image is just too small.

[Agent X]

It would be easy to argue that most fantasy art seems to suggest a very limited view of what can be done with fantasy. I like the cover, especially the giantess.

[Yamo]

I'm going to throw my lot in with the "too superhero/anime/video game/D&D 3E 'dungeonpunk' looking" crowd.

I would have preferred something a little more like the classic Elmore or Easley-style works that graced both earlier Fantasy HERO and D&D editions. Something detailed, beautiful, but fundamentally very traditional.

I just find the style used vaguely undignified in a fantasy context. Hard to put my finger on why.

Mr. Cook did an okay job, but I would have preferred that he back off on the crowding, over-the-top combative posing and S&M-style costuming.

Maybe I'm just getting old. :)

[Nato]

Originally posted by Yamo

Maybe I'm just getting old. :)


Maybe.

[Chris Goodwin]

I caught a sort of vague riff on the cover to first edition FH, showing a group of adventurers on the right in combat with a big dragon on the left. Dunno whether it was intended or not, but it's kinda cool.

[Lord Liaden]

I like the cover. I think it's very dynamic, with a clear sense of good vs. evil between the front and the back. The defenders at the gate look like the sort of "adventuring party" that's standard for the genre, although the giantess is a nicely atypical element. It's also nice to see a dwarf swinging a sword instead of an axe. ;)

I do find the armored female warrior in the front to be rather distracting, though. The combination of her prominent placement, light blue and white armor, and the lightning effects from her spear make her completely overshadow her allies visually. I think that if her colors could be muted she wouldn't stand out so much. That might also allay some of the concerns expressed about the cover being too "superheroic" - bright costumes invite such comparisons.

[Le Schtroumpf]

I don't remember the lady with the spear from the battle of Helms Deep.

[Al_Beddow]

Damm... lets say that the "strong but sexy female characters union" won out on this cover.

At first I didn't even see the male "spell caster", he just blended into the lower half of the female amazon/barbarian/warrior/whatever.

I don't know what "generic class" the chick in blue is supposed to be, but she certainly blocks out the guy standing behind her.


I will say that the art work looks great

[Old Man]

Originally posted by Le Schtroumpf
I don't remember the lady with the spear from the battle of Helms Deep.

But you do remember the eleven foot tall amazon giantess with the axe?

[Derek Hiemforth]

I don't think it looks "too superheroey." Instead, I suspect that some folks are perceiving it that way because it looks like Storn's art, and you're used to seeing superheroic art from Storn. :)

[Super Squirrel]

It didn't strike me as too superhero like. However, I can also see where people are coming from. Having said that, these people are wrong. :)

[Ndreare]

I personally love the art. I am to often stuck with people who have one narrow view of what fantasy gamming is and covers like this as well as all art, is were the flavor for a game originates. After that it is up to the game master to make it bigger and better, but the root is always in the art.

The cover has many aspects from fantasy in along with that little edge of magic/power saying these are people above and beyond.

I would not have asked for more. I could have though it would have been nice to have a fully holographic cover depicting the beginning and ending of the confrontation. But they probably wont be doing that till well after smell-ovision and tactile-ovision becomes a popular & common technolagy.

[Edsel]

I think the cover looks nice but I have to admit I prefer the art that was on the FH 4th edition cover.

[Lord Mhoram]

I love the new cover. The old one was nice, but simply put there was no magic of any sort on it. Any fantasy book should have a little bit of magic on it somewhere.

I didn't see any superhero "stuff" when I looked at the cover. The chick in blue to me screamed "Holy Warrior" and the blue shooting out of the spear is either magic weapon kind of stuff, or the power of her faith made manifest physically.

[Andrew_A]

I wasn't planning on getting FH until I saw Storn's cover.:D

As for the old cover... it was beautiful but very boring. At least to me. YMMV

[Daedalus]

I like this cover a lot. I think it is miles ahead of the old cover. But then again, looking a the same cover for decades every week can make it seem a bit stale. Can't wait to get my copy of FH5.

Daedalus

[AnotherSkip]

Originally posted by Old Man
But you do remember the eleven foot tall amazon giantess with the axe?

Isn't that 11ft tall amazon Giantess the one that took out Old Man and Le Schtroumpf in one blow?

I had to smuck her around a lot to put her down to size.....

[Enforcer84]

Love the cover from what I have seen.

[Le Schtroumpf]

Originally posted by Old Man
But you do remember the eleven foot tall amazon giantess with the axe?

The Campaign for Equal Heights had her replaced by Gimli the Dwarf. In truth all of the LOTR books are based on the second draft cranked out to avoid litigation.
And yes, she did have me in a tough spot until I tagged out to Eddie Smurphy - and that dude is RAW.

[Polaris]

Andrew,

Does that mean that you are going to get FH BECAUSE of Storn's cover?

Polaris

[Monolith]

The cover is not bad. I do think the original pencils looked better than the finished product though. There is something about the coloring which takes away from the intimidation factor for me. The use of so many lite (pastel-like) colors seems to remove some of the danger trying to be portrayed, at least to me. Pastels can work in many superhero pictures, but I think when dealing with a fantasy genre you need harder colors. It is still a good cover though.

I would say that I liked the 2nd Edition Elmore cover slightly better though. I am not a fantasy fan but I have many times wondered what that lanced warrior was going to do against the advancing minotaur. :)

[Le Schtroumpf]

Be devoured for breakfast more than likely. Or at least he better be. I got five bucks on the Mino.

[AnotherSkip]

Yer on,

(P.S. the mounted guy is using the lance rules from Second, and is a 300 point characters whith essentially a Knight specialization....)

[Darth Sarcastic]

I have to agree, the 4th-ed. cover is more subtle (this is Kragen on his adventure...). The 5th-ed. cover is pretty much a "T&A" fest (sorry to all the ladies out there)...although the lightning strike looks good. I'm not sure if they threw in any standard fantasy races (on the cover)...I'll have to look again.

[Nato]

T&A Fest!?! Are you and I looking at the same cover?

As for standard fantasy races... are a dwarf, human, giant, possibly an elf (the archer?), and orcs and goblins standard?

[Nightshade]

I personally liked the cover. I would have to agree with the color scheme comments, but overall I liked it.

However, I really like the Fantasy HERO logo. That is very sharp.

I also don't just books by their covers....

Nightshade

[Andrew_A]

Does that mean that you are going to get FH BECAUSE of Storn's cover?

Yes.
I wasn't sure if I was going to get it 'till I saw the cover.

[Vondy]

Storn is a talented artist and the cover is a nice piece. I like his style and its got energy.

With that said I don't know how I feel about it for fantasy hero. It conveys a specific type of fantasy (high fantasy with lots of non-humans), which seems more Setting Book specific than Genre Book appropriate IMHO.

That's just me, though. And since the vast majority of the fantasy crowd out there wants Tolkienesque DeeUndDee, Charmaster, MERP type materials its probably a good marketing shtick for getting frustrated "other system" gamers to give Hero a try.

Kudos Storn. It looks good.

[CorpCommander]

Well, personally I liked it. No 1st level wimps! It conveys to me that the system works great for high powered adventure which it does. Plus the cover is more in line thematically with the other Hero system covers so I think the consistancy of it helps a lot.

I can't wait to get my copy.

Pete

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally posted by Nato
T&A Fest!?! Are you and I looking at the same cover?


Agreed. There's one skimpy outfit on the cover. I wouldn't call that a T&A fest.

Now there are some artists who will draw female characters so you can both see the butt crack and count the bumps on each nipple. And the nipples are usually more detailed than the faces. I don't think we have any of those around here, though.

[Al_Beddow]

Now it hit's me... that thing that was bugging me..

THE CHICK ALL IN LIGHT BLUE!

Some how to me her outfit screams "Super Hero Game Cover" and not "Fantasy Game Cover".

[sbarron]

Originally posted by Monolith
I would say that I liked the 2nd Edition Elmore cover slightly better though. I am not a fantasy fan but I have many times wondered what that lanced warrior was going to do against the advancing minotaur. :)

Huh. I always thought that beasty on the cover of 2nd Ed. FH was a war troll. Also, I gave the guy on the horse about even odds. He looked tough, but war trolls are...well, war trolls!

[austenandrews]

I liked the 4E cover better. To me Storn's action poses often seem out-of-balance, like the characters might trip over their own feet. That's forgivable for superheroes and wild kung fu, but I want fantasy warriors to have good footwork. Just my preference, nothing personal, Storn.

-AA

[Monolith]

Originally posted by sbarron
Huh. I always thought that beasty on the cover of 2nd Ed. FH was a war troll. Also, I gave the guy on the horse about even odds. He looked tough, but war trolls are...well, war trolls!
It might have been a war troll. It just looked like a giant minotaur to me. I am not a fantasy expert by any means. :)

[Steve Long]

It might have been a war troll. It just looked like a giant minotaur to me. I am not a fantasy expert by any means.

IIRC, it is a unique Elmorian creature called a "Bakh Vagh" or something like that. They exist in the Sovereign Stone setting, I believe.

[Le Schtroumpf]

You know...
To most crowds Elmorian creature would invoke small red and furry with a squeaky voice.

[Old Man]

No, the small squeaky Elmorian is too fearsome to depict on a FH cover. *shudder*

[Spyritwind]

Hmmmm I suppose I'll delay a final verdict until I can see a larger image of the cover, but off the cuff I like the old (2d edition) cover art better. The style of art work is too comic, super heoric looking and doesn't have the right feel to it. I don't know that I would actualy be attracted to the product based on the cover and I might even be turned off by it. True enough since the Hero system was first a super hero role playing game and also a heroic level system later one can easily run a very fantastic fantasy campaign, but my reaction to the cover would be that it was a decent cover for a 2nd tier company that is advertising uber super fantasitic fantasy gamming. Which isn't necisarily a bad thing, but I don't think that is the majority of the market. This is also not a slam on the quality of the art work, but on the style and feel of it and it's appropriateness in it's context.

Either way I feel confident it will be a good product.

[Chuk]

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth
I don't think it looks "too superheroey." Instead, I suspect that some folks are perceiving it that way because it looks like Storn's art, and you're used to seeing superheroic art from Storn. :)

That might be part of it. I kind of hope not, because then I won't like any stuff he does except supers!

That said, it is way, WAY better than the first edition cover was. :)

[Chuk]

I just wanted to mention that now that I've got the actual book rather than just seeing the image online, it looks better to me. It quickly grew on me and now I'm pretty happy with it as a cover.

Not sure if I like it as much as the 2nd/4th edition FH cover, but it's close (and the interior art is way, way better than previous editions!)

[Galadorn]

Originally posted by Chuk
It seems kind of inappropriate to me. It looks kind of neat, but it almost seems more super-heroish. Not trying to slam the actual quality of the art, which is excellent, but more the composition and selection of it.

I think I like the 4th edition one better.

I have to agree. I don't like the super-heroish art. Why not someone like Elmore? :o

[Alcamtar]

I love the 5E FH cover -- I like the technical quality and the sheer action of it all. The characters are magnificent and attractive. Unfortunately it is a bit more superheroic than I'd have preferred, what with giants and colored costumes and stuff. That is to say, I tend to prefer more 'standard' races and... grit. But I *love* the depiction of the orcs (or whatever they are)!

It reminds me a bit of Moorcock's fantasy.

Anyway, while I wouldn't want my campaign to look like that, I still love it, and it's not so cheesecakey that I'm ashamed to leave it out where my wife will see it.

I do prefer the grittiness and mood of the 4th edition cover; usually I dislike Elmore but he does do nice mountains and trees, and the scene is quite evocative. I wouldn't say it's better, just different in what it depicts.

I also like the 1st edition Fantasy Hero cover, but not nearly as well, and it's kind of crude. But it's original and interesting.

Speaking of 1st edition FH, some of my favorite interior illustrations are the various depictions of the three iconics. I absolutely love those.

Mike

[Old Man]

Storn's art is okay. It definitely looks better in person than in the online previews that turn up here before the publication fo each book.

In general, though, I prefer the look of more conventional painting to the line art that Storn employs. On top of that I've found that Storn's subjects tend to get lost against their backgrounds. For these reasons I prefer the 4th ed cover, even though I usually don't like Elmore's art.

For those of you who like to just peruse fantasy art online I recommend poking through the galleries at gfxartist.com. The signal to noise ratio there is pretty high.

[Pattern Ghost]

People keep mentioning the bright colors. Kind of odd, b/c color did exist in pre-modern cultures. Even bright color.

[CorpCommander]

Some of my favorite covers on RPG materials have been:

Warhammer Fantasy RPG (circa 1987.) It had a party fighting goblins and some champion of chaos. Dwarves with mohawks. Gotta love it.

Gamma World (circa 1978) - not a really well drawn cover. It looks like it was done in crayon actually. However it was evocative. It shows a group of 4 people, suited up with weapons at the ready, about to enter a ruined city.

A few of the RIFTS covers (never played the game.)

I like Stevens cover on Champions Battlegrounds. Has anyone else found waldo hidden in the cover yet. Quite clever.

I love the covers to the Witchfire Trilogy by Privateer Press. Excellent if you like goth grrrls.

I like the covers to the new Hero Games stuff for the most part. There is no accounting for taste! The cover of Star Hero is quietly evocative. Perhaps the first time I've seen a science fiction RPG cover that DIDN'T have everyone bristling with beam weapons buring down enemies.

My all time favorite Parody Cover is Hello Kitty 40K: In the Grim Future of Hello Kitty there is only War! If you have never seen it, it's a hoot. (OMG - in searching for the pic I came across the Hello Kitty... vibrator... shudder!)

Hello Kitty 40K (http://onastick.net/sitz/images/hk40k.html)

Enjoy!

[xagen]

I agree. Though trhe new cover focuses on a band of heroes, as opposed to one lone horseman, it is far too superhero-like for my tastes. And I'll 100th the comments about the blue spearwoman being distracting. It's beautifully drawn, it just doesn't go on teh cover of FH. I personally like Easley and Elmore's work better.

[Black Rose]

I rather like the FH cover. The spearwoman looks like she is a paladin, and I am truly sick and tired of the generic "Paladin and their Holy Sword (tm)" pic. This was impressive and larger than life. I think a lot of people like playing FH because you can get a "gritty realism" that DnD lacks, but forget that FH can do high-power fantasy really well. The fire mage casting in the second line was cool; no big arm waving, instead a controlled use of Gestures, Incantations, and possibly Focus. And a (female) giant on the heroes' side! Very cool.

The baddies looked good too, if a little undetailed. I wasn't as impressed with the baddie spellcaster, which I would have liked, but nothing is ever perfect, right? Overall I thought the cover prodded righteous buttock, and am glad, glad, glad we didn't didn't have another Elmore-esque cover. Not that I don't like his work, mind, but I've seen a lot of it, and I'd like to see some new stuff, like this Storn Cook guy.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Steve Long
IIRC, it is a unique Elmorian creature called a "Bakh Vagh" or something like that. They exist in the Sovereign Stone setting, I believe. Yeah -- they are basically ogrish giants. Dim. Tough. The guy on the horse was pretty screwed.

[Killer Shrike]

As an aside, one of my long-time gamer buddies, Wily Quixote from these boards, actually dropped by Elmores house back in 1999. No kidding -- he's got pictures taken by Elmore's wife with Wily Q and Elmore checking out some of Elmores (at the time) works in progress.

Wily Q is a huge Elmore fan -- his mother has been buying originals and prints from Elmore directly for his christmas presents for the last 7 years or so.

[Toadmaster]

KS-

your avitar is freaking me out, its a dead ringer for my brother (or at least as much as I can tell from a 1/2" pic).

Weird

[Pattern Ghost]

Toadmaster: I can't believe you noticed KS's avatar with Black Rose's right above it. :D

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Toadmaster
KS-

your avitar is freaking me out, its a dead ringer for my brother (or at least as much as I can tell from a 1/2" pic).

Weird Youre brother must be a handsome gent.

I try to be a brother to all humanity, Toad. Its a difficult task, but I soldier on.

Guess our dad really got around.

Damn it! Youve ruined my Secret ID!

Really? He must be a result of the same secret government cloning experiment.

Identity theft is a crime!

Dont be alarmed citizen. A member of the collective will be by momentarily to deal with you.....

<hr>
OK, OK. Couldnt resist. I've gotten that before -- sometimes people confuse me for other people, and I have to convince them Im not their long lost buddy from whereever.

I just have one of those 'dont I know you from somewhere' faces I guess.

[Toadmaster]

KS

Do you ever get mistaken for Mark McGuire?

Being in Oakland he got that a couple of times, once on the bus he overheard a couple of kids arguing over it, finally one pointed out "what the hell would Mark McGuire be riding the bus for?"

Then again it is a 1/2" pic, just thought it was rather amusing.

You know I've got relatives in the san Diego area, hmmm. Are you rich? :D

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Toadmaster
KS

Do you ever get mistaken for Mark McGuire?

Being in Oakland he got that a couple of times, once on the bus he overheard a couple of kids arguing over it, finally one pointed out "what the hell would Mark McGuire be riding the bus for?"

Then again it is a 1/2" pic, just thought it was rather amusing.

You know I've got relatives in the san Diego area, hmmm. Are you rich? :D Actually, yes, one female friend of mine mentioned on several occasions that she thought I look like MMcG -- I wouldnt know, as Im not a baseball fan and dont know (or care) what he looks like.

Im not rich (though we do ok), and Im originally from Florida as is my mother. Her family is from the Thomasville area of Georgia originally. My father, who I resemble strongly, is from the Cape Girardeau area of Missouri originally.

Who knows, maybe we're related ;)

[Killer Shrike]

Just looked up McGwire on Google. Ok, aside from his hair being more reddish, I guess I can see a resemblance, but only because we're stocky white guys w/ a goatee, big lips, small eyes and narrow noses. Theres prolly a gazillion guys that fit that description ;)

[Killer Shrike]

Heres a pic of me and my wife for a better view:

<img src="http://www.herogames.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=169871">

[Killer Shrike]

And heres one w/ me and Wily Quixote reviewing the damage to a broken window in the kitchen (Im the one on the left):

<img src="http://www.herogames.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=169872">

[Toadmaster]

Ok, with the larger pics the similarity is much less, your avitar could be him, still some similarity but clearly not clones. He looks very much like Mark Mcguire (or at leasst MM from his Oakland A's days) if you're curious as I don't have any handy digital images.

Thanks for indulging my curiosity. You may now return to your life citizen, the restraining order has been signed. :)

[tgaptte]

I think the new cover has too much of a superhero feel to it. I definitely prefer the Elmore cover from FH 2nd.

Tim