Chuk Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnTaber Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 STORN DID IT! HE ROCKS! Nuf said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polaris Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempuswolf Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkusDark Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Knotts Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 Erm, does anyone have a link to the art online, or do I have to go to a major con to see it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent X Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamo Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nato Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 Originally posted by Yamo Maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Schtroumpf Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 I don't remember the lady with the spear from the battle of Helms Deep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al_Beddow Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Hiemforth Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ndreare Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 I think the cover looks nice but I have to admit I prefer the art that was on the FH 4th edition cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew_A Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 I wasn't planning on getting FH until I saw Storn's cover. As for the old cover... it was beautiful but very boring. At least to me. YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus Posted July 12, 2003 Report Share Posted July 12, 2003 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.