Do you like the new cover?

[Joseph Paul]

How big a print run do they intend to do for this game? Maybe a second printing can have a better cover?

Like others here I would prefer to see the multi-genre application played up in a more recognizable way.

Joseph Paul

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Simlasa

Lots of designer have font's they love/hate... the woman who trained me HATED Helvetica... just wanted it banned forever.

I agree with this. My wife cannot understand my "irrational" dislike of Copperplate Bold.

She was going to use it on her website and business cards, and I kept saying "If you want to make people think you're prickly and old-fashioned, that's an awesome font for it."

Originally Posted by Simlasa

I'm guessing that the art is bought and paid for and their ain't a lot of cash sitting around to come up with another one...

The cover is a new piece, actually.

As the author of the book, I'm someone biased in any opinion about the cover, so I'm going to step out of any qualitative discussions about it.

However, if people are unsatisfied with it, some constructive suggestions would be far more useful than just bashing it. I recall when GURPS displayed their initial cover, and then had the contest to produce a better cover, which resulted in the current look and feel. I wonder if anyone would be willing to post some alternatives in graphic format.

[badcat]

The cover is all right, I guess. My major thought about this is that many of the covers a lot of people these days would like I would probably think hideous, you know, the 'edgy' busy look. Like a lot of the trash flicks they are putting out that are unwatchable. So 'all right' works for me. I would frankly be afraid to see what a lot of the people complaining so loudly WOULD like.

[Atgxtg]

Well, I'm not somone who complained ludly about the cover. I did vote in the "neh" category.

I think the problem is that nothing much is happening on the cover. It just doesn't grab you with a sense of urgency, nor does it realte well to what is under the cover.

Plus, people will probably be looking for the "ADVANCED ROLEPLAYING" book that goes with it.

[WayneLigon]

Didn't see this poll before, so I'll just repost and expand on what I said elsewhere.

I would vastly rather have that placeholder cover than the one posted on the announcement. Busy, flat, unappealing and looking like something that crawled out of a stock art bin from the 80's. The characters look odd, stiff and stilted, and the whole thing looks kinda rushed. His work from the Avalon Hill RQ3 box was vastly superior.

I don't think that having the 'kitchen sink' approach really conveys the generic, multi-genre approach very well. Yes, it can do a tremendous range of genres but does it need to look like they all happen at once? That's generally a turn-off to me, personally. I don't like the idea that you'd actually have fantasy types attacked by Nazis weilding futuristic weapons or something. The older GURPS editions managed to get across the 'Generic' part without that implication.

I'd prefer something either more abstract, like the current GURPS covers, or something that at least seems to emphasize one or more genres to give the book a clear-cut 'look and feel'.

What would I like to see? Give the concept to Wayne A Reynolds and see what he came up with. I love his covers for the various Eberron and Freeport books. A dynamic-appearing action-adventure sequence with hints and such that it's a 'generic' product would be cool.

[badcat]

I kept thinking there was some game last year that would fit the cover quite well, and it just came to me. Hollow Earth Expedition. Yep, kitchen sink more than multi-genre.

[Simlasa]

On a side note... Jason posted a link to one of the artists doing the interior illustrations and, though they were just initial sketches, I thought they were awfully good... interesting, energetic, and just a bit quircky.

As for graphical examples of better covers... that might be worth a try... I'll fire up my paint program and see what I can do.

Originally Posted by Trifletraxor

Now, is there a contradiction between making a quality product and marketing it well too?

Sure there is. Microsoft? Apple?

Anyone ever heard of Betamax? Ok, I think I've just given away why I like that 80's artwork and font ...

[Enpeze]

Originally Posted by the Bromgrev

Sure there is. Microsoft? Apple?

Anyone ever heard of Betamax? Ok, I think I've just given away why I like that 80's artwork and font ...

Well I dont think that apple has a worse marketing than MS. (rather the opposite) But MS had much more luck and better lawers.

[Trifletraxor]

Originally Posted by Simlasa

On a side note... Jason posted a link to one of the artists doing the interior illustrations and, though they were just initial sketches, I thought they were awfully good... interesting, energetic, and just a bit quircky.

As for graphical examples of better covers... that might be worth a try... I'll fire up my paint program and see what I can do.

I like the sound of that! ;-)

Sverre.