Legend Unveiled

[Jujitsudave]

Including full frontal errata will be necessary to get my attention.

HA HA HA HA!! I like people with a good sense of humor!

 

[torus]

Leaving lurker mode for this..

Let me say first that I think the price and format of this product are excellent (and almost certainly the content too). I've also been very impressed with how Mongoose handled the licensing and naming issues. So that's all great.

But this cover is terrible. Leave aside the fact that it's unattractive and uninspiring; the cartoon artwork and cleavage seems to be appealing primarily to masturbating adolescents. In fact the individuals pictured look like teenagers themselves to me, whch makes it doubly dodgy.

Some of the recent Traveller cover art has been very good: inspirational and evocative. This looks more like a mediocre computer game.

 

[Simulacrum]

On the plus side this has certainly got the board busy again. Last couple weeks I've been logging on just to see the tumbleweeds blowing thru.

 

[Vile]

[...] the cartoon artwork and cleavage seems to be appealing primarily to masturbating adolescents.

A sizeable market segment, I think you'll agree. :wink:

In fact the individuals pictured look like teenagers themselves to me, whch makes it doubly dodgy.

But a good move if the target audience is indeed new (and thus younger) players rather than we old curmudgeons. Character art has to appeal to the target age group. Leaving aside questions of quality, teenagers are not going to want to imagine themselves as grizzled, middle-aged warhorses.

As far as I remember.

 

[torus]

[...] the cartoon artwork and cleavage seems to be appealing primarily to masturbating adolescents.

A sizeable market segment, I think you'll agree. :wink:

For many products yes, but not necessarily for this one. I suspect the real market here is 25-45 year olds, not 15-19. But anyway, even if one does want to pitch it at a younger age group, the cover doesn't have to be as unsophisticated as this.

But a good move if the target audience is indeed new (and thus younger) players rather than we old curmudgeons. Character art has to appeal to the target age group. Leaving aside questions of quality, teenagers are not going to want to imagine themselves as grizzled, middle-aged warhorses.

As far as I remember.

I remember wanting to play characters like Aragorn and Han Solo, not spindly teenagers like myself!

 

[BiggerBoat]

Unlurking....

It is not an unattractive cover. I think it'd be a good choice for the right system. I like the "Legends" logo mark.

However, I think it completely misses the tone of the actual book. MRQII is a fairly gritty system where fights end in a couple of decisive blows (often with lopped off limbs, pointy bits impaled in various body parts, etc.). My preference would be for a cover that conveys danger and adventure, that shows action, that combines the real-word influences of functional armor and realistic weaponry with fantastic creatures and magic, that makes me say "I totally want that to happen in my game".

There's an artist who did some work for the PC game "Mount & Blade". I love his stuff....

Although this particular piece is not necessarily appropriate for MRQII (i.e. the Greek hoplite), I think the tone is perfect, and it is evocative of earlier RQ art.

I'm a big fan of MRQII, but this is in spite of a lot of issues, including uninspiring art, lack of bookmarking in PDF's, editing issues, etc. There is going to be some competition soon (RQ 6). I suspect a lot of MRQII fans are going to be taking a wait and see position unless Mongoose really steps things up.

 

[torus]

That's a great image. I agree with you about capturing the spirit of the game.

 

[Da Boss]

Stunning image - thanks for sharing that - its truely amazing the range of art that can be found out and about

 

[Mixster]

But this cover is terrible. Leave aside the fact that it's unattractive and uninspiring; the cartoon artwork and cleavage seems to be appealing primarily to masturbating adolescents. In fact the individuals pictured look like teenagers themselves to me, whch makes it doubly dodgy.

IMO, it's not the cartoonish bit that is so terrible, you can make pretty good character sketches that are still cartoonish and they look great. This actually goes for a more of a picturesque look AFAIK, and it fails horribly because none of these guys look or feel real.

As the image Biggerboat brought, it both looks way more action-packed, realistic (even though there's a centaur in there and his back is a little too muscular for my taste), with a gritty/cartoonish fell. This is a great piece of fantasy art.

The question is why MRQ went with this, I'm not saying I can draw anything better (I can't I'm not an artist), but I'm saying that a lot of people can. Or somebody worse at drawing could actually make some art work.

Personally I will buy this book for 10£, but I will probably pick up RQ6 as well, and then decide on what system I like from between them. Since I'm more about system than art, and fluff in my books (I can find better art by going to Boris Vallejo, or something similar, and while fluff is good, I read novels for that).

 

[Jujitsudave]

Although this particular piece is not necessarily appropriate for MRQII (i.e. the Greek hoplite), I think the tone is perfect, and it is evocative of earlier RQ art.

I beg to difffer. That picture is amazing and that is the kind of stuff that makes me want to pick it up off the shelf and thumb through it. That is EXACTLY (yes, even the time period BECAUSE it is evocative of early RQ art) that embodies the system. That is a far better cover. Mongoose may want to get the rights to that. Welcome to the boards, or posting on them, anyway.

If the 3 n00bs on the cover ended up in THAT battle, 2 of them would be separated from their vital organs while the big boobie one would end up being the hoplite's slave.

 

[languagegeek]

If the 3 n00bs on the cover ended up in THAT battle, 2 of them would be separated from their vital organs while the big boobie one would end up being the hoplite's slave.

Too true!

 

[DamonJynx]

Despite my previous posts regarding the cover, I must admit artwork of the kind posted by Biggerboat I think would have much broader appeal and is certainly more in keeping with the flavour of the game itself. If you look to other RPG covers (notably D&D and Pathfinder) their covers convey action, which is something **the current** cover is sorely missing.

I suppose when you think of the name Legend, a lone warrior, outnumbered but giving good account of himself is much more evocative than some teenagers preparing for their first foray into the world...

 

[BiggerBoat]

That is EXACTLY (yes, even the time period BECAUSE it is evocative of early RQ art) that embodies the system. That is a far better cover. Mongoose may want to get the rights to that.

I'm fairly new to RQ in general, and I had forgotten about the heavy bronze-age influences of classic RQ. So, I agree, that image is generally spot on including the ancient Greek warrior.

It's also just a kick-ass scene that makes you want to roll some dice to see how it all turns out

 

[torus]

It's also just a kick-ass scene that makes you want to roll some dice to see how it all turns out

Damn right! When I saw that picture I instantly started imagining what was going to happen next, how/whether the warrior could prevail. I started thinking about what could have led up to this battle and how I could put it in a game.

When I look at the Legend cover I see three whiny teenagers dressing up. Don't they have homework to do or something?

 

[MongooseMatt]

All ladies have boobies, they are nothing to be scared of.

For various reasons, we like the cover of the rulebook a great deal, and we will be keeping it.

However, that doesn't mean we can't offer an alternative for those who don't like it. What about something like this;

 

[Jujitsudave]

Now that is a lot better. Simple and handsome. A much better choice.

And boobies are neat.

 

[chanss]

Ye, nice. And put a little splash at the bottom maybe? As below.....

 

[Simulacrum]

For my part, something really simple and elegant like that would be great. But the logo should be consistent across editions (and really, whether or not I'm in the minority, I liked the logo anyway).

 

[Mixster]

All ladies have boobies, they are nothing to be scared of.

For various reasons, we like the cover of the rulebook a great deal, and we will be keeping it.

However, that doesn't mean we can't offer an alternative for those who don't like it. What about something like this;

Image

That is very cool actually, a simple black design is very appealing IMO.

@the boobs part. I like boobs, but I don't like chicks with claws. Or dead chicks.

For my part, something really simple and elegant like that would be great. But the logo should be consistent across editions (and really, whether or not I'm in the minority, I liked the logo anyway).

I liked the blue Logo as well, that and the sepia tone (but sepia toning black seems pretty meaningless) was pretty good about the other book, but I might worry that such a logo would ruin the black front page.

Anyway, to stop this outrage, I propose that Mongoose release a white cover where you get a set of pencils, then you can draw your own cover.

 

[Jose-san]

Just for the sake of amusing, check these covers from the Spanish 3rd edition. The first one is Snakepipe Hollow, the second is the basic rulebook (second printing).