Since I mentioned Dungeonpunk in a rather dismissive fashion in an earlier post (and I am seriously spamming my own blog today), I thought I would point out that even WotC hits the nail on the head sometimes. This piece by Michael Komarck (called "The Caves of Chaos") was done for the WotC Players Handbook II. While it obviously doesn't correspond to the map of the Caves of Chaos in terms of what's portrayed in the picture ... I'd frankly be willing to make the map correspond to the picture, which I think absolutely rocks. There's something about doors carved into walls, and deep crags, and not-quite-straight architecture that really kicks loose my sense of imagination.
Even the fighter and the elven magic-user are okay in terms of not being too punked-out, although the naugahyde halfling could definitely go.
I really like this picture too. When I first ran Caves, with my freshly opened Moldvay box, I ran it as published with the gentle slopes and relatively small size. When I ran it again later, under 2e, I steepened and expanded it to something very close to Komarck's illo here.
ReplyDeleteAgree - it's a really nice image, and the kind that could help get new school folks to take a look at what we old school folks have to offer.
ReplyDeleteYes, a nice picture! Is it from the 4e PHBII or the 3e PHBII?
ReplyDeleteIt's from 2005, so must be 3e.
ReplyDeleteWay too steep to match those contour lines, but like you I think this is evocative enough that I rather go with the painting's vision.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there are a handful of gems amongst the third edition art selections. That one I similarly enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I like quite a bit of the art in the 4e books.
ReplyDeleteI hope more art like this starts getting published. That piece looks great!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites as well.
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