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| Player's Handbook Cover by David Trampier |
Yesterday I talked about David Trampier's Player's Handbook cover and how it wasn't my favorite cover from Dungeons and Dragons products. Not surprisingly this got a bit of traffic as I had people telling me that Dave's illustration was superior to just about anything else that came before or since.
Poppycock.
While Trampier's cover has become iconic, it's just as likely that this status is the result of its place as the original cover for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook as is it for its originality and evocative nature. If we examine the covers for each of the hardback books from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons it quickly becomes apparent that not only was David's cover not the best among the group, but that it wasn't even in the top five (I'd cover later editions of the game, but the point will be proven shortly so there's no need).
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| Original DMG Cover by David C. Sutherland III |
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| DMG Cover Redux by Jeff Easley[1] |
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| Deities and Demigods Cover by Erol Otus |
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| Legends and Lore Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Fiend Folio Cover by Emmanuel |
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| Monster Manual II Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Oriental Adventures Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Monster Manual Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Monster Manual Cover by David C. Sutherland III |
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| Greyhawk Adventures Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Manual of the Planes by Jeff Easley |
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| Dragonlance Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Wilderness Survival Guide Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Dungeoneer's Survival Guide Cover by Jeff Easley |
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| Unearthed Arcana Cover by Jeff Easley |
Out of the AD&D covers I personally am torn between the original DMG cover by David C. Sutherland III and the Wilderness Survival Guide by Jeff Easley.
The DMG painting is like a glimpse into the possibilities of the Dungeons and Dragons game. You have the fanciful city in the background that mixes elements from Medieval Europe, Mezzo-America, and the Middle East. The wild, red sea with its frothing waves crashing against the jagged shore and the flaming horizon sends me reeling with the possibilities of what could be going on in this world we're seeing. It's the sort of cover that launches a thousand campaigns and keeps you traveling back to look at it for inspiration, and a prime example as to why David Sutherland should be higher rated as an artist.
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| Original DMG Cover by David C. Sutherland III |
My other favorite, the Wilderness Survival Guide possess all the elements to a great game of Dungeons and
Dragons. A treasure guarded by a vile monster, a damsel in distress
(sometimes the maiden in need of rescue isn't a woman at all, but a
idiot Bard who should have died when he was used to check for traps on the way up the top of the mountain), and the Heroes are on the way. Unlike Trampier's cover the
adventure isn't behind the party, but in front of them - that's the way things should be. We shouldn't be looking at the aftermath of the adventure but at the potential for where things are going and what they will be in the future.
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| Wilderness Survival Guide Cover by Jeff Easley |
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Your thoughts?
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[1] While the cover is credited to Donald Sutherland III in my copy the signature on the painting is clearly Jeff Easley's. My guess is that mine holds a misprint when crediting the cover illustration.
