Ya gotta love that OSR d&d art. Any 70s, 80s, and 90s fantasy art welcome. The older the better
I love this guy, especially how simple and functional his gear is compared to modern fantasy art warriors. This guy doesn't put a lot of stupid pointy bits all over his armor for fashion, he needs armor that works and won't get hung up on things and get him killed.
>>47617500
thats some sick shit
OD&D is practical. No shine
I love this dog horse thing
>>47618083
>"Hey wait nobody's checked for tra-"
>"Lol shutup u stupid wizard cuck"
>>47617696
its a ki-rin
its on the cover of D&D oriental adventures
>>47619027
dear god look at his face
jesus look at her hair
I love it.
>>47618969
And ah, ok thanks
Guess I'll share. I've been a long time lurker here. It's funny, I've hardly played any rp games, but there's something about the art and style of OSR that really speaks to me. Something about the progression of the game, everything. The style and mood of this niche fascinates me to my core. It was the art and style that drew me in first, and now I'm actually planning on running the Grimmsgate intro module with S&W Complete Rules.
My friends originally played DnD 3.5, but I never cared for it. Character creation took hours, and it seemed that nobody even expected to die in the first place. I have nothing against that, but the experience I seemed to desire was not the one 3.5 catered to.
I'm very inexperienced at this, but I'm also excited.
>>47619446
>>47619461
>>47619482
>>47619206
"Come back! You dropped your sword!"
>>47619482
"Oh, God, Terry started rapping again, and now he's got one of those stupid clock medallions."
>>47619446
Great piece. When you posted it I noticed that it looked a lot like the S&W book cover.
If you're new, I actually recommend the white box. I started it 3 years ago and am still playing white box rules. I'm currently working on my own players handbook for whitebox with homebrew rules.
Good luck on your adventures. OSR art has the tone of man against the world. Grit and dirt. Yet there's hope
>>47619518
loving this one
>>47619574
Thanks. I fight the feeling of "Am I some kind of hipster?" a lot, because I certainly did not grow up with OD&D (born in 1990). I always LOVED the idea of the game, but the newer editions were too much in terms of mechanics. I honestly just don't have the time for that. The art is simply beautiful to me. I even listen to dungeon synth now, there's this piece called "Depressive Silence" that is the auditory version of everything I want to convey.
>>47619789
Seriously, same guy, but I have to re-iterate, "Depressive Silence" is just.... amazing. Nothing could be closer in mood to what I'm trying to establish for my soon to be players.
>>47619789
I really recommend whitebox then. As simple as it gets but begs you to add your own rules and interpretation. It is also cutthroat and deadly in nature. I run a stress and lunacy system similar to that of darkest dungeon or ravenloft which adds more of a sense of dread being in a dungeon for hours
>>47619829
Link?
>>47619891
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-bTcOEHkqg
Listening to it right now XD
>>47619901
this is good shit man
youll be crucified for "XD" in these parts
tread lightly my friend
>>47619938
lol Man, I don't get the hate for simple emoticons or whatever. What the fuck does it matter? We're here to discuss a hobby, not to prove how pretentious and neurotic we can be.
Anyways, yeah. There's something about this album that has a really... Idk... lo-fi is sorta close to how I can describe it. It meanders, dreamlike, with alternating periods of peril and tranquility.
>>47620005
>>47619901
>>26 years old
>>using XD on 4chan
You shouldn't be using shitty emoticons anywhere, you're an adult
that song is absolutely fantastic though, thank you for that
>>47620005
tis simply etiquette
>>47620038
I love them scaly little rat-tailed 1e kobolds with the goat horns. >>47619589 the bug-eyed 2e goblin-bolds, OTOH, just don't work for me.
>You shouldn't be using shitty emoticons anywhere, you're an adult
So be it.
If you folks enjoyed the music, check out an artist called "Hedge Wizard".
Also this piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhuJxREvS7Y
>>47620067
Those bug-eyed ones are the early 2e ones. The later 2e art is much better.
>>47620067
To be honest, I don't like the ratty kobolds all that much.
But I love me some hook horrors
>>47620127
damn, this sounds so TSR dungeons and dragons like
>>47620186
>>47620197
>>47620219
>>47620234
>>47620197
fucking beautiful
>>47620265
Really good Tumblr I follow that does old school D&D/fantasy artwork for games, books, etc.
>>47620281
>>47620294
>>47620281
sharing is caring
wheres the link
>>47620302
All the official TSR D&D art books, for your viewing pleasure.
https://mega.nz/#F!RwYWQBzJ!QoeYspKaPjSNs0d0W9a6Ng
>>47620331
http://oldschoolfrp.tumblr.com/
There ya go. He/she just posted a fair amount of classic D&D shit.
>>47620369
>>47620354
You are gods amongst men
>>47620302
Love these color ones.
Pic is my current wallpaper
>>47620443
I love it
>>47620431
Just really love old school artwork, great wallpapers for my computer, and for inspiring me when writing up a campaign.
>>47620474
It fills me with adventure unlike most. 5th edition has some good retro feeling art though
>>47619482
> look out, imaginary pistol!
>>47619027
I think this was the start of a porno.
>>47620354
Great! thanks, man!
This is the only thread-related pic I can contribute with.
>>47620916
I'd watch that.
>>47620985
fuck yea magic mouth
>>47620951
nice
>>47619901
Man, thank you so much
>>47617500
Is that from Ultima IV? I don't recall the name of the artist they used for the manuals.
>>47619027
>>47619192
Feat: Perm.
Prerequisite: Female in the 70s or 80s.
You get a Perm. It looks shit.
>>47619564
Top/Kek.
>>47618037
Are they using doors as shields?
>>47619206
This one's pure gold
>>47620158
>>47620067
What are kobolds supposed to even look like anyway?
>>47622542
Scaly little bastards with dog-shaped heads. The original 2e artist decided 'dog-shaped' meant 'pug'.
>>47620234
>Nothing personal kid
Anyone tried Adventure Fantasy Game, by Lost Pages?
>>47623323
oh sorry, I thought it was the OSRg.
>>47619789
There is literally nothing wrong with having a hard on for OD&D
>>47619829
This is Everquest?
>>47625746
>>47620842
Reminds me of a scene from "Workaholics" where Adam steals someone's GoKart by making a fake gun with his hand and screaming "This is a real gun! This is a real gun!"
Needs more DiTerlizzi
>>47626841
>>47626866
>>47627452
I thought this thread would be dead but I woke up to this beauty
>>47627745
fuck yea
>>47627838
nice
>>47619027
>>47619192
Isn't this a scene from Red Sonia?
>>47627925
>Fantasy Craft book art in OSR image thread
I'm happy, because thats exactly what I use FC for.
>>47628147
>Fantasy Craft book art
I didn't even know where was from, senpai
>>47620951
Craaawling in my skiiin
>>47627940
What the hell is going on in here? There's a halfling fainting, someones head changed in a chicken head. That elf gives exactly no fucks. I am so intrigued...
Fun fact of the day, one of the guys from Charlie Hebdo who died in the terrorist attacks used to draw for an old french RPG called Rêve de Dragon (Ouroboros : the dream).
Great shit, check it out if only for the system which was way ahead of its time.
The dude who created it (Denis Gerfaud) made some great one shot scenarios but was a terrible DM
Does anyone have the piece of Conan speaking with the alien from Tower of the Elephant?
>>47627940
omg that elf. "See the shit I'm dealing with here?"
>>47629450
this one ?
http://marvelscustoms.com/bblackwolf/albums/Conan/Conan_2_voleur/La_tour_de_l_elephant_.jpg
>>47624064
In yo FACE, fleshy.
>>47625728
>>47617610
Look at how dainty that motherfucker is.
He's going to save the realm, and look fabulous doing it.
I think those tentacles at the bottom are actually on the way out, it looks like they're already finished with him.
>>47627940
Critical failure? Did the wizard try to buff the fighter and chicken headed him instead?
>>47629486
Yeah thanks m8
>>47629362
Piss Forest confirmed.
Why is this art SO GOOD?
>>47630026
"I SAID, have you EVER GONE SKIING?"
>>47629401
those pics are dooope
>>47630139
I assume you're not refering to the wheel of time covers
If think the old school art is good because it's expressive, exaggerated, sometimes even cartoony
>>47627745
I break the door down with my hips! Ugnnn!
>>47630139
Because old fantasy art evokes the wonder of our imaginations with the perils with our reality.
>>47629831
I'm loving those helmets.
>>47636388
I think it may also be because it was all hand-drawn artwork, rather than digital work. It looks like a lot of these images use a limited palette, focusing on dramatic use of a small number of colors (or just black and white artwork, in some cases).
There's definitely something different about older fantasy art. I'd need to spend more time looking it over and thinking about it, though, and I'm not exactly an art expert.
>>47636791
its gritty, just like their rpg systems.
>>47636977
The best fucking Orcus. That's like black-metal goat sacrifice Satan. Look at him. His corpulent ass lounging on a throne of flesh and bone, eyeing up this naked chick whose likely a sacrifice of some sort.
>>47636791
Most digital art is also drawn by hand. Unless it's like, vector shit for logos.
>>47625693
Even back then they knew what elves are for
>>47637292
I agree whole-heartedly. I see him as essentially baphomet which makes a great villain
>>47637303
Don't be pedantic. Drawn by hand meaning on paper and not a Wacom tablet.
>>47637384
Thing is Baphomet is his own thing in D&D. Demon Prince of Beasts, he's less Satan and more savage animal/beastman cult. Strongly associated with the Minotaur he's all about the beastiality, labyrinths, and toppling civilizations.
I think the only thing that would make it clearer between them is if Orcus's head was a ram's skull instead to emphasize his associations with death. I think that's the only thing I like with the more recent Orcus illustrations.
>>47637655
Thats a good point. Still some sick ass art
Also the zelda concept art feels very TSR
>>47637799
It's the details and the hatching shading, lots of old black and white D&D art used it.
>>47637400
Well, I'm just saying, because saying it's not drawn by hand is disingenuous and makes it seem lesser.
>>47619789
>I fight the feeling of "Am I some kind of hipster?" a lot
Don't be such a pathetic anti-hipster faggot that you are concerned about what you are allowed to like or not because a certain strawman non-demographic might be thought to like the same thing. Problem solved!
>>47638046
Yeah, you're not a hipster until you start complaining about "all these hipsters," taking your liking of a thing as proof of how deep you are, and getting mad that all these bandwagon people don't understand the thing on a deep level, and consequently they don't respect how cool you are for having liked the thing before they did.
>>47619789
>dungeon synth
Christ alive. There are far too many weirdly specific genres.
>>47638227
Depressive Silence is also apparently Black Metal.
>>47638227
Believe me, I love the stuff, but I'm aware of just how ridiculously niche it is.
>>47638252
The genre, afaik, has its roots in Black Metal. Not sure why, don't know much about it.
>>47619027
Lizardmen were a dire threat in the early 80's.
>>47638826
It grew out of the atmospheric intros/outros/interludes and fantastical atmosphere and themes of a lot of black metal
>>47639629
Ah that makes perfect sense actually.
From Heroquest, King of fantasy boardgames
An anon upthread mentioned Ultima IV. I've always loved Denis Loubet's manual art, whether it's the cute blonde mage casting Blink...
...or the YGBSM look on the fighty people when Old Pointy Hat casts Z-Down.
>>47640867
>>47640880
Oh man, I'm having flashbacks to my youth. I was about 80% through U4 when my C64 died.
About the same distance through U3, which I had started shortly after U4.
(I beat U1, but never got to play U2)
>>47617405
>Shitty 'check the bottom' d4's
Consider me triggered.
>>47640867
>Denis Loubet
Thanks for the reference kind soul.
Whats everyone's favorite artist for oldschool rpgs?
Gotta love Les Edwards
>>47640898
I still have my U4 and U5 for the Commodore 64 (which fortunately still works). All the feelies that came with them, too - the cloth maps, that aluminium (?) serpent coin that was included with U5, etc.
I've never played 1 or 2, though, but completed 3, 4, 5 on the C64 and 6 on the Amiga.
And speaking of funny faces, I love the "holy crap, it worked!" expression on her.
>>47640956
Probably Clyde Caldwell or Keith Parkinson.
>>47641412
Is it cacodemon with hands?
>>47641440
It's an Astral Dreadnought, I think. It's off the front of the 1e Manual of the Planes.
>>47627940
The confusion we the viewers have over this image may be an attempt by the artist to portray the umber hulk's confusion gaze. Or... maybe the chicken head is just the wizard failing and targeting the fighter.
>>47617343
>OH SHIT
>OH FUCK
>OH YEAH
>>47641440
>>47641446
it is, in fact, both. The Cacodemon from doom is lit that head cropped and pixilated.
>>47627940
>Mortal Adventuring Companions: Not Even Once
>>47630053
I think this is where I gave the fuck up. It was either this book or the next that focused on the side characters no one gave a shit about. Rand cleanses the source at the end in a cameo, and I am fucking done.
>>47640956
I love Peter Mullens work.
>>47645233
I've always loved this cover.
>>47645233
the hell?
>>47640956
Erol Otis. Very much his own style.
>>47646825
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
>>47620234
Damn that is a fantastically composed piece of art
>>47646825
I think a handful of April issues are "April Fools" issues. Phil Foglio did a silly cover image at least once.
>>47620030
>You shouldn't be using shitty emoticons anywhere, you're an adult
>You shouldn't be pretending to be wizards and elves anywhere, you're an adult
>You shouldn't be playing with toy soliders anywhere, you're an adult
>You shouldn't be playing with trading cards, you're an adult
>>47625824
>Alchemy Lab and Magic Workshop in the basement near the foundation of the tower
Now that's a terrible Idea if ever saw one
>>47647416
Emoticons aren't hobbies, dingus
>>47648004
Why were 80s fantasy women so fucking hot
>>47648062
That isn't fantasy, don't you see the spaceship?
>>47648095
why would you post sci fi in a fantasy art thread
>>47648113
I didn't post it, but it still has the aesthetics if you cut out the spaceship, though the orb buildings are still pretty old-school sci fi.
>>47648095
>That isn't fantasy, it's too fantastical!
>>47649334
the fuck even is this
>>47648062
Too bad most of my 80s and 90s fantasyart is NSFW.
Or wait.. why are /tg/ NSFW rules okay with male nipples but not with female ones?
>>47648046
Is this Elenium artwork? I ask because that looks like Pandion Knight armor.
>>47650441
Our sexuality is 90% socially constructed. Don't expect any censorship rules to stand under the pressure of common sense.
>>47650781
>Our sexuality is 90% socially constructed.
fact check, boi. That sounds like bullshit
>>47650934
Yeah, I don't wanna start a discussion. Keep dumping the good art.
>>47650544
I fucking love Caldwell.
>>47650934
Mongolian moms blow their children to calm them down but not their sexual partners
>>47650993
good back peddling
>>47651013
That's a custom in wuite a few areas of the world. Primarily non-Puritan ones.
i might have a couple
>>47651282
>>47651303
>>47651337
>>47651495
Badass paladin in hell from 1e DMG
>>47651525
>>47629378
>>47641532
>>47629874
It's art from Dungeon Crawl Classics; a game with magic so crazy and deadly that it makes WFRP/DH 's magic seem like the epitome of safety.
>>47629401
I remember this.
t. French son of a French roleplayer
>>47650557
It's supposed to be Sparhawk holding that ancient spear, but I don't know what he's supposed to be fighting
>>47653353
I figured as much. Been a while. I wanted to say that the beast dude is Ghwerig, but that doesn't really add up, does it?
>>47653573
Those were darn good books. I should reread them again sometime. Shame that Eddings isn't more well known.
>>47653573
it's just some random servant of Azash. sparkhawk accidentally raises it while trying to find the burial mound of King Sarek of Thalesia so he can ask him what the fuck he did with his crown, which had the magic macguffin gem in it.
i assume that's Sir Ulath knocked on his ass in the foreground.
>>47654196
I remember that now. Thanks.
>>47653782
>>47651543
I fuckin love these two
>>47654196
>talking shit about the stone that holds the immortal soul of the God of Fuck
>>47658179
I owned a copy of this. It wasn't that good; the one with the wererat in the castle was better.
>>47619027
>Pedostachigar and Permerelda fall into a pit
>They must now fight off the hordes of lizardmen pursuing them
I'd play it.
>>47625408
Are those African Drow?
>>47650067
It looks like some kind of alchemical liquid that the wizard is using magic to pour out into tiny containers with extreme precision.
>>47630139
>>47636388
>>47636791
To be fair, a lot of the examples in this thread are the cherrypicked ones - all the ones that have stood the test of time. A lot of these are also more recent work, like the Dungeon Crawl Classics stuff. In any given rulebook too you'd often have maybe 1-4 amazing pieces and the rest being distinctly meh.
As mentioned in a previous old-school art thread, part of the difference is that old-school art dated back to an era when layouts were less adventurous and you often had full page illustrations. This gives you a lavish setpiece illustration that takes the whole page and gives the artist room to fill in a background, actually make use of composition, and suggest a narrative.
Full page art in colour is expensive, however - that's a page that's not going towards rules or anything! Speaking for D&D at least, you notice a shift during the 3.x era towards a lavish full colour rulebook, but with the art more integrated into the text itself.
This doesn't leave any room for backgrounds, which means you end up with small, more intensely focused pieces like pic related. You end up with a lot more art interspersed throughout the margins of the book, but fewer "wow!" pieces.
Many publishers are also tighter nowadays about selecting artists and pieces that provide a more consistent visual look, which means while you have fewer derp pieces, you also don't have as much variety in artists.
>>47651337
>Wizard's Lazerguns motherfuckers!
I love how the party Wiz is toting 2 laserguns while the rogue (?) is trying to keep monster at bay with a torch.. Talk about party fair treasure distribution.
>>47636977
>>47637292
Which publication is this from? Who is the illustrator?
>>47660333
The Dragon Magazine, Issue 42, October 1980. Artist is Todd Lockwood.
>>47651013
Link me to evidence.
>>47660503
Fafhrd and the Mouser?
>>47660090
He's got a crossbow, too, but yeah, quit hogging the laser rifles, Craig!
>>47658665
Most of what you said is common knowledge. Part of the charm of retro art is that it's amateur in nature. For me, I like the amateur art more than the digital shit of today. In AD&D, you weren't a super hero. It's where the idea of don't split the party came from. You were weak and alone would die. This tone is conveyed in the older pieces of art
>>47660476
Fuckin sick
>>47661009
yes
>>47658293
I remember reading the end half of the war of the lady penitent series, and it ended with a great world changing spell being cast that changed the good and neutral minded drow into black people elves.
Story was better than I made it sound, but that doesn't make the climax any less weird.
>>47663953
>I like the amateur art more than the digital shit of today.
Digital paintings are fucking cancer though, a scribbled dick on the back of a notebook would almost be better.
