How about some art again? Life may be busy, but there’s always time for inspiration for RPG sessions!
Refer to the first post for my general criteria for how I collect and judge pieces in general. Now on to the specific examples!
Science Fantasy again! And what a piece of exemplify it, with her dynamic pose, combination of advanced and archaic weapons, and the use of sci-fi armor shaped like ancient armor. I also like the touch of anonymity created by the battle-headset allowing the viewer to appreciate the muscular shape of the subject while keeping the heroic knightly calm. The addition of the screen in the foreground could imply this is VR or perhaps some remote viewing situation. Probably the former, since she appears to be in the middle of materializing (missing one of her legs, and the sparkling of light particles on that side).
Gubbins and Goblins! I might use this piece as a scene-setting example for a commune of small subterranean dwellers. And they aren’t just missing around either; none are looking at the viewer, which usually helps in inspirational art. I like the subjects to not be drawing attention to their nature as a drawing, I prefer them to be simply existing for the purposes of artistic immersion.
I’ve read all the original Conan the Barbarian stories, and most of the really excellent Savage Sword of Conan, so I have a soft spot for the wild and crazy adventures of our bronze-hided hero. What I love about this one is that it is a momentary break in the usual action.
Conan, traveling alone, glimpses for an instant in the sky the images of his savage gods. He doesn’t approach or flee, he can only exclaim in his usual fashion, though now the name becomes literal and serves to identify who we are looking at. This is just how I like to have my deities interact with characters: indirectly and vaguely, with a sense of distant uncaring awe.
Warhammer 40k art is not usually my bag. It is often too extreme in its proportions and chaotic action to bring across anything meaningful. However, this piece doubles down on the WWI imagery frequently used by the setting.
Chunky frames aside, it falls into that sub-set of WWI art which is confrontational about the horror (masked combatants, smoke, destruction), while also seeming heroic through the use of military power imagery and the action-movement.
Battles tend to get my imagination going if the art is done well, and this one gives me a few ideas as to what to highlight in a chaotic scene.
No art collection is complete for me without some hokey 80’s art!
“Blargh, I’m a wizard! And I’m zapping the world! You know, wizard things!”
His costume is pretty snazzy if you’re into that sort of thing, so this could maybe serve as a major NPC inspiration. It would be a bit of a stretch for the Palpatine-zapping though.
There are better pieces of art of Roadside Picnic, but the simple line-work of this one is very pleasant to me. Without the excessive detail, we still get a nice clear image of Monkey, Redrick’s daughter with the strange fur all over her body, and Redrick’s father, a corpse come back to “life” due to the influence of the zone. Only inaccuracy is that Monkey is supposed to have all-black eyes.
A great NPC pair, though! I love to have unique NPCs to add color to the world, and these two are a great example of something I would shamelessly mine for ideas… I mean be inspired by…
Joseph Erwin - Freelance Dungeon Master 