Monster Manual Covers

[W E Ray]

Not sure if 4E gamers have talked about it or not but seeing Paizo's blog today it made me curious...

MM cover = Orcus
MMII cover = Demogorgon
MMIII cover = Lolth

Now, the first question I have when looking at this pattern is if Graz'zt absolutely has to be on the cover for IV.

Who else could it be if not him? -- Or, maybe him and Iggwilv together -- that would be AWESOME.
(Not they they could recycle the Dungeon cover by Reynolds (for Steve Greer's adventure, "Fiend's Embrace") but it would still be awesome)

. . . .

But my other question is, why is WotC doing these covers this way? (Maybe they've said, I dunno)

Have they decided that Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles and Mammon are too edgy to put on their covers? That makes sense.

Will they stop after Graz'zt or will they continue with Obox Ob, Juiblex and Fraz Urb'luu? If they stop on the Demon Lords, who would they put on the MMV?

Tiamat? (Will she be on MMIV?)

I have to say, I like the idea of putting named monsters on the covers instead of a sample of generic monsters (1E and 2E covers). Although I admit I smirked at it when I first saw the cover with Orcus.

Speaking of which, did they maybe put Orcus on the first in the series because, same reason as no Asmodeus cover, the name "Demogorgon" to the average person (non-gamer) is more like to be off-putting?

It seems like that's not much of an argument -- it's certainly not as if an illustration of D&D's Demogorgon is labeled as such. Unless you're a gamer you'd have no idea that the two headed monstrocity is Demogorgon. This directly contrasts with an illustration of Asmodeus who, even if not identifiable by name, will certainly be recognized as the devil by non-gamers.

Any thoughts?

[yellowdingo]

check out this guy...Francis does a lot of the 4E Art

[Lord Gadigan]

Graz'zt was statted in Manual of the Planes, and Tiamat was in Draconomicon I, so I doubt that either of them will be making an appearance on the cover of an upcoming monster manual. That said, some of the other demon lords mentioned seem like potential bets.

[yellowdingo]

Lord Gadigan wrote:

Graz'zt was statted in Manual of the Planes, and Tiamat was in Draconomicon I, so I doubt that either of them will be making an appearance on the cover of an upcoming monster manual. That said, some of the other demon lords mentioned seem like potential bets.

Mordenkainen...?

[Amelia]

yellowdingo wrote:

Lord Gadigan wrote:

Graz'zt was statted in Manual of the Planes, and Tiamat was in Draconomicon I, so I doubt that either of them will be making an appearance on the cover of an upcoming monster manual. That said, some of the other demon lords mentioned seem like potential bets.

Mordenkainen...?

Only if he is it's badguy. All three cover monsters have been the BBEG of that Monster Manual. I don't think Mordenkainen will be that for MM4.

[W E Ray]

If WotC were to use a non Power (Deity, Demon Lord, etc), Acererak would probably go first. Eclevdra, Strahd and Iuz would also be great choices.

Mordenkainen (though Neutral) is one of the good guys. And he's human. I don't think he'd be a good choice for a Monster Manual cover.

-------------------

Does anybody know, is WotC not willing to put any of the Archdevils on the covers because of concern of how that would look to the general public, browsing their Borders, Barns & Nobles and Books-A-Millions?

It seems that there are lots of gamers out there, those of us who love to see stuff on the Blood War, who would see 3 Demon Lord covers against 0 Arch Devils as, um, "unfair."

[Matthew Koelbl]

(Blah, and the Paizo forums eat another post...)

Anyway, what I was trying to type up:

Since the names don't appear on the cover, and Orcus himself already cuts a pretty satanic figure, I doubt that is their reason for featuring demons over devils on the cover. I suspect it is merely coincidence.

Orcus was good for MM1 since he was the original code word for the 4E development. Demogorgon fit MM2 because, well, 2 heads. Lolth... who knows, other than simply being a big name.

(And worth noting: Technically, despite her fall from grace and place of residence, she's an evil god rather than demon. I think.)

I doubt we'll see any lesser names, since even archmagi aren't quite on the same scale as these guys. We've seen Strahd (and, I think, Acererak) in Open Grave, and Eclavdra shows up in MM3 alongside Lolth (as an Exarch or High Priestess type, I believe.)

No, I suspect covers will still be dominated by the real Powers: Gods, Primordials, Archdevils, Demon Lords, Archfey.

Ooo, that could be a very cool choice for the next MM - having Baba Yaga or another fey power as the prime focus. The Feywild has been out of the spotlight for a bit, and I wouldn't mind seeing it get some attention...

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Matthew Koelbl wrote:

(Blah, and the Paizo forums eat another post...)

If your browser supports it get Lazarus...It's free and saved me a number of times now and I'm pretty good about copying what I do.

[Jeremy Mcgillan]

Won't be Eclavdra, she got statted up under the Lolth section of MM3.

[Jeremy Mcgillan]

LOL and Strahd, and Acererak got statted up in Open Grave.