Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Review and Commentary On The Vintage Clipart: Fantasy Volume 1 From Skirmisher Publishing For Your Old School Campaigns





Grab It Right Over 

This product couldn't come at a better time, Vintage Clip art is a nice collection of genric public domain artwork that can be used for generating monsters, player hand outs, and any other twisted little thing that the DM's imagination can dream up. The collection is perfect for the DM on the run who needs a bit of connective imaginative artwork to hit the spot. 

This is the first in a series of products that reflect the growing system agnostic trend in game design that's been happening for the better part of two or three years now. A design choice that reflects the ideal that you as a DM should be able to design and mandate your own material in games. This product really picks up on this and magnifies it. 
According To Drivethrurpg: 

This download includes more than 20 different vintage clipart images from a number of sources and which were originally or subsequently published between 1880 and 1921. All have been scanned at 600 dpi and are provided individually as grayscale JPEGs and 12 have also been provided as black-and-white TIFFs (34 image files total). The purchaser of this collection is granted the non-exclusive rights to use these images in any commercial or personal projects they choose subject to the conditions of the included license. 



An eye toward variety has been taken in compiling this collection, and it contains an assortment of styles and themes, including five sets of complementary images that could be used in conjunction with each other. Several images suitable for use as full-page or cover illustrations have also been included, as has at least one suitable as a customizable text banner. Specific themes represented include giants, dragons, knights, fairies, Moon men, a haunted forest, and several sorts of conveyance, among them balloons, ships, carriages, horses, stilts, and a Victorian-era spaceship.


I can see a myriad of uses for this one volume of artwork, from monster creation to adventure, to solidly illustrating the look and feel of a campaign. This is exactly where I'll be using this set of artwork.

Using 
The Vintage Clipart: Fantasy Volume 1  In Your Old School Campaigns

When it comes to using this product, its nice to have a concise and well put together collection of artwork that I don't have to look over my shoulder to use in any OSR style game.
This is a great collection for an OD&D dungeon master and because of the generic nature of the collection its very easy to apply this collection to everything from your fantasy wasteland to the post apocalyptic landscape. I keep envisioning this collection being used by me for a Labyrinth Lord/ Mutant Future mash up campaign. I've got some thoughts on a campaign but I've got a pile of other material to through before doing such a venture.
This is also a great collection for a Lamentations of the Flame Prince rpg style DYI knock up campaign with heavy Victorian or steampunk influences. The fact is that these images could be used for a number of old school or any school style campaigns.
For a Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea these are a nice fit especially when peppering your old school sword and sorcery sandbox.
All in all its a nice little diversion from some of the usual artwork that we see today and one that I welcome to my table. I can see using some of these for an old school style DM's screen as well and a number of other projects that are sitting at the back of my mind.
Wait for this one to go on sale but grab it. Its a solid quality piece of artwork and one that I enjoyed. These clip art style collections remind me of when as a kid I'd wander the rows of art supplies, brushes, etc when I'd go to the malls and go into art supply stores. Back then art places specialized in good quality art supplies and this collection reflects another time when quality meant something. Grab it when you can and get to town creating your own adventures in whatever edition you'd like. 

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