Review of Role-Playing Game Clip Art Collection: Volume A

Mad Kaiser's "Role-Playing Game Clip Art Collection: Volume A" is a very good buy for the price. Primarily targeted at the fantasy role-playing marketplace, the clip art collection includes 130 different black and white fantasy images including skulls, monsters, armor, books, magical paraphernalia, and equipment. It also includes several additional graphics suitable as border art for decorating pages of text.

Most of the art is not designed to be photorealistic, but instead tends to be more "cartoonish". It is perhaps more reminiscent of the kind of art one might find in a Wizard's of the Coast (TM) "Dragon Mirth" comic strip in the back of their Dragon (TM) magazine or Steve Jackson's Toon (TM) line of products, than something that one might find drawn by Larry Elmore.

To call the art "cartoonish" and let it stand at that might be misinterpreted, and that would be an injustice to the art collection. It's really good work, and inexpensive too.

Suffice it to say that it is crisp, light-hearted imagery that would be great for greeting cards and perfect for gaming club mugs and t-shirts. It is also wonderful for gaming publications with a more upbeat tone.

For publications that are more gloomy or serious, some of the border elements and individual pieces of artwork are still quite useful, although the bulk of the collection would not be particularly appropriate for such a venture.

The few drawings of animals seemed to be slightly less detailed than some of the equipment and "still life" in the collection, but they were still acceptable pieces of art.

My only other major complaint about the collection was that it contained not a single image of an actual human being. I felt myself wanting a picture of "Thrudd the Barbarian" or a whimsical wizard but I found the collection lacking in this area. Since this is merely "Volume A", perhaps Mr. Bieler will be open to producing such images in his next volume.

If you are looking for a grim, photorealistic fantasy clip art collection, with full drawings of lots of characters, then this particular collection is probably not for you. For those with broader horizons and a lighter heart, however, given that you could easily pay more for a single piece of clip art from other vendors online as you would for this 130 piece clip art collection, I recommend that you take the plunge the next time you are looking for an inexpensive RPG impulse buy.

Having corresponded with Andrew Bieler (The Mad Kaiser himself) regarding his product, he seems to be a rather friendly sort who wants people to be happy with his products. He has also recently released a new, updated license with more liberal terms of use for this product. I'm sure that if you already own this product you could ask him for an updated copy of the licensing agreement.

Product is available at RPGNow.COM http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=216&PHPSESSID=4e8dca2c15946cde04434c13ebca79d8