What's on a Cover?

Illustration Paints a Picture.

We humans are creatures who typically receive a lot of information about our surroundings through our vision. Our eyes quickly process reflected or source light and our brain interprets images almost before we have time to think about what we are seeing. I suppose it is a survival thing - see and react!

People in marketing apparently know much more about this than I do. They often package products to take advantage of the connection we have between sight and thought and emotion, or so it seems. A cliché I have heard often says, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Another is, "Seeing is believing." Obviously we can learn a great deal from looking at an image, but what we make of the image can vary immensely based on our associations and generalizations connected to it.

Judging a book by its cover - or a game by its box - can be tricky. Some cover illustrations seem to inform, others may leave one wondering, and a few may seem misleading. The publisher of The World's First Role-Playing Game communicated several key concepts to be found within their new game quite effectively with cover illustrations. Thinking back on the Basic box art and at the covers of the three Advanced books, I find dragons, and other monstrous creatures, often inhabiting an underground environment, and evidence of magic, and of treasure in abundance - in other words, lots of adventures to be found within. Anyone familiar with the games they contained will likely grant that their cover illustrations reveal much of what the game is about. 

The Avalon Hill Game Company published RuneQuest as a boxed game (1984) prominently featuring the above cover illustration by Jody Lee. The image is attractive and it immediately "caught my eye" and helped to fuel my excitement for the new edition of RuneQuest. The box's cover illustration remains a personal favorite image to this day. 

So what does the box art tell us about RuneQuest? The colors are attractive and the composition is centered on two human figures, one male, one female. The fact that both figures are human in appearance and that the female is outfitted with spear and armor does not escape my notice. RuneQuest is a game that freely allows for non-human player characters, but the default setting (Glorantha or Fantasy Europe) assumes a mostly human cast of PCs. 

As mentioned, both characters appear as warrior types. RuneQuest includes game magic, but does so with a more subtle touch than other fantasy role-playing games often use. RuneQuest is a skill based system that does not use character class as a mechanic. Therefore magic use in RuneQuest is not relegated to a magic user class. Magic is treated more like another skill in RuneQuest. The game does not include openly "flashy" magics either - i.e no fireball or lightning bolts.

The illustrated figures wear armor that reflects the hit-location based system RuneQuest uses for combat and encumbrance. Metal plate armor is heavy and expensive in RuneQuest. Our box art adventurers make sparing use of metal and instead show a lot of areas of their body covered by leather. One is armed with sword and shield, the latter object sporting a motif suggesting possible Germanic or Viking influences. The other adventurer (with flowing '80s hair) is armed with a two-handed spear and small buckler, both consistent with certain tactical considerations found under the RuneQuest combat system. A shield is very handy for parrying incoming attacks, which is vital to avoiding damage in RuneQuest, and a spear provides both reach and the possibility of impaling damage - both have potential advantages for the spear wielder in the RuneQuest combat system.

The illustration background shows a rugged range of mountains suggesting possible geographic isolation for the setting location. Ruined stonework, perhaps of a somewhat alien aspect, is featured in the immediate area upon which the adventurers stand. The plants are suggestive of a warm climate and the presence of a somewhat canine skull (or is it that of a troll perhaps?) which is lying loose upon the stone steps and yet further enhancing the feeling that we are viewing some forgotten ruin - a city or perhaps a temple complex. The stonework death-head motif flanking the steps presents a somewhat foreboding visage. Skull-like images clearly suggestive of some death cult are topped by large stone faces of creatures that perhaps suggest they depict the game's peculiar version of trolls (or they could also be interpreted as stylized lions?). For me, as perhaps by those familiar with the RuneQuest world, they look like trolls.

I do not know how familiar the artist, Jody Lee, was with RuneQuest? Does the interpretations I see in the cover art represent the intended message of the artist? Or are my thoughts merely projections of my having taken perceived or apparent connections between the game and the image well beyond any intent on the part of the artist? And does it matter?

A quick online search of the artist Jody Lee reveals she has produced book cover art for a number of science fiction/ fantasy novels written by notable authors including Mercedes Lackey, Micky Zucker Reichert, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L'Engle, and others. It seems logical to assume that an experienced cover artist would get to know something about the subject for which they are creating the cover image. I think Jody Lee did an excellent job conveying the spirit of RuneQuest!