Back when all you needed to make some cinema was to roll up to the gym and grab yourself a meathead and two aerobic babes.

I loved this game. Talk about buying a book for its cover. I had no idea what I was doing and spent months wandering around the starting area just soaking in the vibes before really figuring stuff out. Aah, pre-internet gaming!

From the era that also did NOT bring you such questions as “Are these shoulder pads too big?” and “Is this too much hairspray?”

It’s so telling that this was from the 80s, an era of excess. “Got a dystopian cyberpunk setting lifted straight out of Neuromancer? Let’s dump the entire Silmarillion on top just for good measure!”

“Bikini Trenchcoat Lady in cutoffs & a shotgun giving covering fire to a Mohawk elf hacking an ATM while exchanging fire with an orc biker gang.” is the kind of concept you give an artist right before you evaporate into pure light and ascend because your role in God’s plan is fulfilled now.

It’s the best. An illustration literally capable of rerouting synapses to make the viewer cooler and better. Impossible achievement.

Christopher Buehlman’s “The Blacktongue Thief” and “The Daughter’s War.” Wee bit of romance to grease the wheels but mostly nasty goblin wars 👍