Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Ivid the Undying

Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:50 pm Ivid the Undying - reconstruction of Cover

Hi there,

as most of you will know, the original cover of „Ivid the Undying“ is lost; thanks to the Acaeum (<http://www.acaeum.com/>) I’ve found out that the true Easley-cover which was to be used with Ivid the Undying was later used for the Birthright-module “Blood Enemies of Cerelia”.
Recently I’ve bought that Birthright-module (for just 2 Euros...) & so I was able to attempt a reconstruction of the original Ivid-cover with the help of a certain Mr. Photoshop - I’m quite proud of the final result & I’ll mail a high-quality PDF-file of the cover (front & back) to everybody who’s interested in a copy (I should add that the file is quite big - about 4 megs).

Greetings from Germany,
Jens

Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:55 pm

Would be quite interested!

BTW, did I send you an invitation to the German *pro* - mailing list already?

Wink

Wenn sich schon mal ein Hawker aus D hierher verirrt, muß man die Chance ja schließlich nutzen...
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"A Minstrel's Memory": PBPs & Other Games, since 2005.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:44 am

Sounds good. Where can we find the link to this image?
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Cheerz,
-Rick "Duicarthan" Miller
Editor-in-Chief, Oerth Journal
http://www.oerthjournal.com http://www.greyhawkonline.com/duicarthan

Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:03 am

Good work! Count me in too!

Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:33 am

It was my understanding that the Ivid cover was actually used and appeared as the cover of the Ravenloft module - Van Richten's Guide to the Ancient Dead. I believe Ann Brown (former TSR employee and author of the Falcon ceries of GH modules) to be the source of this information.
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GVD

Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:54 am

GVD, not after this research article by the acaeum. (scroll down) There are also some threads on Wotc on this topic i believe...
Here's a pic of the BR module. It does fit with the other WGR covers style wise...

Jens, Great idea!!!
Funny thing is I had the same idea recently and already searched the internet high and wide for the picture withouth any writing. I never found anything though. I also asked for help in this thread on the acaeum about it too but nobody answered yet. If you have the cover scanned or ready be sure to send me pm or better post it here!

Small world... (Und mannomann hier gibt's ja wohl nur Deutsche was ? :) )

Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:13 pm

Hi Thanael, Smile

I politely disagree.

The age of the products in question is one factor - Ancient Dead vs. Blood Enemies. I have also heard the cover was used on the Ancient Dead from what I believe to be good sources within old TSR.

Finally, the good folks at The Aceaum (sp) do not always get their facts straight as a read through the linked page amply demonstrates. Wink

Nuff said. Cool

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GVD

Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:12 pm

Hi Guys,

very interesting discussion; the funny thing is that in my first reconstruction-attempt I used the "Ancient Dead" cover... I only didn't know the background info which has just been mentioned; this cover has also been used for the german edition of "Tomb of Horrors" & I always thought that it would have been a perfect cover for ItU - much better than the Blood Enemies cover - but then I also thought that the painting-style on the latter module is much nearer to the style of the other GH-modules... well, perhaps we will never know the truth, but anybody who's interesed can have a scan of EITHER version. Just send me your e-mail-address (mine is: jensenmann3@gmx.de).
I've tried to send the files to Canonfire but the transfer didn't work & I didn't get a response to my help-me-mail yet...

Greetings from G.,
Jens

Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:38 pm

Yeah the downloads section is messed up, as posted here ( http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1414&sid=bf68450655815a5bb14b82e2445701be ).

However, email or Private Message the info on the file, size, and the link its located at and I can get it posted for you. If its not online yet just email a copy to duicarthan(at)hotmaildotcom =)
_________________
Cheerz,
-Rick "Duicarthan" Miller
Editor-in-Chief, Oerth Journal
http://www.oerthjournal.com http://www.greyhawkonline.com/duicarthan

Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:26 pm

Jens---

I've been swamped, and haven't even had a chance to check out the file you sent me yet :(

That said, you should definitely ping the editors to see if they'd like to make the file available as a download (once they're fixed, of course)---that way GH fans the world over will be able to appreciate your hard work :D
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Allan Grohe<br />https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html<br />https://grodog.blogspot.com/

Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:58 pm

For a while I too thought the Van Richten cover was our guy, but other folks at Wizards at the time that I came aboard as Polyhedron editor confirmed that it was in fact the Blood Enemies cover that was originally intended for Ivid.

I still wasn't convinced, however, until I came across a complete set of Jeff Easley trading cards, published by FGU with Jeff's cooperation. The Blood Enemies cover was one of the cards in the set, and each card featured a paragraph of inspiration information and the piece's title on the opposite side. The Blood Enemies painting was called "Ivid the Undying."

Someone could ask Jeff, which is probably the only way to know for sure, but I'm satisfied that the Blood Enemies of Cerelia cover was originally intended for Ivid the Undying.

--Erik Mona

Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:35 pm

>but I'm satisfied that the Blood Enemies of Cerelia cover was originally >intended for Ivid the Undying.

Thanks for the info Erik!

Meanwhile I've sent the Blood Enemies-file to Rick who offered to post it to Canonfire for me. I hope you'll like it!

Greetings,
Jens

Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:07 am

Yup I have it right now. In fact I also formatted it into the Ivid the Undying pdf! It looks wonderful, I'm hoping ot have it posted by this weekend (seeing as my connection is tedious).
I may end up posting all versions up so everyone has a copy they like. =)
_________________
Cheerz,
-Rick "Duicarthan" Miller
Editor-in-Chief, Oerth Journal
http://www.oerthjournal.com http://www.greyhawkonline.com/duicarthan

Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:26 am

Call me stubborn but I'm not buying it. Smile

Leaving previously noted points to one side - (1) the heraldry is wrong on the Cerelian piece and (2) the style does not match the FtA style but the Ancient Dead cover does.

I think the card was just in error.
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GVD

Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:43 am

>(1) the heraldry is wrong on the Cerelian piece

looking at my scan of the cover I think it might be possible that they've changed the heraldry when they did the Birthright-cover

>(2) the style does not match the FtA style but the Ancient Dead cover does.

but the style does match the cover-art of the Marklands & Iuz the Evil

On the other hand I agree (as I've mentioned above) that in comparison to the Blood Enemies-cover, the AD-cover is the superior piece of art... Laughing

Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:31 am

Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:31 pm

As a newcomer to GH, I don't own any back product and just done a search on google for different cover of Birthright as well as for the post FtA era and I say that I must agree with GVD.

If you look at most GH product cover they always feature a proeminent entity which represent well the content of the accessory (a brave knight for The Marklands, Iuz, or I think it is, for Iuz the Evil and FtA...)

Also you have to admit that the cover of AD suites better Ivid the Undying with its Undead lord sitting on a throne(malachite?) the the cover of BE

If I was for voting which cover should be used for ItU I'd definitely go for AD cover.

Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:10 pm

Hehehe, and if I stated which cover I like more, would you others accept it? Laughing

Nothing about toying with my nickname... :silly:

Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:29 am

Why not try getting an answer from Easley? If he's willing to respond the matter could be easley settled!
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Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:37 am

Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:51 am

Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:19 am

Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:08 am

Anybody have a link to a picture of the cover of Blood Enemies of Cerelia?
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Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:12 am

Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:14 am

Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:54 pm

Thanks for the heads up DMPrata on Thanael's link. I somehow missed that.

Here is a link the the "Ancient Dead" pic Andy:

http://www.jeffeasley.com/popups/color/co084.htm

This one goes well with "The Marklands", "Iuz the Evil", and "City of Skulls" Covers- all Easley art. But BE:AoC looks pretty good too.

I think the Ancient Dead pick goes better with the title "Ivid the Undying" though, as it focuses on an individual. Both are nice covers though.
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Sun Jul 17, 2005 11:03 pm

From the artistic point of view, I'd personallly prefer the BE cover - reflects pretty much the *inner images* I had when reading the book, if you understand what I mean. Embarassed

Besides, I think ItU was the pretty best book of the entire 2e Greyhawk line! (Well, I've not seen all of them, of course...) What a shame that it never was sold as a printed product!
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"A Minstrel's Memory": PBPs & Other Games, since 2005.

Sun Jul 24, 2005 6:24 am

I've finished an Anceint Dead version(I have a slightly better one Mortellan). Cool

The BE version might be beyond my meager skills. If somebody just happens to have a large decent quality pic(at least over 100 pixels/inch) of BE without the Brithright logo, or somebody can put up a link to one, then it will take me all of about 10 minutes to do that one too. Shocked

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Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:51 pm

Here is a link to the "Ancient Dead" cover version of "Ivid the Undying". This is a mock-up of what the cover could have looked like, and is of course unofficial. This cover follows the format of "The Marklands" cover- the author is not listed on the cover. WGR5 was product #9399, hence listing WGR7 as product number 9401. If you like this version, then enjoy.

http://www.canonfire.com/cf/BIN/Ivid_the_Undying3_Final_JPEG.jpg

The "Blood Enemies" version may happen, but it is a lot more complex, and the image quality of the pic I have to work with is not so good. If anybody can post a link to a very clear, high quality pic(particularly a pic of the original art without any logos on it- this would be ideal!!!), I'll see what I can do. That being said, I can make no promises.
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Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:23 am

Thank you for sharing this! It looks great.
The font stlye of the title is a little off, though.

So all we need now for the perfect product is to get the b/w artwork into the interior pages (from the other WGR books ) and make a better back cover than the one from the William Allman pdf.

Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:45 am

>So all we need now for the perfect product is to get the b/w artwork into the >interior pages (from the other WGR books ) and make a better back cover >than the one from the acaeum/William Allman pdf.

well... my "Blood Enemies"-version includes a back cover as well - I hope that some day this file will finally turn up in the Canonfire Download-section... :-)
I can mail you this PDF-file, but it is rather big - 5-6 megs. Just send me a mail if you're interested - jensenmann3atgmxdotde

Jens

Fri Jul 29, 2005 6:10 am Ivid cover finally.

The Ivid the Undying (Acaceum/ Cerelia) cover is now available for download hosted here at Canonfire. The link is http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=146
_________________
Cheerz,
-Rick "Duicarthan" Miller
Editor-in-Chief, Oerth Journal
http://www.oerthjournal.com http://www.greyhawkonline.com/duicarthan

Fri Jul 29, 2005 6:24 am

This is so great! Thanks Rick! ..and Jens of course!

Fri Jul 29, 2005 7:00 am

anytime and thank you, ghjerry =)
_________________
Cheerz,
-Rick "Duicarthan" Miller
Editor-in-Chief, Oerth Journal
http://www.oerthjournal.com http://www.greyhawkonline.com/duicarthan

Sat Jul 30, 2005 5:12 am

I changed the font from Times New Roman to something a bit more sinister in the "Ancient Dead" version. I think it is called "Nosfer".

The Acaceum/Cerelia cover is a pretty nice mock-up. They had a very nice, clear image to work with too. The blending of the background sky is particularly good.
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Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:31 am

>The Acaceum/Cerelia cover is a pretty nice mock-up. They had a very nice, >clear image to work with too. The blending of the background sky is >particularly good.

thanks for your praise Embarassed

!
However I didn't have a clear image to work with... in fact I scanned the Birthright-cover & did my reconstruction with the help of Photoshop...

Wink

Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:36 pm

So if that was supposed to be the original cover, who were the figures supposed to represent? Ivid presumably, but I never pictured him like that. Szeffrin maybe? Also, anyone thought what the scene is supposed to represent in particular?

Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:08 pm

Sat Aug 06, 2005 12:44 am Re: Ivid cover finally.

Sat Aug 06, 2005 2:00 am

I've sent a message to William Allman giving a link to this thread and suggesting just that.

Tue Sep 13, 2005 6:26 pm

Apparently William updated his file about a month ago, with some new cover and interior art. It looks quite good, though he chose a different image for the cover. I'll be curious to hear how he and Jens arrived at which images were the one that was planned for Ivid!
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Allan Grohe<br />https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html<br />https://grodog.blogspot.com/