I am quite surprised that I would be called an idiot by a certain poster for simply stating my slightly tongue-in-cheek opinion regarding Larry Elmore's art. I came of age during the glory years of AD&D/D&D, when the hobby was still a bit rough around the edges and not as "polished" as it became during the mid eighties and beyond. What drew me to the hobby was initially the fabulous though not overly polished artwork of Dave Sutherland, Dave Trampier, Erol Otus -- my personal favorite -- Jeff Dee, Jim Roslof, and the other early artists. Their style reflected the pulp roots of Dungeons & Dragons to me quite effectively. The later more technically proficient artists such as Keith Parkinson, Larry Elmore, and Clyde Caldwell took the imagery and tone of Dungeons & Dragons in another direction by my reckoning, towards the mainstream epic quest fantasy novel trilogies that were so popular in the eighties. That is all I meant by my post, and I am sorry if I offended any of the posters on these boards. Truth be told, I feel that Larry Elmore is a skilled artist technically but his interpretation of what RPG fantasy should be is not the same as mine. Also, he set the tone visually for the Dragonlance series of modules and novels, which I feel truly signalled the end of the RPG Golden Age. Sure, the individual dungeons in the Dragonlance modules were often well designed, but the overarching, railroading storylines serving as background made their inclusion in a DM's home campaign difficult if not impossible without essentially rewriting them from scratch. If such viewpoints make me an idiot, then so be it. I will trouble you no more in this thread. Pax.

Not to rain on anyone's TSR bashing parade, but this was supposed to be a thread about the Elmore Prints.

You could always start a new thread about the cause of TSRs demise.

But since the cat has already been shaved....
I doubt that Larry Elmore (in any capacity) had anything to do with the so-called demise of TSR.

Munafik:
Even though I feel your opinion about Elmore's art is off base, I would not call you an idiot for putting that opinion into writing.

Like many other folks, I also have some opinions of how the demise of TSR came about.
My opinions do not list ANY artists as a cause, although I think some artists work are partly symptomatic (perhaps even symbolic) of that demise as you sort of indicated in your last post.

Gnat the Beggar wrote:Not to rain on anyone's TSR bashing parade, but this was supposed to be a thread about the Elmore Prints.

Well...DragonLance Art = hippies = drawn by Elmore = crap = demise of TSR...There you have it!

Gnat the Beggar wrote:Not to rain on anyone's TSR bashing parade, but this was supposed to be a thread about the Elmore Prints.

To an Elmore fan this may be worth quite a bit... it would depend on how rare this is and how often it turns up.

Dragonlance was a symptom of the change in eras.  The Golden Age was over...everyone had a girlfriend, a job, a new MOS after basic training or was off in college.

Dragonlance heralded the Silver Age in which TSR deliberately attempted to bring in new gamers...specifically girls.  

It is, therefore, no surprise that the company changed hands, changed faces and drifted off into the barrel of shlock known as 2nd Edition.  (Never mind the logic of that statement!)  

It was an era in which anything could happen and the worst thing usually did.  It was a time when even the SAGA rules sounded like a good idea.  Even Barbie Magic Playland got into the act.

And...oh...wait...we're talking about the value of Elmore prints, aren't we.

Sorry.  

I'm not an art collector, but I'll venture a guess at $150 to $200 USD, if complete and mint.

My reasoning is simple.  I happened to chance upon a site selling Elmore limited edition prints today (while looking for something else) and they were selling similar sized prints for $25 to $30 USD, and you have a set of 6.  I tacked on a little more because it's a set.  However, those were more limited runs of 500 or 1000, which might make a massive difference.

What Brette said. + when they directly tried to compete with WOTC they failed and lost a lot more $$$ with the CCG's and dice games they produced. I think they were doing well -from a product selling point- up until the early 90's? It seems that way to me at least.
   I imagine that if WOTC never comes along everything 'sort of' maintains its status quo. If MTG never appears then maybe the new product lines that TSR produces sell better because there would have been a void. I'd guess that a lot of those were in the works pre-MTG. TSR was top dog for so long that they couldn't have known the storm that was approaching. Then when they realized the ramifications of what was occuring they produced those lesser Spellfire/Bloodwars types of games (Just like ICE did their own LOTR CCG) and that was probably the backbreaker along with the reduced sales due to people playing MTG. Sort of like our economy is now, were spending a lot more and at the same time generating a lot less revenue. Finally, China decided not to back up those TSR loans and thre rest was/is history

I don't mind all the bearded characters in Dragonlance. In my own mind, characters from that sort of medievil time don't shave

Edit: I'd also say that Dark Sun / Planescape is a much more radical departure from traditional D&D looking fare. Dragonlance doesn't seem that far removed imo.

deimos3428 wrote:I'm not an art collector, but I'll venture a guess at $150 to $200 USD, if complete and mint.

My reasoning is simple.  I happened to chance upon a site selling Elmore limited edition prints today (while looking for something else) and they were selling similar sized prints for $25 to $30 USD, and you have a set of 6.  I tacked on a little more because it's a set.  However, those were more limited runs of 500 or 1000, which might make a massive difference.

Good idea   , I had not thought to look at an art web site selling Elmore Prints...