When people who know artists think about Planescape, they typically think of Tony DiTerlizzi. That makes sense, as he pretty much made his name as a fantasy artist with this TSR product line, but certainly he wasn’t the only artist to participate in it.
Today, I’m going to look at another artist who helped define a small piece of the game, R.K. Post. Now certainly Post isn’t known for Planescape, as Magic the Gathering is his bread and butter, but he did do some great work for many TSR products as one of the final members of the TSR ‘pit’ before Wizards of the Coast finally put in-house art to pasture.
The product in question, Planescape’s The Great Modron March. Written by Monte Cook and Colin McComb, this 128 page supplement is really a nice piece of work inside that universe and gives you some fantastic insight into the Modron way of thinking and history.
The cover was done by R.K. Post [when he was still Randy] and it is a classic example of his line structure and facial features. He also gets to work his penchant for odd armor and even some leather. It is easy to see the ground stages of his eventual darker styling in this book, especially when you look at the eyes and tongues of the two dead Modrons being inspected by their murderer on the cover.
Inside, Post does some truly inspired work in black and white along with a few less talented freelance pieces by Adam Rex and Ray Nadeu.
Cartography, always an important feature for Planescape, is rendered by Rob Lazzaretti. He brings us that same great ‘village’ appeal we’ve seen since the inception of the game and helps ground the work in this particular product.
In all, The Great Modron March was a pleasant surprise when I snagged it from Powell’s Books back in 2011, and I happily include it in my small but meaningful Planescape collection.
Artistic Rating: 3.5 [out of 5]
