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Faction War Cover Variant?

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Wed, 2009-11-18 15:18
#1
Anneka
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Faction War Cover Variant?

Hello everyone,

This is kind of a downer of a first post, and I hope I've got the right section... I was referred here from some collecting experts to help me with a product issue concerning an alternate cover for the 2nd Edition Faction War book.

I recently purchased what I thought was a Faction War book that was shown with an alternate cover. Upon receiving it, however, it ended up being the Great Modron March with this alternate cover attached to the Modron March's front cover. It's bizarre.

So the first thing that enters my mind, of course, is scam. But upon doing the lick-finger-smear-ink test, this attached Faction War cover is not an inkjet printing, but a print-quality press-print. The cover wear on the cover is consistent with years of shelf wear on the book, which means this cover has been on it for some time. There is no product number on the Faction War covering, nor is there an image on the back of it (so it doesn't appear to have been cut from a magazine or old product catalogue), but I cannot find this actual image anywhere... so I have to wonder where someone would have acquired such a high res image to press print at such good quality and, well... why?

Is this just an elaborate scam or homegrown job, or is it possible this was a prototype mock-up for Faction War? The Great Modron March was the product released numerically before Faction War, so numerically it makes sense... Still. I want to be sure this is possible before I send this strange thing back for a refund.

Here are images of the book: http://s813.photobucket.com/albums/zz54/35Threeve/FactionWar/?albumview=...

I can't say what your help in this matter would mean. I've been banging my head about this for days!

Thank you all for your time.

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Mon, 2009-11-23 00:09
#2
Anetra
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Re: Faction War Cover Variant?

I am extremely curious about this! It's very strange. I did a bit of quick googling and found nothing, though this was probably less extensive than your own searches.

Tue, 2009-11-24 15:39
#3
sciborg2
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Re: Faction War Cover Variant?

interesting, i suspect printing error...

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Thu, 2009-11-26 01:34
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Idran
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Re: Faction War Cover Variant?

sciborg2 wrote:
interesting, i suspect printing error...

What kind of printing error could make an entirely new cover that hadn't been used for anything else and paste it on top of an existing book? I have to agree with the mock-up theory, myself.

Thu, 2009-11-26 16:59
#5
Anneka
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Re: Faction War Cover Variant?

Thank you for your replies!

Here's what I've been discovering:

As per emails with Monte Cook, no alternative cover was ever released, however there is a remote possibility someone at the company may have needed a mock-up. Or, he suggested it could be a fan-made thing.

Per other discussions and thorough examinations, the cover wear is consistent with years of shelf wear, meaning the cover has been on this book for possibly a long time... possibly before Faction War or the Great Modron March was worth as much as they are on eBay. It definitely seems to be a print out, not a finished cover, however it is not ink jet and suggests a professional quality printing.

The image of the Lady of Pain crying the bloody tear was said to have been used as a promo snapshot in a TSR catalogue from the year Faction War was to be released. It also appears on the promo stickers for Faction War, along with the "Faction War" text that appears on the questionable book I have. The text in the sticker image is *not* over top of the Lady's image, but on a black background with the promo info. Also, these two images are very small.

The AD&D logo at the top of the book in question is larger than most of the Planescape books, in comparison, however the other Planescape books have logos of varying sizes, so there does not appear to be a template for size. The TSR logo on the bottom is consistent with the trademarked logo of the time, however there may be a shaved corner on the image? The PS header, AD&D logo and TSR logo would have all had to be put onto the image separately.

Here's my question with the fan-made idea: 1. How could a fan get their hands on a high res version of a rarely used image and text combo for a book cover that never was, overlap the text, add the logos and then... why would they take it to a professional printing place (and pay!) to have a cover made and cut and stuck onto a Great Modron March cover? If the cover wear is true to years of age, the books would have been worth about 20 bucks back then... why go through all the trouble?

The last interesting thing I discovered is the book was purchased from an eBay seller that is a used gaming/hobby shop located a few miles from WotC's headquarters. I guess that doesn't *really* mean much, but hey... if they had old items lying around or there was a long time employee, maybe it got ditched nearby.

Or... maybe this is all driving me nuts and it's just a hack job. What I can't fathom is *why* anyone would do that, outside of a mock-up. And it just bothers me to no end to imagine that I'll never know for sure. Smiling

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