Manfred Escher
Manfred Escher: Art Director, Designer, and Illustrator for Pegasus Spiele GmbH from 2001-2011.
Biography
Anyone who saw a German-language Cthulhu book in the store in the 2000s and beyond, probably looked at an cover illustration by Manfred Escher of Munich, Germany. Beginning in 2001, the freelance media designer and art director significantly influenced the visual appearance of Pegasus Spiele German Cthulhu-inspired horror role-playing products such as Cthuloide Welten and Cthulhu Now, before retiring after a decade of work in 2011. Notes, hints and anecdotes about Escher himself are completely lacking in his works. Manfred Escher established a web presence as an art designer through his short-lived website www.nyarlathotep.de from 1999, and Frank Heller discovered the artist and introduced him to Pegasus Spiele in 2001. Escher left Pegasus shortly after Heller did in 2011, and has since worked freelance in Media Design, Graphic Design, Corporate Design, and Illustration.
Comments / Trivia
Anyone who saw a German-language Cthulhu book in the store in the 2000s and beyond, probably looked at an cover illustration by Manfred Escher of Munich, Germany. Beginning in 2001, the freelance media designer and art director significantly influenced the visual appearance of Pegasus Spiele German Cthulhu-inspired horror role-playing products such as Cthuloide Welten and Cthulhu Now, before retiring after a decade of work in 2011. Notes, hints and anecdotes about Escher himself are completely lacking in his works. Manfred Escher first encountered Lovecraftian horror in 1990 the form of Cthulhu-themed books in a popular Munich RPG shop, beginning with "Trail of Cthulhu", the alien Lovecraftian names and marked darkness in tone and mood compared the more typical Tolkienesque sword-and-sorcery RPGs sparking his fascination with Lovecraft's fiction, and the Call of Cthulhu RPG, helping Escher to encourage his friends to try the game, and spreading its popularity in Germany. To help spread the word and organize interest in Cthulhu gaming, Escher established a web presence as an art designer through his short-lived website www.nyarlathotep.de from 1999, and Frank Heller discovered the artist and introduced him to Pegasus Spiele in 2001. Escher left Pegasus shortly after Heller did in 2011, and has since worked freelance in Media Design, Graphic Design, Corporate Design, and Illustration.
Artwork
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See the covers and other artwork for a range of Cthulhu-themed Pegasus Press game products and magazines over the early 2000s, including:
- Cthuloide Welten
- 1st and 2nd Editions of the Pegasus German-Language Call of Cthulhu Player's Handbook and Keeper's Handbook
- Cthulhu Now (Setting)
- Mittelalter(Setting)
- Cthulhu 1000 A.D. - Cthulhu Dark Ages
- Horror im Orient-Express (Kampagne), Chaugnar Faugns Fluch (Kampagne), Nocturnum (Kampagne)
- Terror Britannicus (Abenteuer), Aus Aeonen (Abenteuer), Geisterschiffe (Abenteuer), Bleicher Mond (Abenteuer), Jenseits der Schwelle (Abenteuer), Wenn Engel Fallen (Abenteuer), Zeitlose Ängste (Abenteuer), Expeditionen (Abenteuer), Der Teufelsplan des Fu Manchu (Abenteuer), Tage des Mondes (Abenteuer), Unfassbare Mächte (Abenteuer), Todesangst (Abenteuer), Grauen in Arkham (Abenteuer), Sturm auf Innsmouth (Abenteuer), Der Blutstern (Abenteuer Spielbuch), Das schleichende Grauen (Abenteuer Spielbuch)
- Wien (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), Kingsport (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), Dunwich (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), New York (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), Festival Obscure (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), Geheimnisvolles Marokko (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), Dementophobia (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), Niemandsland (Quellen- und Abenteuerband), Necronomicon (Quellenbuch), Arcana Cthulhiana (Quellenbuch), Waffen-Handbuch (Quellenbuch), USA (Quellenbuch), Arkham (Quellenbuch), Innsmouth (Quellenbuch), Verschlusssache (Quellenbuch)
- Sichtschirm + Feuer & Asche (Spielleiterschirm)
- Cthulhu Design (Portfolio)
Links
- http://www.rollenspiel-almanach.de/manfred-escher-verlasst-cthulhu/
- https://www.die-dorp.de/index.php/rezensionen/rollenspiele/cthulhu/940-cthulhu-design
- https://web.archive.org/web/20010405131312/http://www.nyarlathotep.de:80/home_frame.htm
- https://www.xing.com/profile/Manfred_Escher
- http://radaris.de/p/Manfred/Escher/
- Contact: [email protected]
