ORDINARY PEOPLE. EXTRAORDINARY TROUBLE.

Criminals. Investigators. Soldiers. Survivors. Vampires. Mutants. Sinister surgeons.

The modern world contains billions of people, most of whom are not professional models standing in spotless studios with pleasantly neutral expressions.

Some are frightened.

Some are dangerous.

Some have just found something appalling in a basement.

Brad McDevitt Stock Art – Modern Collection 4 provides 25 TIFF image files representing 23 distinct subjects for publishers, writers, game designers and Games Masters who need strong, characterful contemporary artwork without commissioning every illustration individually.

The collection covers crime, investigation, horror, urban action, military subjects, mutants, vampires and ordinary people caught in deeply abnormal circumstances.

The artwork may be used in personal and professional projects, subject to the terms of the attached licence.

INSIDE THE COLLECTION

The supplied files include:

• Fatale in colour

• Fatale in greyscale

• Flowing Hair

• Gruesome Find

• Hospital Arts

• Military Image

• Mutant Woman in colour

• Mutant Woman in greyscale

• Pensive Girl

• Police in black and white

• Primitive

• Redneck Man

• Scary Woman

• The Morgue

• The Ruins of Atlantis

• Thug in an Alley

• Thug

• Thugs Arguing

• Vampire and Victim

• Vampire Thug

• Winter Trek

• Sinister Surgeon

• Ten Punks

• Aristocrat

• Bad-Ass-Looking Guys

That gives you criminals, authority figures, survivors, social elites, supernatural predators, atmospheric scenes and several people who should not be allowed near the evidence locker.

CRIME IN THE STREETS

The collection contains a useful assortment of thugs, punks and intimidating groups for modern crime, action and investigation games.

The Thug, Thug in an Alley, Thugs Arguing, Ten Punks and Bad-Ass-Looking Guys can represent:

• Street gangs

• Organised criminals

• Hired muscle

• Violent witnesses

• Security personnel

• Mercenaries

• Criminal contacts

• Suspects

• People guarding a door they insist leads nowhere interesting

• The welcoming committee outside a particularly disreputable nightclub

These figures can be used as minor encounters, recurring adversaries or the visible edge of a much larger organisation.

A pair of thugs arguing might be an opportunity to gather information.

The man in the alley may be waiting for a victim—or hiding from somebody worse.

The gang may control a neighbourhood, protect it or regard the distinction as unnecessarily academic.

Not every criminal needs a complete biography.

Sometimes the Games Master simply needs somebody dangerous-looking to occupy an alley, deliver a threat or explain why the investigators should stop asking questions.

INVESTIGATION AND THE LAW

The Police illustration and several of the collection’s contemporary characters can support crime, mystery, procedural and conspiracy games.

Use them for:

• Police officers

• Detectives

• Government agents

• Private investigators

• Witnesses

• Suspects

• Crime-scene personnel

• Officials trying to keep an incident quiet

• Authorities who have already decided the characters are responsible

Modern investigations often turn upon the people involved rather than the crime itself.

Who is telling the truth?

Who has been bribed?

Who is frightened?

Who knows what happened but refuses to explain why they were there?

The same image can represent an ally in one game and an obstacle in another. A police officer may provide resources and authority—or insist that the player characters put down their weapons and explain the bodies.

This is especially useful in horror and urban-fantasy campaigns, where official investigators may be struggling to apply ordinary procedures to events that do not respect ordinary reality.

GRUESOME DISCOVERIES

Gruesome Find, The Morgue, Hospital Arts and Sinister Surgeon provide material for crime scenes, medical horror, investigations and situations in which somebody has been treating professional ethics as an optional extra.

These illustrations can accompany:

• Murder investigations

• Autopsies

• Illegal experiments

• Hospital encounters

• Medical conspiracies

• Body horror

• Serial-killer scenarios

• Organ trafficking

• Supernatural diseases

• Places where the smell arrives before the explanation

The Morgue may be an ordinary workplace until one of the bodies moves.

The Sinister Surgeon might be a criminal doctor, deranged researcher, cultist or entirely legitimate specialist whose methods are nevertheless causing concern.

Hospital Arts can be used for scenes involving treatment, injury, institutional horror or the consequences of something that has gone badly wrong.

Gruesome Find offers a natural opening for an investigation.

Someone has discovered something dreadful.

The immediate question is what.

The more important question is whether it has noticed them.

MUTANTS, VAMPIRES AND MODERN MONSTERS

Although this is a modern collection, several illustrations cross naturally into horror, urban fantasy and science fiction.

The collection includes:

• Mutant Woman in colour and greyscale

• Vampire and Victim

• Vampire Thug

• Scary Woman

• Primitive

The Mutant Woman can represent a genetic experiment, supernatural transformation, altered human, post-apocalyptic survivor or member of a hidden population living alongside ordinary society.

The Vampire Thug brings the supernatural down from the gothic castle and into the street. He might be an enforcer, gang member, bodyguard or predator who has discovered that modern criminal organisations provide both protection and a steady supply of victims.

Vampire and Victim offers an immediate scene of supernatural danger, predation or seduction.

The Primitive figure could be a survivor, cultist, isolated human, transformed character or someone whose appearance conceals a rather more complicated history.

The Scary Woman may be human, supernatural or something inconveniently between the two.

Use these pieces in:

• Urban-fantasy games

• Vampire campaigns

• Modern horror

• Post-apocalyptic settings

• Paranormal investigation

• Mutant conspiracies

• Hidden-world games

• Science-fiction thrillers

• Adventures in which the authorities insist monsters do not exist despite mounting evidence to the contrary

The modern world provides excellent cover for monsters.

Most people are trained to ignore anything strange and continue walking.

WOMEN OF MYSTERY

The collection includes several female figures with different moods and possible roles, including Fatale, Flowing Hair, Pensive Girl, Mutant Woman and Scary Woman.

They can become:

• Player characters

• Investigators

• Informants

• Socialites

• Criminals

• Survivors

• Suspects

• Supernatural beings

• Femme-fatale antagonists

• People whose apparent vulnerability is encouraging precisely the wrong assumptions

The Fatale is supplied in both colour and greyscale, giving publishers greater flexibility for different layouts.

A femme fatale need not be a villain. She may be an agent, manipulator, survivor or person who has learned that others consistently underestimate her.

The Pensive Girl can illustrate reflection, grief, uncertainty or a moment of calm before matters become considerably worse.

Flowing Hair offers a more atmospheric image suitable for dreams, supernatural influence, transformation or a character introduction.

Stock art is most useful when it suggests possibilities without dictating a single interpretation.

Use the image that suits your character.

Change the character whenever a better idea occurs.

THE ARISTOCRAT

The Aristocrat provides a useful figure for campaigns involving wealth, inherited power, political influence or people who regard ordinary laws as a service intended for others.

He might be:

• An old-money patron

• A politician

• A wealthy suspect

• A corporate executive

• A cult leader

• A supernatural elder

• A collector of dangerous artefacts

• The owner of the mansion where everything went wrong

• Someone who has never personally killed anybody because he employs staff

Modern games often need powerful figures who do not look like street criminals but remain considerably more dangerous.

The Aristocrat can provide money, influence and access.

He can also provide enemies, obligations and the uncomfortable discovery that the player characters have been hired to solve a problem he created.

MILITARY OPERATIONS

The Military Image can support modern warfare, espionage, counter-terrorism, survival and conspiracy games.

Use it for:

• Soldiers

• Special operations

• Government forces

• Mercenaries

• Private military companies

• Security teams

• Rescue missions

• Military investigations

• Operations against supernatural threats

• Groups sent to contain an incident after every sensible option has failed

Military characters bring training, equipment and official authority.

They also bring chains of command, mission objectives and superiors who may know far more than they are prepared to reveal.

Perhaps the soldiers are rescuers.

Perhaps they are occupying the area.

Perhaps they have been ordered to destroy the evidence and regard the player characters as part of it.

INTO THE COLD

Winter Trek provides an atmospheric illustration for journeys through snow, isolation and hostile conditions.

It can accompany:

• Wilderness survival

• Mountain expeditions

• Arctic research

• Flight from pursuit

• Disaster scenarios

• Remote military operations

• Post-apocalyptic journeys

• Expeditions to abandoned facilities

• Adventures in which shelter and warmth matter as much as ammunition

The travellers may be heading towards safety.

They may be leaving it behind.

The figures in the distance may be companions, pursuers or something that has been following their trail since nightfall.

A single environmental image can establish the tone of an entire chapter.

Cold makes every problem worse.

Isolation prevents anyone else from solving it.

THE RUINS OF ATLANTIS

The Ruins of Atlantis brings an archaeological, historical or fantastic element to the collection.

It can be used for:

• Underwater discoveries

• Lost civilisations

• Archaeological expeditions

• Occult investigations

• Ancient conspiracies

• Pulp adventure

• Modern fantasy

• Science-fiction discoveries beneath the sea

• Evidence that accepted history is almost entirely wrong

The ruins may be genuinely Atlantean, a hoax, an alien installation or something older than humanity.

The people exploring them may be scientists, treasure hunters, military divers or cultists returning to a sacred place.

Use the image to introduce a location, chapter or mystery.

Then decide what the explorers have awakened.

MODERN ART FOR MANY GENRES

The breadth of the collection makes it useful across several different kinds of game and publication.

It can support:

• Crime

• Espionage

• Modern action

• Police procedurals

• Horror

• Urban fantasy

• Conspiracy thrillers

• Post-apocalyptic games

• Science fiction

• Pulp adventure

• Independent gaming magazines and ’zines

• Fiction and digital publications

The thugs and police suit crime games.

The morgue and surgeon suit horror.

The vampires and mutant suit urban fantasy.

The military and winter material suit action and survival.

The ruins suggest archaeology, pulp adventure or occult conspiracy.

Use the whole collection together or take the individual pieces wherever they prove useful.

A stock-art collection is a toolbox.

Nobody expects every tool to be used upon the same unfortunate machine.

PROFESSIONAL ART FOR INDEPENDENT CREATORS

Commissioning original artwork remains the best way to obtain precisely the image a project requires.

It is also expensive.

Independent publishers generally have to divide limited funds between writing, editing, layout, printing, promotion and the unreasonable ambition of paying themselves.

Stock art provides a practical alternative.

It can help you:

• Illustrate characters and encounters

• Break up dense sections of text

• Establish atmosphere

• Complete adventures and smaller supplements

• Add impact to chapter openings

• Create investigative handouts

• Populate supporting-character sections

• Build a reusable art library

• Reserve commission funds for essential bespoke pieces

• Remove the last boxes marked ART GOES HERE

One strong illustration can transform a page.

Twenty-three distinct subjects can populate an entire campaign’s worth of trouble.

ART THAT CREATES STORIES

Useful stock art does more than fill space.

It asks questions.

What was found at the crime scene?

Why is the surgeon smiling?

Who is the woman in the morgue?

What are the thugs arguing about?

Who is the vampire’s victim?

Why has the mutant been hiding?

What lies beneath the Ruins of Atlantis?

Who sent the military team?

Where are the travellers going through the snow?

Why does the aristocrat want the matter kept quiet?

Choose an illustration.

Decide what its subject wants.

Put something inconvenient in the way.

Connect the resulting trouble to the player characters.

That is often enough to begin an encounter, investigation or complete campaign.

FILES AND VARIANTS

The preview shows 25 TIFF files representing 23 distinct subjects.

Two subjects are supplied in both colour and greyscale:

• Fatale

• Mutant Woman

The remaining files are distinct illustrations covering contemporary characters, criminals, investigators, horror scenes, supernatural figures and atmospheric locations.

READ THE LICENCE

The artwork is supplied for personal and professional use under the terms of the attached licence.

Read the licence before publication and ensure that your intended use, alterations and attribution comply with its requirements.

Some pieces may also appear in other Brad McDevitt collections where they suit more than one genre. Modern material naturally overlaps with horror, science fiction, historical gaming and urban fantasy.

You can explore the complete Brad McDevitt Stock Art range or browse other modern products and collections.

The body has been discovered.

The police are asking questions.

The surgeon has disappeared.

Your manuscript still needs pictures.

Solve the simplest problem first.