This is Hardware (1992), a tech sourcebook for XXVc. It is the last of the XXVc books I own and I don’t really have much to say about it. There’s a bunch of tech, mostly weapons.

I like the cover though, and the interior art is weirdly high quality for what is a pretty low effort book coming out at the end of the line’s lifespan. TSR was often content to use any old crap to illustrate its Forgotten Realms sourcebooks, and those were generally marquee releases.

The reason for this level of quality is because here, and in most of the XXVc books I own, the art was produced by Continuity Studios (no doubt thanks to Flint Dille’s connection to the comic book and animation scenes). Continuity was founded by the late, great Neal Adams and the equally late, great Dick Giordano as a way for comic artists to ply their trade in other fields, like film storyboards or, in this case, RPG illustrations (I imagine that outfits like this got comic artists money far more commensurate with their skills than the funny books). The list of associate artists who’ve worked for Continuity is long, and includes folks like Larry Hama, Howard Chaykin and Al Milgrom. I kind of wish TSR gave clear credit, as I am just shy of being able to identify the artists.