I hear you on the relative differences in pay between RPG writers and artists. I wish that RPG writers were paid more (and I support paying more for RPG books to make that happen), but when the right artist and the right image blast one thousand words directly into your visual cortex, that’s hard to beat. The trick is to make sure that they’re the correct words. 😉

I’m surprised that you didn’t mention Space Wurm. I’ve only every seen a short video of the books interior, but it definitely blew my hair back. Very few, if any, mentions of Rifts. Rifts art made a virtue of functionality, but it did a good job of showing you what to aim for. It wouldn’t be my answer for this question (that’s probably Mouse Guard), but it’s worth mentioning.