Sky blue was an option as well as that'd key into the 'Mort' background area - I think I'm just fed up with my usual colour palette and wanted something more lively and 'ripe' to go with Discworld more in general, it seems to want a bouncier feel and yes - it is in your face at times...
This is what I have for the other 2 'World' forums, which was done on 'emotional' tone and I was happy with straight away and a 'quick fix' one I did before we even opened for Discworld.
This last one (it's Eric to stop everyone wondering

) wasn't the full concept as I wanted Paul Kidby's characters with a Josh Kirby background so the image I've put together I'm more or less happy and can tinker with the colour a bit (with Paul's anyway) so there's not such a clash which is currently happening I think and why for me aesthetically the red works best atm as its more balanced visually and 'action-packed'
What I'm also trying to do there is to get the serials represented more or less, so Death's there with a wizard of sorts but no History Monks - I'm happy with the Kidby side of it, but for Kirby I can get more images from the estate if anyone's got a better idea (Mort I got from his website and they didn't have a vast range on there) as the PR woman I spoke to was v. helpful and said she could let me have quality images to use.