Did we get our first look at the new Forgotten Realms...?

[YRUSirius]

Did we get our first look at the new Forgotten Realms...

....when Jon Schindehette posted this article?



In this article we get this picture:

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and this picture:

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and this:

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What I'm seeing here are people from rasheman. Note the rashemi witch mask and their overall barbaric baltic/slavic/russian theme (baba yaga!).



In his Dragon's-Eye View articles he posted another pic in the same style:

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Are these people from Mulhorand? The Shaar? Unther (cause of the babylonic style/theme)?



And today we got our first look at a new possible Elminster look:

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This drawing has the same style as the pictures before. It even uses the same paper/background. This sketch was provided by Conceptopolisa a company that provides WotC with concept art.

There was talk about a chinese videogame company doing concept art for the whole Forgotten Realms.

So what do we do about this? Have we seen the first concept art for the Forgotten Realms?

(Yes, Elminster okay... but the rashemi? )



-YRUSirius

 

[Leatherhead]

I miss Elminster's pointy hat.

 

[Yora]

It also could be any other setting, really. Or even just purely generic.

 

[TheSleepyKing]

Much more likely to be for the edition-neutral Elminster's Forgotten Realms than for 5e Forgotten Realms. That art is awesome, though. It really captures a distinct culture.

 

[YRUSirius]

I was thinking this was for the 5th Edition because Wizards of the Coast normally doesn't comission concept art just for a splat book. We always see this concept art comissions before a new edition for a design bible for all new artists.

And I was thinking this was for the 5th Edition because of the very specific characteristics of those baltic looking people. We have women with masks here. These ARE rashemi witches.

-YRUSirius

 

[El Mahdi]

I very much liked that art. If that's for the Forgotten Realms, that's cool. But I'd like to see that style throughout the entire core books.

The Orcs in the article though (under Monsters), I didn't like so much. Too WoW/Warhammer-ish for me.

 

[Janaxstrus]

The art style reminds me a lot of the Faiths and Pantheons or one of the Specialty priest books.

I forget which, but it had drawings of a priest/priestess from each of the major FR gods and goddesses.

I loved that book for the art.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Didn't care for their Orc either. But the thing that really caught my attention was the fact that he didn't bother to follow his own directions. Of the half dozen illustrations for a town guard or soldier only one had a real weapon, and none had any armor at all. (In this case I'm not counting what are probably magic staffs as 'real' weapons. YMMV.)

 

[variant]

The orc looks like the artist has been playing too much WoW.

 

[Libramarian]

I like the man and the witch-looking woman in the first image! They're cool.

But but...why must the weapons be ridiculously large? How many people have said that we don't want huge weapons? It's a constant refrain.

That double-bladed axe is just stupid-big.

Battleaxes are SMALL and LIGHT. They're made for chopping flesh, which is much easier than chopping wood.
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The reason they're fearsomely pointy at the top and bottom of the blade is because they're trying to take out as much metal as possible to reduce the weight.

If weight is such a concern, why would you have two huge blades on the same weapon.

COME ON MAN.

I don't even think huge weapons look that much cooler than realistic sized weapons. It's just a cliche at this point imo.