D&D General Does The D&D Movie Poster Feature Pathfinder Artwork?

The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie poster was previewed today. It was created by an artist called Bosslogic, and features an ampersand containing various pieces of D&D monster art. The poster was on display at San Diego Comic Con as part of the official D&D movie promotional event. However, one part of the poster appears to be Pathfinder's depiction of an intellect devourer. Is...

The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie poster was previewed today. It was created by an artist called Bosslogic, and features an ampersand containing various pieces of D&D monster art. The poster was on display at San Diego Comic Con as part of the official D&D movie promotional event.

However, one part of the poster appears to be Pathfinder's depiction of an intellect devourer. Is this the same art piece?

poster.jpeg


paizo_devourer.png

Paizo's Pathfinder 2 Bestiary (thanks to @Ir'revrykal for the pic)

It certainly looks like the same piece of art.

Now, the intellect devourer is a D&D monster which appeared way back in 1976, and has appeared in every edition of D&D since. Why does Pathfinder have artwork of one? Well, the creature was first released as Open Gaming Content 20 years ago under the Open Gaming License. Since then, other companies have used the monster, or created their own versions of it -- including Paizo in the Pathfinder RPG. The name and the stat blocks (including the Pathfinder version) are free to use.

The art? Not so much. Art commissioned by Paizo to illustrate its Bestiaries is not Open Gaming Content. While art can be OGC (nowhere in the OGL is the actual subject matter defined -- you can make any of your work OGC and available for use by others, from sheet music to 3D spaceship models), companies rarely designate it as so, and Paizo's intellect devourer art is no exception.


However, the 'open gaming license' tangent is a red herring. It's unlikely that Paramount was thinking in terms of open source TTRPG game rules when it made the poster, and this poster is not released using the OGL, so its terms are not relevant to it. More likely, somebody just assumed that that piece of art was created by WotC, not Paizo. The 'OGL' part of this conversation simply explains why Paizo has a version of the creature too, and why Paizo therefore commissioned art for their version.

For comparison, here is the D&D 5E version of the intellect devourer—presumably the piece of art that should have been used.

C21BED96-2003-456D-9664-40E94A3F20D1.jpeg

It's not the first time mistakes like this have happened. Back in 2018 Old Spice released a D&D class called The Gentleman... except that it was actually a Pathfinder class!


When it comes down to it, this is almost certainly just a simple mistake--a contracted artist, not as versed in TTRPGs as many people reading this, simply didn't realise that other companies could or had made their own versions of the creature, and used the one which fitted the space. Nothing to get upset about, and the companies will likely have a quick phone call and the matter will be settled.
 

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Von Ether

Legend

To be honest, this poster made me a little sad today.

A little over a year ago, I lost a good friend, Brian Dalrymple. He loved to collect owlbear miniatures and thought is was the coolest iconic D&D beast. He would have loved that poster.

Brian was not only a FGLS owner, he was secretary for GAMA for over 20 years! So even if the name doesn't ring a bell, a lot of your D&D (and beyond D&D) game design heroes did.

pours out a diet coke in memorial

Don't mind me, the room got dusty here.
 

DND_Reborn

The High Aldwin
Wow, I hope this is a joke! :oops:

That is a crappy movie poster--one of the worst I think I can recall seeing, actually.

For a game like D&D and everything WotC has at its disposal--I can't believe this is legit.
 




Umbran

Mod Squad
Staff member
Supporter
My bet? Paizo and WotC will figure it out without to much sweat. Probably with WotC writing Paizo a check. Probably over one of thier mutual games.

But that’s just a hopeful guess.

Probably less fuss than that:

"Um, guys? You used our art. Can you not do that please?"
"Oh, crap! Sorry! We'll make sure the movie folks check in the future!"

Because misuse of one piece of art is not something to sour relationships over.
 

Rabulias

the Incomparably Shrewd and Clever
Wow, I hope this is a joke! :oops:

That is a crappy movie poster--one of the worst I think I can recall seeing, actually.
It is a bit underwhelming. I hope it's more of a teaser poster. The trailer helps me feel better.
For a game like D&D and everything WotC has at its disposal--I can't believe this is legit.
My bet? Paizo and WotC will figure it out without to much sweat. Probably with WotC writing Paizo a check. Probably over one of thier mutual games.
I don't think Wizards had anything to do with the production of the poster. Any dispute over the art is with Paramount and eOne.
 


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