D&D 5E Better pics from PAX East

[CM]

When people talk about chain mail bikinis, they aren't talking about literal bikinis made of chain mail. They're talking about gratuitous sexualization of female characters.

This may come as a surprise but it's not always male gamers who like sexy female characters. I've known quite a few women from my WoW days who transmogged to the sexiest armor or refused to play certain races based on their looks.

At least the male halfling and tiefling in your covers are also showing off equivalent amounts of flesh.

(edit): I agree, the PF sorceress is over-the-top, as well as the 4e warrior from the tiefling cover, but the others are hardly overtly sexual, unless you want to count the existence of breasts as sexualization.

 

[DMZ2112]

Since you were making such a fuss about it, I had to Google what a pickup is. Oh yeah, the guitar probably shouldn't have that . . .

unless it's a MAGICAL pickup! ELDRITCH ELECTRIC GUITAR SOLO! *shreds like the devil, blood and lightning fall from the sky* METAL!

How is this not D&D? The rest of you are all sticks-in-the-mud.

This is a problem that exists.

I cut my original post way down because I was trying to make about eight separate points and I don't think I made any of them well.

The takeaway is this: fantasy art is where gratuitous sexualization /belongs/. Fantasy fiction is about kicking ass, taking names, and /looking good while you do it/. What needs to be curtailed is the more recent tendency to single female characters out for the bare flesh treatment, because that is /absolutely/ weird, and seriously creepy.

When was the last time Drizzt had his shirt off on a novel cover? You want me to believe half of Drizzt's fan base doesn't want to see him with his shirt off? No dice. Let there be gratuitous sexualization, but let it be equal opportunity gratuitous sexualization!

 

[Salamandyr]

When people talk about chain mail bikinis, they aren't talking about literal bikinis made of chain mail. They're talking about gratuitous sexualization of female characters.

This is a problem that exists.

"People" don't. "You" do. If I ask where the chain mail bikinis are, I'm asking where the chain mail bikinis are. Now, I agree it might be appropriate to stretch the point and include any armor or clothing that covers roughly the same amount of territory as a bikini...or even a swimsuit. In the examples you gave, not a single character was dressed in an outfit whose coverage would draw a single upraised eye walking down the street. Perhaps the low cut gown the sorceress is wearing would, because it wouldn't be appropriate on the street-not for decency reasons but because it looks too formal. But at a formal ball, she would turn heads, but more because she'd be an eyecatching woman in a very flattering dress than because she's wearing less than other people at the same function.

The closest to a "chain mail bikini" in that whole collection is the unused Player's Handbook cover, and she's still wearing more than the panoply a Greek Hoplite would sport. The most racy pic in the bunch is wearing more armor than literally millions of combatants down through history. And notice that the Tiefling is sporting a particularly large expanse of chest in that picture.

Now, if you want to say that women are still too sexualized in the illustrations included in D&D and Pathfinder, feel free. The illustrations you provided aren't particularly good examples, but I can recall a few that were kind of mildley cheesecakey. But for precision of language's sake, if for no other reason, let's acknowledge that progress has been made on that front, and that true "chain mail bikinis" aren't really an issue any longer.

 

[Kaodi]

I only liked the ship.

 

[lehcym]

This may come as a surprise but it's not always male gamers who like sexy female characters. I've known quite a few women from my WoW days who transmogged to the sexiest armor or refused to play certain races based on their looks.

True, everyone prefers to play an attractive character, and attractiveness for women often comes from revealling clothes.

 

[delericho]

The pictures are okay, I guess. I don't think they're particularly better (or worse) than 3e, 4e, or PF... but I never really had an issue with any of those either. And they're different from all of the above as well, which is good (IMO).

There is one thing I don't like about them, though: they're all too clean. One thing I really liked about the original Star Wars trilogy, and the Lord of the Rings films, and Firefly, was the "used universe" feel to them - things were worn and dirty and, well, used. None of the equipment those characters are wearing or carrying has ever been in battle, or taken underground or into the wilderness... or, indeed, worn before the day on which those pictures were taken.