D&D 5E The 5E Art is Awesome

[MechaPilot]

Possibly. But there's the big ole bag-o-swag at the feet of the fightery gal. There's definitely some stuff worth some ducats in there.

Possibly, but it being a swag-bag is an assumption. It could be some more of their equipment. It could even be filled with eggs from the dragon's lair for all we know.

 

[Blackbird71]

There's also a (late) 3.5e version of it in Dungeon issue 152--which was a free download from WotC. I'm not sure if you can easily find it now.

I came across that one a couple of years ago via the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20100308...ards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/duad/20071207

I don't know whether the link still works, as my work computer filters the result. I'll try to remember to check it later when I get home.

Switching gears:

As to what WotC was thinking with regards to the Halfling art, my best guess is something along the lines of "let's make absolutely certain that Tolkien's estate can't sue us - instead of big feet, we'll do big heads!"

 

[Blackbird71]

Small dragon, small hoard. These guys are 3rd level, tops.

Also, gold is quite heavy; even a small amount can be very cumbersome. As I don't see any mounts or wagons with them, that small box may have been all that they could reasonably carry out (presumably with plans to go back for more). Even Bilbo only took home a tiny fraction of his share of Smaug's horde for practical reasons, and it took him a lifetime to spend most of it.

I was thinking more along the lines that Tolkien's diversity hardly counts when all you've got is white humans, white elves, white dwarves or white hobbits.

1: it's largely based off medieval, nothern-european mythology.

More specifically than that even, Tolkien's stated purpose in writing "The Lord of the Rings" and creating his Middle Earth mythology was an attempt to recreate the lost legends, myths, and lore of England. With the invasion of the Romans, and mixing with other cultures, those uniquely English stories were lost and replaced with the tales of other peoples. Tolkien presented these tales as his version of what those stories might have been. So there is very much a reason for the culture and ethnicity of his tales to be Anglo-centric.

 

[Shasarak]

You hear dragon and you think lots of gold, not a kid's lunchbox full of gold.

If you do not want a lunchbox full of gold then I will take it!

 

[Aloïsius]

With the invasion of the Romans, and mixing with other cultures, those uniquely English stories were lost and replaced with the tales of other peoples. Tolkien presented these tales as his version of what those stories might have been. So there is very much a reason for the culture and ethnicity of his tales to be Anglo-centric.

The Romans were in Britain BEFORE the Angles and the Saxons. So, you either incorporate Roman elements, or you keep to purely celtic/arthurian culture*. Or you go back to the germanic myths. But a reconstruction anglo-centric mythology without roman elements ?


* and, IIRC, even then both Scots and Irish were invaders as well, coming from Ireland while the Germanic tribes pushed from the Continent, squeezing the romanised brittons... Tolkien was not a fan of celtic mythology. He used the nordic and finnish mythologies probably even more for his inspiration.

 

[JWO]

More specifically than that even, Tolkien's stated purpose in writing "The Lord of the Rings" and creating his Middle Earth mythology was an attempt to recreate the lost legends, myths, and lore of England. With the invasion of the Romans, and mixing with other cultures, those uniquely English stories were lost and replaced with the tales of other peoples. Tolkien presented these tales as his version of what those stories might have been. So there is very much a reason for the culture and ethnicity of his tales to be Anglo-centric.

I wasn't actually making any particular statements about whether or not Tolkien should or shouldn't have included more diversity in Middle Earth, I was just stating that Middle Earth wasn't a particularly good example of a diverse setting. Sure, there are dwarves, elves, hobbits, etc., so it's diverse in that respect but they're all basically just different versions of white men.

 

[Blackbird71]

The Romans were in Britain BEFORE the Angles and the Saxons. So, you either incorporate Roman elements, or you keep to purely celtic/arthurian culture*. Or you go back to the germanic myths. But a reconstruction anglo-centric mythology without roman elements ?


* and, IIRC, even then both Scots and Irish were invaders as well, coming from Ireland while the Germanic tribes pushed from the Continent, squeezing the romanised brittons... Tolkien was not a fan of celtic mythology. He used the nordic and finnish mythologies probably even more for his inspiration.

You are correct of course; this is what happens when I try drawing on my rusty memory. And yes, his dwarves in particular (as well as others) most definitely drew on Norse mythologies. The point remains though that Tolkien's tales were intended as the stories of a people from a very specific region of the world. As such it should be no surprise that the characters of those tales primarily or even almost exclusively represent the ethnicity of that region. I don't think anyone would look at the legends of India or Japan for example and claim that they "need more white people".

I wasn't actually making any particular statements about whether or not Tolkien should or shouldn't have included more diversity in Middle Earth, I was just stating that Middle Earth wasn't a particularly good example of a diverse setting. Sure, there are dwarves, elves, hobbits, etc., so it's diverse in that respect but they're all basically just different versions of white men.

I fully understand that, and my comment was not intended to directly address yours in that manner, but instead was merely meant to clarify the implied setting of Tolkien's works (which as Aloïsius pointed out, I was only partially correct in doing). Still, it is probably worth considering that much of fantasy gaming has been centered on the works of Tolkien and others like him, as well as some medieval European mythology. If that has translated to earlier versions of these games prominently featuring characters ethnically native to the settings of those stories, then I can hardly condemn those games as racist for simply being true to their roots and origins (I'm not claiming that anyone else here has).

Over time of course fantasy gaming has expanded culturally, not just by adding ethnically diverse characters but by including legends, tales, and myths from many other parts of the world. This is a good thing, as in addition to sharing pieces of these various cultures, it expands the horizons of the imagination and the possibilities for adventure. I just wish that when we look back on the history of fantasy gaming and it is pointed out that it is "full of white men," that we would remember the origins of the stories that inspired these games and the effect of those origins on the early games, instead of being so quick to assume some offensive motive for their racially monochromatic beginnings. Again, I'm not claiming that anyone here has done this in particular, I'm mainly thinking of past conversations on the topic which I have observed.

So, about that art...

 

[Shasarak]

I wasn't actually making any particular statements about whether or not Tolkien should or shouldn't have included more diversity in Middle Earth, I was just stating that Middle Earth wasn't a particularly good example of a diverse setting. Sure, there are dwarves, elves, hobbits, etc., so it's diverse in that respect but they're all basically just different versions of white men.

Middle Earth was plenty diverse - they even had evil black guys!