Preview of the new D&D COmic!

[Theo R Cwithin]

It's about what I was expecting. It's rather stereotypically D&Dish, and potentially somewhat cheesy, but that's actually what I was hoping for, at least this early on. Considering it's only a buck, I'll likely look into it.

However, something about the tiefling's tail weirds me out. It seems a little too beefily tentacular-- or perhaps tentacularly beefy. I always envisioned teifling tail a little more svelte than that.

 

[Herschel]

Are there 10 dragonborn minis? Seroiusly. I don't think so. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I know one of them is a 'repaint' of a dragonborn of the old school verison.

Gold Champion, Silver Sorcerer, Blackspawn Exterminator, Dragonborn Fighter, Spellscale Sorcerer, Redspawn Arcaniss, Greenspawn Zealot, Dragonborn Defender, Dragonborn Myrmidon, Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut, Kyutha Exarch of Bahamut, Male Dragonborn Warlord, Female Dragonborn Rogue, Aurak, Sivak, Kapak and Baaz.

So 17 minatures.

 

[pukunui]

However, something about the tiefling's tail weirds me out. It seems a little too beefily tentacular-- or perhaps tentacularly beefy. I always envisioned teifling tail a little more svelte than that.

Her tentacle tail is better than the massive crocodile tails they give some tieflings.


Also, you guys should check out the discussion thread about the interview WotC did with Denton Tipton, the editor of IDW. There's a bit more info about the comic than you get even in the interview itself (linky).

For instance, the characters are:

Adric Fell - a male human warlord and the party's leader
Khal - a male dwarf paladin of Moradin and Adric's right-hand "man"
Bree Three Hands - a female halfling rogue "who may be greedier than Gollum"
Varis - a male elf ranger who has a "most intriguing twist"
? - a female tiefling warlock who joins the others early in the story


Also, from Denton Tipton:

We will definitley be releasing these digitally. Our plans are for #0 and #1 to be released the same day as the comic. The PSP version will likely have audio commentary with the John Rogers. Can't wait to see how Andrea's art looks on an iPad!

It will be available for PSP, and for the physical comics you can try mailorder. Discount Comic Book Service - save up to 35% on comic books, statues, hardcovers and retail products has great prices, and subscriptions will be available at our Web site shop.idwpublishing.com/

 

[JoeGKushner]

Gold Champion, Silver Sorcerer, Blackspawn Exterminator, Dragonborn Fighter, Spellscale Sorcerer, Redspawn Arcaniss, Greenspawn Zealot, Dragonborn Defender, Dragonborn Myrmidon, Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut, Kyutha Exarch of Bahamut, Male Dragonborn Warlord, Female Dragonborn Rogue, Aurak, Sivak, Kapak and Baaz.

So 17 minatures.

Didn't know we were thorwing anything with a dragon in it's origin point there so if we are, sure, I'm wrong.

If we're going by what the actual 4e dragonborn are like.... well, not quite so much I'm afraid.

 

[Shemeska]

However, something about the tiefling's tail weirds me out. It seems a little too beefily tentacular-- or perhaps tentacularly beefy. I always envisioned teifling tail a little more svelte than that.

As others have said, it's better than the monolithic 4e tiefling appearance wrt tails. Wide variety of potential bloodlines and traits is out, and the all tieflings have big horns and thick tails look is in. I miss svelte DiTerlizzi tiefers.

 

[pukunui]

Here are some of the worst of the "tieflings with crocodile tails" (from the 4e preview book, Races & Classes):

1) http://www.wikihost.org/w/lfrwiki/var/gebo/data/img/tiefling.jpg
2) http://www.wocstudios.com/images/4e2.jpg

I can't find the worst offender from that book online, but you get the general idea anyway.


EDIT: I think whoever is/was in charge of the art direction at WotC got the idea pretty quickly that the crocodile tails weren't popular and ordered that subsequent tieflings be depicted with smaller, less reptilian tails. The horns seem to have stayed more or less the same size and shape, though.

Note that the first 4e tiefling mini has quite a tiny tail: http://www.snotling.org/modules/MiniTracker/images/dread/47.jpg

 

[Herschel]

Didn't know we were thorwing anything with a dragon in it's origin point there so if we are, sure, I'm wrong.

If we're going by what the actual 4e dragonborn are like.... well, not quite so much I'm afraid.

They all LOOK like dragonborn varieties though, regardless of the name on the base. Heck, some came out when the dragonborn were still the half-dragon template.

Really, if you are going to be so picky as to only use a mini with the actual name on it then there's nothing WotC or anyone can do to please you that makes any business sense. It's like saying one won't use a half-elf mini for an elf or a human even if it looks like one.

 

[JoeGKushner]

They all LOOK like dragonborn varieties though, regardless of the name on the base. Heck, some came out when the dragonborn were still the half-dragon template.

Really, if you are going to be so picky as to only use a mini with the actual name on it then there's nothing WotC or anyone can do to please you that makes any business sense. It's like saying one won't use a half-elf mini for an elf or a human even if it looks like one.

Uh... they coudl have made draongborn that were common and launched with the new minis that came out at the same time as 4e? Dwarves and elves aplenty did so making some commons of a core race shouldn't have been brain science.

 

[pukunui]

Uh... they coudl have made draongborn that were common and launched with the new minis that came out at the same time as 4e? Dwarves and elves aplenty did so making some commons of a core race shouldn't have been brain science.

Indeed. The first few "actual" dragonborn were all rares. I recall there being quite a few complaints about that. And it's not like all of those older "half-dragon/dragonkin" minis are all that easy to get, either.

I think it's a valid point to make that WotC has introduced the dragonborn as a "core" race for D&D (they're in the very first PHB, no less; you can't get much more core than that), and yet they aren't really marketing them very well. OK, so they put out a little softcover book about them. And they have put out some minis for them, but they're all rather hard to get. And they're not coming up with any dragonborn characters (the tiefling and the reworked gnome both got one of those silly cartoon interviews, but I don't recall a dragonborn ever appearing in one).

They don't seem to be trying very hard to sell people on the dragonborn. I guess that's all I'm trying to say.

 

[JoeGKushner]

And that's what I was getting at. Fiction line would've been a great way to bust it out. Hell, they could've had R A Salvatore's Dark Elf meet one in the transition series but in the one and a half I read, that didn't happen. Nor in the other books I've read.

And a comic? Where the visuals/special effects aren't necessarily the huge problem I heard it was for the miniatures? And the human being a warlord? That would've seemed like a natural fit there.

Instead we get "D&D still isn't really it's own thing, it's like Lord of the Rings. Look elf-dwarf humorous conflict!"