The Proper Use of Nudity in FRPG Art

[Umbran]

gravity-defying appendices we see far too often!

I know what was intended here, but I got an image of someone slapping a couple of vestigial digestive organs onto the shoulders of a devil indicating the ability to fly....

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

(checks dictionary) Err, I see appendix doesn't mean what I thought it meant.

 

[Blue Orange]

(checks dictionary) Err, I see appendix doesn't mean what I thought it meant.

Oh, the meanings are related. An appendix 'hangs on' (ad+pendere) to a book just like the vermiform appendix 'hangs on' to the colon. In both cases there's the connotation of 'inessential', though now they think the appendix may help to repopulate your gut bacteria after they get wiped out by something.

 

[CapnZapp]

(checks dictionary) Err, I see appendix doesn't mean what I thought it meant.

Appendix N?

No?

 

[Blue]

That's interesting. Society could also evolve to accept it. We don't have "no make-up zone" or "no dyed hair zone", after all. I guess it would depend on how blatant is the illusion effect.

If you tanked your Charisma it will show up in your personality even if you use disguise self. And if the partner cares only about HAWT and nothing about personality, well then they are getting what they desire.

"Beauty is only magic deep" -- Halruuan proverb.

 

[Blue Orange]

If you tanked your Charisma it will show up in your personality even if you use disguise self. And if the partner cares only about HAWT and nothing about personality, well then they are getting what they desire.

"Beauty is only magic deep" -- Halruuan proverb.

There are spells that buff charisma too, I think, or at least there used to be...

 

[S'mon]

I prefer my cheesecake and beefcake to be available in equal measure, the level of which is almost irrelevant to me. If the men are only pictured gruffly in sensible attire, then the same should be true for the women (and the enbies). And vice-versa also applies. If I'm seeing half-naked women drawn for the male gaze, I'd better be seeing half-naked men drawn for the female gaze (and half naked sexy enbies for everyone!).

And obviously, the art should match the tone of the text. If it's lowkey and gritty, I don't expect to see flamboyant impractical outfits.

Nudity != sex, but nudity is frequently used as a shorthand for it, and in North American society, nudity is more taboo than violence, so I'm not surprised we don't see many examples of non-sexual nudity in modern media.

I definitely think the lack of a double standard in Frazetta style S&S definitely is less jarring and gets less flak than seeing two hulking men in full plate and a girl in g-string standing between them - and they're all meant to be adventurers in the same setting. One that always bugs me is the depictions of women with heavy limb armour and near naked torsos, it's very difficult to think up even a high-magic explanation for how that could make any sense. And of course some art is too focused on sexual characteristics to work well for any non-porno genre, like that notorious Exalted cover.

 

[S'mon]

I definitely think the lack of a double standard in Frazetta style S&S definitely is less jarring and gets less flak than seeing two hulking men in full plate and a girl in g-string standing between them - and they're all meant to be adventurers in the same setting. One that always bugs me is the depictions of women with heavy limb armour and near naked torsos, it's very difficult to think up even a high-magic explanation for how that could make any sense. And of course some art is too focused on sexual characteristics to work well for any non-porno genre, like that notorious Exalted cover.

When I created a female Elf Cleric for a BFRPG game recently, I found a pic I liked for a portrait but it had this common issue of limb armour combined with bare torso, so I did some heavy cropping for her token

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/920012818571472929/920730111588859924/token_1.png

So now we can justify her AC 17.

 

[Reynard]

A pretty well established psychological fact is that men, regardless of sexual preference, are more visually stimulated than are women. So when men made up a much larger portion of the fantasy RPG player base, that kind of art was common and accepted, without much though about how female fans might feel about it. Times do and have changed and at the very least a game that wants to embrace an exotic element in its art should probably a) aim for something more elevating than degrading, and b) be transparent about that from the get go.

Now, we should also note that not all men want to see sexually charged art, and not all women don't. There's nothing wrong with the busty Amazon warrior or scantily clad sorceress, but if those are the only depictions of females in your art, you may need a new art director.

 

[MGibster]

And of course some art is too focused on sexual characteristics to work well for any non-porno genre, like that notorious Exalted cover.

I totally forgot about that cover! And now I can’t get it out of my head.