D&D 5E Toward a new D&D aesthetics

[Scribe]

OK, sounds good.

I've been giving people the benefit of the doubt for most of the thread. Until later in the day yesterday, I've been polite, and answered questions sincerely and directly. No passive aggressiveness. No ad homiems

But, I wasn't getting the same courtesy in return from a handful of folks, so I assumed people were being jerks on purpose, and started acting accordingly.

Unless you are lockstep on board with 'progress' expect to be sniped at consistently, have your position intentionally taken in the worst possible light, and be accused directly or indirectly of all kinds of nasty things.

Indeed you can see it happen to me in this thread alone because I dont like a specific colour palette, when applied to Fantasy, while Sci-Fi it works for me fine.

Welcome to social media platforms, 202*

 

[Mythos Enthusiast]

But, I wasn't getting the same courtesy in return from a handful of folks, so I assumed people were being jerks on purpose, and started acting accordingly.

You should not expect forum members or the moderation team to be impartial, fair, or in good faith when it comes to these sorts of debates/discussions/etc. The only difference between a forum member and a moderator is that the latter can ban you.

Enworld is really just an enforced echo-chamber where any serious or spicy debate gets shut down pretty instantly. It is their prerogative, you should just be aware of your environment.

And I say this as someone who thinks you're completely wrong in this debate.

 

[Bluebell]

It's interesting how there's so much discussion around the art from relatively niche products like Strixhaven and Radiant Citadel, whereas Monsters of the Multiverse is an equally new book that is almost certainly what people would consider a much more "core" product, and the cover looks like this:

 

[Vaalingrade]

There is fluff on the badass dragon horse.

Disney.

 

[Scribe]

It's interesting how there's so much discussion around the art from relatively niche products like Strixhaven and Radiant Citadel, whereas Monsters of the Multiverse is an equally new book that is almost certainly what people would consider a much more "core" product, and the cover looks like this:

View attachment 154243

As its a reprint product, with updates, the issues with that book lie elsewhere.

 

[Yora]

I think D&D should return to medieval designs as the baseline again. Doesn't need to stick to it, but clothing, armor, weapons, and buildings should look like they could have existed somewhere in the world in the 12th century.

 

[Bacon Bits]

The picture you posted was from a CRPG, not a 2E book.

Planescape Torment was quite faithful to the source material. To a fault, if anything, since many of the screens end up as a mish-mash of grey, dark green, and ruddy brown. The only thing cartoonish about it was due to low poly models and textures (about the best that could be expected at the time) not due to art style choices.

I doesn't really matter, though. The picture you posted of the 5e duodrone is not new. It's reused from Dragon Magazine #354 where it appears next to 3e duodrone stats. The monodrone, tridrone, quadrone, and pentadrone art is there, too. The art you're claiming to be an indication of a cartoony trend is from 2007, if not earlier.

 

[Vaalingrade]

12th Century... Eberron? Fearun? Athas?

Some other fantasy world that isn't Earth?

 

[Bluebell]

As its a reprint product, with updates, the issues with that book lie elsewhere.

But we're talking about apparent trends in the official art. This cover is new art, released this year. Doesn't that make it relevant to this discussion?

 

[beancounter]

You should not expect forum members or the moderation team to be impartial, fair, or in good faith when it comes to these sorts of debates/discussions/etc. The only difference between a forum member and a moderator is that the latter can ban you.

Enworld is really just an enforced echo-chamber where any serious or spicy debate gets shut down pretty instantly. It is their prerogative, you should just be aware of your environment.

And I say this as someone who thinks you're completely wrong in this debate.

Thank you for that straight forward analysis Mythos.

Yea, I know about echo chambers, but after a few months without incident, I was just hoping that this place was a bit more mature than that other D&D forum.

Regarding the Mod team - this was new to me. When I was a mod years ago (in a non gaming forum), I only intervened when someone broke the rules. I never interjected my opinion, no matter how wrong or inaccurate someone was. It was strange how they took it upon themselves to respond to my post that wasn't even directed at them, nor a response to something they posted.