D&D (2024) Comeliness and Representation in Recent DnD Art

[Charlaquin]

The presence of things like disability representation or defiance of beauty standards come, to a degree, from the desire for a work to be "realistic." There are disabled people or people with skin conditions in reality, therefore, it follows that they should appear with at least the same frequency they do in the general population now, in 2023, as they do in fiction.

I disagree. The desire comes mainly from people wanting to see something of themselves in their fantasy heroes. The fact that accommodating that desire for more people than able-bodied white folks also happens to make a fantasy setting feel more realistic is just a bonus.

Of course, this verisimilitude is at the opposite end of "fantasy." If D&D were a game in a different literary genre (to say nothing of its gameplay) you might have a point, but this genre is defined particularly by how it differs from reality. 5e D&D and its flagship products are also squarely in the "high fantasy" subgenre of fantasy; a dark fantasy or horror influenced fantasy would of course take inspiration from how reality is uncomfortable and amp it up, but instead high fantasy tends to want to portray an idealized world; one where concerns like physical attractiveness and even general health and disability are not a consideration. Remember; all art is propaganda, and high fantasy borrows heavily from mythology: mythology has an incentive to portray its protagonists as physically perfect ideals of what to strive for, rather than reminders of how reality current sucks.

Representation of different body types and disabilities isn’t about reminding people of how current reality sucks, it’s about providing people who have different body types or disabilities with an ideal they can look up to too. Someone who can’t walk can’t really aspire to be like Conan, because Conan can walk. But we can imagine a similarly idealized fantasy protagonist who built themselves a fantastical mobility device, and with its help can perform heroics just like Conan. That’s still an idealized hyper-reality, just one that appeals to a different demographic.

 

[Charlaquin]

I wonder if young players who think they are farther from Hollywood appearance are more likely than other players to pick the non-human races (from dwarf to dragonborn to tiefling) to kind of bury having to think about it (or for other reasons)?

I mean, Tieflings being extremely popular with LGBT people is a real thing. It makes sense, a lot of the persecution we face is religiously motivated, so characters who get treated as literal devils because of the way they were born, who have a cultural practice of choosing their own names, and come in rainbow colors… Yeah, very relatable.

 

[Cadence]

You can also view it as the opposite - those that were policed are now kick-butt so much, that they are allowed to run around in whatever they see fit.

I certainly agree that I shouldn't be policing what others wear or choose to be portrayed as wearing.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I mean, Tieflings being extremely popular with LGBT people is a real thing. It makes sense, a lot of the persecution we face is religiously motivated, so characters who get treated as literal devils because of the way they were born, who have a cultural practice of choosing their own names, and come in rainbow colors… Yeah, very relatable.

Absolutely. And that's why I really don't like if settings get sanitised so that such prejudice against tieflings does not exist, because then they really no longer can serve this purpose.

 

[Charlaquin]

Absolutely. And that's why I really don't like if settings get sanitised so that such prejudice against tieflings does not exist, because then they really no longer can serve this purpose.

I think that needs to be up to individual tables to decide. I, as a possible L, not G, non-practicing B, notorious T, am a fan of that persecution against Tieflings being a thing in my games. But I have friends who would prefer to get away from that kind of persecution in their pretend play time, and that’s a perfectly reasonable desire. I think it’s enough to mention in the Tiefling entry in the PHB that such persecution exists in some places/on some worlds, and leave individual groups to decide if they want to include that, and to what extent.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

From the artists working on the example PCs in the species, backgrounds and classes section of the PHB, they're definitely going to be intentionally attractive or appealing in some way (like attractive to some, or below average but "badass"). There might be a few that's unintentionally ugly, based on the style or subjective lack of talent from an artist.

 

[Argyle King]

I am unaware of full plate or wearing satin wizard robes ever being used to objectify groups of people who were historically policed in regards to fashion. The former also seems like it would have practical use at least in some situations and the later should be comfortable. Not saying anyone needs to want anything done about the difference between those and chain-mail bikinis, but I refuse to believe anyone doesn't at least see why it is brought up as a difference and bothers some people.

Not saying this is my position, but...

I think there's a possible argument that chainmail bikinis are "sex-positive" and fight against oppressive traditions that demand modesty and policing of the female body.

Contemporary culture contains various movements for whom promoting the ability to dress more freely and have more ownership over the body of one's self is important.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Absolutely. And that's why I really don't like if settings get sanitised so that such prejudice against tieflings does not exist, because then they really no longer can serve this purpose.

I will burn down any town where I face prejudice for the crime of playing a certain species.

No stone standing.

I am not playing this game to get from my supposed friend running the game what I get from the people I lease want to interact with in real life.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I will burn down any town where I face prejudice for the crime of playing a certain species.

No stone standing.

I am not playing this game to get from my supposed friend running the game what I get from the people I lease want to interact with in real life.

And that's the flip side. But some people want to explore such things in a safe fictional environment.

 

[Vaalingrade]

And as we've seen in the official handling of it in things like Dark Sun, D&D is not good at making that environment safe.

Also, calling not making the game actively hostile 'sanitized' is disgusting.