D&D General D&D: Literally Don't Understand This

[Not a Decepticon]

This image comes from WotC's X feed. I have no idea what this is, nor what it has to do with Dungeons&Dragons, fantasy role playing, or...anything. Is there a new dancer class or something in the 2024 iteration?
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It's from asventur where villain at one point drives group of dancers into murderous rage. why are people so upset over normal art in this game?

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's from asventur where villain at one point drives group of dancers into murderous rage. why are people so upset over normal art in this game?

Well, it clearly isn't art they care for. Or perhaps you have a different definition of "normal art" than they do. Normal is a pretty subjective term, after all. And anyway, I'm seeing folks expressing their feelings here, not getting "so upset".

 

[cranberry]

Oh, sorry. Gonna poke a hole in this one... big enough to fly a spaceship through.

In Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, the titular Radiant Citadel connects to 27 different civilizations. The adventure presents connections to 13 of them. One of them has high heels. This does not imply that high heels are present as a common everyday thing throughout the multiverse, or something - one fantasy culture out of dozens has them

In Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, there's a spaceship. Are you going to try to get us to swallow the assertion that whoever built it never built any others? The builders made this one, it crashed, and they said, "Welp. I guess that's it. We didn't make any before that, and we'll not be making any ever again,"? If not, then we have the implication that, in the multiverse, there's one culture out of dozens that has spaceships.

Nobody's asking anyone to actually like the high heels, btw.

We are asking folks to accept that one adventure, out of... scores? hundreds? ... can have them without it being a Big Freakin' Deal.

Sure, such a civilization may have had multiple space, but as far as I'm aware, players have only ever encountered one spaceship, once. (Official modules).

I don't care if people want anachronisms in their world, I was just trying to make a distinction between one off and every day.

 

[Jaeger]

 

[Mannahnin]

Agreed, and since 5.5 is totally just 5e, per Wizards, then no, Avatar and all that are not foundational to modern D&D.

The original Avatar: TLA show ended in 2008; Minecraft and League of Legends were both released in 2009. So they would have been recent prominent and pop culture the entire time 5E was being developed...

The Firebird mentioned a couple of other hugely popular touchstones of modern fantasy- Rick Riordan and Brandon Sanderson. Both of whom I think started their first really popular series around 2005/2006.

 

[mamba]

People in this thread have called for shame on the WotC posse for including art with eyeglass wearers.

yes

It's quite clear I'm not welcome at their able and mocking my feeling that way isn't welcoming either.

I do not see this as a conclusion

Those that wouldn't welcome a middle aged glasses wearer certainly aren't going to accept an Arab-inspired hero from the Age of Science in Baghdad.

or this

Wanting the fantasy feel to not be too modern in a game to me does not mean anything wrt real life. Most such people have not joined the Amish, and if they did, they are not posting here

 

[Mannahnin]

cartoon by...

Yikes.

But yeah. As mentioned earlier in the thread, it's a piece of D&D art which can capitalize on a new Taylor Swift reference, and it comes from a Radiant Citadel adventure. So it is indeed selling D&D.

 

[Angus MacDeth]

Your post happens within a context. That context currently includes a swath of vocal folks right now telling people to "Embrace tradition. Reject modernity".

I may have missed something, but I don't think anyone here is saying, "embrace tradition; reject modernity." What I've seen are people saying that certain elements in some D&D art don't match their personal expectations for what is, ostensibly, a "medieval fantasy" RPG.

I haven't seen anyone say "I don't like D&D art that features modern clothing, and therefore it should be banned from appearing in any D&D product ever!" Neither have I seen any calls here to shame WotC for including eyeglasses in their art or anything even approaching "modern eyewear doesn't belong in D&D, and therefore neither do women, people of color, or members of the LGBTQ community!"

Strangely, there's a growing "swath of vocal folks" who seem to think that's what's happening here...

 

[Umbran]

If you are consistently being accused of something, and you don't believe it's an accurate representation of your views, it's probably worth looking at how you're expressing yourself.

And, maybe consider that what you are saying, in a broader context, may have negative impacts on others, even if that's not your conscious intent.

Being part of a community - or perhaps more properly, being a good citizen of a community - should include having some empathy for members of the community. Honestly having empathy will usually save you from such issues, because it leads to self-editing.

Even if there's shoes and hotplates and all... isn't the bulk of the content really pretty standard and traditional? For every Radiant Citadel, aren't there also a Yawning Portal AND an Infinite Staircase? Is it really necessary that everything meet your preferences? If not... do the shoes really merit comment?

The internet makes it so we can always voice our opinion on every little thing. It does not give us the wisdom to know when we should voice our opinion.

 

[mamba]

Your post happens within a context. That context currently includes a swath of vocal folks right now telling people to "Embrace tradition. Reject modernity".

guess those people have largely blocked me then

A healthy community will include some experiments you don't care for. That should be okay.

sure, and saying ‘it is not for me’ should also be ok