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

[Scribe]

They didn’t look like the high heels in that picture though.

I'd imagine they would look like cowboy boots.

(I did not understand why my grandpa wore 'heels' when I was a kid lol)

 

[TiQuinn]

Sorry to tell you this Umbran but stilleto heels were not being worn by people in the 10th century.

Nobody was dressed like this either or wielding axes like this but i seldom see people questioning it in their fantasy.

 

[Umbran]

They didn’t look like the high heels in that picture though.

Real armor doesn't look like what Red Sonja wears, either.

Sorry to tell you this Umbran but stilleto heels were not being worn by people in the 10th century.

Sorry to tell you this, Lakesidefantasy, but anachronistic, ahistorical armor and clothing is as old as D&D. You are 50 years too late with that complaint.

And, if our world has had some form of elevated shoes across multiple cultures for over a millennium, a higher heel in a fantasy culture should not be an issue for us.

That doesn't make their appearance in this context make sense though.

The original context is a Mardi Gras style parade in a fantasy setting, iirc. This proximal context is one bit of pop culture (D&D) giving a nod to a larger bit of pop culture (Taylor Swift). Neither seems particularly nonsensical.

 

[TiQuinn]

Ultimately this just seems like “I don’t like this art” which is fine but it also falls in “the not every D&D product is going to appeal to everyone” category.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Real armor doesn't look like what Red Sonja wears, either.

Well, my illusions are shattered.

 

[pukunui]

Nobody was dressed like this either or wielding axes like this but i seldom see people questioning it in their fantasy.

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Real armor doesn't look like what Red Sonja wears, either.

OK but a chainmail bikini is still made out of chainmail, which is a medieval thing. A fantasy axe is still an axe, which is something people fought with in the Middle Ages.

It's not like Red Sonja is depicted wearing a bikini made of stretchy swimsuit material. Nor is Conan depicted wielding a gas-powered chainsaw or a machine gun.

Sorry to tell you this, Lakesidefantasy, but anachronistic, ahistorical armor and clothing is as old as D&D. You are 50 years too late with that complaint.

And, if our world has had some form of elevated shoes across multiple cultures for over a millennium, a higher heel in a fantasy culture should not be an issue for us.

For me, it's not just the shoes. It's the whole aesthetic. D&D is just becoming "too modern" in general for my tastes. I can accept fantastical elements as long as they at least feel like they could have been a thing in the Middle Ages / Renaissance eras of our history.

I'm OK with having full plate armor but not guns, and I've never been a fan of mixing 17th/18th century Age of Sail pirates and sailing ships into my medievalesque D&D either. (Let's not get started on including futuristic spaceships and laser guns and stuff. No thanks!)

Plonking your typical D&D adventuring party with their swords, bows, and chainmail into a setting that looks like this just doesn't work for me:

Looking at that art, my mind goes somewhere between 1860 and 1930, and that's just not a time period that I would equate with D&D specifically. I can't envision a guy in plate armor with a sword and shield walking up to the door of that farmhouse.

 

[TiQuinn]

OK but a chainmail bikini is still made out of chainmail, which is a medieval thing. A fantasy axe is still an axe, which is something people fought with in the Middle Ages.

A leather high heel shoe is still just a shoe too.

 

[pukunui]

A leather high heel shoe is still just a shoe too.

Sure, but it's also the style of the shoe - and the context. It's not just that it's a modern-looking high-heeled shoe, it's also the style of the pink dress and the streamers and the whole Mardi Gras vibe. It all just takes me out of the fiction too much. I can't buy into the idea that "this is D&D" when I see stuff like that. I fully acknowledge that this is a me problem. I'm not trying to tell anyone else that they're doing it wrong if they're fine with seeing stuff like that in their D&D.

 

[TiQuinn]

Sure, but it's also the style of the shoe - and the context. It's not just that it's a modern-looking high-heeled shoe, it's also the style of the pink dress and the streamers and the whole Mardi Gras vibe. It all just takes me out of the fiction too much. I can't buy into the idea that "this is D&D" when I see stuff like that. I fully acknowledge that this is a me problem. I'm not trying to tell anyone else that they're doing it wrong if they're fine with seeing stuff like that in their D&D.

Okay so I get that but even if it’s just a few products, it’s certainly not all of them. There are still a lot of traditional D&D fantasy products out there. If anything, it’s just becoming more varied.

 

[The Firebird]

You sit down with a group of strangers and say "I want to play D&D". What comes to everyone's mind? If there is a broader array of possibilities, is that good (many types of stories can be told) or bad (it is hard to find a group that fits)?