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

[Remathilis]

Yes, but as others have pointed out, those historical high-heeled shoes didn't look like modern pumps or stilettos, like these do:

Like, I know that the "Written in Blood" adventure set in Godsbreath is meant to have a Southern Gothic vibe, so in that sense, I understand why all the art has a more modern vibe to it, but I still don't like it. I feel like that kind of story / vibe would be better suited to a d20 Modern type game than D&D.

This just isn't D&D to me:

When Eberron was new, I intensely disliked the idea of having "modern" things like robots and trains and magic guns in my D&D. I've since grown to love the setting, but I am again finding that WotC is now pushing even Eberron to be "too modern" for my tastes (if the art previews from the upcoming new Eberron book are any indication).

I'm fine with non-western European styles and cultures and such being added to the mix ... but can we have them be not 19th or 20th century in appearance?

D&D has absolutely lost it's medieval fashion sense (so much as it ever had it) but the trend towards "faux medieval modernism" has been a part of fantasy since the 90s. Basically, modern audiences find breeches and stocks comical. I remember there was a small amount of outrage when Aragon was revealed in photos for Fellowship and people complaining they dressed him in a duster like a cowboy!

But it's a fight modern fantasy has lost. Even something as "close" to realistic as Game of Thrones is horribly anachronistic in it's approach to costumes. And as fantasy has moved away from medievalism towards wider places and times, it's not surprising that more and more modernistic.

 

[pukunui]

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.

Sure. However, there is definitely a trend, especially in the revised 5e art, towards are more modern aesthetic, which doesn't "do it" for me. I started with 2e, and while I could do without the obvious male gaze lens that Elmore, Caldwell, et al employed back then, I think that's always going to be the gold standard of D&D art for me.

I wasn't a huge fan of 3e's "dungeonpunk" aesthetic but there was still a decent amount of art I liked. 4e's noticeably digital art styles turned me off that edition as much as the mechanics did. I mostly liked the early 5e art, but as I said, there's been a definite shift in vibes more recently. D&D feels like its slowly creeping toward becoming d20 Modern. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if 6e or 7e is some sort of generic game that specifically allows for multiple time periods and features artwork of F-16 fighter jets shooting missiles at dragons while aboleths stalk WW1-era submarines in the depths of the sea!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It's the high-heeled shoe that turns me off. This and the TNT plunger detonators, the museum cafes, the heat metal hot plates. Things are so modern in D&D that I think we could add stoplights, payphones, and garbage trucks to Waterdeep and very few people would make note of it.

Maybe it's just the just the evolution of dungeonpunk. Maybe it's dungeonpop.

Sure, but it's not on a regularly established D&D world - not even Eberron - so it's not even supposed to be "medieval" or anything. It's its own fantasy setting. It's fine if that's not one of your preferred settings.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

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

View attachment 414417

Come on man. You could have chosen a piece by Daniel Horne, Jim Halloway, or even Larry Elmore; but you chose a Boris Vallejo. I don't even think that Boris knows how to paint clothes on people. (Did Boris even do any work for Dungeons and Dragons?)

This is just some good old butwhataboutism used to move the goal posts and distract us from the Divas illustration.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

D&D has absolutely lost it's medieval fashion sense (so much as it ever had it) but the trend towards "faux medieval modernism" has been a part of fantasy since the 90s. Basically, modern audiences find breeches and stocks comical. I remember there was a small amount of outrage when Aragon was revealed in photos for Fellowship and people complaining they dressed him in a duster like a cowboy!

But it's a fight modern fantasy has lost. Even something as "close" to realistic as Game of Thrones is horribly anachronistic in it's approach to costumes. And as fantasy has moved away from medievalism towards wider places and times, it's not surprising that more and more modernistic.

Yeah, this is the point.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Come on man. You could have chosen a piece by Daniel Horne, Jim Halloway, or even Larry Elmore; but you chose a Boris Vallejo. I don't even think that Boris knows how to paint clothes on people. (Did Boris even do any work for Dungeons and Dragons?)

This is just some good old butwhataboutism used to move the goal posts and distract us from the Divas illustration.

I tell ya, when it comes to what I can handle in D&D, I'll take someone in a fantasy setting using a high heel as a weapon over anyone using this: (Talk about immersion-killing!)

 

[TiQuinn]

Come on man. You could have chosen a piece by Daniel Horne, Jim Halloway, or even Larry Elmore; but you chose a Boris Vallejo. I don't even think that Boris knows how to paint clothes on people. (Did Boris even do any work for Dungeons and Dragons?)

This is just some good old butwhataboutism used to move the goal posts and distract us from the Divas illustration.

Sir! I have it on the highest authority that this is QUALITY Appendix N inspirational material, sir!

 

[pukunui]

I tell ya, when it comes to what I can handle in D&D, I'll take someone in a fantasy setting using a high heel as a weapon over anyone using this: (Talk about immersion-killing!)

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I'm the complete opposite. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, I guess!

 

[Remathilis]

Yeah, this is the point.

I'm just saying historical inaccuracy is a trend far bigger than D&D. I also think audiences aren't interested in bilauts, doubles, or conical hats. And that's certainly a modern trend, especially if you check out old Arthurian or Robin Hood movies from prior to 1980s. But I don't think that trend is going to reverse itself.

 

[Remathilis]

Sure, but it's not on a regularly established D&D world - not even Eberron - so it's not even supposed to be "medieval" or anything. It's its own fantasy setting. It's fine if that's not one of your preferred settings.

Eberron especially is far more modernistic in it's influence (the pulp and noir stories of the early 20th century). Likewise, Ravenloft has always felt far more Victorian than Medieval (mostly due to the source material). I would say the only settings in really think feel medieval are Dragonlance and Greyhawk (and that's a stretch considering Myrlund and his six shooters).