[Dragon] Lord, the cheese...

[buzz]

Fantastic and Mythological art often has nudity, if a pre raphelite painting was displayed on the cover of Dragon Magazine, say
Waterhouse's Echo and Narcissus would this be Porn or Dragon showing cultural sensibilities.

I'm not objecting to nudity, so you can nix that common retort immediately. I'm objecting to the freaking juvenile tackiness. If Dragon wanted to start licensing pieces by Frazetta, I'd freaking send them a check to help pay the fee.

I'm not saying that fantasy art needs to be G-rated; I'm saying that if I never see another underwear-modeling succubi* or leather-corset-clad female Drow again, it'll be too soon. I'd prefer Dragon not to look like it's published by Avalanche Press, and I'd prefer my wife to not have to roll her eyes when she looks at the art featured in my "mature" hobby.

And this is leaving aside the observation that the first thing they apparently thought of to put on the cover of a magazine featuring an article about temptation and evil was a sexy woman with little horns.

Role Playing has always been a hobby for the Mature Minded, in terms of it's complexity of rules, and often its very subject mater and context. I would hate to have Dragon's cover stripped down to innanity by prudish whines of a select few.

I'll add my vote to Pendragon's and Psion's on this issue. And I'll add: if pictures of sexy succubi in leather teddys are what you consider "mature," then I have to wonder what your definition of mature is.


*In my 20+ years of gaming, I don't think I've encountered a succubi more than once. One wonders why they are the constant subjects of fantasy art...

 

[Angelsboi]

I wasnt impressed by the LOTR men. Eh. What can i say? Im more of a Jason Behr, David Boreanaz, Wes Bently type of guy. Dark and Broody

 

[buzz]

Hey, buzz -- anything else good in the issue? I'm sitting on the fence with Dragon: it's been good lately, but I have less and less need of it the more stuff I pick up. Fiends have always been a particular "fetish" of mine in gaming, though.

I'm still making my way through it, but the content looks fine. The funny thing is, the cover article is just five pages. The real "fiendish meat" is in a *sixteen* page article by the excellent Mike Mearls that details 18 new demons and devils with an elemental spin: air demons, coal devils, etc. This is obviously the "feature" imho, but I guess it didn't offer much opportunity for sexy chicks on the cover.

I can't really comment on the rest yet, but ti all looks good. And no cheesecake to be found, save for another Confrontation ad (which, imo, has a lower cheese factor than the cover).

 

[Gez]

But seriously, why dont we get anything? Discrimination?

OK, between that and the other various comments, a picture begins to form...

Dragon Mag should put naked guys on its covers, so the people who dig men would be happy with their beefcake, and the people who dog women would not be shocked by cheesecake.

What world is this ?

I guess the cultural gap between people from the Old World like me and New Worlder is wider than I expected.

For years, Bruno Bellamy has graced the table of content of Casus Belli, France's oldest RPG magazine, with his famous Bellaminettes (more of them there, and for the computer nerds around, here's the next best thing since chainmail bikini, Tetris Bikini !).

The only complaint ever there was about them was when they disappeared from Casus Belli, when it became simply Casus.

 

[Orias]

I see no reason to have to hide that cover from children.

Maybe it's because I was raised in a much more liberal family, but I had magazines, pictures, & books that had material much worse than that when I was a kid, & my 8 year old brother does currently.

 

[Robbert Raets]

I wasnt impressed by the LOTR men. Eh. What can i say? Im more of a Jason Behr, David Boreanaz, Wes Bently type of guy. Dark and Broody

I'd say all those Gondorin Royalty Guys are pretty broody.

"Still not king."

 

[fenzer]

I see no reason to have to hide that cover from children.

Maybe it's because I was raised in a much more liberal family, but I had magazines, pictures, & books that had material much worse than that when I was a kid, & my 8 year old brother does currently.

To each his own.

I'd prefer Dragon not to look like it's published by Avalanche Press, and I'd prefer my wife to not have to roll her eyes when she looks at the art featured in my "mature" hobby.

Amen. The less ammo I can give my wife the better. She has no beef with the game or my playing it but different cover art concepts would go a long way to keep the game alive in my household.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Summary for any Paizo poeple are reading this: less cheesecake, more Kalman. Thanks!

Paizo made it pretty clear during the BoVD issue fiasco that the (im)Mature aspects were going to be a standard direction of the magazine. Their past behavior has proven that to be true.

I cancelled my subscription.

It is a shame- I would like to enjoy the main periodical for my hobby.

SD

 

[Sixchan]

And this is leaving aside the observation that the first thing they apparently thought of to put on the cover of a magazine featuring an article about temptation and evil was a sexy woman with little horns.

Yeah! You know, if I was making a cover based on evil and power and temptation and stuff like that, the succubus would become a terrestrial-race mage in unrevealing clothing with glowing red eyes, an evil smile, with fires and destroyed buildings around her. At least that looks like realistic evil.

Since when did succubuses even look evil, anyway? In fact, I think the woman in the destroyed village would be a whole lot more attractive than the succubus!

 

[buzz]

Re: Re: [Dragon] Lord, the cheese...

Originally posted by Sagan Darkside Paizo made it pretty clear during the BoVD issue fiasco that the (im)Mature aspects were going to be a standard direction of the magazine. Their past behavior has proven that to be true.

FWIW, I have had no complaints about the actual content of the magazine. I even enjoyed the "vile" issue. I just don't like fantasy cheese-porn*. The hobby has a bad enough reputation as it is.


*I'm using "porn" here facetiously. I'd find it extreme to call the cover "porn"; "lame" and "juvenile" is more my contention.