D&D 5E Dragon's Eye View 5/8/2013: Imagining the World

[Kaodi]

Article here: http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dreye/20130508

I guess there is nothing wrong with the pictures here per se, but they are not exactly varied.

1) "Here is a a funny looking castle in the mountainside. Guess I have to climb over all that bare rock to get to it."

2) "Hey, that is a cool looking temple... But damn, do I have to climb over all that bare rock to get to it?"

3) "I am glad there is a camp here where I can warm up. I have been climbing over bare rock all day."

Bleak can be cool, but I think we are starting to hit the upper reaches of the Total Bleakness Quota (TM) of fantasy art.

Edit: If we really want a study in what Faerun looks like, we could use a single location in the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

 

[Dausuul]

Well, he did say he was restricting himself to the northwest corner of Faerun. I'm not much of a Forgotten Realms fan, but my recollection is that's a pretty mountainous region, and these pictures are all in mountain settings.

Obviously I would hope to see a greater variety of landscapes eventually, but judging these pieces on their own merits, they're magnificent. After two editions in the cartoony vein exemplified by Wayne Reynolds, Thom Tenery's more subtle, realistic style is a breath of fresh air. I really hope the 5E art continues in this direction.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I like it, yes. Makes me want to show my PC's these pictures and go, "This. This is what you walk through."

 

[avin]

Nice pieces, inspiring.

The kind of stuff that makes you start thinking in an adventure. Far better than heroes in heroic posing from the last two editions. Cheers.

 

[Klaus]

Just a quick note: Thom Tennery, who did those concept pieces, was the concept artist for this year's Oblivion movie.

 

[Iosue]

I wonder if there's any significance to the classic amperdragon in the corner...

 

[Klaus]

I wonder if there's any significance to the classic amperdragon in the corner...

I noticed that, too.

 

[hbarsquared]

The images aren't bad. I felt that the 4e ones done in painting style were pretty evocative. My favorite was always the one with the adventures climbing the promontory to over look a city beyond...

At any rate, I desperately do NOT want Faerun to be the default, introductory, core rule book setting.

I far, far, far prefer a 4e PoL world, or the 3e Greyhawk/non-setting.

I love Eberron, and would prefer that as a "default" setting much more than Forgotten Realms. Of course, I would never want it as the default because I would never want to force my favorite setting on anyone else.

Why are the designers doing that to me! :-(

 

[Dausuul]

At any rate, I desperately do NOT want Faerun to be the default, introductory, core rule book setting.

I have the impression that the introductory rulebook is going to be pretty setting-agnostic, aside from the traditional D&D tropes (Tolkien races, Moorcock alignments, and a slew of spells named after Gary Gygax's pet NPCs).

 

[GX.Sigma]

The images aren't bad. I felt that the 4e ones done in painting style were pretty evocative. My favorite was always the one with the adventures climbing the promontory to over look a city beyond...

At any rate, I desperately do NOT want Faerun to be the default, introductory, core rule book setting.

I far, far, far prefer a 4e PoL world, or the 3e Greyhawk/non-setting.

I love Eberron, and would prefer that as a "default" setting much more than Forgotten Realms. Of course, I would never want it as the default because I would never want to force my favorite setting on anyone else.

Why are the designers doing that to me! :-(

If the playtest is any indication, it'll be more of a "here's how a bunch of the classic D&D settings did it," with an implied "but you don't have to do it like that in your setting!"

Which I think is the best option.