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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6164851" data-attributes="member: 2067">That's partially because it's kind of dumb to just slap a piece of art on a T-shirt. If you want to slap a goblin on a D&D T-shirt, you should first ask yourself: what kind of goblin should go on this particular D&D T-shirt? What kind of T-shirt are you making? What message do you want to send about D&D? Who is your target audience? There's context for these decisions. Goblins in DL are shamanic, primitive people who are wandering nomads. They practice canine-shaving (males), head-shaping (a la certain stone-age tribes), and tattooing (under the eyes, for females). They're typically bald. So artwork of a DL goblin should emphasize the naturalness and the body-modification. Furs and wooden weapons and weirdly shaped heads. Goblins in FR are cave-dwelling, dirty little raiders. They sometimes take slaves, they are strictly male-dominated. So artwork of an FR goblin should emphasize the dirty, smelly, makeshift nature of the creature, and if the critter is wielding a weapon, it should probably be a guy. Something like mean little unwashed hobos with rusty chivs. Goblins in GH are kobold-fighting nocturnal mercenaries who organize into militaristic bands and flock to the banners of the more powerful warlords. They're the thick swarm on the earth, threatening to overrun it if given adequate direction. So artwork of a GH goblin should include militaristic overtones -- shields and helmets and armor as well as wicked-looking weapons, standards emblazoned with icons of wicked and unpleasant things. It should also feature moonlight or starlight or otherwise poor lighting conditions, where the things in the darkness are numerous and indistinct.Which one should be in an MM? Well, that depends on the MM's goals. I'm a fan of an MM with context and specificity, so I'd say pick one. FR seems to be 5e's vanguard, so lets go with that, and lets present a specific goblin tribe that functions as an iconic FR-style goblin. Maybe call it "The Warren." The diversity of D&D's representations in general over the years certainly outweighs the similarities. What's more, beholders (or whatever) have a similar issue to the goblins: spelljammer beholders and FR beholders and GH beholders and Eberron beholders are different kinds of creature, and their visual cues should be different depending on which kind of beholder you're going with.</blockquote>

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