D&D General How do you picture your D&D game in your mind?

[DarkCrisis]

You are imagining up an adventure or playing in a game and the DM is describing a town or situation or a battle, what picture does your Mind's Eye paint for you? How do you "see" it in your head?

For me, I tend to picture something akin to traditional and more realistic (but not always) outfits. From like the art found in AD&D or Lord of the Rings films (though Hobbits/Halflings are more like the hobbit cartoon version). Conan films, the Excalibur movie, 80s style fantasy genre.

Perhaps more akin to anime? Very anime style outfits. Over exaggerated weapons and effects. Characters that look 14 or less perhaps. Catgirls in cute outfits as far as the eye can see...

Maybe more Steampunk/ Victorian era? Steam robots on every street. Flintlock gun wielding artificers all over the place. Airships and steam tech a plenty. Clothes like coats and well fitting clothes etc. I believe this has risen in popularity with Eberran and now Critical Role.

Or maybe more like World of Warcraft? Vastly over exaggerated armor and weapons. Just really over exaggerated everything. Look at those ears and eyebrows!

What is or comes close to what you think of? Yeah I can't/won't list every style but pick whichever fits best from those 4.

 

[payn]

Whatever Pathfinder Golarion is.

 

[iserith]

Depends on the setting. Eberron is more Steampunk. Generic swords and sorcery might be more Conan or LotR.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Whatever Pathfinder Golarion is.

Looking at pics, Warcraft maybe? Short of the MASSIVE armor.

 

[Sacrosanct]

 

[DarkCrisis]

View attachment 278335

Completely accurate

 

[Charlaquin]

I don’t think “realistic” is the correct term for AD&D art. It’s just as stylized as the other examples.

None of these really match how I picture the world and characters when I’m playing, but “like LotR” is probably the closest? My introduction to D&D was in the 3e/3.5e era, and the art from that time has a heavy influence on my mental picture of the game. That “dungeon punk” aesthetic is also very particular to D&D, you don’t really see much of it in the broader fantasy space, except maybe in the late 2000s and 2010s MtG art, when Wayne Reynolds was doing a lot of work with them.

 

[payn]

Looking at pics, Warcraft maybe? Short of the MASSIVE armor.

Not sure im not too familiar with Warcraft. I guess Id picture it as one foot in realistic and one foot in Victorian.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Not sure im not too familiar with Warcraft. I guess Id picture it as one foot in realistic and one foot in Victorian.

I can see it, but some of those outfits are so... outlandish and busy.

Like the female mage in the 2nd row, scream Warcraft to me. same with the female barbarian at the bottom. And a few others. Possibly dipping into a realistic anime outfits

 

[Mad_Jack]

Depends greatly on the particular setting, but generally more towards the more traditional medieval or swords and sorcery aesthetics with a minor strain of the 3.5 dungeonpunk and Eberron aesthetics thrown in, particularly in more urban areas.
(The art style of pathfinder was one of the major reasons I never got into Pathfinder - it just doesn't work for me.)

On a general note: BFS/BFG's and people wearing big stompy robot parts as shoulder pads are an abomination.