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

[Charlaquin]

I always think the same thing when I see pictures of Nikki Sixx, Steven Tyler, Slash, Axl Rose, et al. Its like youre in your 60s and 70s, time to ditch the eye liner, bracelets, bandanas, scarves, chaps, necklaces, sunglasses, etc. You look ridiculous.

You can pry my eye liner, bracelets, bandanas, scarves, necklaces, and sunglasses from my dead goth hands!!

You can have the chaps, I don’t care about them.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I answered realistic since Golarion is my usual fantasy world of choice.

But as politics, urban intrigue and faction scheming always tend to be present in my games, there are lots of renaissance Italy that somehow always slips in, at least in spirit.

 

[gamerprinter]

Even if the setting itself is more fantastical then typical D&D, there is an air of 'realism' in my mind's eye, which I share as illustrations for potential publications. Like this 3D illustration of a Drow Noble House City-Deck Plan of massive proportions (the largest ship I'm creating) as a Spelljammer ship from the body of an astral spider, rather than the existing spider-like ship in the books. This is one of 13 custom Spelljammer designs I'm creating. So you can tell that, yes, giant spider is fantastical, but being made from a monstrous biological spider is somehow more real. That's how I always see my games. Though Spelljammer is as 'out there' as I go, most of my creations are much more grounded, than this - not necessarily gritty, low level games, but grittier than the typical. I'm generally not into 'wahoo'.

 

[Charlaquin]

Even if the setting itself is even more fantastical then even typical D&D, there is an air of 'realism' in my mind's eye, which I share as illustrations for potential publications. Like this 3D illustration of a Drow Noble House City-Deck Plan of massive proportions (the largest ship I'm creating) as a Spelljammer ship from the body of an astral spider, rather than the existing spider-like ship in the books. This is one of 13 custom Spelljammer designs I'm creating. So you can tell that, yes, giant spider is fantastical, but being made from a monstrous biological spider is somehow more real. That's how I always see my games. Though Spelljammer is as 'out there' as I go, most of my creations are much more grounded, than this - not necessarily gritty, low level games, but grittier than the typical. I'm generally not into 'wahoo'.

View attachment 278405

Gotta love a good grounded redesign!

 

[ProfessorDetective]

Ghibli with dashes of Adventure Time. Cartoony but relatively grounded. Much of Old School Essentials art strikes that balance.

(Credit: Sam Mameli)

If I were to compile my ideal setting, though, it's Eberron or New Capenna but lighter with drops of the Final Fantasies and, again, Miyazaki with Tezuka and Yokoyama. Your typical, dungeon-strewn, fantasy world recovering from a devastating conflict but with scientific advancements blended with magic instead of being replaced by them (the Lightning Rail's engines writ so large that most towns are fully electrified, landline telephones are in semi-common use, fire elemental-powered automobiles are in their "rich enthusiast" phase with bicycles supplementing horses, the first cartridge firearms are in prototyping as is audio recording, radio is being deployed). The end of the Frontier, accelerated by war and magic, leading to a gleaming, hopeful, future. A future the players may need to fight to see to fruition.

 

[GuyBoy]

Elmore-Realism, without the cheesecake elements, but with a strong dose of c1066 medieval reality thrown in.