D&D 4E In terms of theme, tone, and spirit, I hope 4e . . .

[Hjorimir]

I'm with the OP (granted, that particular picture is perhaps my favorite of all from AD&D). I miss the feel of AD&D, but I love the mechanics of 3E (though there is still a lot of room for improvement).

 

[Xyxox]

I have to admit, I loved the flavor of the artwork from 1e and 2e, but the rules left something to be desired.

By the same token, I despise the artwork from 3e and 3.5e, but the rules are far superior.

Ya can't always get what you want.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

Hee hee! Good one!

Uh, you *were* just trying to be funny, right?

It's approximately as accurate and much funnier than the endless griping about "dungeonpunk" and "anime style" and claiming, with a straight face, that the 1st edition AD&D was where the players empowered their characters and not the rulebooks.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

It seems to me that you're posting images, then saying something that has nothing to do with them at all. You say theme, tone, and spirit are different, then only post pictures as evidence. Well, as I did before, I can keep doing the same thing to show that 3e isn't as different as you're trying to make it out to be.

If you don't like the art, that's one thing. But don't claim that something isn't there when it definitely is.

 

[Xyxox]

If you don't like the art, that's one thing. But don't claim that something isn't there when it definitely is.

Which is why in my post you will notice all I said is I despise the artwork.

To be a bit more specific about my stance, it has everything to do with taste. It doesn't mean the artwork is bad. It doesn't mean the artwork is inappropriate. All it means is that I (specifically me) despise it.

I'll forego artwork I like to have good rules any day of the week (and usually twice on Saturdays).

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Which is why in my post you will notice all I said is I despise the artwork.

To be a bit more specific about my stance, it has everything to do with taste. It doesn't mean the artwork is bad. It doesn't mean the artwork is inappropriate. All it means is that I (specifically me) despise it.

I'll forego artwork I like to have good rules any day of the week (and usually twice on Saturdays).

And like I said, that's fine.

Everyone has different tastes when it comes to art, and there is no universal good or bad. Of course, I do think most of the artists get far too much crap thrown at them from people that don't like it. Maybe its because I'm trying to work myself down that road, but these guys doing the art put in too much work for me to see them just get screamed at for being terrible and ruining D&D.

But using the art to say that an edition did this or that and another didn't is just wrong. Especially when the artwork is cherry picked to prove that point and the similar pieces are simply ignored to make the point seem true.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I've always thought that a lot of the old D&D stuff - see also the picture TerraDave posted above - looked like bad Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

I really, really dislike that style of animation / painting.

 

[HeinorNY]

I've said it before, I'll say it again - "crunch-heavy anime".

I've never realized I was a "crunch-heavy anime" lover! I always considered myself an anime-hater.
Thanks, now I can be cool again.

 

[Numion]

Who could forget the majesty, the excitement, the drama of the awe inspiring masterpiece "Diaperman in Peril".

I thought 1st edition art was dorky and frequently juvenile when I was 10. Har har, look the mage summoned a banana peel. Look, the magic mouth is a magic mouth.

God damn that's bad.

3E art has some misses, but that's just dorky beyond imagination.

Wait, this was a joke, right? That picture was never in a product .. got me going there for while

 

[Kae'Yoss]

God damn that's bad.

You can say that again.