Is D&D getting more "edgy"?

[shadow]

I know D&D is attempting to break out of its "geek" image with the Book of Vile Darkness that will be released later this year. However, some of the more recent products have seemed a little "edgy" to me. In the Epic Level Handbook we have a spell that sends an opponent to hell. Also in the Epic Level Handbook we have a picture of an Atropal, which looks a lot like an aborted fetus.
With the Book of Vile Darkness, I'm sure the "edgy" factor of D&D will be bumped up. Although this might dispell some of the geeky reputation that D&D has aquired, it might also really make the game look bad to a lot of parent and concerned adults. Do you think this recent trend to "edginess" is a good or bad thing?

 

[Crothian]

AS long as it's done creatively, it's good. If it looks like they are pushing the envelope just to puch it, then its bad.

 

[JDragon]

I think it is a good thing to try and open up the options for players and DM's.

Along with that I think some serious though needs to be put into how its done, to try and slow down the D&D bashers out there.

To go along with that thou, is their will always be D&D bashers as long as the game is around.

JDragon

 

[EricNoah]

The "what's coming next issue in Dungeon" bit in this month's Dungeon mentions that they'll have an adventure that goes along with the Book of Vile Darkness ... in a "special sealed section of the magazine." Mmm hmm.

 

[Katerek]

Edgy is good in my opinion.

A sealed section of the magazine? Are they gonna card us in order to buy the dang thing? Jayzus. next thing you know we are gonna have to start swinging by the local hand ranch to pick up our gaming mags.

Oh, and I will start worrying about DnD beig too edgy when GTA3 and its clones become tame by comparison.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I don't think getting "edgy" is reaching out to the non-geek audience.

If anything, this is a reaction against White Wolf and similar styles of games that appeal to a gamer who likes to think of themselves as more "mature."

To show that D&D can do dark and brooding and obnoxious, too. Even with the much-lamented Alignment system.

That's what I think the edginess is....

And artwork in general is wierd. Does the Acherai look anything like a four-legged demon-quail to you? It's a friggin' Natural Geographic illustration, almost.

 

[hong]

Armour spikes. It all started with armour spikes.


Hong "where, oh where will it all end?" Ooi

 

[Numion]

Also in the Epic Level Handbook we have a picture of an Atropal, which looks a lot like an aborted fetus.

But of course, because it is a "failed abortion". And I think that it's about the most intresting idea for a monster EVAR!

I'm all for this new "image" of D&D that is emerging. D&D is just a medium for telling stories, much like traditional novels and movies. Those aren't much constrained by public opinion, why should D&D?

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I don't know about where D&D is going in particular, but the general tendency towards "edginess" in entertainment certainly concerns me. If anyone asks about it, they generally get the answer that "it's pushing the envelope" without asking which way the envelope is being pushed or whether it should go there. I think that most of us agree that there are places we don't want our entertainment to go* (for instance, I think that televised gang rapes as entertainment would be a sign of a sick society). The questions are (1) "what do we want to find fun and to think about for entertainment?" and (2) "is D&D (or any form of entertainment) going toward or away from those things?"

* The other inane comment I hear a lot is "it's just entertainment." But there's nothing "just" about entertainment. As surely as watching a movie like Schindler's List (entertainment) can enlighten and inspire us to better things in real life, I suspect that spending our time roleplaying a bunch of CE deranged slave traders raiding tribal villages for girls to sell to Imperial brothels (after having some fun with them, of course) would dull our discernment of good and evil and inspire us to worse things in real life. It's no coincidence that most child molesters and rapists used pornography before they began committing their crimes.

 

[Vadania]

Well, there goes this thread. Moderators if any of you are awake yet. He's a thread that's just begging for moderations. Doubly so after that last post.