D&D General Should Bearded Female Dwarves be the Default?

[Charlaquin]

The bearded female Dwarf is an ugly stereotype created by Elves, there is no truth to it.

You mean a sexy stereotype

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The scouring would put another bump into the curve at the right end, that didn’t go as high. And that’s bad story pacing.

Also bad story pacing: Having so many denouements that the audience is audibly groaning each time another one begins in Return of the King.

They could have cut all of them, replaced it with Sharkey, and it would have been better.

 

[Charlaquin]

Also bad story pacing: Having so many denouements that the audience is audibly groaning each time another one begins in Return of the King.

Yes, the too many endings problem is a well-known issue with the Return of the King film.

They could have cut all of them, replaced it with Sharkey, and it would have been better.

Would it have been better though? I think it would just have been bad in a different way.

 

[Dausuul]

Except the film already has multiple climaxes and denouements to rapidly diminishing returns.

I agree with this complaint. Where I disagree is the implication that adding the Scouring of the Shire would have come across as anything other than just one more denouement.

The problem is that a movie is consumed all at once, which means that you have to keep the audience engaged throughout. There is no chance for the audience to come down off a climax, process it, get some distance, and return ready to engage a new arc*. And that means, once you have the grand climax of Sauron's defeat, anything that comes after it is going to feel inconsequential. The end of the movie drags on as it is, despite Jackson doing everything in his power to compress it--if you tried to work in the Scouring of the Shire as well, the audience would either fall asleep or leave.

A book, by contrast, is usually consumed in pieces over a span of days or weeks. Those who can plow through a whole book in one epic sitting are a distinct minority. Given that "Return of the King" goes on for six full chapters after Mount Doom, it's likely that the reader will get at least one break in between Sauron's fall and the discovery that Saruman has trashed the Shire. This allows the sense of scale to reset, so that the Scouring seems meaningful.

A TV show is like a book in this regard, and could pull off the Scouring in a way that no movie ever could. It could also include more of the foreshadowing that Tolkien uses to lay the groundwork. The movie version of "The Two Towers" couldn't really justify giving space to the discovery of Eastfarthing pipe-weed in Isengard, but in a TV show, it would be fine.

*Okay, yes, it's a trilogy of movies, so the audience does get two chances to do this. But that's no help in this case.

 

[el-remmen]

Bumping this thread because I was going to complain about a lack for dwarven women minis with beards (as they should be depicted at least 50% of the time) but searched for the topic on the boards first. As such, I only ever buy male dwarven minis and use them interchangeably, which also works because most female adventurer minis in general usually either have almost no clothes, or boobs big enough to be noticed even under their armor (and long braided hair) and I don't necessarily need/want that.

 

[MGibster]

I game regularly with two women who have a penchant for playing gnomes and dwarves. Neither one of them has ever expressed any desire for a bearded dwarf miniature. Not even once.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

It's obviously up to individual tables, but its not the norm in 5E (or indeed, any recent edition) as a default, because in general (individual exceptions apply) female players don't particularly like the idea that if they play a female dwarf, they should have a beard, which is typically regarded as a male secondary sexual characteristic/identifier. It's pretty much equivalent to all male elves having small-but-noticeable and feminine boobs as a default. Yeah, some people would be down with that. Some people would think it was awesome (and not necessarily the people you might expect), but some people would not enjoy it. And the default design of 5E is intended to make the game fun for the players, not to cause giggles for people not playing those genders of characters.

yeah dwarven beards and dragonborn boobs all come down to, some people want to play these races and see themselves as the character... and they do see themselves with boobs but don't with beards.

I see no reason to mix up secondary sexual traits

 

[Richards]

I game regularly with two women who have a penchant for playing gnomes and dwarves. Neither one of them has ever expressed any desire for a bearded dwarf miniature. Not even once.

My sole female player is currently running a female dwarven cleric. When asked whether her PC had a beard, she seemed shocked that that would even be a thing.

Johnathan

 

[el-remmen]

I game regularly with two women who have a penchant for playing gnomes and dwarves. Neither one of them has ever expressed any desire for a bearded dwarf miniature. Not even once.

I'm not buying the minis for them but for my group/game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Bumping this thread because I was going to complain about a lack for dwarven women minis with beards (as they should be depicted at least 50% of the time) but searched for the topic on the boards first. As such, I only ever buy male dwarven minis and use them interchangeably, which also works because most female adventurer minis in general usually either have almost no clothes, or boobs big enough to be noticed even under their armor (and long braided hair) and I don't necessarily need/want that.

The trope in Tolkien, and Pratchett, is that female dwarves are pretty much indistinguishable from male dwarves. Hence no need to have gendered minis.

I do think the Hobbit movies missed a trick by not having some of the Thorin's company played by women. No other change, just have women under the beards.