The 'Wonderland'-Inspired Faces of the RAGE OF DEMONS

Take a peek at some of the art from D&D's upcoming Rage of Demons storyline. This art is by Richard Whitters, who is the art director for D&D and used to work as a concept artist for Magic: the Gathering. WotC's Chris Perkins has indicated that one of the influences on Rage of Demons was Alice in Wonderland, and I think the influence is clear when you look at the characters below.

OUGALOP, kuo-toa cave cricket catcher extraordinaire.

YUK YUK and SPIDERBAIT, goblin adrenaline junkies.

THE SOCIETY OF BRILLIANCE, the Mensa of the Underdark.

GLABBAGOOL, awakened gelatinous cube.

RUMPADUMP and STOOL, myconid followers.

PRINCE DERENDIL, a quaggoth who thinks he's elven royalty.

TOPSY and TURVY, svirfneblin wererat siblings.

THE PUDDING KING, svirfneblin devotee (i.e., flunky) of Juiblex the Faceless Lord.

D&D's "Legion of Doom." What a wonderful bunch of malcontents.
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[Mercule]

"Of course you can join the party! There's always room for J-E-L-L-O."

Grandma Zuggtmoy is always trying to stick a bunch of carrot shavings, pearl onions, and sour cream in the poor guy.

 

[Mercule]

I prefer the art style of the core rulebooks...

As do I, over all. I'm okay with the idea of individual books, especially adventures, having somewhat different art that evokes the intended mood.

 

[Mistwell]

Wow. NOW I am totally incredibly interested in this adventure book. This is awesome stuff!

 

[stinkomandx]

I LOVE IT.

My original post entirely mixed up Oz and Wonderland, but I like how reminiscent some of this stuff is compared to the scarier parts of Oz too.

 

[Trickster Spirit]

GLABBAGOOL FOR PRESIDENT.

WAIT.

A wounded Drizzt, left near death after facing a horde of demons and barely escaping with his life, stumbles into a gelatinous cube's tunnel, where he is devoured. All the magical crap he has on him reacts strangely with the acid and the result is GLABBAGOOL, THE GELATINOUS CUBE WHO THINKS HE IS DRIZZT DO'URDEN.

All future Salvatore novels stare Glabbagool, who is completely oblivious to the fact that he is not a dual-scimitar wielding dark elf, and any Drizzt appearances in the AP will have the players interacting with the delusional ooze.

That is so excellent, it doesn't matter if it only ever shows up in my home campaign, it is now officially canon in all D&D campaigns throughout time and space.

 

[doctorhook]

Don't think the plot will be very Alice in Wonderland like. It seems that Perkins meant he was going for a feel of bizarre otherworldliness and off-kilter humor inspired by Carroll: or perhaps, Gygax (not known as the most serious or grimdark of DMs...).

Meh, I'm still okay with it. What I want are quality adventures, so a strong theme is a good step. (I'm still feelin' the sting from Tyranny of "Arbitrarily-parade-through-the-Sword-Coast-and-fight-the-most-iconic-wyrms-evar!!1!".)

 

[Lidgar]

Topsy and Turvy = Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?

This looks fun. As in, I think I want someone else to DM it so I can play it!

 

[Nebulous]

See, the artwork is so evocative it is already inspiring campaign ideas in people without reading a word of the plot! Well done, Wizards.

 

[neobolts]

This looks fantastic! The gonzo Friday night with an open bar kind of gaming I love. The right mix of dumb and dangerous!

 

[TwoSix]

All future Salvatore novels stare Glabbagool, who is completely oblivious to the fact that he is not a dual-scimitar wielding dark elf, and any Drizzt appearances in the AP will have the players interacting with the delusional ooze.

"That's not a dark elf, that's a gelatinous cube!"

<theme song>
Glabbagool, what's the matter with you?
You don't act like the other cubes do
You wear a disguise to look like dark elf guys
But you're not a drow, you're a gelatinous cube
<end theme song>