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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[MonsterEnvy]

Troglodyte

And I'm thinking grimlock rather than orc.

Grimlocks don't have eyes.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Yeah the pic of Demogorgon we have here is way too different from the pic of him on the cover and the one of him fighting Drizzt so this is probably concept art.

 

[jayoungr]

Not really seeing the Alice connection. I don't know whose illustrations those are modeled after, but I can't see any of Tenniel in them (and as far as I'm concerned, he's the One True Illustrator for Alice).

That said, they are still pretty cool. Just not what I was expecting when they announced a "Wonderland" vibe. Maybe they were thinking of Tim Burton's version??

 

[Trickster Spirit]

Not really seeing the Alice connection. I don't know whose illustrations those are modeled after, but I can't see any of Tenniel in them (and as far as I'm concerned, he's the One True Illustrator for Alice).

That said, they are still pretty cool. Just not what I was expecting when they announced a "Wonderland" vibe. Maybe they were thinking of Tim Burton's version??

No, it's not the artwork (which may or may not be what appears in the book itself), it's the characters the artwork is of that definitely trip all of my "Alice in Wonderland" detectors.

They were driving home the "madness" bit in the Tweets and actual AP write-up - I'm thinking they meant the line "the insanity that pervades the Underdark escalates" literally and that some kind of sanity effect is taking place in addition to the demon invasion. So adventure looks like it's going to be Underdark faction-heavy, with the players having to diplomatically navigate between insane NPCs in order to accomplish their mission of getting rid of all the demons.

Sure, it's not a talking caterpillar with a giant hookah, but just imagine... twin were-rat svirfneblins that PCs will inevitably find every bit as obnoxious as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. A meeting with the quite mad "Mensa of the Underdark", where the Illithid member is what he eats (discerning palates find that the brains of intellectuals are of course the most decadent), and become an academic himself, getting too caught up in scholarly debate with the wizard to remember to actually flay any minds. A Quaggoth who thinks he's a high-elf noble.

And the myconids... well, the myconids are probably tripping balls per the usual. Still sounds like plenty of fun, though.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Grimlocks don't have eyes.

Ah, good point. It just should have been a grimlock then.

 

[skugga]

These have the kind of whimsy that I associate with DiTerlizzi's work in Planescape. Kudos to all involved.

Exactly, my favourite era of D&D art.

I was interested when the title and theme were announced (could take or leave Drizzt). But after seeing this I'm all over it.

If only I hadn't just wound up a demon focused Planescape campaign with my group .

 

[Queer Venger]

Win.

 

[Psikerlord#]

This art looks BRILLIANT. I don't see any Alice in wonderland connection myself. I think I will be using this adventure for my next campaign. In the meantime,,,...start winding down the current one!

 

[bpauls]

This artwork, the Underdark setting and the "Alice in Wonderland" influences have me far more excited about this release than I was for either "Tyranny of Dragons" of "Princes of the Apocalypse." In fact, I don't think I have been more excited about an upcoming WoTC adventure...well, ever.

 

[Leatherhead]

This reminds me more of The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth than Alice in Wonderland.

Unless they are talking about American McGee's Alice.