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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Melan" data-source="post: 3233213" data-attributes="member: 1713">Qualidar wrote:As someone born a year after the 1st edition DMG was published, I believe I can safely say that no nostalgia is involved on my part. In fact, going by the nostalgia argument, I should be nostalgic for 2nd edition’s art, which I am clearly not (and I didn’t like itt hat much „back then”, either - preferred artwork from Fighting Fantasy, fantasy and SF pulps, and so on). Old art, like new art, should be judged on its own merits. It is impossible to discount nostalgia, and it it may naturally colour someone’s judgement... But claiming that it is „only because of nostalgia and rose coloured glasses” is a cheap debating tactic, and frankly, very insulting - especially since it discounts the possibility that it can be good. Strictly speaking, we could even say it is a sort of ad hominem attack, because you are arguing against the person, not the point being made.I say that the „look of old D&D” is not just „cheap production values”, but something with its own aesthetics. You can see the things it was inspired by on pulp fiction magazines, comic books (making the accusation that 3e D&D looks comic bookish rather... comical), and things like the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. Clearly, it is not the face of today’s fantasy art, as today’s fantasy art has generally rejected its pulp heritage and seeks visual inspiration elsewhere. There is a „look” that seems to have vanished, and been replaced with more „realistic”, but also more mundane art.Last but not least, I like new examples of art done in the „old” style just as well as classical pieces. Erol Otus is still producing fascinating and weirdly imaginative pieces, and there are many new artists who „get” that vibe, often using today’s tools. John Massé (who did some of Necromancer Games’ older covers) and Stefan Poag (whose B&W and colour art is featutred in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line, as well as OSRIC products like Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom) are just two examples. In fact, with good art direction, I maintain that Wayne Reynolds could be capable of it.</blockquote>

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