D&D 4E Women in 4E

[RangerWickett]

. . .

Is that . . . Diaglo?!

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I sort of agree with this from a cold, hard, marketing perspective. But how far are you going to take this?

Anyways, I have extremely negative personal opinions of the sorts of people who get all hot and bothered over artwork of women in D&D.

I'd be surprised if there were too many of them. Instead, imagine a focus group that was presented with two books. In one book, the art was slightly more scantily-clad than the other. Nobody in the focus group really noticed the difference, but when they were interviewed, they had a more positive opinion about the sexier book, due to subconsciously noticing the art. When asked why they liked it better, they talked about the writing quality, the layout, the content, and maybe the art too, which was "better," but not for any specific reason.

That's more the way I would expect it to work. Even in well-adjusted, mature people, that kind of thing goes straight for the hind brain without even stopping to say hello to the cortex.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

But why automatically assume that its the case? I mean, maybe people explode into piles of gold that reform into corpses moments later after being killed. Would you defend that with the same argument?

Gods, no. What sort of idiot wizard would create a spell that turns your enemies directly into treasure, but only for a second? Back to the drawing board, Merlin! The poor sap has to stay gold long enough for us to spend him!

 

[Voadam]

But what I *don't* like seeing is the fact that half-orcs and dwarves are only men. I think I've seen ONE picture of a female half-orc or dwarf in any wotc product, and that annoys me.

Here are some more.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/FR_ART/People/BronniaStonesplitter.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/FR_ART/People/Dwarvesngnomes.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/FR_ART/People/Halflingsandsuch.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph2_gallery/97167.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/boed_gallery/75023.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/boed_gallery/75062.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/cov_gallery/92322.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/cosw_gallery/90405.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ros_gallery/83254.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ros_gallery/83259.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ros_gallery/83299.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ros_gallery/83307.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ros_gallery/83315.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ros_gallery/83317.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ros_gallery/83336.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/rod_gallery/86288.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/cx_gallery/86362.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/cx_gallery/86367.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/cx_gallery/86372.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/cx_gallery/86377.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/completechampion_gallery/104775.jpg ?

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82085.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/eb_gallery/82089.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/rof_gallery/49736.jpg

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/rof_gallery/49752.jpg

 

[Rechan]

Titillation IS common sense when marketing to teen boys as your PRIMARY demographic.

Then why beat around the bush?

Green Ronin's owner and Erik Mona were reminising about how one of the 1e books had naked breasts on the cover. I also recall that the 1e MM had breasts showing for the succubus.

 

[Masquerade]

The problem, IME, is that, if a character is drawn to be "sexy," and the viewer does not agree with the artist's idea of attractiveness, the piece will end up looking much, much worse in that viewer's eye than if it wasn't drawn with the intention of being "sexy" in the first place. I don't find overly-muscled near-naked men attractive, nor am I attracted to unrealistically-busty bikini-wearing women and would be more than happy to see both dropped from D&D art altogether.

Or perhaps you prefer elves.

Very cool. I wish this was preview 4e art.

 

[kiznit]

Frankly, I demand all the heroic characters I'm pretending to be to be attractive.

I also like to pretend that the people they're dealing with are either attractive or comically hideous.

Sometimes, for a change of pace, I like to pretend that my heroic character is comically hideous.

Fantasy worlds are fun! :thumbsup:

 

[Rechan]

Frankly, I demand all the heroic characters I'm pretending to be to be attractive.

Frankly, I think that "Attractiveness" extends to more than big breasts or huge muscles.

 

[RangerWickett]

[imager]http://enworld.rpgnow.com/images/87/19192.jpg[/imager]
Well, magic-users can't wear armor, so why shouldn't they spend a cantrip to look great? You know that if you could use a little magic to be dead sexy, you'd do it too.

http://www.enworld.org/Nat20/Bikinipage1.jpg

And of course, in a world with magic (or guns -- hi Lara Croft!), armor isn't that important.
http://www.enworld.org/Nat20/Bikinipage2.jpg

 

[kiznit]

Frankly, I think that "Attractiveness" extends to more than big or huge muscles.

Sounds comically hideous. Sign me up!