[P] My partner is an artist, I'm an aspiring one, and I've spoken with other artists about this. For everyone I spoke to, 3E/3.5E had the best art with its dungeon-punk vibe, 5E comes in second place and... the rest isn't all that great, to be honest. 3E/3.5E also had thr chubbiest dragons, and dragons who actually decorated themselves and wore clothes (see: Council of Wyrms)! Because dragons are sapient, not feral, ao of course they would.
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-7
[P] But 5.5E doesn't feel like it has room for me and my shenanigans. It's "epyk warrrrrgh" with lots of mans who want to stab the other mans, then whore it up in an inn later. And... i'm just not about that. If this is kind of a back-amf-forth though? Maybe the whimsy will return for 6E and D&D will be something I caj actually enjoy again. And if I can dream, maybe they'll stop being nauseatingly fatphobic and let me have my chubby dragons back.
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-6
[P] I remember the DM threw in a bunch of undead just so the God of Diplomacy couldn't talk his way out of this one. See, I fevoted my entire build to that, I had no capacity for combat. And I'm really, really lucky with dice rolls, which is how we left the big bad's domain alive with our treasure. I kept rolling 18s and up, I even got an "Are you fucking serious right now?" out of the DM. See, that's what roleplaying is. It's being creative and clever.
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-5
[P] The best campaign I was ever a part of was one where I had the ultimate diplomat. I convinced door guards that I was a wealthy investor to skip an entire dungeon, and we beat the campaign by me pointing out the logical flaws in the big bad's plan and giving him a better plan! Our goal was an item from his treasure as we were mercs, which he gladly gave to us and allowed us to leave! The party was in stitches. It was hilarious.
#dungeonsanddragons #dnd55e #55e #art
-4
[P] Craig Charles isn't a great person, I've heard, but ehat made both Lister and Kryten relatable is that neither was very masculine-coded. There's something so neurotypical and male to have "As many mens on the field as possible, killin' each othrr! Yeah!' And that's something 5.5E is really going for. It's very "epyk" and I'm just not interested. I prefer the whimsy and fun of D&D. All of my most memorable moments were of that, and being weird.
#dungeonsanddragons #dnd55e #55e #art
-3
[P] I've seen women talk about this and how parts of 4E went this way, alienating anyone who wasn't that particular target demographic. And now they're at it again. See, yeah, 1E/2E had a Frazetta vibe with barbarians but it was never "Epyk warrrrrgh!" There's something about "epyk" ear shit that's so straight, male, and neurotypical. It's hard to articulate. It feels compensatory, almost? Like Red Dwarf's Rimmer. D&D for Rimmer.
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-2
[P] I've never been shy about admitting that I strongly dislike the style of 5.5E. What interests me currently is the talk of it being a strongly male-coded design, which doesn't surprise me as I think what little remakns of their art leadership (those who aren't freelancers and contractors) are all men. So it has a very testosterone-fuelled "Epyk warrrgh!" vibe in striking contrast to 5E's whimsy. 5.5E does have a neurotypical boys' club feel to it.
#dungeonsanddragons #dnd55e #55e #art
-1
[P] If you really want to understand why I think the new design for 5E's goodest of boys (gold dragons) is fatphobic? Observe the examples.
Old is on the left; New on the right.
"Gold goes from chonky to thin! To be good is to be slim!"
Yes. I know. Lung. But they could've created an entirely new awesome lung dragon for this, or chosen a priorly sinuous dragon. Like it or not, this makes a very unpleasant statement.
I miss chubby golds. :C
[P] I think qnother thing that bothers me about the 5E gold dragon design is the misguided choice they made for diversity. See, if you want a lung, add an entirely awesome new dragon or use one that's already sinuous. Taking a lad that's been chonky for so many editions, and suddenly making him a thin boy? What's the messaging? (Especially since golds embody Good.) "To be good is to be thin!"? It feels fatphobic, body-shamey. Just rubs me the wrong way.
