jhkimrpg (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jhkimrpg) wrote,@ 2008-03-04 11:11:00 |
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D&D 4th Edition Previews
NOTE: Especially in a D&D post, I should note that it seems that the Gary Gygax, one of the founders of D&D, has just passed away -- as posted on Troll Lord Games, viazigguratbuilder and RPGnet. It was reported as a front-page link on CNN.com.
I had just been writing an update on 4th edition D&D. The past weekend was the Dungeons & Dragons Experience -- an RPGA event in Arlington, Virginia. There special preview demos of the new 4th edition were given. Mike Shea created a D&D Experience Liveblog to cover it. He posted lots of pictures and commentary as well as a Demo Adventure PDF. There are also a set of zipped PDF character sheets available from WotC. (I have a page of conversions for easy browsing of the character sheets.)
Really, the mechanics and background details are being discussed to death in many other forums more focused on it. I don't have a whole lot to add. Personally, I'll wait to see some reviews of the full game once it is published in June and maybe play some demos. I will at least post the new proposed cover of the flagship, the new Player's Handbook.
This is contrasted with an earlier proposed cover that was circulated back in October or so.
I'm seriously disappointed in both of these. The theme seems to be showing a rather monstrous male creature along with a woman showing both cleavage and thigh in a rather twisted pose. (Actually, there aren't any gender identifiers that I can tell on the dragon-like humanoid in the latest cover -- however, I'm sure that it will be considered male.)
Even before any point about considering younger players and female players, I consider it terribly cheesy marketing to put sexy images on the covers of things to sell things that have no connection to sex. I think it's fine to use sexy images to sell attractive clothing or beauty products, or for novels or films that feature sexy visuals. However, it just comes across as stupid when you just throw it on the cover of something unrelated. I could understand showing cleavage on the cover of a tabletop RPG that encourages PC romantic relations -- like Teenagers from Outer Space or James Bond 007 or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, D&D has never featured that.
In practical terms, I had been thinking of getting D&D 4th edition stuff for some kids I know -- like our friend's kid Ellie or my nephew Nathaniel. This makes me seriously question it. What's more annoying is that the Astrid's Parlor forum -- originally created as a "haven for women gamers" -- seems to have devolved into primarily guys arguing over feminism 101 stuff, as seen in arguments on the "New PHB cover" thread, for example.
Just out of interest, here are some of the prior Player's Handbook covers that I looked over for comparison:
On the one hand, the new covers have added active women. However, I'm not thrilled about their presentation. In discussion back in October of the original cover preview, I had suggested that it was fine for art to be cleaner and simpler in style than earlier editions. I don't think D&D should look like Exalted, but I think some change to reflect more recent popular art styles would be good. D&D4 should look distinct from D&D3. For example, here's Caanan White's cover for the Ptolus comic:
I think this has a similar comic-influenced (obviously) style. While this picture specifically shouldn't be for the PHB, I think something similar would be good. The leading Dungeons & Dragons book cover should feature a dungeon and/or a dragon, among other things. Still, the Ptolus comic cover has a variety of characters which is good for broad appeal. Also, the women are attractive without being in twisted poses to show off cleavage and thigh.
Another point of comparison might be the World of Warcraft covers. I recently looked over a few of those:
While World of Warcraft is hardly a shining example of appealing to women, it at least doesn't try to put cleavage on its covers.
NOTE: Especially in a D&D post, I should note that it seems that the Gary Gygax, one of the founders of D&D, has just passed away -- as posted on Troll Lord Games, via
zigguratbuilder and RPGnet. It was reported as a front-page link on CNN.com. I had just been writing an update on 4th edition D&D. The past weekend was the Dungeons & Dragons Experience -- an RPGA event in Arlington, Virginia. There special preview demos of the new 4th edition were given. Mike Shea created a D&D Experience Liveblog to cover it. He posted lots of pictures and commentary as well as a Demo Adventure PDF. There are also a set of zipped PDF character sheets available from WotC. (I have a page of conversions for easy browsing of the character sheets.)
Really, the mechanics and background details are being discussed to death in many other forums more focused on it. I don't have a whole lot to add. Personally, I'll wait to see some reviews of the full game once it is published in June and maybe play some demos. I will at least post the new proposed cover of the flagship, the new Player's Handbook.
This is contrasted with an earlier proposed cover that was circulated back in October or so.
I'm seriously disappointed in both of these. The theme seems to be showing a rather monstrous male creature along with a woman showing both cleavage and thigh in a rather twisted pose. (Actually, there aren't any gender identifiers that I can tell on the dragon-like humanoid in the latest cover -- however, I'm sure that it will be considered male.)
Even before any point about considering younger players and female players, I consider it terribly cheesy marketing to put sexy images on the covers of things to sell things that have no connection to sex. I think it's fine to use sexy images to sell attractive clothing or beauty products, or for novels or films that feature sexy visuals. However, it just comes across as stupid when you just throw it on the cover of something unrelated. I could understand showing cleavage on the cover of a tabletop RPG that encourages PC romantic relations -- like Teenagers from Outer Space or James Bond 007 or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, D&D has never featured that.
In practical terms, I had been thinking of getting D&D 4th edition stuff for some kids I know -- like our friend's kid Ellie or my nephew Nathaniel. This makes me seriously question it. What's more annoying is that the Astrid's Parlor forum -- originally created as a "haven for women gamers" -- seems to have devolved into primarily guys arguing over feminism 101 stuff, as seen in arguments on the "New PHB cover" thread, for example.
Just out of interest, here are some of the prior Player's Handbook covers that I looked over for comparison:
On the one hand, the new covers have added active women. However, I'm not thrilled about their presentation. In discussion back in October of the original cover preview, I had suggested that it was fine for art to be cleaner and simpler in style than earlier editions. I don't think D&D should look like Exalted, but I think some change to reflect more recent popular art styles would be good. D&D4 should look distinct from D&D3. For example, here's Caanan White's cover for the Ptolus comic:
I think this has a similar comic-influenced (obviously) style. While this picture specifically shouldn't be for the PHB, I think something similar would be good. The leading Dungeons & Dragons book cover should feature a dungeon and/or a dragon, among other things. Still, the Ptolus comic cover has a variety of characters which is good for broad appeal. Also, the women are attractive without being in twisted poses to show off cleavage and thigh.
Another point of comparison might be the World of Warcraft covers. I recently looked over a few of those:
While World of Warcraft is hardly a shining example of appealing to women, it at least doesn't try to put cleavage on its covers.
