Let's start with the obvious disclaimer: I think chaimail bikinis are silly. They're a silly cliche that was ridiculous and sexist when D&D was created in the mid-70s and just as ridiculous when Red Sonja first appeared in comics (at roughly the same time). Now, almost forty years later, it's hilariously inappropriate. Depictions of women in the game isn't getting any better, and might even be getting worse.
But that's not what this is about. This is about the dungeon punk aesthetic of D&D and gaming. It was fine for one campaign setting (Eberron) but seems less suited to the game as a whole. But much of the art of D&D (and a little bit of Pathfinder) has embraced an over-the-top look to armour and weapons.
Some of this is Wayne Reynold's ascendency to the go-to art style for both games. Some of it is the desire to push away from adherence to realism and historical armour to a more stylized and fantastic design. But it always reminds me a little of '90s comic books where all the character designs got a little more needlessly complicated with leg pouches, chains, spikes, and overly large guns.
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Also, check out the new home of 5 Minute Workday: www.5mwd.com Thank you Black Friday sales on domain hosting.
Change your bookmarks and keep reading (but I'll continue to post here as well for the first month or so)
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