As a onetime player of the game, I was excited to see this Sociological Images post on the covers of the various editions of the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook over the years. (D&D PHB, if you want to get concise.)
The post documents the evolution of the cover images, from a simple picture of a guy with a sword on a rearing horse, through colorful demons and bold adventurers, to a nifty "mystic tome" look with 3rd edition, and back to dramatic humanoid figures with the current 4th edition version.
There's an interesting conversation in the comments about whether the clothing of the current cover's female adventurer (the first woman to appear on a PHB cover) is absurdly skimpy, or actually pretty good given some of the more ridiculous conventions for women's garments in fantasy game/novel/artwork history (the chain mail bikini being perhaps the most notable example).
My take is, yes, the clothes are goofier than I like to wear when I fight monsters in dark caves, but also yes, compared to some of the outfits I've seen on female characters, they're almost practical. Progress!
Also, these pictures make me wish I were playing D&D right now. Curse our lack of a steady group.
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1 comment:
are chain mail bikins worn on "steel beach"?? - steel beach was when we had a party aboard the flight deck of our ship -
oh, well perhaps, they have ladies on ships now :-)
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