Mastodawn

[P] Hasbro sees D&D 5e as a commercial flop, so they're pulling more money out of WotC to pump it into their wunderkind, Magic: the Gathering. They see M:tG as their only real moneymaker in the fantasy space, so their last ditch effort is to turn D&D into a licensing brand. What I really want is for WotC to sell D&D after the licensing initiative fails (which it will). That's the only hope I hold for D&D's future.

-5

[P] I want actual progressiveness in D&D. Give me a fat, good, culturally gay dragon, you cowards. I'd love that as an.important poster character for D&D. We won't ever get that, though, because D&D is mired in right-leaning traditionalist regressivrness. The players often (often!) try to fix that, but it shouldn't be our job. It just makes me want a better game to replace D&D. And I might not have long to wait, frankly...

-4

[P] I recall 2e/3e dragons being so chonky because being fat wasn't always a sin in D&D. It feels like things should get more progressive with time. I mean, granted, they've made some superficial passes at LGBTQ+, but I see that as corporate cynicism as they've never gone all in with that support. A character being coded omnisexual doesn't give them authentic gay/lesbian culture, BG3 had not a single actual gay, just omnisexual straights.

-3

https://buttondown.com/TayoWrites/archive/dungeons-and-diets/

[P] This isn't new for WotC, either.

Apparently Larian was so upset with WotC's tampering that they've sworn they'll never make another D&D game. I don't think fantasy should be anything-phobic, but WotC is fatphobic on the regular. I want to say this started around mid-4E from what I remember, and it's juat gotten worse since then. It's really put me off D&D. Doing it to the dragons was the last straw.

-2

Dungeons and Diets: Antifatness in Baldur's Gate 3

Some thoughts on the approach of Baldur's Gate 3 and games more generally to fatness and the links to antiblackness and antiqueerness.

If I Speak...

[P] I still can't forgive WotC for bringing American beauty standards—of all the vile things—to Dungeons & Dragons, where good has to be anaemic. The new gold dragon is now a poster-child for vomit-don't-eat while evil dragons get chonkier. Typical. It makes me want a progressive European replacement for D&D. 5.5e broadcasts "Good people aren't fat! Baddies are!" with SO much of its art, it isn't even just the dragons. WotC has a problem.

-1

[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.

-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.

-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.

-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.