Dragonsfoot Magazine Adventures--Call Out

Elves/rangers are apparently ambidextrous (aren't they special).
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The spear is in his left hand, gripped the way it is, because he is carrying it, not fighting with it, and prefers the flexibility of having his right hand free and ready for any action. If combat ensues he will simply rotate his left hand and grasp the butt of the spear with his right hand, and hardly needs to shift his left-hand grip at all.

And the shifting of his weight does look good.
 
Now THAT's interesting. I wasn't aware that if you edited your post, the forum would also edit the quotes from your post.

EDIT: but then when you changed it back, the change didn't take in the quote. Huh.
 
Hokey dokey...:)...enjoy this post on Ranger's Thru the Ages.

My favorite part?
Geekerati said:
...Drizzt Do'Urden (the new "iconic" Ranger who has displaced Aragorn in the D&D imagination)
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So. Apparently the new platonic ideal for a ranger is a character made up by Snoop Dog? (Fo' Shizzle, Dizzle.)

Also, as further evidence of how out of touch I am: I was surprised to see that roughly 75% of the google images for "D&D ranger" are now female and go a little somethin' like this:
ranger-5e.png

Man, did I get it wrong!
 
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squeen said:
Hokey dokey...:)...enjoy this post on Ranger's Thru the Ages.

My favorite part?

So. Apparently the new platonic ideal for a ranger is a character made up by Snoop Dog? (Fo' Shizzle Dizzle.)

Also, as further evidence of how out of touch I am: I was surprised to see that roughly 75% of the google images for "D&D ranger" are now female and go a little somethin' like this:
View attachment 891

Man, did I get it wrong!
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Apparently about 40% of D&D players are women now (its a WotC stat, so I assume they really mean 40% of 5e players. There is a stereotype that women preferentially play elf rangers, but I'm not sure that's true (although it might be for MMOs). I tried to find some data on classes played by women, and from what I could find women more or less seem to prefer the same races and classes as men (although there might be a slight preference for clerics and warlocks). My hypothesis is that the prevalence of female elf rangers out there is artists like to draw them, and people think they are hot.
 
Beoric said:
There is a stereotype that women preferentially play elf rangers, but I'm not sure that's true (although it might be for MMOs).
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Don't forget to account for the fact many (if not most) players change class when their character passes. Often when the character dies, their player has a swift replacement already drawn up for her next run, usually of a different class (because a sufficient amount of players want to explore the options, rather than staying static).

This is anecdotal, but my current group skews feminine (4 gals, 2 guys), and I've noticed the girls especially almost always have some totally different character idea waiting in the wings. They think about trying out new character options and concepts all the time, and have on a few occasions "retired" the character they were playing for the sake of trying out something different (death isn't uncommon in my group but it gets a little rarer at high-level play).

Of the ~15 men I've played D&D with over the years, I'm pretty sure they've all tried playing Rangers at some point - the ones that stuck around for campaign-length play, anyway - and of the ~12 women I've played with over the years, all but one have at some point used a Ranger (and that was because she only played through one Cleric for four sessions). HOWEVER - they've also all used a Druid, and a Barbarian, and a Cleric, and a Wizard, and a Rogue -so, I personally don't see Rangers as being especially female-slanted comparatively (at least, from what I've seen from the women at my tables).
 
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Interesting read. (40%! o_O)

This part threw me...
Your link said:
As lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford explains it, “It’s a really simple thing, but in 5th, that decision to not require miniatures was huge. Us doing that suddenly basically unlocked everyone from the dining room table and, in many ways, made it possible for the boom in streaming that we’re seeing now.”

“Part of that is possible because you can now play D&D and look at people’s faces,” he says. “It’s people looking at each other, laughing together, storytelling together, and that’s really what we were striving for.”

And that translates to how much viewers enjoy watching others play. “What 5th edition has done the best,” according to game designer Kate Welch, “is that idea of it being the theatre of the mind and the imagination, and to put the emphasis on the story and the world that is being created by the players.” That’s the kind of “drama people want to see,” both in their own adventures and on their screens.
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Say what?!?

Having a female art directory does explain the increase in female characters depicted too---consciously or subconsciously.
I'm not complaining---girl's should get to have fun too---and though I play with my two daughters, it's just culture shock that it's become the norm. (Quick! Back into the DeLorean Doc!)

Oh, the decades of mockery we endured before D&D "mainstreamed"---just like comic books!
 
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Yes. They increased their target market by 67% or more just by being more inclusive. Duh.

Although if you check out the employee profiles on WotC's website a lot of them are still pretty nerdy.

I find it is hard to find women who want to play in my age group, but I always like the way it changes the dynamic when I do.
 
squeen said:
Oh, the decades of mockery we endured before D&D "mainstreamed"---just like comic books!
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I'm probably going to need therapy for it one of these days...

Beoric said:
I find it is hard to find women who want to play in my age group, but I always like the way it changes the dynamic when I do.
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Is it weird that I've always preferred my girlfriends/wife to accept my hobby but keep it at arms length? I had one gf WAY back who kept trying to get into the group and I kept her out. To be fair I was keeping her at arms length... As a kid I always dreamed of finding this ideal geek girlfriend but as an adult I've actively carved out this no-girls-allowed space. I wouldn't think of excluding/discriminating against women anywhere else in life (except the bathroom... IT'S CALLED BOUNDARIES YOU BARBAROUS FREEWHEELING GERMANS! :p ) I'm glad this generation of gamers isn't growing up with these ridiculous stigma.
 
The1True said:
I'm glad this generation of gamers isn't growing up with these ridiculous stigma.
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Bah! Builds character(s).

characters-nox.jpg...

Seriously, in my original post you are missing my implied colossal arrogance. All the time "back in the day" when folks were mocking nerdisms, I was thinking: "You are so stupid." (a.k.a. Prince's "normies".)

So, now---after all this elf-fantasy/sciFi stuff has hit the mainstream in such a Big Way (...are we all so desperate for fantasy escapism in a world has shrunk/globalized?...now that the frontier is gone?)...So, now---I don't think: "thank goodness, no more shame!", my knee-jerk reaction is: "Hey rubes...y'all are kind of late to the party. Finally get a clue? Got your geek sheek on now that YouTube tells you it's okay? All 'nerd-ed' up? Way into your faux-computer phone-apps and Captain America T-shirt like a good little consumer-monkey? Tres, tres, nerd! Well, it's about time (ya brain dead sheep...)."

However, after having been repeatedly broken-down and humbled by life...I realize now that's just my inner 13-year twit speaking---and I try to reign it in. Pride has always been The Cardinal Sin, and I am a sinner.

( Let's not edit history, the jocks mostly wanted to punch us geeks in the mouth because we were a bunch of smug know-it-alls! )

Also, for some weird reason...I don't really like most of the sci-fi/fantasy content being produced these days. I don't think it's very good. For me, when all that dark, edge-lord stuff started creeping into fiction in the 90's...that's when I lost interest. It walked like a duck, quacked like a duck---but somehow had the wrong scent (Teen Spirit?). Case-and-point: I adored LotR for decades, but didn't particularly like Jackson's movies when they finally rolled along---to much popular acclaim. (I did however enjoy the first Matrix movie...but then Columbine dampened all our ethusiasm...)

Just when everyone seemed to be getting on the bus, I was stepping off.

Oh the ironies of life!

Ultimately, EOTB has got it right: find your Jeep and just ride the hell out of it (...I'm still tinkering with mine). Life's too short.

(Now back to drawing retro sketches. Where was I? Oh yeah! Wood elves and rangers that aren't D'izzle Sh'izzle's sister...)
 
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Here's one I hope makes you laugh --- me discovering that (despite owning 2 dogs) I have no idea how to draw a wolf.

Ouch! It's like I'm 5 years old.

wolf0.jpg
 
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There! I spooked him up a bit in GIMP with the mouse.

wolf.gif

Same sketch. Totally effort 6 minutes. Two colors---black or white.
Computer hocus pocus...enough shadows, and your imagination fills in the rest!

See. If I'm that awful at sketching...you can do your own amateur D&D art too.
Digital medium and a complicit audience will save you. You too can substitute stylized ambiance for skill in the Dark Woods! :D
It's nutty, but I'm really urging you all to try.

Sketch something up, take a picture of it with your phone and post it here---I'll shade it for you and then walk you through my process.
It will be fun.

( Still more dog than wolf. Guess that takes real skill. :( )
 
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squeen said:
( Still more dog than wolf. Guess that takes real skill. :( )
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People don't see wolves very often, and don't tend to have clear pictures of them in their head. Plus a wolf's demeanor is fundamentally different from a dog, and if you miss that it can't help but be doglike. Generally artists depict wolves as either wolf-like dogs or as monsters. What they should be drawing is chessmasters.
 
Here's wolf attempt #2. Quick-sketched last night in 2 minutes at the kitchen table, sitting next to my daughter (who was drawing a horse) and stealing her blue colored-pencil. This morning, I pumped up the contrast a bit in GIMP and layed in a a soft-focus background using the usually chicanery.

I know it's not winning any awards with the John Birch Society, but I think it's a big improvement over attempt #1. After scribbling the previous monstrosity, I realized I wasn't getting the canine leg-structure correct, at all. I should really sit down and look at some decent photo references, but it's fun seeing how good my mental image is without the cheat-codes.

Still more Husky than chessmaster, but closer---and probably good enough for amateur D&D art where the wolves are just there to make pull out your sword! We've left the Dark Woods too---scene veered to the Arctic on me. Probably because I just finished reading my freshly arrived copy of Melan's excellent From Beneath the Glacier. I am not the master of my own subconscious....and when it comes to sketching, I've learned it's better to just go with it.

Enjoy.

wolf2-1.jpg

@Beoric : I know. Totally a Pokeman canidate. Sue me.
 
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Oh! Almost forget. This is the biggest take-away for other aspiring DIY D&D artists out there (are there any out there reading this?). My daughter was taken aback because of how quickly I did it. They key was one of the tips from the Proko course. Don't focus on drawing outlines (e.g. the silhouette), quick-sketch the underlying 3D forms.

In this case, I used the bean method to start by drawing a blob (bean) for the ribcage and another blob (bean) for the pelvis/shanks. Seriously---just two lightly-drawn kidney beans. Then you think about where the appendage-bones attach, and rough that in. Add an oval for the head. The rest is just putting meat on for muscle, and shading the basic 3D forms---I'll post something about that some other day.
 
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