D&D General One Piece of Art X: The Weird Art

overgeeked said:

From Deities & Demigods. The page after the image Snarf shared.

View attachment 370177

Click to expand...

I really like this one for its juxtaposition of classic medieval fantasy elements (the castle and princess) against.....whatever that thing is.

Snarf Zagyg said:

To me, weird art, when it comes to D&D, always starts and ends with the same name - EROL OTUS.

Click to expand...

I agree, both with the choice of artist and the two pieces and the reasoning for them. I saw but did not own the Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythos versions, and that Shub Niggurath one with monsters oozing out of her and being devoured was D&D and Mythos. It was weird and horrific and inspiring.

I did own a later Deities and Demigods printing and while I found the interior art very inspiring and cool and stylish that Otus cover is weird and evocative and very swords and sorcery and I really wanted a summon avatar spell so different cults could battle it out like Battletech in the skies. I also really wanted to have those three as made up D&D deities.

Voadam said:

I really wanted a summon avatar spell so different cults could battle it out like Battletech in the skies. I also really wanted to have those three as made up D&D deities.

Click to expand...

It's super-weird that neither TSR nor WotC has leaned into the most obvious fiction of the cleric class that way, despite almost every evil NPC cult having summoning an avatar as their endgame.

View attachment 370440

Artist: Dennis Beauvais.
Source: DA2 Temple of the Frog.
Depicting: D&D adventurers, high tech, ridiculous fantasy, weird frogs.

It is a bit of D&D gonzoness in multiple dimensions. The D&D elf carrying way too much gear including plate armor, shield, torch, one handed loaded crossbow, sword, and then a full bow and arrow set on his back. The classic robed and bearded magic-user double wielding laser assault rifles. The warrior woman with ridiculous sexy outfit that still gives her the key mechanical plate armor AC and glowing therefore magic sword.

Then red-eyed giant frogs with big old fangs that turn them uncanny valley monstrous for me as a frog mouth should look more like this:


This is D&D for me in a lot of ways, different influences and styles and themes all together and working.

It is not even anything I owned until I got the PDF relatively recently, but I had seen that cover in a store and it is inspiring and cool.

Voadam said:

View attachment 370439View attachment 370440

Artist: Dennis Beauvais.
Source: DA2 Temple of the Frog.
Depicting: D&D adventurers, high tech, ridiculous fantasy, weird frogs.

It is a bit of D&D gonzoness in multiple dimensions. The D&D elf carrying way too much gear including plate armor, shield, torch, one handed loaded crossbow, sword, and then a full bow and arrow set on his back. The classic robed and bearded magic-user double wielding laser assault rifles. The warrior woman with ridiculous sexy outfit that still gives her the key mechanical plate armor AC and glowing therefore magic sword.

Then red-eyed giant frogs with big old fangs that turn them uncanny valley monstrous for me as a frog mouth should look more like this:

View attachment 370441
This is D&D for me in a lot of ways, different influences and styles and themes all together and working.

It is not even anything I owned until I got the PDF relatively recently, but I had seen that cover in a store and it is inspiring and cool.

Click to expand...

That’s a great one. Expedition is right up there for me as well. Anything that brings the weird, gonzo, and sci-fi is awesome.

This was one piece of gonzo art that definitely expanded my D&D horizons. I just remember thinking when I was 13: "What if you killed it and could use its eyes like a flashlight!"