Ok, ok, so you marketplace content creators have all kinds of stuff to choose from. We get it. Now it is time to show you how "real" people use your artwork. Just for simplicity I am going to pick on tokens. Since I run a game where field of view can be important, I tend to use top down tokens, and so have quite a collection of Devin Night's work with some entries in my collection from David North, Riley Owens, and Elcio Trombini. These things seem to slowly accumulate. They almost seem to multiply on their own. Like rabbits maybe. And still, they just don't have all I need. I mean, most of the posts in this thread are fantasy related, but it seems like the most common meme about fantasy creatures is not being responded to... "A wizard did it!" Yeah, you got every version of undead possible covered six ways from Sunday. But what about the things adventurers can run into when not mucking about in some crypt? Right, you got a gazillion goblins, orcs, animals, and dragons. So what? Sometimes you just need to drag out some creature from the book to make your players wonder what type of mind altering medication you are taking. Like the lowly Wing-Tip. A fey creature that is empathic and just really wants everyone to be happy and content. It is a white ball of fluff with wings. How hard is that? So, here I am trying to make my players (characters) happy, and I'm being let down by all these content creators that didn't think to put a blob of white with wings in any of their collections! Then I realized that I could take Night's white wolf and mercilessly erase most of it until there was just the white fluff and texture of the shoulder area. Then I just need wings (mostly white!). I don't remember where the wings came from. I can't find them now, so it was probably some set that staggered out of the bar one night and crashed in my collection for a while before being able to make it home. Ok, so my players (characters) are happy, so now I need something big and scary. How about a dragondactyl? Oh, that isn't some cut rate dragon, it is a horse. That has bat wings, a serpent's tail, and is carnivorous. And I'm not talking about some bony thestral, this thing eats good. Ok, the marketplace creators have horses, several options if I want a pegasus, but not much for what happens to a pegasus when "a wizard did it". Well, back to mutilating innocent art work again. Alright, so my players (characters) were happy, and maybe still are if they managed to survive the attack of the carnivorous horses. Now, for any that remain, I really need to throw something at them that they won't see coming. Or, maybe they will, but will be so busy wondering what to make of it that they won't know the danger they are in until too late... What in the world is an Eye Killer? It is small, has the head (and most of the body) of an owl, a pair of dog legs, and a lizard tail. And sort of like the gorgon, you don't want to meet its gaze, because it will scramble your brain with its psionic abilities. Cool! Except the marketplace lets me down again! It isn't my fault I want tokens for creatures like this! A wizard did it! Yeah, I mangled the shadows on that one pretty bad. Sue me. If you marketplace creators preformed your wizard cleanup duty more thoroughly, then I wouldn't have to.... You know, this thing might need an ally. Or maybe a distraction. It looks so harmless that the players may just know something is up. Maybe I should give it a friend. How about a Scorpion Devil? That sounds menacing. Hmm, head of a pig, one pair of insect legs, and a scorpion tail... Not only did a wizard do it, but they are still doing it to keep these things ambulatory... A glance at the marketplace tells me I am on my own again. Meaning that more innocent art is about to get mutilated because there are way too many wizards that will stick anything in their pipe. There are more, but I think I will stop there.... You marketplace creators really need to step up your "a wizard did it" game. :P Disclaimer: As far as I remember, all the bits of these were taken (and horribly abused) from sets of Devin Night's work. I asked (and received) his permission before posting here. These are not for redistribution/sale. Go mangle your own. You will probably do a better job anyway. Also, in case it wasn't clear, this post is meant to be silly. I appreciate the time and effort put in by the artists that post things on the marketplace. Keep up the good work.
