Wednesday, October 8, 2014

AD&D weirdness: And then the Elf girl was a snake

Carnival was an AD&D supplement detailing a wandering carnival led by a fallen(?) angel for the Ravenloft (although the cover hastily tacks on "OR FOR OTHER SETTINGS!" to milk those sweet, sweet dollarbux). It's full of various D&Disms like Elves, Wizards, Orcs, and Lycanthropes but there is one bit that is so utterly bizarre that I wanted to single it out.

Take a look at the cover here http://www.museumofplay.org/online-collections/images/Z004/Z00493/Z0049356.jpg. It's very late 90s cheesecake-y goodness, although the number of shirtless fit men outnumber the lone busty blonde Elf. There's a kind of "innocence" to this type of art, much like Frank Frazetta's art, where a weird sensual (or perhaps sexual?) energy objectifies both men and women, making it comparatively inoffensive (at least to me).

So what's the story on our nearly-naked Elf maiden with huge knockers?

She's a snake. No, literally. Someone, somewhere for some (perverted) reason turned a snake into a Elven bombshell who now prances around practically nude. Imagine if a PC ends up romancing her and then learns the truth. At least she's sapient though!
Seriously, look at the butt. Wizards truly have no sense of right and wrong.

1 comment:

  1. If it was a Ravenloft setting it was before Wizards ownership. Back then D&D was owned by TSR.

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