I too was wondering who these guys are. If Dungeon were to have its own iconics I would find that quite cool. I agree with Cold Steel that they look better than the WotC iconics.
They are indeed recurring characters that we will be using as needed. They are less iconics, and more player character stand-ins. Wayne Reynolds designed all these characters for us (and painted the 114 cover) based on a few ideas that he, Erik, James and I threw back and forth.
I'm the one responsible for the elven rogue in the red leather.
I'm the one responsible for the elven rogue in the red leather.
So what's his name? And for that matter It wouldn't be a bad idea if these folks were the official "Dungeon Crew" as it were. Not that I don't like Tordek, Lidda, Redgar and company (the Gnome Bard was a nice addition too) but these guys show up on the heels of 3.5 and at the onset of the "New Look Dungeon", well that just screams marketing opportunity.
Oh yeah, and they look tasty too.
The ever hungry,
Great Green God
The cover credit for issue No. 116 (on the table of contents page) says the image is of "Dungeon's favorite Paladin." That was a surprise to me because I never noticed the fellow before. So I looked at the last few issues and saw that this guy is in a few illustrations here and there. (I really only recognized him by the stylized design on his armor's shoulder plates.)
Like the posters above I want to know more about this "Dungeon" party. I'm especially interested in this ranger-like fellow with the wolf hide armor.
I just got 117 today, and these guys are in the art at the start of 3 articles (the backdrop on Istivin and the two non-Eberron adventures)! Their depictions seem cooler even than on 114. I like the idea of having these guys be the "stand-ins". I always enjoy seeing how different artists depict the same people (especially if they are fictional). Good idea guys.
PS- Andrew Hou, awesome stuff.
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I just got 117 today, and these guys are in the art at the start of 3 articles (the backdrop on Istivin and the two non-Eberron adventures)! Their depictions seem cooler even than on 114. I like the idea of having these guys be the "stand-ins". I always enjoy seeing how different artists depict the same people (especially if they are fictional). Good idea guys.
PS- Andrew Hou, awesome stuff.
I totally agree with everything you say C.M. I have used already the iconic characters from the 3.5 player's handbook as either npcs or starting p.c.s for my Forgotten Realms campaign and a couple of my players want to convert the the woman with wolf hood to a uthgardt barbarian or a druid. Don't be stingy with your mysteries, Dungeon and just tell us all already!
So what's his name? And for that matter It wouldn't be a bad idea if these folks were the official "Dungeon Crew" as it were. Not that I don't like Tordek, Lidda, Redgar and company (the Gnome Bard was a nice addition too) but these guys show up on the heels of 3.5 and at the onset of the "New Look Dungeon", well that just screams marketing opportunity.
We never envisioned them as a marketing opportunity, just placeholders for the PCs. They don't have names, they don't have back stories. Since we don't usually run good guys as critical threats, you probably won't see these folks statted out. Maybe we should run a contest or something to name them. I'll ask Erik about that.
Sean Glenn
Art Director Dragon and Dungeon magazines
So here's an idea: Instead of a critical threat or some other statting of them, make minis of them as some sort of promotional dealie, and include blank stat cards. Then have readers send the stats in they created, both RPG and skirmish stats. There's your contest! You can print official cards as an insert of the best entries. Heck, each year have a new sculpt and a new stat contest! It's so crazy it just might work! Or maybe it won't work at all, and I just happened to have one glass of wine too many with dinner. Anyway, I think they look cool (but I guess that is obvious by now).
I concur on the recommendation for a contest. I've always thought Dungeon lacked that sense of gaming community that is so inherent in Dragon. What a wonderful opportunity to build that!
Besides, I like the idea of these iconics growing organically, rather than having them presented defacto as was done for third edition.
I like em' but don't over use them.
(the red leather rogue is cool)
I can do without the wolf chick in every piece of art in the mag though.