Skip to main content

The D&D in Classical Art: The Fortune-Teller, 1635 by Georges De La Tour (1593-1652, France)

The Fortune-Teller, 1635 by Georges De La Tour (1593-1652, France)

I'll start by letting you know I'm not an art critic, nor an art historian, I'm just a guy who has become interested in an awful lot of things through role-playing games.

That said, I think this is a good example of a D&D-like (or maybe Blades in the Dark-like) piece of art that existed before that game did.

 


Why?

  • His outfits were not exemplary of the time period.  In other words, he was doing the same shit D&D artists do: wardrobe for the story they wanted to tell.  From the second image "As was often the case with La Tour, the costumes are extraordinary creations.  They ought not to be taken as ... authentic clothing found in Lorraine around 1630".
  • His detail in a given image varies from subject to subject in the work.  Some are intensely detailed, some are there, but not really extensively developed.  This strikes me as a good metaphor for writing in general, and RPGs more specifically, whether we're talking about rule sets, situation authoring, world building, or running a game.
  • This particular work I find quite fascinating, because it's also a potential RPG scenario.  The young man is asking "the old gypsy" (as referenced in the second text, I'll call her "the fortune-teller" for the rest of this discussion) to tell him his fortune.  While he's doing that, the two women on the left implied to be of the same cultural group as the the fortune-teller are working him over: one is picking his pocket, while the other is eyeing the woman situated between the old woman and the mark.
  • The woman of the presumed dominant cultural group is using this opportunity to also work the mark, looking to steal his gold medal. Oh, the humanity!  Don't leave your medal dangling!
  • "A higher-value coin, which might afterwards be given to the the [fortune-teller] as a reward rather than as payment per se, was alleged to improve the quality of the prophecy".  This is even better for running old school D&D games, let them pay extra money to get more clarity on what they're supposed to do!  You drain their gold and they get a better idea of what's going on if they take that hook!?  Total DMing win! 

Do you agree?  Do you disagree?  Do you have other examples?  Blog back at me, or leave a comment!

References

  1. Georges de la Tour and His World
    Conisbee, Philip et al
    New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1996. Hardcover. Red cloth with color-illustrated dj. 319 pp. Numerous color and bw plates. New Book. Item #20029000001
    ISBN: 9780300069488 
    • Specifically, the one page I read was page 174
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fortune_Teller_(La_Tour)
     
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On Names

  Note : There are a lot of external links in this post. None of them should be affiliate links If they are, please let me know . Note2 : This has been bouncing around in my brain informally for a while, but putting it to pixel was prompted by Rook’s post on names on Beneath Foreign Planets as part of the RPG Blog Carnival .  There’s a lot of great material that comes from these prompts. I encourage you, dear reader, to check that out. Note3 : Link to the GDoc version this post was originally composed in. On Names One of the holes new Game Masters fall into while playing D&D-esque games is names. I’ll start with random NPC names first, to get the subject out of the way:  Make a d20 or d100 list of names for each gender, and for families.  Either stick it on the fourth panel of your DM screen, or pre-roll five of each, and stick those lists on your fourth panel. If you need a list of real world names, use an onomastikon .   Onomastikon “What is an on...
2 comments
Read more

RPG Blog Carnival: Beyond Vancian Magic

  Hello Friends! I'm thrilled to be hosting December's RPG Blog Carnival topic, Beyond Vancian Magic ! I'm not a hater, but I'll admit I prefer different systems being different, and clerical and magic user magic systems are basically the same.   I'm looking forward to seeing your interesting takes and contributions on evolving past that kind of magic system.  While I chose this topic about half a year ago, it's come up recently on r/osr, in the post Vancian Magic - What It Is How It Works and Where Did It Come From? Here are some ideas to get you started if you don't already have something in mind: Creating entirely new magic systems, or emulating those of other works, such as those by Brandon Sanderson or Jim Butcher. Spellcasting based on the undead turning table, as illustrated by ktrey of d4 Caltrops suggested using in Alternative Spell Casting . Expand on existing the existing "Vancian" system: Make spells truly Vancian, so that they a...
5 comments
Read more

The Elements of Magic Weapons, and Most Especially the Side Effects of Wielding Them

Through September Attronarch of Attronarch's Athenaeum is hosting September 2024's RPG Blog Carnival!  The theme is  Wondrous Weapons and Damning Dweomers .  In relation to that, I would like to talk about the elements of generating a magical weapon with a touch more depth than Old Gary got into. Typical D&D weapons provide a benefit, but with no drawback.  This is great as far as it goes, but I believe a little more thought should be put into it, since each weapon should have the following elements: A numeric bonus An allegiance An intended enemy A weapon effect A side-effect First, I believe all magic weapons should have a numeric bonus, even if it's just +1 to hit and damage.  Call me old-fashioned. Second, gentle reader, all weapons should have some sort of magical effect, even if it's just an elemental damage bonus.  Weapons are made for a purpose, and are made by some person or group.  The makers of the weapon set the allegiance. That doesn'...
Post a Comment
Read more