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[jason10mm]

People started noticing this a year or two ago, the book industry is gatekeeping hard, its very hard if not impossible for a straight white guy to break through and they get none of the official accolades that exist in the industry, literally none, and haven't for a decade. And then the elites wonder why young men are going back and reading the classics again.

Awards are always for chumps. We have Matt Dinniman (who is KILLING IT with Dungeon Crawler Carl), Larry Correia (Monster Hunter International, Black Sword), Nick Cole and Jason Anspach with the Galaxy's Edge stuff, on and on. Then you have Brandon Sanderson who has entered a whole new level of publishing.

If you look at some of these awards, like the Dragon Award (https://awards.dragoncon.org/2025-recipients/) you can see that sci-fi is still dominated by men. Fanatasy is 50:50, but when there is a MILITARY sci-fi/fantasy award, that is almost ALL men. And YA is overwhelmingly women. So there are subcategories of basically "romance + XXX" and "youth coming of age + XXX" variants with almost all women, or at least the female pseudonyms (using initials is, these days, a big one) while the "hard core" categories are still the realm of male writers.

 

[poodaddy]

Even if you don't play it, it's a great read on its own. I wasn't even cherry-picking the best art for that, just grabbing the first few things that popped up. So if you love that kind of style there's something incredible for you on every page. They really let the designers off the leash for this one.

It's a pretty simple system so even if you haven't played a TTRPG before it's a pretty straightforward for you and your friends to dive into. If I remember right the core book has a dungeon in it that you can run the players through and there's plenty of additional content out there you can use. An example of that is this random character generator that creates characters for you. Obviously you and your friends are welcome to make characters yourselves but when I played it the GM printed out a bunch of ones from that and let us pick one so that we could hit the ground running.

Just be aware, since it's in that old-school style, it's pretty brutal with how easy it was to die, especially when you're starting out. I remember when our first fight took place I had an "oh shit" moment after the first turn, realising that the old man we'd disturbed could take any of us out with a single hit. But that ramps the tension up and adds a sense of achievement to the fights you make it out of.

Since it's also got a metal vibe, another one I really enjoy is Eat The Reich, a game in which the players are vampire commandos dropped into Paris during the Second World War. Think Inglorious Basterds meets Suicide Squad.



It's another where the book is really fun to read on its own terms. The game itself is a blast to play and is all about the players describing themselves doing wild, crazy shit in creative ways.

I feel like sometimes threads like these can just turn into focusing on a negative rather than looking for something positive instead. So that's why I figured I'd pop in a couple of suggestions for other games people could try out. I think sometimes people think of D&D as being the totality of TTRPGs and clearly it's the biggest title in the space but there are plenty of other amazing games out there.

Thanks for the information here man, really cool. I know when I try one, I want it to be with my wife, and this is all gonna be very useful for when we do. Thanks again bro

 

[kruis]

Yeah I pretty much dropped reading any new fantasy over the last 10 years. Especially after Sanderson went completely woke. That industry is fucked worse than any other with gatekeeping at the big publishers, and massive spam and discoverability problem with self publishing.

It's not just the fantasy and SF genres that are affected, this has happened in the entirety of the US publishing business. Women took over the publishing industry as editors, they like most liberal US women embraced radical politics and now they're gatekeeping what gets published and it's pushing men away from genres that used to be their domain.

The Vanishing White Male Writer

It’s easy enough to trace the decline of young white men in American letters—just browse The New York Times’s “Notable Fiction” list.

www.compactmag.com

Article:

It's easy enough to trace the decline of young white men in American letters—just browse The New York Times's "Notable Fiction" list. In 2012 the Times included seven white American men under the age of 43 (the cut-off for a millennial today); in 2013 there were six, in 2014 there were six.

And then the doors shut.

By 2021, there was not one white male millennial on the "Notable Fiction" list. There were none again in 2022, and just one apiece in 2023 and 2024 (since 2021, just 2 of 72 millennials featured were white American men). There were no white male millennials featured in Vulture's 2024 year-end fiction list, none in Vanity Fair's, none in The Atlantic's. Esquire, a magazine ostensibly geared towards male millennials, has featured 53 millennial fiction writers on its year-end book lists since 2020. Only one was a white American man.

Over the course of the 2010s, the literary pipeline for white men was effectively shut down. Between 2001 and 2011, six white men won the New York Public Library's Young Lions prize for debut fiction. Since 2020, not a single white man has even been nominated (of 25 total nominations). The past decade has seen 70 finalists for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize—with again, not a single straight white American millennial man. Of 14 millennial finalists for the National Book Award during that same time period, exactly zero are white men. The Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, a launching pad for young writers, currently has zero white male fiction and poetry fellows (of 25 fiction fellows since 2020, just one was a white man). Perhaps most astonishingly, not a single white American man born after 1984 has published a work of literary fiction in The New Yorker (at least 24, and probably closer to 30, younger millennials have been published in total).

 

[DKehoe]

Thanks for the information here man, really cool. I know when I try one, I want it to be with my wife, and this is all gonna be very useful for when we do. Thanks again bro

No worries! Playing it with your girlfriend/wife is so much fun. I'm always happy to help out someone looking to get started in the hobby. If you ever want to ask anything feel free to drop me a message on here and I'll do what I can to help. It would be cool if we had more of a TTRPG community on here.

 

[poodaddy]

No worries! Playing it with your girlfriend/wife is so much fun. I'm always happy to help out someone looking to get started in the hobby. If you ever want to ask anything feel free to drop me a message on here and I'll do what I can to help. It would be cool if we had more of a TTRPG community on here.

Might take a bit, as we're in a very busy phase of our lives, but we do intend to play, have intended to for quite some time, and you'll be my go to guy if I have questions. Thanks bro, you're a real one.

 

[Hari Seldon]

It's not just the fantasy and SF genres that are affected, this has happened in the entirety of the US publishing business. Women took over the publishing industry as editors, they like most liberal US women embraced radical politics and now they're gatekeeping what gets published and it's pushing men away from genres that used to be their domain.

The Vanishing White Male Writer

It’s easy enough to trace the decline of young white men in American letters—just browse The New York Times’s “Notable Fiction” list.

www.compactmag.com

Article:

It's easy enough to trace the decline of young white men in American letters—just browse The New York Times's "Notable Fiction" list. In 2012 the Times included seven white American men under the age of 43 (the cut-off for a millennial today); in 2013 there were six, in 2014 there were six.

And then the doors shut.

By 2021, there was not one white male millennial on the "Notable Fiction" list. There were none again in 2022, and just one apiece in 2023 and 2024 (since 2021, just 2 of 72 millennials featured were white American men). There were no white male millennials featured in Vulture's 2024 year-end fiction list, none in Vanity Fair's, none in The Atlantic's. Esquire, a magazine ostensibly geared towards male millennials, has featured 53 millennial fiction writers on its year-end book lists since 2020. Only one was a white American man.

Over the course of the 2010s, the literary pipeline for white men was effectively shut down. Between 2001 and 2011, six white men won the New York Public Library's Young Lions prize for debut fiction. Since 2020, not a single white man has even been nominated (of 25 total nominations). The past decade has seen 70 finalists for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize—with again, not a single straight white American millennial man. Of 14 millennial finalists for the National Book Award during that same time period, exactly zero are white men. The Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, a launching pad for young writers, currently has zero white male fiction and poetry fellows (of 25 fiction fellows since 2020, just one was a white man). Perhaps most astonishingly, not a single white American man born after 1984 has published a work of literary fiction in The New Yorker (at least 24, and probably closer to 30, younger millennials have been published in total).

Yeah I got a friend who is an aspiring novelist and is an unpaid editor at one of the literary mags (he has had a few short stories published). He is a straight while man and I tease him mercilessly that he should start dressing like a girl if he wants to make it big time.

 

[jason10mm]

It's not just the fantasy and SF genres that are affected, this has happened in the entirety of the US publishing business. Women took over the publishing industry as editors, they like most liberal US women embraced radical politics and now they're gatekeeping what gets published and it's pushing men away from genres that used to be their domain.

The Vanishing White Male Writer

It’s easy enough to trace the decline of young white men in American letters—just browse The New York Times’s “Notable Fiction” list.

www.compactmag.com

Article:

It's easy enough to trace the decline of young white men in American letters—just browse The New York Times's "Notable Fiction" list. In 2012 the Times included seven white American men under the age of 43 (the cut-off for a millennial today); in 2013 there were six, in 2014 there were six.

And then the doors shut.

By 2021, there was not one white male millennial on the "Notable Fiction" list. There were none again in 2022, and just one apiece in 2023 and 2024 (since 2021, just 2 of 72 millennials featured were white American men). There were no white male millennials featured in Vulture's 2024 year-end fiction list, none in Vanity Fair's, none in The Atlantic's. Esquire, a magazine ostensibly geared towards male millennials, has featured 53 millennial fiction writers on its year-end book lists since 2020. Only one was a white American man.

Over the course of the 2010s, the literary pipeline for white men was effectively shut down. Between 2001 and 2011, six white men won the New York Public Library's Young Lions prize for debut fiction. Since 2020, not a single white man has even been nominated (of 25 total nominations). The past decade has seen 70 finalists for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize—with again, not a single straight white American millennial man. Of 14 millennial finalists for the National Book Award during that same time period, exactly zero are white men. The Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, a launching pad for young writers, currently has zero white male fiction and poetry fellows (of 25 fiction fellows since 2020, just one was a white man). Perhaps most astonishingly, not a single white American man born after 1984 has published a work of literary fiction in The New Yorker (at least 24, and probably closer to 30, younger millennials have been published in total).

This is more a reason why traditional publishing, and the industry they support, are all dying. The young men are flocking to manga and non-fiction, it's women reading most of the fiction and that all trends toward some variant of romance. But I think male writers are having more success as indie publishers, so they may not track for the trad publishers.

 

[uncreativename]

The Ravenloft module cover art (by Clyde Caldwell) is so iconic that Castlevania ripped it off for one of their covers :]

 

[Vlodril]

The Ravenloft module cover art (by Clyde Caldwell) is so iconic that Castlevania ripped it off for one of their covers :]

I wish we got more video games with ravenloft. The only one i remember was 30 years ago or so.

 

[DKehoe]

I wish we got more video games with ravenloft. The only one i remember was 30 years ago or so.

There's a BG3 mod being made to adapt the Curse of Strahd campaign. It's pretty ambitious so it won't be done for years or will maybe just fade away like many of these projects do. But could be worth keeping an eye on.

They released this preview a month ago:


But yeah, it'd also be cool to see more being done with Ravenloft.

 

[falconhoof]

I wish we got more video games with ravenloft. The only one i remember was 30 years ago or so.

The soundtracks to Strahd's Possession and Stone Prophet are excellent too.

 

[The Fartist]

D&D was always gay.

 

[jason10mm]

D&D was always gay.

Nah, the OG Dnd artwork was horny AF and geared directly to teenage boys. Nothing but sexy babes and topless monster women. Dnd didn't "go gay" until the theater crowd discovered it and turned it into a bad off off off way off broadway performance.

 

[jason10mm]

FWIW, both Jeff Easley and Clyde Caldwell have art books on kickstarter.

Easley has ended but is taking late pledges


And Caldwell is still going


Larry Elmore has many books, he fairly recently kickstered his third omnibus and has some at larryelmore.com

All three will sell signed prints. I added the Strahd one and Spellfire (my 2 fav Caldwell ones)

Parkinson is the hardest since he has been gone for some time, Kingsgate is still somewhat available and Knightsbridge is long OOP and pricey. Glad I have mine

 

[CGNoire]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK no. That was Kieth Parkinson, hands fuck DOWN, sadly taken to soon. Runner up was Larry Elmore, whom I've met several times and is a really cool dude.

Look at Kieth

or Larry

For me, Easley was always a bit too watercolory and fluid

Clyde Caldwell, the 4th horseman of TSR, was my least favorite (though they are alllll way over to the right of the bell curve for fantasy artists) because he was the most cartoony and damned if he didn't love giant jewels on everyone

I disagree.. the Easleys you posted have significantly more sophisticated compositions than from Elmore or Caldwell or even Keith.

I want to be clear I adore most of the work from this era and think Keith has god like skills. Especially when it comes to his almost photorealistic use of color and atmosphic tone. R.I.P.....but when it comes to the others Elmores skill was mostly in his characters approach, attire and attention to detail although I do think his dragon anatomy beats Easleys hand downs. Now Caldwell is awesome (especially his characters thighs ) but I prefer more fantastical and somewhat more surreal looking compositons aka like Frazzeta which I think Easleys work tends to lean towards.

To be clear there all awesome.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

D&D was always gay.

Brother, the original D&D was so hyper sexual with the female designs, you could successfully beat off to one of the designs, cigarette style. D&D Female Designs>Sears Catalogue

 

[ClanOfNone]

There's a BG3 mod being made to adapt the Curse of Strahd campaign. It's pretty ambitious so it won't be done for years or will maybe just fade away like many of these projects do. But could be worth keeping an eye on.

They released this preview a month ago:


But yeah, it'd also be cool to see more being done with Ravenloft.

A Ravenloft "module" for BG3 sounds amazing. Supposedly a group is working to adapt the entirety of Undermountain for a big ass campaign.
An Undermountain campaign is my dream D&D game, the ultimate dungeon crawl. 20+ massive levels that go from character level 3 to max.

 

[DKehoe]

A Ravenloft "module" for BG3 sounds amazing. Supposedly a group is working to adapt the entirety of Undermountain for a big ass campaign.
An Undermountain campaign is my dream D&D game, the ultimate dungeon crawl. 20+ massive levels that go from character level 3 to max.

Yeah that sounds really cool too. I also think that's maybe an easier one to adapt because Curse of Strahd is this big open sandbox and it's maybe a nightmare to start planning around every possibility, whereas the Dungeon of the Mad Mage campaign being a fixed dungeon (albeit a massive one) means there's more of a structure there and so it's perhaps easier to translate that from the campaign book to a game.

 

[jason10mm]

I disagree.. the Easleys you posted have significantly more sophisticated compositions than from Elmore or Caldwell or even Keith.

I want to be clear I adore most of the work from this era and think Keith has god like skills. Especially when it comes to his almost photorealistic use of color and atmosphic tone. R.I.P.....but when it comes to the others Elmores skill was mostly in his characters approach, attire and attention to detail although I do think his dragon anatomy beats Easleys hand downs. Now Caldwell is awesome (especially his characters thighs ) but I prefer more fantastical and somewhat more surreal looking compositons aka like Frazzeta which I think Easleys work tends to lean towards.

To be clear there all awesome.

In that case then yes, Easley has the Frazetta/Vallejo vibe in spades versus the more "painted photograph of a fantasy event" style that Elmore and especially Parkinson go for.

Any one of their art pieces on a cover of a book was almost always an insta buy.

 

[Mengy]

D&D was always gay.

No, quite the opposite actually. Old D&D was very sexy in a straight male kind of way.

 

[Zacfoldor]

The Ravenloft module cover art (by Clyde Caldwell) is so iconic that Castlevania ripped it off for one of their covers :]

Do my eyes deceive me or does that look like Vampire Donald Trump?

 

[The Fartist]

Brother, the original D&D was so hyper sexual with the female designs, you could successfully beat off to one of the designs, cigarette style. D&D Female Designs>Sears Catalogue

No, quite the opposite actually. Old D&D was very sexy in a straight male kind of way.

Nah, the OG Dnd artwork was horny AF and geared directly to teenage boys. Nothing but sexy babes and topless monster women. Dnd didn't "go gay" until the theater crowd discovered it and turned it into a bad off off off way off broadway performance.

I meant the whole aspect of a group of sweaty dudes hanging out in some basement on a Friday night.

 

[Mengy]

I meant the whole aspect of a group of sweaty dudes hanging out in some basement on a Friday night.

Oh, well.....yeah, that's true. Though there was a relatively attractive girl who used to play in my college group!

 

[DKehoe]

I meant the whole aspect of a group of sweaty dudes hanging out in some basement on a Friday night.

I remember years back for me D&D was that threshold of "well, I'm nerdy but I'm not THAT nerdy." But I eventually gave it a go and it's been a lot of fun. It's basically just bullshitting with your friends with the rules and dice rolls giving you a framework for that bullshitting to take place in.

 

[jason10mm]

I meant the whole aspect of a group of sweaty dudes hanging out in some basement on a Friday night.

The origins of DnD from the wargaming scene, with HEAVY emphasis on mathematics and calculations to simulate events has a strong appeal to a particular, almost exclusively, masculine personality type. While wargaming is largely still all men, DnD has been 'feminized' MASSIVELY over the decades in response to other RPG systems that lightened the math to focus on the relationships/storytelling. Nothing about guys playing a math game together is gay, really, and the books were designed to appeal to heterosexual men. So not really sure your thesis holds much water, other than some gay people surely played and enjoyed it.

Now MODERN DnD is TARGETTING the LGBTBBQ folks heavily, no question there.

 

[The Fartist]

The origins of DnD from the wargaming scene, with HEAVY emphasis on mathematics and calculations to simulate events has a strong appeal to a particular, almost exclusively, masculine personality type. While wargaming is largely still all men, DnD has been 'feminized' MASSIVELY over the decades in response to other RPG systems that lightened the math to focus on the relationships/storytelling. Nothing about guys playing a math game together is gay, really, and the books were designed to appeal to heterosexual men. So not really sure your thesis holds much water, other than some gay people surely played and enjoyed it.

Now MODERN DnD is TARGETTING the LGBTBBQ folks heavily, no question there.