Manticores of Yore

As many of my devoted readers know, I loves me the D&D. Recently it was announced that a new edition (the 4th) was coming out in May of 2008. Since then, I've almost exclusively stuck to reading the 4E forum on ENWorld to get my gaming related internet forum fix.

The most recent thread I've been following has to do with changes to the artwork that depicts the monsters and characters. Every edition has its own look. Sometimes the look can even change as the edition ages. Generally this has to do with particular artists going in and out of style and also with what market research tells the publisher the target audience thinks fantasy should generally look like.

What does this have to do with Manticores? Basically, the Manticore is undergoing a significant artistic revision in 4E that puts it more inline with an "old-skool" understanding of what a Manticore should look like. Some people are happy with this. Some people are not. Personally, I kinda liked how weird the 3rd Edition manticore looked and wasn't too thrilled with the new version. Mostly because I thought it looked too much like the 2nd Edition version, which was essentially a fat, bearded dude's head pasted onto a lion's body.

I did get a chance to see a more complete version of the 4E manticore last night when Marty broke out the newest set of miniatures, and I must say that the picture online really doesn't do the creature justice. It still looks pretty bestial and scary and definitely doesn't look like the grognard's beloved Manticore of yore.