ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

The female dwarf sprite is clearly depicted without a beard, but the in-game lore seems to imply that she should have one. Does the fairer sex of dwarven adventurers regularly shave? Did the guy who wrote the note never actually meet a dwarven lady and is mistakenly describing flamboyant men? Are the beards actually fake and only worn as a status symbol? Are female dwarves actually halflings? Is it all of the above? Should we blame wizards?

This bothers me far more then it should. Would some kind soul please put my mind at ease?

I wrote the lore before we have sprites for dwarven women. I blame the artist for the screw-up, but I'm guessing DarkGod will come back to me and say that the lore is easier to change than the art :-/

I vote yes for beards. You're not a dwarf unless you have a beard. (Sorry Borfast.) You're also not a dwarf unless you're in direct possession of a battleaxe.

All dwarves always have beards. It's a facet of being a dwarf. Female dwarfs wear Steel High Heels, but they would NEVER be so mad as to shave their beard off.

This is something worth fighting for changing the graphics on.

Changing

I thought female dwarves were called "thalore".

The lore in particular says that female dwarves braid their beards instead of leaving them scruffy. Of course some noble dwarves braid their beards too, but generally in thicker, more masculine knots.

I would never play a dwarf again.

Impy wrote:The female dwarf sprite is clearly depicted without a beard

Who said their beards have to be on their chins?

minmay wrote:

Impy wrote:The female dwarf sprite is clearly depicted without a beard

Who said their beards have to be on their chins?

Are you talking about the Deep Below?

OMFG

^THIS.

I wasn't gonna touch that line with a 10 mile pole.

As an aside, they can always steal the beards from acid ants.

Out of morbid personal interest I decided to try and sketch out what a bearded dwarven woman might look like. In my head it actually seemed like something that might be crazy enough to work, but the results ended up falling short of my expectations. 1 no beard: My take on what the current sprite for the female dwarf PC might look like.
2 bushy dwarven beard: Doesn't work, you can't tell at all if it's a man or a woman.
3 braided beard: Based on the lore description. Still looks like a man, reminds me a bit of Jack Sparrow.
4 sideburns: Instead of looking like a dwarf man, she looks like a halfling man now. Partial success?

Do keep in mind that if these were to be downscaled to sprite size, it will be even harder to tell whether it's a man or a woman.

Basically what I've learned from this experiment is that adding beards to dwarven ladies just doesn't work quite as well in practice as it did in my head. It's also probably the reason why just about every media adaption of dwarves ended up debearding the women. If you guys are really adamant about changing the sprite, I'd recommend adding some really exaggerated womanly features to compensate. Like maybe a giant pink bow or a crazy hairstyle. If it's still up for debate though, I would strongly recommend just changing the lore.

Yay, visual exercises! Great work, Impy. Have you thought about the possibility to contribute ?

This topic becomes weirder and funnier with every day . Personally, I prefer to draw my dwarven ladies beardless, but that is an aesthetic and/or lore choice.

Cheers!

cttw wrote:

minmay wrote:

Impy wrote:The female dwarf sprite is clearly depicted without a beard

Who said their beards have to be on their chins?

Are you talking about the Deep Below?

Only if they lead to the Scintillating Caves...

jenx wrote:

cttw wrote: Are you talking about the Deep Below?

Only if they lead to the Scintillating Caves...

You guys got it all wrong. To reach the Sandworm Lair you have to take a detour south of the Old Forest. You can also try exploring the nearby Unknown Tunnels, if you're brave enough.