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* Regardless of whether you like the aesthetics of the art, we took pride in avoiding things like making all the characters either white men or women in mail bikinis. We also tried to depict plausible weapons and armor, and match creature art to creature descriptions. All of which meant a lot of back-and-forth over art long after the text was a done deal.
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By the way, kudos on this! I know you're not the only folks doing this, but I also have heard from others trying it that it's an uphill climb. What I've heard is that artists have figured out that the standard in fantasy RPGs is burly white guys and hot white babes in chainmail bikinis, so they default to that at all times, believing that is what people will want unless they're very clearly told otherwise.
It sounds like nobody disagrees that DFPRG is an interesting and worthwhile game from the point of view of the thing which was created.
Is there any way to separate RPG distribution from board game distribution? Everything I read about the market being periodical-like and having a short memory focuses on boardgames. I realize that SJ Games *is* a board and card game company, and that for more than a decade RPGs have been only a small sideline. Still the way people play RPGs is extremely different from how they play board games, and the nature of the games themselves lends far more to a slow-burn, takes-time-to-learn and get into play style than board games. With board games, the expectation is that you can open up a game, sit down, read the rules, play it, and have a fun evening, with zero prep ahead of time. RPGs are almost never like that. So, RPGs being driven by the marketing needs of board games means that RPGs are going to get swept under the tide.