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D&D Looks To Cut Down On Racial Differences Going Forward
Races and classes have been the central aspects of character creation since the beginning of Dungeons & Dragons – well, not quite the beginning, since Elf used to be a class in original D&D. However, based on a twitter thread by D&D's Jeremy Crawford, it looks like Wizards of the Coast will be moving toward less drastic racial mechanics, especially in regard to races traditionally considered "monster races."
Crawford pointed out the differences between the orcs found in Volo's Guide to Monsters and those found in the Exandria and Eberron settings, saying that the latter reflects the direction that the D&D team is headed in regard to monsters. The Exandria and Eberron orcs lack the -2 penalty to Intelligence and the required evil alignment. This reflects the fact that in these settings orcs are mostly considered another type of people – with all the varieties in personality and temperament that come with that – rather than fodder for player characters to fight.
[...] It is worth noting that this comes on the heels of a Twitter discussion on the racist history of orcs, initially spawned by a screenshot of the description of orcs in Volo's Guide to Monsters. Tolkien initially portrayed orcs as caricatures of Mongolians, and orcs have been racial stereotypes of other races over and over (see World of Warcraft or Bright). Dungeons & Dragons is not immune to this – even outside of the orc issue, races like the Vistani appear as Romani stereotypes.
Diversity and Dungeons & Dragons
Throughout the 50-year history of D&D, some of the peoples in the game—orcs and drow being two of the prime examples—have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated. That's just not right, and it's not something we believe in. Despite our conscious efforts to the contrary, we have allowed some of those old descriptions to reappear in the game. We recognize that to live our values, we have to do an even better job in handling these issues. If we make mistakes, our priority is to make things right.
See also: Dungeons & Dragons Designers Clarify How Gnolls Differ From Other D&D Creatures
Related: Gender and Appearance Stereotypes Travel to World of Warcraft
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @10:02PM (5 children)
If they don't believe in it, why are the Grand Wizards changing it?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @10:20PM
Probably to get ahead of when somebody decides that this is social commentary or that the races in the game are actually analogous to ones in real life. Some people have so few problems that they have to go out and look for problems to have.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @10:39PM (1 child)
They are afraid of masculine black men, but they are even more afraid of the woke cultural revolution. There's too many cis white males [reddit.com] at the company as it is, and the company is in Seattle, home of the CHOP.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @10:59PM
They have reason to be fearful having fired Terese Nielsen makes them misogynistic, homophobic and with this latest admission - massive racists too.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @09:21AM (1 child)
Because entertainment detracts from having every spare waking moment devoted entirely to social justice and the progressive agenda. As this is obviously the one and only thing that is worth spending time on in life, this obviously means that all games must be turned into propaganda, so that it is impossible for any to think of anything else. So the creators of these games must be pressed into it, or the employees of the companies that make them must be harassed, smeared, threatened, attacked, and their lives generally ruined until the comply (which might or might not stop it), go bankrupt, or simply kill themselves, which, naturally, the Ministry of Truth will not dwell upon when there is another social justice cause to triumph.
If they didn't, we might, horror of horrors, have entertainment rather than indoctrination!
...you know, I typed those words out of sarcasm, but given some of the dialog I've seen on here there are probably a lot of people on SN who agree with this. Many won't say it, many may not even admit it to themselves... but really, they do.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @02:29PM
Aside from the sarcastic hyperbole, that's mostly correct. They use whisper networks, take control of the HR dept, intimidate or harass anyone who falls out of line, and do whatever they can to get their enemies to grovel, exit, or commit suicide. Basically turning workplaces and whole industries into a twisted high school cafeteria filled with winos. They need to espouse the social justice agenda or they will get cancelled themselves. The agenda is just a means to grab money and influence, even if they are in short supply.
Tabletop gaming and other escapist hobbies are full of socially inept males who can be easily manipulated or vilified. Corporate leadership already leans woke since they don't want a media firestorm on their hands.