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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: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Sunday June 21 2020, @07:18AM (2 children)
No. It wasn't. The whole point of D&D was to escape reality to a different reality that was explicitly fantasy. You got to role play, which is literally to act out the fantasy according to their role. We call these people actors, and nobody confuses the actors in a play with their characters in real life, nor do they assume the hypothetical reality is real. It's like the disclaimer in videos that nothing in the video has any relation to a real person, blah, blah, blah.
From the beginning, at it's foundation, the organized need to apply the bullshit, labels, containers, grievances, and demands that one group be catered to, are illogical and inane. It's a fucking game. Nobody reasonable thinks that orcs represent any parallel to the real world and that the orc/half-orc-human dynamic represents the systemic racism and class warfare present in the contempoarya..adf..ga.43 jeesu fucking christ right? Again, a fucking game. The orcs are inherently evil fuckers that like burning down our corn crops. Kill them for XP, lols, and honor. Go :)
This is a quasi-Anthropomorphizing behavior, that always comes back to the primary question. Back to first principles. Does a person have the ability to distinguish between the game, the role playing, and the real world? That goes back to the 80's with arcade games. Same arguments by people that love to control what people can do and enjoy.
We played D&D to get away from the judgment and bullshit of the real world, and to role play as wizards, half-orcs, and beserk crazed barbarians. It had no relation to real life whatsoever.
This bullshit right here. Real-world racism has no place in our fantasy worlds. Likewise, real world bullshit like getting butt-hurt over prejudice towards the orc has no place in any decision making regarding the game. We can create worlds where an explicit evil (like Melkor level demi-god evil) can give birth to a race that is inherently evil. It's understood why, because that is part of the whole backstory. We have origin stories for the races.
What's next? Not all Mindflayers are pyscopathic assholes, and they need more range and nuance? Like a trans-Mindflayer bar owner that obsesses over the feelings of others, cries frequently, and strongly identifies as a gay Wood Elf. Fuck no. We like to role play, not play out something patently ridiculous. Only way that could possibly be true is if some god-like level Enchanter got mad and decided to make the Mindflayer an example. You need a reallllly strong back story for that demand for nuance to counteract the origin story of the Mindflayer. Evil beyond time and space and all that shit. It literally makes no sense to have Mindflayers exist in the entire range of human sensitivities and behavior.
How orcs are treated in this game has no relation to real life whatsoever, except for the need for some people to use it a social vehicle. I support social progress and treating people better, but it's fucking insane to start controlling how we can role play, and what kind of role playing is more correct than others.
We should be careful before we start judging each other's role playing and fantasy worlds, because those are explicitly all equal as a form of art.
Fucking Art Nazis, man.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @03:05PM
The Left wants you to forever roleplay their fantasy game.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2020, @02:50AM
Drizzt was a Drow that went good and his story is ridiculously popular.
"Even more worrying than individual racial stereotypes is the use of biological determinalism – the idea that orcs are naturally “savage” and even when “domesticated” lack the capacity to care that other races do. The idea that a race of people with free will and the capacity to make decisions are naturally inclined toward evil or low intelligence is central to real-world racism, and it is a good sign that Wizards of the Coast is adding more nuance to D&D races."
I see that as nothing more than expanding the possibilities of the D&D universe. You can still craft stories with evil Orcs and Gnolls, but players can create characters that aren't inhibited by the stereotypical roles of any given race.
"How orcs are treated in this game has no relation to real life whatsoever"
That is not really true, every imaginative act is done by a real person, every set of game rules imparts a concept of how the world does/should/might work. Races set in stone as evil are an affront to the concept of free will and imagination.
Hopefully WotC will work in mechanics like "as an Orc choose your path/deity" and you get modifiers based on which path you choose. That way they can keep the -2 int along with some strength or whatever modifier.
We all take comfort in our traditions, and for gamers/geeks/nerds the traditions are rooted in the games/comics/books we grew up with. Change is uncomfortable and scary, that is normal; but don't let the fear grip you so tightly you lash out in anger without just cause.
D&D is a game built on imagination, and DMs frequently alter the standard rule set. This is a whopping big nothing burger, but it comes after a massive shift in cultural priorities which understandably makes a lot of sheltered people uncomfortable.