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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @05:58PM (1 child)
But it was definitely the one that non-nerd society remembers.
Wasteland which was a decade earlier had children in-game that you could murder. It was how you drew out the (something) Ranger, who had the Red Ryder BB Gun, which was one of the best and earliest weapons you could get, if you played your cards right and set up an ambush for him. I also remember some other games of that era allowed it, although many made towns combat free zones and many others still discourage thievery within town in other ways unless it was quest related. Rogue-likes as a class often allowed that however, game balance issues willing.
After Baldur's Gate quite a few games started allowing it more, although in most cases they simply had everyone ganging up on you, even though in a real bar fight it's very likely some would ignore it, some would fight you, and others would take advantage of the chaos. Maybe even one or two really powerful guys would ignore it until they were personally disturbed and then end all fighting either with their commanding presence or by KOing people until the situation is under control. KOs being something almost every game omits, even though many players might want to try less violent approaches than are the norm.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday June 21 2020, @07:42PM
Didn't Fallout, or was it Fallout 2, also allow it -- killing kids plus you could get a career as a post-apocalyptical-pornstar.