Grumpy RPG Reviews

Grumpy RPG Reviews · Dec 19, 2011

New Episodes!
Episode 55: Blacks in Gaming (Episode 55 ends with a challenge for D&D 5E/Next.)

I run a series of mostly podcast reviews of RPG reviews and columns, though the last 15 episodes are in video format as well. They are mostly done in the character of the Grumpy Celt, which is what I would be were I a fictional character and knew myself to be a fictional character.

This thread was part of an ongoing series, but the discussion of Blacks in Gaming took on a life of its own. As a result, I've slid that conversation out to this thread. -- Piratecat

Grumpy RPG Reviews · Feb 22, 2012

Episode 55: Blacks in Gaming

Dannyalcatraz · Feb 22, 2012

In Chris Van Dyke essay on the subject, he states that of…

“…the roughly 100 illustrations that depict adventurers in the 1st Edition Player Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide (both published in 1978), there are NO non-white adventurers. In the over 100 illustrations of adventurer’s in the 2nd Edition Player Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide (both published in 1989), there are NO non-white adventurers.”

I always liked to think of "A Paladin in Hell" as a black guy...

As for the rest of it...

RPGs as a form of entertainment share a perception problem with Metal- within the black community, it's often conceived of as something for white guys from the 'burbs/Eurocentric. Not for us. Even today, when I go to a Metal show, there are more of us in the security and staff at the event than there are in the audience.

And it's not just the games, it's every aspect of of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror genre. We're not just underrepresented in the fiction, we're underrepresented in the consumer market for the stuff. It's rare for me to run into non-Anglos in those areas of my book stores, comic shops, or movie/memorabilia stores.

ExploderWizard · Feb 22, 2012

Dannyalcatraz said:
I always liked to think of "A Paladin in Hell" as a black guy...

As for the rest of it...

RPGs as a form of entertainment share a perception problem with Metal- within the black community, it's often conceived of as something for white guys from the 'burbs/Eurocentric. Not for us. Even today, when I go to a Metal show, there are more of us in the security and staff at the event than there are in the audience.

And it's not just the games, it's every aspect of of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror genre. We're not just underrepresented in the fiction, we're underrepresented in the consumer market for the stuff. It's rare for me to run into non-Anglos in those areas of my book stores, comic shops, or movie/memorabilia stores.

Despite underrepresentation, it was a black guy who showed me the game and taught me how to play.

Dannyalcatraz · Feb 22, 2012

For more than 2 decades, I was the only black guy I knew in gaming.

Thunderfoot · Feb 23, 2012

Wow, Danny, it seems like we've had this discussion somewhere else on these boards.... hhhmmmmmmm

Dude, you can play guitar and D&D with me any day.

(But I still can't believe they let you be a lawyer in Texas. :lol:

)

As for the art, it sort of makes sense. White guys make white pictures. It's unintended racism. When I think about NPCs or read a book without a very specific description, I think white person. It's not intended, but it's what my mind comes up with. Unless there is a specific reason otherwise (I played a fighter named Hakim ibn Hassan al Nasir in Al- Qadim, he most definitely wasn't white and I Painted a mini for a black player so I figured his character was too, I had a pre-determined frame of reference.) I default. It's human nature unfortunately.

By contrast, when Forgotten Realms came along, there was a conscious effort to create an entire world, and diversity was built into the design. Boom, black guys in gaming art!

And if you think about it, there wasn't a whole lot of other races represented either until OA and UA. Of course, diversity was already being foisted upon the hobby via EGG's vision of the D&D cartoon. Let's face it, Diana wasn't Greek.

Dannyalcatraz · Feb 23, 2012

Dude, you can play guitar and D&D with me any day.

Side note: most of my D&D PCs play an instrument...usually either flute or lute.

(But I still can't believe they let you be a lawyer in Texas.)

It's either affirmative action or they don't know I'm black.

Piratecat · Feb 24, 2012

Dannyalcatraz said:
For more than 2 decades, I was the only black guy I knew in gaming.

That's just wrong.

We've got a black player in our group, and I'm plotting to teach my Little Brother (who's from Sierra Leone) how to play. I know maybe another dozen black gamers. Criminally few.

Dannyalcatraz · Feb 24, 2012

It is what it is. I started gaming in a suburb of Denver, then moved to small-town Kansas. Then I moved to a suburb of Dallas that was the least integrated in the entire Metroplex- there was a KKK rally on the corner down from my Dad's office the first year we lived there. I was the first black to graduate from my private HS (and remained the ONLY for a decade). My college had only 20 black freshmen, and only about 40 blacks out of a total (grad & undergrad) enrollment of 4500. Campus security knew us all on sight.

Simply put, for most of my life, I haven't been around that many blacks who weren't relatives, so that pushes the odds of finding a black gamer WAAAAAY down.

Piratecat · Feb 24, 2012

That's certainly true. I'm wondering how much those odds change in more integrated states. I grew up in Vermont and Connecticut, places that are not exactly cultural melting pots, and the proportion was about the same.

So here's a question. When you see relatively few black gamers, how much of that do you think is because so many of the classic fantasy stories - LotR, King Arthur, and more books than I can name - are all about white folks?