Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Bonus languages in One D&D backgrounds goes contrary to their other goals
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Malmuria" data-source="post: 8740283" data-attributes="member: 7030755"><p>I totally agree, and there has been some discussion on twitter about this. The sample backgrounds, as constructed, lean into existing dnd tropes and conventions. I can see why they did this, as some people really like those conventions, but it undermines their attempts to open up if not do away with those same conventions. So whereas previous editions might describe Orcs as "brutish warriors," here we get a gladiator archtype that knows Orcish (and for bonus ickiness, they get "savage" attack and galdiators are historically associated with slavery).</p><p></p><p>There is huge potential in backgrounds doing collaborative worldbuilding work, but not if they just rely on the same tropes. They should emphasize that backgrounds are <em>specific</em> and meant to correspond not just to general archtypes, but your character's origin in a particular setting. So the basic rule would be to craft your own, and then a sidebar they walk you through the process with setting-specific examples. You're not just an "urchin," you are urchin from waterdeep. What is waterdeep like, specifically? Why are there urchins in this city and how do urchins fit into that very specific setting? Or, you are an entertainer in Theros. What is the role of entertainment in that setting? What musical instruments are specifically popular there?</p><p></p><p>The way out of sterotypes is through <em>specificity</em> and <em>worldbuilding</em>. Admittedly, this is hard to present in an economical fashion and to standardize into a set of easy to pick up examples. But it's necessary if they want these aspects of the game to become less problematic. Background creation should be part of a session 0 <em>procedure</em> through which players contribute to defining aspects of the setting in these small ways. In the OSR, this is referred to as <a href="https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2019/anti-canon-worlds-and-the-uvg/" target="_blank">"anti-canon" worldbuilding</a>. Or, take a page from dungeon world, and allow players to fill in some of the "blanks" on the conceptual map of the world.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Malmuria, post: 8740283, member: 7030755"] I totally agree, and there has been some discussion on twitter about this. The sample backgrounds, as constructed, lean into existing dnd tropes and conventions. I can see why they did this, as some people really like those conventions, but it undermines their attempts to open up if not do away with those same conventions. So whereas previous editions might describe Orcs as "brutish warriors," here we get a gladiator archtype that knows Orcish (and for bonus ickiness, they get "savage" attack and galdiators are historically associated with slavery). There is huge potential in backgrounds doing collaborative worldbuilding work, but not if they just rely on the same tropes. They should emphasize that backgrounds are [I]specific[/I] and meant to correspond not just to general archtypes, but your character's origin in a particular setting. So the basic rule would be to craft your own, and then a sidebar they walk you through the process with setting-specific examples. You're not just an "urchin," you are urchin from waterdeep. What is waterdeep like, specifically? Why are there urchins in this city and how do urchins fit into that very specific setting? Or, you are an entertainer in Theros. What is the role of entertainment in that setting? What musical instruments are specifically popular there? The way out of sterotypes is through [I]specificity[/I] and [I]worldbuilding[/I]. Admittedly, this is hard to present in an economical fashion and to standardize into a set of easy to pick up examples. But it's necessary if they want these aspects of the game to become less problematic. Background creation should be part of a session 0 [I]procedure[/I] through which players contribute to defining aspects of the setting in these small ways. In the OSR, this is referred to as [URL='https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2019/anti-canon-worlds-and-the-uvg/']"anti-canon" worldbuilding[/URL]. Or, take a page from dungeon world, and allow players to fill in some of the "blanks" on the conceptual map of the world. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Bonus languages in One D&D backgrounds goes contrary to their other goals
Top