D&D General D&D memes thread discussion…

[AlViking]

Of course there is a middle ground, but it's always these two extremes that get rolled out for the sake of argument. I think that is why the artist wrote "both" here: not because there are only two playstyles, but because both sides of that evergreen argument are valid and therefore, everything in between is as well.

At least that's my take on it. We could always ask Niels about it.

I've had GMs and groups that were running a game that they enjoyed and worked for them. It didn't work for me because we just wanted different things. I don't see anything wrong with accepting that a different group of people simply want something out of a game I do not. Sometimes the amount you would have to compromise would just leave both side unhappy.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Well, of course low fantasy has to include in-game racism! ::massive eyeroll emoji::

if they are going by medieval Europe logic racism would look unrecognisable as what you looked like was of far less relivant than being of the right faith or having sufficient gold.

 

[overgeeked]

Of course there is a middle ground, but it's always these two extremes that get rolled out for the sake of argument. I think that is why the artist wrote "both" here: not because there are only two playstyles, but because both sides of that evergreen argument are valid and therefore, everything in between is as well.

At least that's my take on it. We could always ask Niels about it.

A surprising amount of people are really, really attached to their in-game racism. I run games that are explicitly non-racist even when doing the low-fantasy thing. Even when playing 5E I’ve had people rage-quit because orcs and goblins weren’t inherently, mindlessly evil as a species.

 

[Iry]

Even when playing 5E I’ve had people rage-quit because orcs and goblins weren’t inherently, mindlessly evil as a species.

I once played a Wookie Hairdresser who used a Vox Box to say simple phrases (I selected 6 common ones). Most of the players were fine with it because I played it straight and made every effort to be a serious character despite the fact that it garnered frequent chuckles. But there was one player who literally stormed out of the game because I wasn't playing Wookies "right" and it broke his immersion so hard.

I couldn't tell if it was fictional racism (because I wasn't acting like Chewbacca), he just found the idea too absurd, or some combination of the two.

 

[CleverNickName]

 

[el-remmen]

If we define racism as a group (or groups) in social and economic power systematically exploiting a segment of society either intentionally or unintentionally in order to maintain that power and potentially extract resources from that subgroup, whose purported negative traits are believed to be inherent by some individuals in both groups (or are indoctrinated into believing that), and express opinions and behaviors to that effect, then my games definitely have "in-game racism."

Not because goblins are inherently evil, but because some people believe it to be true and use the any conflict (either current or historically) between those peoples as evidence, and act accordingly.

I get that not everyone wants that in their game - but for my own tastes, I want the world we game in to reflect various elements of our own world but in the fantasy milieu.

As for the meme, I too don't think the creator was trying to suggest these are the only two options, but giving two distinct options that had a wide range of possibilities between them (and beyond them).

 

[not-so-newguy]

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That's so Elminster.

 

[Seramus]

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Obviously you have to hold the burning oil up in the air. Duh!