D&D 5E D&D's Inclusivity Language Alterations In Core Rules

In recent months, WotC has altered some of the text found in the original 5th Edition core rulebooks to accommodate D&D's ongoing move towards inclusivity. Many of these changes are reflected on D&D Beyond already--mainly small terminology alterations in descriptive text, rather than rules changes.

Teos Abadia (also known as Alphastream) has compiled a list of these changes. I've posted a very abbreviated, paraphrased version below, but please do check out his site for the full list and context.

• Savage foes changed to brutal, merciless, or ruthless.
• Barbarian hordes changed to invading hordes.
• References to civilized people and places removed.
• Madness or insanity removed or changed to other words like chaos.
• Usage of orcs as evil foes changed to other words like raiders.
• Terms like dim-witted and other synonyms of low intelligence raced with words like incurious.
• Language alterations surrounding gender.
• Fat removed or changed to big.
• Use of terms referring to slavery reduced or altered.
• Use of dark when referring to evil changed to words like vile or dangerous.

This is by no means the full list, and much more context can be found on Alphastream's blog post.

 

[Charlaquin]

Another thing to consider is that sometimes you have two individuals or two groups, both of whom are good, working at cross purposes to one another. They believe what they are doing is the right thing, but they see the other group as the bad guy.

Almost always, in fact. It’s very rare for people to think of themselves as “the bad guy,” and even in the rare cases where they do, they usually rationalize it as being in service to some greater purpose.

 

[Blue Orange]

Although the old World of Darkness games were their own can of racist worms… And I think White Wolf… Onyx Path… White Wolf again… got hit a lot harder by the changing social climate than WotC did.

I actually was not aware of this. I kinda dropped out of pop culture in the 2000s as career got busier--I don't know a lot of the backstory or internet chatter in fan communities after about 2000 or so, I was restricted to reading the books as they came out and the occasional blog. How did they get hit harder by the changing social climate? I always had the sense White Wolf/Onyx Path was to the 'left' of TSR/Wizards/Hasbro, but that's probably a result of my formative years being the 1990s. Are you allowed to elaborate?

 

[Charlaquin]

I kind of feel like D&D has always been a game with characters who mostly live with modern Western values. In most D&D settings, the good guys value individualism, freedom of religion, capitalism (hoards of treasure, right?), private property, and rational thinking.

Amassing material wealth isn’t necessarily capitalistic. Money is older than the pursuit of its consolidation, which in turn is older than capitalism.

 

[ReshiIRE]

Also, to me, the "Orc" is symbolic of a person who is so driven by hate that they have lost all morality and have become a separate, monstrous being altogether. It's a warning that war/tragedy/conflict can makes orcs of us all if we are not careful.

Would hate to lose that.

Considering that orc is and continues to be used as a way to refer to entire groups of people as evil... you would have already lost that metaphor, considering how god damn harmful it is.

 

[bedir than]

Yeah, they keep telling themselves that, don't they? It's a little like when you find an amazing restaurant that is a bit unknown but is super interesting, imaginative and seasoned amazingly and then it catches on and is eventually franchised out for the "masses" in order to "continuing growth by including and welcoming more people".

But when you come and try one of those franchised locations you find it to be an watered down, unimaginative, uninspired shell of it's former self. Yeah, kind of like that, but man they sure have a lot of new locations, for now...

Including more people in the game isn't watering it down.
It's just sharing the joy you get from play with more people by not treating them poorly because of some legacy of treating non white males poorly

 

[Blue Orange]

The article (one of many I'm sure) I read that outlined that its not Western (Western Euro/Canada/US) but Wild West values in the early versions of the game, was an eye opener for me.

I could see that! Part of the problem is growing up in a big city in 80s and 90s, I had almost zero exposure to Westerns--they were like ragtime or swing, some genre that belonged to a bygone era.

 

[Charlaquin]

The article (one of many I'm sure) I read that outlined that its not Western (Western Euro/Canada/US) but Wild West values in the early versions of the game, was an eye opener for me.

Yeah, D&D at its roots is thematically American Wild West with a thin coat of Medieval European paint.

 

[Jahydin]

@Blue Orange
Thanks again for sharing the Tolkien quote.

Good to keep in mind as real conflicts rage on at the moment.

 

[Blue Orange]

Amassing material wealth isn’t necessarily capitalistic. Money is older than the pursuit of its consolidation, which in turn is older than capitalism.

Yeah, D&D characters are more similar to warlords or pirates--they take their loot from someone else. They don't start businesses and try to drive out the competition or do shady things to get cheaper labor costs--they stick a broadsword through the other guy/orc's backside.

The bad stuff they do is different from the bad stuff modern-day capitalists do.

 

[AstroCat]

Including more people in the game isn't watering it down.
It's just sharing the joy you get from play with more people by not treating them poorly because of some legacy of treating non white males poorly

Actually changing the rules, styles, "flavor" and basically the entire game into some other game almost entirely is not "Including more people in the game", it's changing the whole game to be catered to a different set of people with the least interesting, challenging or imaginative stance possible. The original game of the last 40+ years and what made it interesting is basically gone, and replaced by a sanitized, generic, "reach the masses" version, it's basically the most generic version of a McDonald's hamburger when it used to be Kuma's. So yeah, it's not even in the same world any more.

But hey, people love their McDonalds, and now ironically there are so many more "Kuma's" available, more than ever before so plenty of alt options. But we'll see if the "masses" can support "wotc neo-5e d&d" for the long haul? Or if/when the "kids" get bored and the ST fad is over and move on, who will be left to support it, since most the original foundational customer support group was kicked out and moved on.

Check AL at cons, and interestingly enough check the demographic analytics of who actually plays d&d, even this version, I think you will be shocked. I know I wasn't.