D&D General Fantasy Racism in D&D

[Shiroiken]

It's not required to have racism (or species-ism if you prefer) in D&D. However, racial differences were meant to be far more pronounced that they're looked at now. Gimli and Logolas were meant to be an example of overcoming extreme racial hatred between dwarves and elves, but instead now they're the standard.

I feel the biggest reason for this is the loss of flavor of the races, with too many players looking at them as simply "funny looking humans," rather than a completely different species from humanity. The dwarven (or whatever) mindset should be pretty alien to most players, which is why they made entire books in earlier editions to describe these differences (and add racial specific mechanics). These mindsets lead the dwarves to be inherently lawful good, elves chaotic good, and orcs chaotic evil with some breaking away from the norm (especially PCs, who's standard is to break the norm).

 

[jgsugden]

A lesson you might draw from everything occuring in the real world - we all have racism all over all of our fantasy worlds. Some of it may be overt, some of it may be subtle, some of it may be things we are not recognizing - but it is all over. What that means is something we'll either ignore or wrestle with for quite some time.

 

[dave2008]

I use racism in my D&D to deconstruct the typical fantasy tropes. The standard tolkienesque fantasy visions of the various peoples? Those are what bigots think of those peoples in my world.

I generally like the concept, just want to point out that the list could include the ignorant and naive, not just bigots.

 

[aco175]

My games tend to have the PHB races work well enough together with only Tolkienesque jibes between the elves and dwarves. Some PCs have hatred towards another race like drow or orcs with a backstory about that race killing their whole village or whatever. Villages and towns are mostly clusters of PHB races working together mostly, and defending themselves from the MM races. If a group of orcs or goblins showed up at a town looking to spend a night at the inn, they would mostly be attacked. My Waterdeep is rather different than the one put out in Mad Mage.

There are some smaller places where a goblin or orc will be tolerated such as a roadside inn. A remote fort may have a goblin or something there working and a hobgoblin could even be the sergeant of the guard or master of the hunt.

Typically the PHB and MM are on opposite sides.

 

[the Jester]

What do you do in your games to tackle racism? Do you include it at all? How often?

Yes, I include it- as well as religious prejudice, factional prejudice, social class prejudice, etc. One of my game's core assumptions is that some, perhaps most, people are petty, close-minded, and flawed, regardless of their race- there are no "perfect elves" here (except in their own mind). I feel that prejudice is a great source of conflict, and racial prejudice is one type of this.

I try to depict it as a source of problems and never the solution to problems. It's far more common in villains and, when it appears as a trait of an npc, it's one of that npc's negative traits.

I'll give an example of how this works in play from my setting. There is one city remaining after the fall of civilization. Just outside the city is the Black Gorge, a canyon containing a dwarvish enclave and a cave that is home to a tribe of orcs. Both are allies of the city, and the orcs have come to the city's rescue on multiple occasions when they were in desperate need. Despite this, the dwarves and orcs are long-time enemies. However, the orcs don't really want to be enemies of the dwarves- the benefits they gain from trade with the city are significant, and the city is far more inclined to accept the dwarves than the orcs, so in a conflict, the city usually stays neutral or favors the dwarves over the orcs.

The dwarves are split between a strong traditionalist faction that favors exterminating the orcs and a more liberal faction that prefers peaceful coexistence with them. Periodically, the traditionalists gain political control of the dwarven enclave, and then they usually wage war against the orcs. There's a pattern that repeats pretty much every time- the dwarves and orcs fight, people die on both sides, usually with the orcs getting the worst of it for a variety of reasons, and then a treaty is forged. Then, after about 12 years, the orcs' numbers have recovered. But the dwarves need 60 or 80 or 100 years to recover. The difference in lifespan and the time it takes for dwarves to breed/have kids/have those kids mature really favors the orcs. So gradually, the dwarves are dwindling in number. And it's all because their prejudice drives them to throw themselves off a figurative cliff over and over again.

So I have write ups for my races that depict their typical stereotypes of the other core races. I post one or two of these here periodically; let's do the dwarves this time, as they are perhaps, at least culturally, the most prejudiced race in my game.

Though there are naturally many exceptions, dwarves tend to stereotype other races in the following ways:

Dragonborn: Dwarves view the few dragonforged in the area with respect, as they have a reputation as fierce warriors in the army. Since there are so few dragonborn in the city, most dwarves have never actually met one.
Eladrin and Elves: Elves of all types, including eladrin, are flighty buggers who can't hold their liquor, don't grow facial hair and all look like females. Most elves are homosexuals (shudder) and libertines who wouldn't know an honest day's work if it smacked them upside the head.
Gnomes- Dwarves respect gnomes for their strong work ethic and tradition of mechanical engineering, but generally think that most gnomes are a little crazy. A common rumor is that a given gnome was exposed to alchemical fumes as a youth and that's why he's so weird. The real down side about gnomes is that everyone knows that they are hoarders of wealth and secretly pull a lot of strings from behind the scenes. Dwarves tend to like gnomes, but rarely trust them.
Goliaths: Goliaths are few enough in number that dwarves tend to have few preconceptions about them. However, the sheer size of a goliath is such that, upon encountering one, a dwarf is typically slightly intimidated and therefore somewhat put off.
Halfbreeds: It isn't their fault, the poor freaks. Dwarves tend to pity mixed-blood creatures, as they have no real legitimate place in the world- no community and impure ancestry. These poor things probably should have been killed as babies, and those who live to adulthood probably have had to do terrible things to survive. They are deeply untrustworthy.
Halflings: Halflings are untrustworthy and duplicitous, but at least they know their ancestors. As long as you watch the silverware, they make good cooks and servants.
Humans: Humans would probably be a lot better if they only remembered their ancestors. They are careless and unpredictable, including both the best and the worst among their number. Humans have great potential, but are often disappointingly unable to reach it.
Tieflings: There is no better example of why it is important to honor the ancestors than tieflings. They turned away from their own ancestors and toward fiendish powers that would have been best left untouched. As a result, they turned into the tainted creatures they are today, best shunned and avoided. It is never a good idea to enter into a contract with a tiefling.
Warforged: Dwarves look at warforged with the love and affection of an engineer looking at a finely-made great work. There is a great deal of debate among dwarves over whether the warforged are actually alive or whether they are simply extraordinarily clever machines.

 

[Charlaquin]

I generally like the concept, just want to point out that the list could include the ignorant and naive, not just bigots.

True; and it does, I just neglected to write that part out.

 

[Remathilis]

Depends on the setting, to be honest.

In Forgotten Realms, I run things as close to the Core assumptions as possible, leaving room for the orc or drow PC who breaks the mold. They are going to be looked at askance until they prove themselves to be an ally, not a threat. That said, most are given the benefit of the doubt unless they are acting aggressive or there are a lot of them.

In Eberron, its far less pronounced. There is some prejudice against shifters, warforged, and changlings (and some general distrust against goblins, orcs, and monstrous races due to thier position in the war) but there is far more Nationalism than Racism; a human would care if an goblin was Breeish first, goblin second.

In Ravnica, your guild means far more than your race ever will. Race is practically a non-issue, save maybe for Simic Hybrids.

In Greyhawk, even the "good" races exhibit some intolerance against each other. Elves look down thier noses at humans, dwarves and elves still engage in skirmishes over pride and resources, a tiefling is automatically assumed to be a spy of Iuz and half-orcs are routinely blamed for crimes they didn't commit. Needless to say, orcs and drow don't get a fair shake here and most react to that with a hefty dose of returned prejudice.

In Sigil, nobody cares who you are or what you look like Berk!

In Ravenloft, everything not human (or can pass as human) is feared. Elves, dwarves, and halflings get some pass (depending on the domain) but the farther you go from that, the more likely the torches and pitchforks are coming out. of course, an individual domain will break this general assumption (like Sithicus).

I haven't run (or know enough about) Athas, Krynn, Exandria or Theros to give a clean accounting for them, but my limited knowledge runs a similar gamut to those above.

 

[Baron Opal II]

I use it in a similar way as I noted in the Wheel of Time books (I think). In my campaign, there isn't discrimination against races or skin color, there is discrimination against countries / land of birth.

What's the difference? Well, you're right in that there does tend to some correlation to race or skin color, but if you wear the clothes, eat the food, and speak like the Taltasqans you won't be welcome in the Osen river valley. It doesn't matter if you are human, halfling, or dwarf, you're one of them. This has seemed to allow an approach to those topics in game in a way that everyone at the table can be sufficiently comfortable with, regardless of real life.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I use racism in my D&D to deconstruct the typical fantasy tropes. The standard tolkienesque fantasy visions of the various peoples? Those are what bigots think of those peoples in my world.

In a home brew campaign I’m playing in the orcs are one of the central villains. After killing a bunch of them at the behest of the local ruler, I started thinking it would be fun to negotiate a peace with them instead. The townspeople were astonished, and it caught the DM off-guard, too. Without calling it that, he's been playing the NPCs as hardened racists. But he's also letting the world evolve in response to what we the players want to do, so I have high hopes.

I don't want to pat myself on the back too much about it, though. I wasn't trying to be virtuous or channel political goals (and this all started late last year, before the current protests.). The DM was just roleplaying a captured orc, who was explaining why he raided the caravan, and for a second I kinda saw their side of things. Then it occurred to me that it would be fun and different to be a diplomat instead of a conqueror. It seemed a more fun story than "orcs are bad; exterminate them".

It's going to have to wait, though...since our game moved online we've been playing prepared WotC adventures on roll20. But I've been looking forward to getting back to that campaign.

 

[SavageCole]

In my games, there’s a lot of conflict and tension. This guild hates that one, this merchant house or family hates its rivals, neighborhoods, towns, regions, countries all have conflicting interests. ”Race” plays a role, too. Dwarves and Elves hold ancient grudges. High elves and Wood elves deeply resent each other. Both violently fight civil wars vs. dark elves. Class warfare is common. In other words, I play a lot of Warhammer Fantasy. It’s a rich, incredible world for storytelling and the new players I introduce to it by the dozens year over year love it.