D&D 5E D&D Promises to Make the Game More Queer

[tombowings]

Sex and-or romance has always been a significant element of our games, and I think they're the better for it.

Lan-"the party that sleeps together works together"-efan

Which is great. However, adventuring parties are rarely representative of the surrounding population.

 

[MechaPilot]

Which is entirely my point. Even little things get blown out of proportion. There is no way something as taboo as sodomy in the middle ages is not going to cause conflict in one way or another, and would logically have some consequence with regards to the PCs interactions with the LGBT community.

That a thing would cause family drama is not the same thing as it being propaganda.

Also, regarding the homosexual characters mentioned in the article, does the adventures they're in say how others regard the homosexual relationships of those characters? I don't own STK or CoS, so I don't know. While I would lean towards acceptance (being a woman who predominantly is attracted to other women), others may not, and giving DM's the information that an NPC is homosexual gives the DM more opportunity to make their campaigns their own through differing perspectives on acceptance (or lack thereof).

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Sex and-or romance has always been a significant element of our games, and I think they're the better for it.

Lan-"the party that sleeps together works together"-efan

Maybe I was too subtle. Put it this way: I know which of the PCs at my table like to eat corpses.

 

[tombowings]

That a thing would cause family drama is not the same thing as it being propaganda.

Also, regarding the homosexual characters mentioned in the article, does the adventures they're in say how others regard the homosexual relationships of those characters? I don't own STK or CoS, so I don't know. While I would lean towards acceptance (being a woman who predominantly is attracted to other women), others may not, and giving DM's the information that an NPC is homosexual gives the DM more opportunity to make their campaigns their own through differing perspectives on acceptance (or lack thereof).

Propaganda: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.

According to the article presented in the OP, Crawford said “I wasn’t about to have this book go out and not acknowledge that people like me exist." Please explain to me now he isn't interested in promoting a certain ideological perspective.

 

[Teemu]

In some campaigns, sure - including Forgotten Realms, the setting in which all published adventures take place. I fail to see a longstanding tradition of LGBT acceptance and homosexuality in the Realms, however.

Funny you'd say that because FR -- or at least Ed Greenwood's version of the world -- is rife with sexuality and sexual freedom. That would include queer characters. Of all published settings, FR is perhaps the most accommodating to characters of all sexual and gender stripes.

In fact, you could make an argument that if you ignored queer characters while playing in the Realms, you'd deviate from the source material.

 

[MechaPilot]

Propaganda: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.

According to the article presented in the OP, Crawford said “I wasn’t about to have this book go out and not acknowledge that people like me exist." Please explain to me now he isn't interested in promoting a certain ideological perspective.

Is the existence of homosexuals a "political cause or point of view?" Or is it a fact?

 

[tombowings]

Funny you'd say that because FR -- or at least Ed Greenwood's version of the world -- is rife with sexuality and sexual freedom. That would include queer characters. Of all published settings, FR is perhaps the most accommodating to characters of all sexual and gender stripes.

That's interesting. I haven't seen any of that, before. I'd love to be proven wrong. Care to provide a source?

 

[Lanefan]

Which is great. However, adventuring parties are rarely representative of the surrounding population.

No arguing that, particularly in that most typical adventuring parties are far more racially and culturally mixed than an average population would be.

Again referencing my own party, right now we've got:

2 Humans, both local Greek types
1 Gnome, transplanted from another world
1 Dwarf
4 Elves of different types and from different places.

Add to this that as the game-world years go by Elves are slowly being revealed as the biggest threat to just about everyone else (in other words, they're the enemy), and there's no way this represents anything other than itself.

But that's racial, not sexual. Sex and romance is important to more or less everyone, and that's reflected in the party. The high non-straight ratio in the party might reflect the Elvish population but misses on the rest, if for no other reason than simple reproduction.

Lanefan

 

[Morrus]

Quick, name three monotheists from recent movies.

Not exactly a huge saturation of monotheists, is it? One character that I recognize and two I've never heard of, only one of which meets the criteria.

You asked him to name three. He named three.

Whether you've personally heard of major blockbuster movies like Captain America, The Fast & The Furious, or John Wick is completely immaterial.

 

[tombowings]

Is the existence of homosexuals a "political cause or point of view?" Or is it a fact?

That one's a fact. And I have no problem with that part of the quote. However, there are two parts of the quote:

1. "I wasn’t about to have this book go out and not acknowledge..."
2. "...people like me exist."

Personally, I see nothing wrong with part 2. It's not propagandist at all. It's factual. My problem is with part 1, which shows an intent to present a certain world view.

Now, as I have stated before, the inclusion of "people like [him]" (which is a terrible way to phrase his motivation), could be handled well and make sense within the context of the source material and the adventure, but the way Crawford states his intentions is unsettling. They point at a political or at least an ideological motivation, which makes the inclusion of the LGBT a propagandist advance.