D&D General DnD Stereotypes In The Home Game

[doctorbadwolf]

Well, no. Not at all. You're asking people not to explain the obvious to you, and yet ...

Gnolls look visibly different than do humans, or elves, or goblins. That's a salient difference.

So imagine a community (and again, you specified villagers originally, which doesn't conjure up images of a walled town) that has dealt with gnolls before- always in the sense that the gnolls have attacked them. Maybe some of the villagers have lost loved ones to the gnolls, maybe they have seen gnolls eat their loved ones.

That's going to have an impact.

And I would note that you specifically didn't engage with the example I used- which was "The easiest way to understand this archetype is to flip it; if you enter a "traditional" gnoll encampment with a primarily human party, what is the reaction likely to be?

Okay, let's take this another step. Same traditional gnoll encampment, but you have a mixed party, that includes "monstrous races" but also includes a traditional elf (not a drow). How will the gnolls react to the elf?"


Again, play your way. But if you ask a question, expect people to give you answers, even one you don't like and that disagree with you.


As for your other point- maybe you don't like tropes, but that doesn't mean you call something a stereotype, and you get to decide what is good and bad. You aren't the boss of values. Just like I'm not.

They are stereotypes. It’s not a dirty word.

As for the rest, nothing you’ve said is new information. I didn’t ask “what are the traditional depictions of stuff in dnd”, I asked what stereotypes y’all use or don’t use, and how, and if/how you’ve subverted or outright ignored them.

So, but the villagers in a world where Gnolls are usually raiders would do XYZ” is only accidentally answering the question, in that it tells me that you use stereotypical Gnolls, and thus villagers don’t trust Gnolls.

Like, cool, you could have just said, “in my games the races mostly fill the niches and narratives they do in the core books”.

 

[lowkey13]

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[doctorbadwolf]

Like, cool, I didn't realize that I was constrained to use a template that you provided to answer questions.

In the future, why don't you either provide people the exact template you want used, or just DM me the exact wording you want me to use to answer your questions so I don't deviate from that?

Better yet, why don't you just answer your own questions if you are so incurious and as to what other people think and so dismissive of their opinions?

What in the unholy hell are you even talking about!?

You ignored the actual question in order to rant and try to condescendingly explain the premise of my own question. Again, I didn’t ask what the stereotypes are, I asked if you use them.

Why are taking things so literally? I am saying that your first post wasn’t actually an answer to the question. Getting stuck on wording isn’t useful. I don’t care how you word anything as long as it’s not offensive and can be read at a standard reading level.

 

[lowkey13]

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[Flexor the Mighty!]

My game is one large stereotype to be honest. Halflings are not small elves or the monstrosities in the 5e PH, they are hairy footed hobbits. Thankfully the half orc does not exist in S&W. Orcs were created evil by Grummish One-Eye and Goblins the same by Maglubiyet. There are deviant exceptions that have dabbled in weal though, could they somehow steer the whole of Orcdom to a state of peace? Outside the realm of my campaigns to be honest. Most of my humanoid info comes from the Roger Moore articles in Dragon magazine. So in my Greyhawk a band of Orcs approaching the gates would be met with arrows and spears.

My campaign is pretty humancentric, the average tavern in a city isn't Mos Eisley with 20 different races and a half demon walking in would result in a panic.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I wrote a detailed, mostly good-natured response to your original post. I put time and thought into it.

You have been a flaming jerk since then, in every single one of your posts. You have been nasty and condescending to me and to others in just the first page.

To return the favor, please do not participate in my threads in the future, and I am bowing out now.

KTHXBYE!

Lowkey, I’m sorry if I misread your first post. It absolutely did not come across as good natured. It came across as you having a problem with the premise of the thread, and trying to explain what the tropes are and how I’m wrong about dwarves and elves by nitpicking my wording. That isn’t a friendly post. That isn’t good natured.

So, from my perspective, you kicked the door in and immediately went about being a complete jerk to me in my thread for literally no reason, and then doubled down when I challenged you on it.

I’ve been negative toward exactly two posters in this thread, and the other one was simply a statement that I won’t participate in a derail argument ITT.

Normally, I quite enjoy interacting with you here, and I’m genuinely sorry that my response to you here was too negative, and that I apparently misunderstood the intent of your first post.

 

[lowkey13]

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[doctorbadwolf]

My game is one large stereotype to be honest. Halflings are not small elves or the monstrosities in the 5e PH, they are hairy footed hobbits. Thankfully the half orc does not exist in S&W. Orcs were created evil by Grummish One-Eye and Goblins the same by Maglubiyet. There are deviant exceptions that have dabbled in weal though, could they somehow steer the whole of Orcdom to a state of peace? Outside the realm of my campaigns to be honest. Most of my humanoid info comes from the Roger Moore articles in Dragon magazine. So in my Greyhawk a band of Orcs approaching the gates would be met with arrows and spears.

My campaign is pretty humancentric, the average tavern in a city isn't Mos Eisley with 20 different races and a half demon walking in would result in a panic.

Totally incompatible with my view of DnD, and yet! We both play the same game! Wild!

Seriously though this is one of the best things about dnd.

And we could probably each play in the other’s campaign for at least a one shot without any trouble, in spite of how it often seems in internet arguments!

But this also speaks to what I think may be a hidden but major point of contention in the community.

For those of us who don’t use the stereotypes, humans have always known about tieflings and Gnolls and Dragonborn and whatever else. Your neighbor acting out of character is scarier than a Gnoll with a tinker’s wagon rolling into town, because doppelgängers are a real thing, but the Gnoll is, at worst, gonna maybe steal some stuff? Because stereotypes!

Like, the “half devil” isn’t that scary if you know that they look like that because they’re...basically Italians in an alt timeline where Rome made deals with devils and now Italians bear that mark in their features, but also the merchant princes to the south are mostly Italian, and you’ve seen Italian mercenaries in the King’s Army back in the war, etc. Lots of Britons aren’t gonna trust an Italian traveler, but only in the sense of “hold on to your purse and don’t make any deals or promises in his presence” or whatever.

On the other hand, if you are using the “old school dnd standard” dnd world history, the non human races are super rare, and often their history is mostly attacking human villages or whatever, so it’s a very different take.

Which is why I wonder about people’s use of these concepts, and how it affects their games.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What, does no one catch Stone Temple Pilots allusions anymore?????

I am ashamed to admit, I have no idea what the reference was...apparently it’s been too long since I put on my old 90’s records!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

@lowkey13 but srsly tho...

Sorry, dude. I definitely need to get less outwardly aggravated by perceived nitpicking and/or refusal to engage with the intended premise of a thread. Even if your post had been meant that way, I could have politely asked for clarification on that point and asked you not to do so.

I really really genuinely hate pedantry, like you vs Paladins level of hate, except that I’m correct. but that doesn’t justify reacting to you as if you were one of the posters here that makes a general habit of entering threads to engage in bad faith, when I know damn well you aren’t.