D&D 5E WotC's Jeremy Crawford on D&D Races Going Forward

On Twitter, Jeremy Crawford discussed the treatment of orcs, Vistani, drow and others in D&D, and how WotC plans to treat the idea of 'race' in D&D going forward. In recent products (Eberron and Wildemount), the mandatory evil alignment was dropped from orcs, as was the Intelligence penalty.

@ThinkingDM Look at the treatment orcs received in Eberron and Exandria. Dropped the Intelligence debuff and the evil alignment, with a more acceptable narrative. It's a start, but there's a fair argument for gutting the entire race system.

The orcs of Eberron and Wildemount reflect where our hearts are and indicate where we’re heading.

@vorpaldicepress I hate to be "that guy", but what about Drow, Vistani, and the other troublesome races and cultures in Forgotten Realms (like the Gur, another Roma-inspired race)? Things don't change over night, but are these on the radar?

The drow, Vistani, and many other folk in the game are on our radar. The same spirit that motivated our portrayal of orcs in Eberron is animating our work on all these peoples.

@MileyMan1066 Good. These problems need to be addressed. The variant features UA could have a sequel that includes notes that could rectify some of the problems and help move 5e in a better direction.

Addressing these issues is vital to us. Eberron and Wildemount are the first of multiple books that will face these issues head on and will do so from multiple angles.

@mbriddell I'm happy to hear that you are taking a serious look at this. Do you feel that you can achieve this within the context of Forgotten Realms, given how establised that world's lore is, or would you need to establish a new setting to do this?

Thankfully, the core setting of D&D is the multiverse, with its multitude of worlds. We can tell so many different stories, with different perspectives, in each world. And when we return to a world like FR, stories can evolve. In short, even the older worlds can improve.

@SlyFlourish I could see gnolls being treated differently in other worlds, particularly when they’re a playable race. The idea that they’re spawned hyenas who fed on demon-touched rotten meat feels like they’re in a different class than drow, orcs, goblins and the like. Same with minotaurs.

Internally, we feel that the gnolls in the MM are mistyped. Given their story, they should be fiends, not humanoids. In contrast, the gnolls of Eberron are humanoids, a people with moral and cultural expansiveness.

@MikeyMan1066 I agree. Any creature with the Humanoid type should have the full capacity to be any alignmnet, i.e., they should have free will and souls. Gnolls... the way they are described, do not. Having them be minor demons would clear a lot of this up.

You just described our team's perspective exactly.

As a side-note, the term 'race' is starting to fall out of favor in tabletop RPGs (Pathfinder has "ancestry", and other games use terms like "heritage"); while he doesn't comment on that specifically, he doesn't use the word 'race' and instead refers to 'folks' and 'peoples'.

 

[Haldrik]

I think a lot of people don’t realize just how popular anything Viking related is with neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups. Especially in America, most Viking reenactment and similar hobbyist groups have at least some white supremacist presence. When the museum I work at had a temporary Vikings exhibit open a few years back, all of us working in the exhibit had to be prepared for what to do if guests started trying to steer the conversation towards the subject of “racial purity” or the like. Almost all of us had at least one experience with a guest like this, some had several.

On the bright side, I am glad you had the Viking exhibit, and I am glad you had training to combat any supremacists who were trying to culturally appropriate Viking history.

 

[TheSword]

Fair question.

I dislike number-porn anyway. Maybe just using the scores generated or bought at character creation − and advancing scores while leveling is fine. If your concept of Elf is dexterous, invest in Dexterity.

I will think more on it.

It makes a WotC solution simpler. Remove racists ability score adjustments. Maybe mention "typical" classes and skills. Done.

Originally, it was important to me, to make Nonhuman races "superhuman" for the sake of the flavor of otherworldly magical races.

But now that word "races" with all of its baggage just seem not worth it.

I’m pretty sure that isn’t the WotC solution which points to Wildemount as it’s favored path which included stat bonus based on race along with abilities.

My understanding is that they want to move away from humanoid races being monolithically evil, as was the case in Eberron and Wildemount. Not remove mechanical differences.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It looks pretty similar to some of those Jim Crow era plays to me. Other than the hair.

Not even close, besides the darkness of the skin.

A typical blackface performer would make sure that contrasting colors were used to accentuate the visibility of the lips (red or white) and palms or whole hands (white) at the barest minimum. Some would take it farther with stereotypical voices, speech patterns, and reactions to things in their environment (certain foods, the supernatural, white authority figures).

In comparison, Chang’s lips are as dark as the rest of his face. Ditto his palms.

And Chang’s mannerisms as a Drow there are not black stereotypes except in the sense that he often adopted “urban American” speech/slang patterns even when he WASN’T role-playing a Drow.

 

[Haldrik]

I’m pretty sure that isn’t the WotC solution which points to Wildemount as it’s favored path which included stat bonus based on race along with abilities.

My understanding is that the want to move away from humanoid races being monolithically evil. As was the case in Eberron and Wildemount.

WotC seems to be exploring how to make D&D as unracist as possible, in the aftermath of the reallife race-related murder that set off protests across the country and around the planet.

 

[Charlaquin]

On the bright side, I am glad you had the Viking exhibit, and I am glad you had training to combat any supremacists who were trying to culturally appropriate Viking history.

Thank you. I’m glad too. It was one of the most enjoyable exhibits I’ve done, and to be honest it was kind of fun being able to shut that $#!& down when it did happen, especially for me as a re-enactor.

 

[Cadence]

I think a lot of people don’t realize just how popular anything Viking related is with neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups. Especially in America, most Viking reenactment and similar hobbyist groups have at least some white supremacist presence.

We were worried that a youth campout a few years ago was going to be very uncomfortable when we saw all the Viking-esque banners at the group campsite across the way. Luckily one of the big banners had a url and the first thing on the page was something decrying how awful it was that all of their religious symbols were being co-opted by white supremacists. :: phew::

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Yeah sure I'll respond. I don't think you need to ban swastikas from games about WW2; it's kind of integral to how the game is; remove them and replace it with something else, everyone should still recognize who the Nazis are so there's not much point. Plus in most games the Nazis are made as the villains, if there is a campaign or story.

I own a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2, where you can encounter KKK members. I don't think there is any option to befriend them, and they are very antagonistic. It's kind of assumed you'll get into conflict, and the KKK members are portrayed as stupid and cruel.

I find these examples very different from the MtG cards for two reasons;

1. There is no context in these cards that they are morally repugnant. The crusade card shows the crusaders triumphant; they are clean, pure and white without stains, the burning far off so you don't see the death. They are in effect treated as conquering heroes. It's not really an accurate depiction of the crusades at all. But we don't see what the crusaders did, so don't know whether they just fought a battle (where they should be dirty) or just massacred people (the burning is too far off).

2. These cards are not integral to MtG. I am utterly confused when people say that the crusades are a "part of history," so shouldn't be banned. MtG isn't a historically accurate card game, it's called MAGIC the Gathering. Removing the cards doesn't really affect gameplay of MtG, or its lore or anything really. This makes it very distinct from a game about WW2 which will obviously have a lot of Nazis.

Thank you for the more elaborate detailed post. It's much more discussive and less dismissive that you comment I quoted earlier and shows a reasonable interpretation of why you find the art problematic.

Does you find the alternate artwork version of the card acceptable, or is the title and effect still too much?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you decide to test this theory in public, please have someone standing by with a first aid kit.

I’m a black man living in the south. My paternal grandfather was the first black principal of a white school in Louisiana. My dad integrated his med school. I’m the first black to grad go from my private HS...and the only one for 10 years later. Mom was tight with Leah Chase. Her grandmother was a modiste of such skill and repute she could tell white customers “no.”

So I may know a thing or two about blackface & black stereotypes.

 

[Zardnaar]

I’m a black man living in the south. My paternal grandfather was the first black principal of a white school in Louisiana. My dad integrated his med school. I’m the first black to grad go from my private HS...and the only one for 10 years later. Mom was tight with Leah Chase. Her grandmother was a modiste of such skill and repute she could tell white customers “no.”

So I may know a thing or two about blackface & black stereotypes.

Brilliant. I knew where you're from etc wasn't to sure how common that knowledge is.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think a lot of people don’t realize just how popular anything Viking related is with neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups. Especially in America, most Viking reenactment and similar hobbyist groups have at least some white supremacist presence. When the museum I work at had a temporary Vikings exhibit open a few years back, all of us working in the exhibit had to be prepared for what to do if guests started trying to steer the conversation towards the subject of “racial purity” or the like. Almost all of us had at least one experience with a guest like this, some had several.

Yeah they're really popular among the nutters. I liked the Viking TV show and their history Odin, Thor and Co don't do much for me.

If I was a pagan I think Egypt would be more my thing. All hail Bast. Sol Invictus perhaps the name is badass.