D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction

The latest Unearthed Arcana contains the Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood races. The Dhampir is a half-vampire; the Hexblood is a character which has made a pact with a hag; and the Reborn is somebody brought back to life.

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Perhaps the bigger news is this declaration on how race is to be handled in future D&D books as it joins other games by stating that:

"...the race options in this article and in future D&D books lack the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage. Such traits include things like darkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), or innate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Such traits don’t include cultural characteristics, like language or training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits also don’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignment is a choice for each individual, not a characteristic shared by a lineage."

 

[BookTenTiger]

Aladain, the Disney's TV cartoon show was one of my favorites, and I don't remember anybody saying it was potically incorrect or cultural apropiation. If I were from Middle East I would try to use the "1001 nights" and fiction like this to promote tourism in my country.

Other option would be allowing 3PPs from those countries to publish their own setting set in their cultures. I think WotC has hired as game desinger Makenzie de Armas, who has worked in "the island of Sina Ura", a D&D setting based in Filipino culture. Other setting, "Koryo Hall of Adventures" is based in Korea, and Kaidan in a "gothic" version of Japan with a lot of angry ghosts.

I dare to say even some people from Middle East would support more fiction as "1001 nights" for western audence for this to be used to oriental cultures and like a way to fight against islamophobia.

I remember an anime what is totally based in a Spanish capital, Cuenca, even some pictures were identical copies of real images. We could say this is a case of cultural appropiation. Do you know what Cuenca did? They chose to use that anima as a hook for Japanese tourists. Why not?

* We have got the option to use "special background" to "unlock" certain "subraces" for typecasting, for example a barbarian elf (for Dark Sun, or a rip-off of Jackandor) with an alternate atributtes modifieres. I said there was an "class act" article in a Dragon Magazine number 341. pag 92-93 ( I bought a year when I was in a capital city, I didn't download a pdf version). .

In 1993, just one year after they released Aladin, Disney changed the following lyrics in the opening song "Arabian Nights:"

"Where they cut off your ear/ If they don't like your face/ It's barbaric, but hey, it's home"

Look, I love Aladin but it's a classic example of using cultural and racial stereotypes to create a story about "exotic" peoples for a white audience. Notice that the more evil a character is, the more their "foreign features" are pronounced? The voice acting is almost entirely white. Quite simply, Aladin is not the measuring stick you want to use for creating artwork that is culturally responsive.

 

[Guest 6801328]

It's a collection of folk tales from the Middle East and South Asia, with a later linking story, possibly associated with merchants traveling the Silk Route. It received it's title and much of the "Scheherazade" narrative when it was translated into English in 1706.

So:

• Many of the stories are not actually Arabian;
• Much of it was changed to appeal to an 18th century English audience. So "which translation" is a very meaningful question;
• It only offers a tiny glimpse of a small part of several broad and diverse cultures. It's like learning everything you need to know about Germany by reading Grimms' Fairy Tales.

I saw the Disney version and didn’t think that Arabs should be offended. And as a white American male I think I’ve got a pretty good radar for these things.

:-/

 

[BookTenTiger]

In 1993, just one year after they released Aladin, Disney changed the following lyrics in the opening song "Arabian Nights:"



Look, I love Aladin but it's a classic example of using cultural and racial stereotypes to create a story about "exotic" peoples for a white audience. Notice that the more evil a character is, the more their "foreign features" are pronounced? The voice acting is almost entirely white. Quite simply, Aladin is not the measuring stick you want to use for creating artwork that is culturally responsive.

I will say though that Aladin IS the measuring stick you want to use for mid-movie songs that slap. That key change in Prince Ali!!!

 

[Guest 6801328]

Also I grew up in New England and I’ve never taken offense at Robert Frost poems.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Many of the stories are not actually Arabian

When you read through them, a LOT of them are pretty explicitly from the Indian subcontinent.

 

[Aldarc]

Thank you for being constructive

1001 Nights is as Arabian as what Americans think of as Fettucine Alfredo is Italian.

 

[Azzy]

Everyone has stories about the character whose lowest score was a 12. You know what you never hear though? The story about the guy who rolled 12, 11, 11, 9, 7, 6. You know why? Because those scores got tossed into the trash so fast (with or without DM's knowledge or permission) that it would make your head spin. The same was true for the fighter who rolled a 1 on hit points. Those rolls never last, but the guys who have a bonus to all scores sure do.

I have plenty of rolling a character whose highest stat was 12, because, for some reason, I tend to roll low for ability scores. As my group usually rolled in front of the DM, I've had the DM tell me to suicide the character and roll up a new one. So, yeah, I have never actually run (or DMed for) a character with stats that low and wouldn't want to.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

It's a collection of folk tales from the Middle East and South Asia, with a later linking story, possibly associated with merchants traveling the Silk Route. It received it's title and much of the "Scheherazade" narrative when it was translated into English in 1706.

So:

• Many of the stories are not actually Arabian;
• Much of it was changed to appeal to an 18th century English audience. So "which translation" is a very meaningful question;
• It only offers a tiny glimpse of a small part of several broad and diverse cultures. It's like learning everything you need to know about Germany by reading Grimms' Fairy Tales.

There is no singular and traceable traduction of OTON, so... no meaning in ask. For your english traduction, sorry, not my edition. All stories are Islamic. All refers to islamic middle east world. And is a corpus of cultural heritage that, even if treated as popular literature by ultra conservative islam, it considered a fine representation of the islamic world as Decameron (Boccaccio) is a very good source of information for day by day life of Reinassance.

I'm sorry but google has its limits when trying to be useful in regard of this kind of information. I suggest you to read OTON and DECAMERON directly and then read a little bit of history books or a critical review.

This kind of strategy to deconstruct oppositive arguments is quite disturbing so better to go back to the focus. Otherwise I will not respond anymore.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

1001 Nights is as Arabian as what Americans think of as Fettucine Alfredo is Italian.

I suggest you to inform yourself better about the topic.

 

[Azzy]

I perfectly know mystara. I've played in it. Is based on tropes and that's ok. Never found it offensive. Maybe I'm unsensitive, don't know. I've loved Al-Qadim. It reproduces "one thousand and one night" atmospheres in excellent way. Never found it offensive against middle age arabians. Maybe I'm insensitive, don't know. I raise my arms. What seems to me is that all that can be related to real world is starting to be considered to be removed not for its offensivness but to prevent over-interpretation.

Being Italian, your experrience of not finding it offensive carries a lot less weight than someone of the culture being represented finding it offensive. You do not have the perspective or experiences that they do. If you want to see what actual Middle Easterners and those of Middle Eastern descent have to say on the matter of Al Qadim, I'll direct you to this series of videos.