D&D 5E WotC to increase releases per year?

[Reynard]

Part of the problem is that the very existence of these non-European locations in the pulps that inspired D&D was based on exoticism: a way for the authors to show just how strange, foreign and alien these people were (especially the women, wink wink nudge nudge). And as much I still love Howard's Conan stories (because the man could write), you do have to take them as products of their time and the way they depict people from non-European inspired areas is very problematic. At the same time, it doesn't make any sense to white wash the world and pretend those places don't exist. The real world is richer for its diversity and so is a well realized fictional world. And since we can idealize those worlds, we can have these cultures meet without basking in the horrors of our own real past such as imperialism, colonials and the slave trade.

I'm just not sure how to best present those places for consumption as lands of adventure.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What else should or can wotc print?

How many genres can meaningfully intersect with fantasy adventure?

How many kinds of worlds can one adventure in?

At least that many books.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Tasha's a bit of a mess and a lot of Powercreep.

Not really.

What in Tasha’s makes a character that is outside the power level of the PHB?

 

[Zardnaar]

Not really.

What in Tasha’s makes a character that is outside the power level of the PHB?

The subclasses are tuned high.

Floating racial stats.

New class options on top of the PHB.

All pure Powercreep.

 

[Dire Bare]

The subclasses are tuned high.

Floating racial stats.

New class options on top of the PHB.

All pure Powercreep.

Nah. The idea that this list represents powercreep or broken mechanics is seriously overstated.

 

[Scribe]

Nah. The idea that this list represents powercreep or broken mechanics is seriously overstated.

Floating ASI is absolutely power creep. Options, are more powerful, than static restrictions.

 

[Dire Bare]

And secondly, if it's your home game, then no, it doesn't matter. We can't and shouldn't police what people do in their home. All you can do is, if you find out people you know are being bigots at home, is to then not associate with them.

We probably agree more than we disagree, but I think how you play at home matters. It matters very much. That's where most of us play!

Of course, if you are playing out racist or gendered stereotypes at home, the only folks who'll notice are the other players at your table. But it still matters. You should always strive to do the right thing . . . not because others will notice, but because it's the right thing. And if you put effort into avoiding harmful stereotypes at home, that's the most honest place you can do so! It makes it easier to do so in public, and do it sincerely.

As a community, I think it's important that we encourage folks to be more aware and mindful of harmful stereotypes in our games, and work to discourage them. That's not policing anyone's home games, it's just encourages folks to be better.

 

[Faolyn]

We probably agree more than we disagree, but I think how you play at home matters. It matters very much. That's where most of us play!

I do completely agree with you. What I mean is that we can't say "it's wrong or problematic to play an Asian character unless you're Asian in real life."

 

[see]

I think they'd almost certainly keep with the established names, like Kara-Tur--they'd just make the cultures within quite different (and more culturally accurate) from the way they were originally depicted.

Oh, no.

The problem with "culturally accurate" is that it quickly becomes orientalist "look at how these people are exotically different". Zakhara having (for example) a cultural taboo on people touching unrelated persons of the opposite sex (so, sorry, the paladin can't heal you with their lay on hands power). Maztica's dominant society using human sacrifice to worship the gods. Et cetera.

Even much of the "generic East Asian" problem in 1e Kara-Tur was a side-effect of replacing standard D&D classes with ones rooted in specific East Asian cultures, then having the problem that you needed Japanese yakuza in faux-China and wu jen (based on Chinese wūshī) in faux-Japan because you didn't have generic thief and wizard classes to fill the party niches.

The other problem was too much "cultural accuracy" in the sense of excessive use of real-world history. That made 1e Kara-Tur a slog to read and hard to use for actual gaming. That drove having Maztica not having ironworking and (in order to keep conquistador supremacy) wizardry. The result was places that were just less fantastic than Faerun, and thus less attractive to game in.

No, what a rewrite needs is cool fantasy that's respectful, not any attempt at accuracy. Which is partly why I think a good idea is to have writers who are closely associated with the real-world analogs, because they'll have the moral position where they can toss out accuracy in the name of cool.

 

[Reynard]

To sort of veer back toward the original topic of the thread, I think we are probably due for a high level adventure -- specifically one aimed at 12 to 20 that is intended to be run after whichever adventure you just finished. And since you don't know what adventure that was, I think it would be cool if it was a planar adventure going places we have not seen yet -- the Feywild in particular. I know that high level content is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, but really the only support we have for it right now is DotMM and that certainly isn't everyone's favorite style of adventure. I want something to do with my post-Avernus crew.