D&D 5E Spelljammer Errata

[Stormonu]

If B&G has already gone to production . . . I'd expect text to mirror the original release, but perhaps with a note thrown in the box acknowledging the issue. If they haven't gone to production, it should be an easy fix to incorporate the errata.

But . . . I think we can survive a delay in product. It's a better choice than continuing to publish harmful content.

Yeah, with the original date for release by October I have a feeling the books are already printed.

But as a downside, a delay would further push back me starting up my SJ campaign - one of the reasons I went for the B&G set was the ship battlemats.

 

[Ixal]

No, I have not, because I'm going to be playing in the game. However, my friend went on a long tear about them. According to him, they were freed from slavery (by an ex-slaver) and now all happily work for the person who freed them. If this is accurate, it has some disturbing tones to it.

Well your friend is representing a completely wrong image of what the book actually says, which in this issue is very common as its imo a made up controversy.

The hadozee were uplifted with the intention to be slaves like so many D&D creatures, but with the aid of some apprentices they killed their enslaver/creator/uplifter. So at no point of their existence they were slaves and did what a "master" wanted them to do and they also do not work for the guy(s) who freed them. Even when you mix lore from several editions to make it look racist the hadozee in the end just enjoyed their work on spelljammer. Thats it.

As for the picture, the problem is that all D&D bards look like minstrel and some people decided that this picture of a whimsical bard playing a lute is offensive while other whimsical bards with lute are ok.

 

[Faolyn]

What's wrong with the elves being fascists? It's certainly not all elves (and they can make that clear), and there's nothing wrong with evil societies existing in fiction. How many fictional antagonistic cultures were based on the Nazis anyway?

Technically, there's nothing wrong with it. They make for good villains. If I were running a Spelljammer game, I'd probably use them. But in the modern political climate, it's not a great idea to include them, especially since elves are still viewed as Always Good. Not unless they spent a couple of pages talking about how and why this particular group of fascist elves was evil and destructive, and sadly, 5e Spelljammer is practically lore-free. (I know you don't like 5e Ravenloft, but at least it had lore to dislike.)

 

[Ixal]

Technically, there's nothing wrong with it. They make for good villains. If I were running a Spelljammer game, I'd probably use them. But in the modern political climate, it's not a great idea to include them, especially since elves are still viewed as Always Good. Not unless they spent a couple of pages talking about how and why this particular group of fascist elves was evil and destructive, and sadly, 5e Spelljammer is practically lore-free. (I know you don't like 5e Ravenloft, but at least it had lore to dislike.)

You don't read much fantasy beside D&D, do you?
The haughty elf who looks down on all others is not exactly uncommon. Also Drow.

 

[Parmandur]

After years on these forums, I am certain that if @Parmandur wanted to call someone racist, he just would do that.

Yeah, it's a complex situation, and being reductionist about it isn't helpful.

 

[Mind of tempest]

You don't read much fantasy beside D&D, do you?
The haughty elf who looks down on all others is not exactly uncommon. Also Drow.

haughty is not the same as evil let alone an evil empire, and I am seeing fewer drow or evil dark elves these days in settings that bother to even have recognisable fantasy sapients.

 

[Ixal]

haughty is not the same as evil let alone an evil empire, and I am seeing fewer drow or evil dark elves these days in settings that bother to even have recognisable fantasy sapients.

English is not my first language, so I am not sure which word to use. Slightly racist who thinks elves are better than everyone else but not actively hurting other races just out of spite. No idea what the best word for that is.

Anyway, the "elves think elves are best" trope is quite common and from there its only a small step to actively hostile.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

I don't know why we need these multiversal based lore dumps every time a playable species is introduced in any case. Get me a good theme with appropriate art and relevant mechanics and I am good to go. This obsession with origins is inevitably going to lead to essentialism and problematic metaphysics. Let me build my world as DM and WOTC should give me the tools to do it, but not worry about all this backstory and lore that won't be used by 99 percent of tables in the first place.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What's wrong with the elves being fascists? It's certainly not all elves (and they can make that clear), and there's nothing wrong with evil societies existing in fiction. How many fictional antagonistic cultures were based on the Nazis anyway?

Part of the problem is having a playable people be Nazis. It can be seen as ambiguity toward whether racial purity ideology is evil or not.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I don't know why we need these multiversal based lore dumps every time a playable species is introduced in any case. Get me a good theme with appropriate art and relevant mechanics and I am good to go. This obsession with origins is inevitably going to lead to essentialism and problematic metaphysics. Let me build my world as DM and WOTC should give me the tools to do it, but not worry about all this backstory and lore that won't be used by 99 percent of tables in the first place.

You think 99% of tables are wholly rewriting the lore of races? Based on what?