WotC WotC's Chris Perkins On D&D's Inclusivity Processes Going Forward

Over on D&D Beyond, WotC's Chris Perkins has written a blog entry about how the company's processes have been changed to improve the way the D&D studio deals with harmful content and inclusivity. This follows recent issues with racist content in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, and involves working with external cultural consultants.

The studio’s new process mandates that every word, illustration, and map must be reviewed by multiple outside cultural consultants prior to publication.

Leveling Up Our Creative Process: Learnings From Spelljammer

In this blog post, I'll talk about how we in the D&D Studio are changing our review process following the problematic content that appeared in Spell...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[Umbran]

Ofc not, but 2 things.
1. Like many have said - the publishers likely do not believe they have treated people disrespectfully;

I am not sure why this bears repeating.

It doesn't really make them look better. At best it deepens their ignorance. At worst it makes them villains.

Nor am I here stunned at how such a thing could come to happen in this day and age. I am not naive that I need it explained.

And
2. Money is money that is the reality. If you do not have it, you do not have it.

If you do not have the money to do this project well, maybe pick another project that you can do well.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Generally I think using real life extant cultures for inspiration is a bad idea.

What exactly is off limits though because I read a lot of history. Slavery comes up a lot. If you did a Polynesian culture depicting slavery and cannibalism is that ok because it happened here?

here is where this gets complex... at your table you just have to know what everyone is comfortable with if you are putting out a small product with most likely few eyes on it you can be okay with most things... if you want to publish a book in 2022 I suggest Slavery is off the table

 

[AnotherGuy]

I am not sure why this bears repeating.

It doesn't really make them look better. At best it deepens their ignorance. At worst it makes them villains.

Nor am I here stunned at how such a thing could come to happen in this day and age. I am not naive that I need it explained.



If you do not have the money to do this project well, maybe pick another project that you can do well.

Well I wanted to find out if they (the publishers) are European or American, instead I found this thread
Design Mechanism-Mythic Polynesia is problematic?
which does reflect that if they were ignorant before, they will not be ignorant going forward. So there is that.

EDIT: Okay found this on them. Canadian, USA and Sweden.

 

[Vaalingrade]

By that token, would you agree that it's not a useful comparison to compare a D&D setting that's vaguely pan-Asian to a real-world place?

And this is how we get settings with massively racist themes and elements. Because 'it's not really Japanese people, it's fantasy Japan, so it's okay'.

The 'but it's fantasy' argument has become the primary weapon in these debates for people who just want to play with offensive stereotypes and not reap what they sow.

 

[darjr]

TDM has said something. Not much but they are taking about it internally.

Post in thread '[Mythras] Mythic Polynesia Now Available!'
[Mythras] Mythic Polynesia Now Available!

 

[Zardnaar]

here is where this gets complex... at your table you just have to know what everyone is comfortable with if you are putting out a small product with most likely few eyes on it you can be okay with most things... if you want to publish a book in 2022 I suggest Slavery is off the table

If your using real life culture though slavery was very common across pre industrial society.

It's kind of the point I'm making the Americanized idea of diversity to us kinda comes across as insipid.

If you're watching an NZ production depicting say the land wars or inter tribal warfare you'll get it warts and all. American production will sanitize things.

I've also posted the Polynesian weapons at my local museum. Some of those weapons were last used in WW2.

 

[Faolyn]

By that token, would you agree that it's not a useful comparison to compare a D&D setting that's vaguely pan-Asian to a real-world place?

"Ish." The problem is that Oriental Adventures-esque settings are usually filled with blatant stereotypes based on Western misunderstandings of how various Asian cultures worked (and the assumption that they were all very similar), while the European-style settings aren't like that. They're like having a vaguely-European setting where everyone is a chivalric knight who engages in palace intrigue, wears liederhosen, and wields a rapier while throwing chicken bones on the rush-covered floors of a moat-surrounded, cannon-guarded longhouse. So, in my opinion (as a non-Asian), having a pan-Asian setting would be fine, as long as it wasn't filled with such a terrible mishmash of ideas and there was effort put into making them in a sensible setting.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If your using real life culture though slavery was very common across pre industrial society.

It's kind of the point I'm making the Americanized idea of diversity to us kinda comes across as insipid.

If you're watching an NZ production depicting say the land wars or inter tribal warfare you'll get it warts and all. American production will sanitize things.

I've also posted the Polynesian weapons at my local museum. Some of those weapons were last used in WW2.

look, I am sorry if your REALLY want harmful things that can trigger depression and PTSD in real world people in your books, I just don't know what to tell you. If you do it in a homegame you know who you are showing it to, the bigger your audience the more you have to be careful, or you could end up hated for it.

 

[Vaalingrade]

If your using real life culture though slavery was very common across pre industrial society.

Can we just... dial back on making excuses to include slavery just a little?

Like, it's in the game already. It's everywhere in the game already. We don't need more. We certainly don't need to justify more.

Why is the ownership of or people the thing this genre feels needs to be shoved in everyone's face all the time*?

*Howard. It's Howard's literary influence.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Can we just... dial back on making excuses to include slavery just a little?

Like, it's in the game already. It's everywhere in the game already. We don't need more. We certainly don't need to justify more.

Why is the ownership of or people the thing this genre feels needs to be shoved in everyone's face all the time*?

*Howard. It's Howard's literary influence.

if I wasn't afraid of where it would go I would say we need a separate thread for it. the end result is people want it and don't like that others say not only do they not want it they don't want to have to read about it in there game books.