D&D (2024) How did I miss this about the Half races/ancestries

[Scott Christian]

The easiest way to handle this, since you are changing the name from race to species, is to not allow it to happen. Not sure that's satisfactory, but it is the easiest possible solution.

 

[Kinematics]

All of those terms have been used by various companies to replace "race" in D&D. The species argument about gorillas and dolphins falls apart when you use ancestry or lineage instead.

And there have been arguments about all of those words because they don't mean the same thing. Certainly, I found "species" as a replacement to be disgusting and dehumanizing, but now that they've sort of settled on it, we're getting arguments that are predicated on the meaning of "species" that fail because it doesn't mean the same thing in game as in the real world — the same way "race" doesn't mean the same thing.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

The easiest way to handle this, since you are changing the name from race to species, is to not allow it to happen. Not sure that's satisfactory, but it is the easiest possible solution.

Except some irl species can interbreed with some other irl species. And some of them can produce fertile offspring too.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

And there have been arguments about all of those words because they don't mean the same thing. Certainly, I found "species" as a replacement to be disgusting and dehumanizing, but now that they've sort of settled on it, we're getting arguments that are predicated on the meaning of "species" that fail because it doesn't mean the same thing in game as in the real world — the same way "race" doesn't mean the same thing.

Why is 'species' disgusting and dehumanising?

Humans are a 'species' as well.

 

[SteveC]

I wonder if making completely new species from scratch can get around the issue of every single existing fantasy species having historical problems with being based on offensive caricatures of real world cultures and races....

You would think that but it's harder than just that. The game Talislanta (famous for their "no elves" tagline) has many cultures and races in the game. I'm reading a "let's read" for it right now that talks about how many of those races are representations for real earth cultures with the serial numbers filed off and that's problematic. I think it would be exceptionally difficult to come up with a type of creature that didn't have some tie-in to a real world group. And if you were successful, would anyone want to play something truly alien?

 

[Incenjucar]

Why is 'species' disgusting and dehumanising?

Humans are a 'species' as well.

The usage of specific terms to refer to people is very culturally-specific. Many people find scientific terms generally dehumanizing.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

The usage of specific terms to refer to people is very culturally-specific. Many people find scientific terms generally dehumanizing.

Ah I didn't realise that.

Here is me constantly using scientific terms due to thinking that they're not loaded with cultural baggage and therefore won't offend anyone.

Maybe people were onto something when they came up with the term 'schmorp'...

 

[SteveC]

Way back when the discussion of the term "species" started, I mentioned that it meant that there would be no more half-elves. I lost a bet with a friend who is a geneticist who pointed out that interspecies mating is a real thing. That was the first comment to my post, so I had to get a case of Spotted Cow to the east coast. It's interesting how the discussion has changed and circled back since then.

 

[Kinematics]

Why is 'species' disgusting and dehumanising?

Humans are a 'species' as well.

The usage of specific terms to refer to people is very culturally-specific. Many people find scientific terms generally dehumanizing.

Here is me constantly using scientific terms due to thinking that they're not loaded with cultural baggage and therefore won't offend anyone.

While my overall reasoning is far more detailed (and I don't want to try to recreate the full essay I posted about this before), a simple analogy is that it's like using the pronoun "it" to refer to a person.

 

[Faolyn]

You would think that but it's harder than just that. The game Talislanta (famous for their "no elves" tagline) has many cultures and races in the game. I'm reading a "let's read" for it right now that talks about how many of those races are representations for real earth cultures with the serial numbers filed off and that's problematic. I think it would be exceptionally difficult to come up with a type of creature that didn't have some tie-in to a real world group. And if you were successful, would anyone want to play something truly alien?

Link please?