D&D General Nolzur creates inclusive miniatures, people can't handle it.

[Kurotowa]

That’s why I think it’s best to focus on the idea of making wheelchairs in general feel like they belong in the setting. Any individual player may want to play a character with a wheelchair or might not want to, whether they have a wheelchair in real life or not. The important thing is that, for those who do want to, the fictional setting has room for them to do so, without feeling out of place.

One variant I can see going with is based on setting tone. Back in the 70s and 80s there was a thing for Science Fantasy, where magic was limited and sequestered and it was entirely possible to have non-magical tech advancing in parallel with it. These days, however, it's more in vogue to make magic widely pervasive so that it advances to fill similar functions as modern technology but in a different way. You see stories where magical Not iPhones exist, because it's just too alien to not have a vast communication network easily available.

In that spirit, I can somewhat agree with those advocating (some in this very thread) for a mostly similar magical wheelchair equivalent, in order to emphasize that it's existing in a fantasy world. For D&D, maybe we'd start with a Common level magic item that's a somewhat slow hoverchair powered by a tweaked Tenser's Floating Disk. And then there's the Uncommon combat upgrade that has Wheels of Spider Climbing for greater speed and terrain handling.

Or maybe that's all just a stupid idea. My experience with disabilities is in the mental realm, not the physical, and I know it doesn't carry over entirely. But there's a lot of fine lines involved, and not everyone is going to want the same thing out of the game. Escapist power fantasy or realistic representation? Emphasis on "adventurers have to be capable of amazing physical feats" or "I want to be able to make any PC I imagine the hero of the story"? There's no one right answer.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I am not seeing it

I see no real difference between these and D&D ones that makes them more believable

It's mainly the cloud giants which are often depicted as just 'big humans'. Though sometimes frost and storm giants to a lesser extent. It's most obvious when scaled down and stuck next to a regular human that it becomes more obvious.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

One variant I can see going with is based on setting tone. Back in the 70s and 80s there was a thing for Science Fantasy, where magic was limited and sequestered and it was entirely possible to have non-magical tech advancing in parallel with it. These days, however, it's more in vogue to make magic widely pervasive so that it advances to fill similar functions as modern technology but in a different way. You see stories where magical Not iPhones exist, because it's just too alien to not have a vast communication network easily available.

It does seem like DnD has got more and more 'high magic' over time.

 

[J.Quondam]

Swap the wheels for something that floats. We got gnomes and artificers in a lot of campaigns afterall

I had no idea gnomes and artificers were so buoyant!

 

[MichaelSomething]

We need to ask the real questions like...

Can I cast magic weapon on a wheelchair?
What magical properties can I bestow on a wheelchair?
Can I attach blades to the sides and cast haste on the rider to create a war chariot like weapon?
Do they come with cup holders? Should they come with cup holders??
Do they come with additional carry space to carry more loot??

 

[Morrus]

That's fair. But giants don't generally break the sense of immersion; they feel like they belong in a typical fantasy setting. I have no problem with wheel chairs in a fantasy setting, or even magical ones; but I do have a problem with mundane ones functioning in ways they just can't. A wheel chair easily climbing stairs? Or navigating terrain that is seriously uneven and broken? That does break my sense of immersion.

A person falling off a cliff?

There is room for wheel chair bound adventurers. But just as someone bound to a wheel chair the the real world must sometimes acknowledge that not all locations and activities are suited to them, so must a wheel chair bound adventurer.

No they mustn’t. We don’t play physics simulators. We play adventure games. Next you’ll be expecting stormtroopers to hit their targets or Indian Jones to die when doing… well, anything. The only thing that 'must' happen in your games is what you want to happen in your games. But we're talking about other peoples' games here, not yours.

If the first part of an adventure is climbing down a mile-high shaft into the Underdark, I have a hard time seeing how a wheel chair isn't a serious impediment. And hand waving it just isn't satisfying to me.

Sure. But it is satisfying to many players who actually live with disabilities and don’t give two hoots about whether their representation ‘satisfies’ you.

So let folks have miniatures. You don’t have to buy them.

 

[Retreater]

I'd also love more ethnically diverse minis and paints to do a variety of flesh tones.

 

[Kurotowa]

It does seem like DnD has got more and more 'high magic' over time.

It's not just D&D. When I was a child in the early 80s there were kid's shows of a distinctly Science Fantasy flavor; Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Thundercats. Ones where high tech and weird sorcery stood side by side, though rarely combined. And my sense is that this was the tail end of a genre from before my time that had slowly worked its way down to children's fare. (See also: Scooby-Doo and the creature feature film genre.)

What bits of that OD&D and AD&D 1e era I inherited seemed to have a lot of similarity to that Science Fantasy feel. And if D&D shifted more towards pure fantasy and then high magic in the last few decades, it's because that's been the general trend throughout most of the genre. That's why I'm bringing up the idea that we've come around from "science that's indistinguishable from magic" to "magic that's indistinguishable from science" by now, with magical devices that are similar yet distinct from modern real world conveniences.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

It's not just D&D. When I was a child in the early 80s there were kid's shows of a distinctly Science Fantasy flavor; Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Thundercats. Ones where high tech and weird sorcery stood side by side, though rarely combined. And my sense is that this was the tail end of a genre from before my time that had slowly worked its way down to children's fare. (See also: Scooby-Doo and the creature feature film genre.)

What bits of that OD&D and AD&D 1e era I inherited seemed to have a lot of similarity to that Science Fantasy feel. And if D&D shifted more towards pure fantasy and then high magic in the last few decades, it's because that's been the general trend throughout most of the genre. That's why I'm bringing up the idea that we've come around from "science that's indistinguishable from magic" to "magic that's indistinguishable from science" by now, with magical devices that are similar yet distinct from modern real world conveniences.

A chunk of early dnd seemed to have a lot of inspiration from LotR (I know if you go into the deep lore that setting is high magic af, but it seems lower magic for casual readers/watchers), with Aragorn being the first thing people thought of with the Ranger.

Now it seems like there is a big push for even the pure martials to have 'anime' like abilities. Trying to play a low magic setting with 4e and 5e is basically impossible.

 

[Sacrosanct]

A person falling off a cliff?

No they mustn’t. We don’t play physics simulators. We play adventure games. Next you’ll be expecting stormtroopers to hit their targets or Indian Jones to die when doing… well, anything. The only thing that 'must' happen in your games is what you want to happen in your games. But we're talking about other peoples' games here, not yours.


Sure. But it is satisfying to many players who actually live with disabilities and don’t give two hoots about whether their representation ‘satisfies’ you.

So let folks have miniatures. You don’t have to buy them.

Also, part of the fun is coming up with creative solutions. No one is arguing that PCs in wheelchairs shouldn’t have to ever face challenges while exploring a dungeon, but they should be treated as any other obstacle that PCs face all the time. In a world of fantasy and magic, there should be opportunities to overcome most challenges. So instead of saying “no, that’s impossible”, let people play how they want and just treat it like any other obstacle. I mean, it’s not realistic to fall off a cliff and survive with no effects, so who cares if someone is in a wheelchair.

Yeah, I totally agree with you here.