D&D General Drow & Orcs Removed from the Monster Manual

[Sepulchrave II]

A general observation regarding Gygax's conception of what a phylactery was:

Phylactery -- An arm wrapping with a container holding religious writings, thus a form of amulet or charm.

—Glossary of Dungeon Master's Guide (First edition, 1979)

 

[Bedrockgames]

A general observation regarding Gygax's conception of what a phylactery was:

Phylactery -- An arm wrapping with a container holding religious writings, thus a form of amulet or charm.

—Glossary of Dungeon Master's Guide (First edition, 1979)

That is much more suggestive of a tefillin, so he likely did know what phylactery referred to

 

[MGibster]

In the hypothetical where WOTC did anything with the property there's no way they'd call it Oriental Adventures. Likely something like "Ishi Barasume's Guide to Kara-Tur" or something.

I was a little surprised they published Oriental Adventures for 3.0 in 2001 instead of naming it something else.

 

[Laurefindel]

I was a little surprised they published Oriental Adventures for 3.0 in 2001 instead of naming it something else.

In a way, I’m glad they didn’t choose something else and didn’t give-in to a group of people recuperating a word that has no pejorative meaning to start with.

I mean, where I come from, « Virginie Orientale » is what we call the state of Virginia in the US when we need to specifically differentiate it from West Virginia (Virginie Occidentale), which has nothing to do with Asia. Otherwise even when the word is tied to eastern culture, the « oriental » adjective in cuisine, music, dance, and art in general often applies to origins in the Near-East, Middle-East, and Northern Africa (basically anything east of Vienna).

I sometimes feel that in fear of offending, we give a lot of power to bigots who don't deserve it.

 

[AnotherGuy]

In a way, I’m glad they didn’t choose something else and didn’t give-in to a group of people recuperating a word that has no pejorative meaning to start with.

I mean, where I come from, « Virginie Orientale » is what we call the state of Virginia in the US when we need to specifically differentiate it from West Virginia (Virginie Occidentale), which has nothing to do with Asia. Otherwise even when the word is tied to eastern culture, the « oriental » adjective in cuisine, music, dance, and art in general often applies to origins in the Near-East, Middle-East, and Northern Africa (basically anything east of Vienna).

I sometimes feel that in fear of offending, we give a lot of power to bigots who don't deserve it.

Pretty much this. I think the politics of the US (which is where the bread is made so to speak for our hobby) is infecting the rest of the world through media (including RPGs) and it is not a positive IMO.

 

[Dire Bare]

Now we are moving on from litigating "phylactery" and re-litigating "oriental"?

Okay.

Thank you WotC, for removing the words "phylactery" and "oriental" from your products.

 

[Dire Bare]

In a way, I’m glad they didn’t choose something else and didn’t give-in to a group of people recuperating a word that has no pejorative meaning to start with.

You realize that almost every word that is considered inappropriate, rude, problematic, or offensive started out with "no pejorative meaning", right?

Words gain pejorative (or problematic) meaning over time as one group uses them against another.

Like "oriental", for example.

 

[AnotherGuy]

You realize that almost every word that is considered inappropriate, rude, problematic, or offensive started out with "no pejorative meaning", right?

Words gain pejorative (or problematic) meaning over time as one group uses them against another.

Like "oriental", for example.

Interestingly this came up first in my google search. I was actually attempting to read up in what context is it offensive because I have seen Asian restaurants with that word in their name. Anyways.

 

[TiQuinn]

There's nothing like using the word "Oriental" to describe someone of Asian descent, and having them say to you "You know, that's really not a great word and it's pretty offensive. Can you please just use Asian or Korean, please?" to really change your perspective on this.

This was 32 years ago, btw. Well before people were on social media, or were terminally online, or anything like that.

 

[pemerton]

I remember reading that when it came out and it strikes me as a pretty outlier position on this issue. I had literally never heard any Jewish people raise these concerns until that article (and it came out at a time when raising those kinds of concerns over all kinds of different issues was in style)

So you're suggesting that it is insincere? What's your evidence?