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I'm Scottish and I'm not offended by stereotyped portrayals of Scottish people. The reason I'm not offended is that Scottish people don't suffer discrimination so stereotyped portrayals don't cause harm. People that do suffer discrimination are harmed by stereotyped portrayals.

Can you give a citation for this? Genocidal racists frequently describe their victims as beasts but I don't know of an instance of 'devil eyes'. The closest example I can find is "Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a...

For an example of a fantasy race used as a metaphor for British imperialism, see Michael Moorcock's Melnibonéans in the Elric novels. They don't look much like orcs!

That's it I think. It's the best explanation for, not just orcs, but all the evil tribal humanoids in D&D. The one thing to add to this is that the writers of Westerns, dime novels, pulps, and other pro-colonialist fiction in the second half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th...

Tribes like Plagues. Orcs gather in tribes that exert their dominance and satisfy their bloodlust by plundering villages, devouring or driving off roaming herds, and slaying any humanoids that stand against them. After savaging a settlement, orcs pick it clean of wealth and items usable in their...

That's what D&D and the 20th century fiction it's based on does. Tolkien was concerned with taxonomy and other aspects of biology in a way his sources, such as Beowulf and the Eddas, weren't, because he was influenced by late 19th century scientific advances. I think that's true of most, if not...

Twitter is my main form of social media. I find it to be civilised. It depends entirely on who you choose to follow, so it's not like ENWorld where, by default, you see everyone's posts. To give an example of the positive and interesting aspects of twitter, see this thread about a cursed Roman...

In published D&D texts, I think we ought to avoid the idea of women being impregnated against their will. In fact I'd suggest we avoid the idea of half-orcs altogether.

You're absolutely right. Orcs and other evil primitive humanoids in D&D have a number of sources: 1) The fairy* tradition, mostly as interpreted by George Macdonald's The Princess and the Goblin, and then Tolkien's The Hobbit. The only parts of it that remain are the names and living...

The answer to that is straightforward: Orcs aren't like black people. Orcs are like a racist's idea of black people. Though these Youtubers may be merely making rhetorical points without any interest in engaging with the real arguments.

But that's the problem. Orcs have never been like tigers, mosquitoes, or locusts (if they were they would have neutral alignment in most editions). Orcs are almost exactly the same as humans. They are sentient, intelligent beings. They have language. They wear clothing. They use tools. They are...

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/ https://twitter.com/askhistorians When looking for a relevant topic I usually just Google "askhistorians [TopicName]". The great thing about Twitter is that you choose who to follow. If you choose bad follows then...

It is but it's worse than that because it’s also bound up with race. All these, connected, ideas are explicit in 5e’s orcs: Sexual violence (previously implicit) Dominant traits (also explicit in 1e/2e) Inferior racial heritage as an indelible stain (made a bit more explicit in 5e) Inferior...

5e deserves credit for its greater representation of BIPOC people in the PHB, but I agree with @Bluenose that in a number of respects it made things worse. Bio-essentialism has been made more explicit. This was probably the intent in 1e too, but it wasn’t as clear-cut. 5e PHB: The evil deities...

Thanks for posting, I think it's a worthy contribution to the debate. This is something to bear in mind when people say things like "I've never had any complaints". I think often members of groups that face discrimination choose not to complain about discriminatory behaviour for a wide number...

Could orcs represent racism itself? No, they are mostly anti-racist, though they do hate elves. 5e MM (emphasis mine): Strength and power are the greatest of orcish virtues, and orcs embrace all manner of mighty creatures in their tribes. Rejecting notions of racial purity, they proudly welcome...

On personal interpretations of orcs: If I was going to use the 5e MM orcs in a game of D&D I'd probably have them represent toxic masculinity. It's something that I regard as a significant evil in the world today, and therefore worth exploring. There is some support for this in the text - they...

5e has emphasised the importance of the DM relative to 4e by using deliberately vague language. Some GMs like to make lots of rulings and write their own house rules. It may even be their favourite aspect of GMing. For such GMs, vague, or even outright bad, rules are actually a positive feature...

You'd probably consider me to be an "SJW". I think we should pay very careful attention to the origins of the tropes used in D&D such as "primitive tribes", "bloodthirsty savages", "superstitious natives", cannibalism, human sacrifice, devil worship, and the "half-breed". If we do so we'll...

These can both be true: 1) WotC's recent announcement on racism reflected genuinely held beliefs. 2) WotC treat their BIPOC staff in a discriminatory manner.