NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haldrik" data-source="post: 8032530" data-attributes="member: 6694221">The origins of D&D is a freeform blending of many cultures. If not here and not now (Midwest US, 1970s), then it was fair game for cultural appropriation and misrepresentation. Fantasy = Exoticism.Needless to say, the above methodology can lead to difficulties.I am glad many different ethnic groups are playing D&D. It enriches our shared gaming experience. Each identity invites us into a different way of being human. For storytelling − and adventures! − our diversity is an incredible resource.I am also glad to see specific ethnic groups complain when some aspect of D&D seems to misrepresent or even insult their own cultural heritage. In this thread, we are focusing on East Asian cultures. I feel the same way about European and West Asian cultures. I am happy when D&D holds every culture to the same need for respect and critique. It is easier for European Americans to discuss complaints from East Asian cultures, in the sense that the principles can be discussed more objectively, and the same principles of respect and critique apply to European cultures too.There are some general rules that seem to work well.• Dont borrow from an other culture, unless you feel intimate with that culture.• Absolutely dont use reallife names, unless it is historically/mythologically accurate.Dont use the names "Samurai" (or "Druid" or "Viking" or "Thunderbird" so on) unless one is making an honest effort to use the reallife name accurately and empathetically.Yes, it is a high standard. And a good one. Let people who know what they are talking about, be the ones to introduce a "Samurai" into a D&D game.You can still do creative freeform. Even a person who knows little about Japan or China or anywhere, can still appreciate aspects that are appealing and fascinating. Feel free to borrow them into the game. Avoid the word "Samurai" or a suggestion that this less knowledgeable usage is somehow Japan. Certainly avoid using the cultural aspects for offensive parts of the game.WotC designed the 5e Samurai archetype, from studying Japanese films about Samurai. Heh, even that makes me cringe a little bit. But the methodology is on the right track to try bring an insiders view into the D&D game. I am confident that WotC doublechecked and triplechecked with Japanese citizens and historians, to make sure they werent walking into a field of landmines. As far as I can tell, the 5e Samurai is ok. But it is only the ones who are intimate with Japanese culture who can decide if the D&D Samurai is legitimate or not.People can critique other an other culture − but only if they are empathetic and intimate with that culture and know what they are talking about. Otherwise, stick to the critique of abstract principles that can apply to any culture equally.Good advice that I try to remember. Never say a critique, unless you say something admiring first. If one cannot think of something admiring then dont say the critique either, because one oneself isnt in a good place to say the critique. Also, if the person that is being criticized isnt listening, dont say the critique. Because it helps no one. The advice proves true most of the time. In an honest conversation, the advice is virtually always true.</blockquote>

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