D&D 5E D&D's Inclusivity Language Alterations In Core Rules

In recent months, WotC has altered some of the text found in the original 5th Edition core rulebooks to accommodate D&D's ongoing move towards inclusivity. Many of these changes are reflected on D&D Beyond already--mainly small terminology alterations in descriptive text, rather than rules changes.

Teos Abadia (also known as Alphastream) has compiled a list of these changes. I've posted a very abbreviated, paraphrased version below, but please do check out his site for the full list and context.

• Savage foes changed to brutal, merciless, or ruthless.
• Barbarian hordes changed to invading hordes.
• References to civilized people and places removed.
• Madness or insanity removed or changed to other words like chaos.
• Usage of orcs as evil foes changed to other words like raiders.
• Terms like dim-witted and other synonyms of low intelligence raced with words like incurious.
• Language alterations surrounding gender.
• Fat removed or changed to big.
• Use of terms referring to slavery reduced or altered.
• Use of dark when referring to evil changed to words like vile or dangerous.

This is by no means the full list, and much more context can be found on Alphastream's blog post.

 

[Blue Orange]

Considering that orc is and continues to be used as a way to refer to entire groups of people as evil... you would have already lost that metaphor, considering how god damn harmful it is.

I think one of the things is Tolkien had no idea how successful his creation was going to be. He was fooling around with constructed languages and studying Norse poetry. That anyone would use orcs as metaphors for real-life human groups and expect to be taken seriously would probably have boggled his mind at the time.

My opinion is people really like these kinds of stories with heroes and villains and monsters and magic, and modernist literary fiction wasn't giving it to them, and the pulps had gone out of business with the war. For all everyone loves to talk about myths representing the values of a culture, some bard singing for his supper two thousand years ago knew he could get fed a lot better if he threw a monster in there. So Tolkien inadvertently set off a bomb and created a new genre. It's like all the fruit in the world died due to a virus, and everyone's living on beans and roast beef...and then some wacky academic discovers sugar.

 

[Charlaquin]

Also, to me, the "Orc" is symbolic of a person who is so driven by hate that they have lost all morality and have become a separate, monstrous being altogether. It's a warning that war/tragedy/conflict can makes orcs of us all if we are not careful.

Would hate to lose that.

You could certainly do that, but then casting orcs in the role of indigenous peoples being pushed out of their lands by colonizing humans starts to look even worse. Orcs as symbols of human ugliness is a valid narrative strategy, but in taking it one had best take great care to insure that they only resemble humans in ugly ways, lest one accidentally imply ugliness in places they don’t mean to. A pretty risky line to try to walk, if you ask me.

 

[Jahydin]

Considering that orc is and continues to be used as a way to refer to entire groups of people as evil... you would have already lost that metaphor, considering how god damn harmful it is.

Anyone who would compare orcs to a specific group of people is disgusting and wrong and not worth paying attention to IMO. Every group has had their share of "orcs" in their past and every group has the potential to be orcs themselves.

I think there is a reason orcs were elves at one point in Tolkien's world after all.

 

[MGibster]

Although the old World of Darkness games were their own can of racist worms… And I think White Wolf… Onyx Path… White Wolf again… got hit a lot harder by the changing social climate than WotC did.

Are you British? Because that's on par with someone who just lost their arm to a bear attack exclaiming, "By George, Lionel, I dare say this ursine behemoth has inconvenienced me by removing my favorite arm. Would you be lamb and prepare the tea for both of us? And do hurry, old chap. I fear I shall not remain conscious for much longer."

The weird thing is that I never really thought of it but you're right. I suspect the biggest reason why the OWOD has aged so poorly is because they used real ethnic/racial groups. TSR/WotC might have been influenced by real ethnic groups, but even the Vistani are not actually Roma. As Mark Antony said, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." It's fair to look at what they did wrong back then, but sometimes I think a lot of people forget what they did right.

 

[Jahydin]

You could certainly do that, but then casting orcs in the role of indigenous peoples being pushed out of their lands by colonizing humans starts to look even worse. Orcs as symbols of human ugliness is a valid narrative strategy, but in taking it one had best take great care to insure that they only resemble humans in ugly ways, lest one accidentally imply ugliness in places they don’t mean to. A pretty risky line to try to walk, if you ask me.

Good point and one I'll certainly consider.

Lots to think about. I'm going to stew on it for a few weeks and see what comes out of it.

Again, thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.

 

[ReshiIRE]

I think one of the things is Tolkien had no idea how successful his creation was going to be. He was fooling around with constructed languages and studying Norse poetry. That anyone would use orcs as metaphors for real-life human groups and expect to be taken seriously would probably have boggled his mind at the time.

My opinion is people really like these kinds of stories with heroes and villains and monsters and magic, and modernist literary fiction wasn't giving it to them, and the pulps had gone out of business with the war. For all everyone loves to talk about myths representing the values of a culture, some bard singing for his supper two thousand years ago knew he could get fed a lot better if he threw a monster in there. So Tolkien inadvertently set off a bomb and created a new genre. It's like all the fruit in the world died due to a virus, and everyone's living on beans and roast beef...and then some wacky academic discovers sugar.

The problem, however, was that at one point Tolkien did specifically compare Orcs to Mongols in a way that was not merely neutral - and certainly not inapplicable to the real world.

While this is from Wikipedia - I think it works:

In a private letter, Tolkien describes orcs as:

squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."

Tolkien wouldn't have been as shocked as you think.

Like... you can form arguments against orcs being intended to be racist or not, and it's a complex subject, but a lot of the baggage was there from the start.

 

[Charlaquin]

I actually was not aware of this. I kinda dropped out of pop culture in the 2000s as career got busier--I don't know a lot of the backstory or internet chatter in fan communities after about 2000 or so, I was restricted to reading the books as they came out and the occasional blog. How did they get hit harder by the changing social climate? I always had the sense White Wolf/Onyx Path was to the 'left' of TSR/Wizards/Hasbro, but that's probably a result of my formative years being the 1990s. Are you allowed to elaborate?

It’s kind of getting off topic to get into it too deeply, but basically, due in part to having the more progressive fanbase, this sort of critical analysis and attendant growing pains D&D is currently going through happened about a decade earlier on that side of the hobby. Then CCP sold the IP and the name White Wolf to Paradox, and the new owners tried to lean hard into the edginess that White Wolf was also known for, and… Well, there was a ton of drama both internally and with the fans, and I jumped ship. Maybe it has worked itself out since then, maybe it hasn’t, but they lost me as a fan when they lost Olivia Hill as a designer.

 

[ReshiIRE]

Actually changing the rules, styles, "flavor" and basically the entire game into some other game almost entirely is not "Including more people in the game", it's changing the whole game to be catered to a different set of people with the least interesting, challenging or imaginative stance possible. The original game of the last 40+ years and what made it interesting is basically gone, and replaced by a sanitized, generic, "reach the masses" version, it's basically the most generic version of a McDonald's hamburger when it used to be Kuma's. So yeah, it's not even in the same world any more.

But hey, people love their McDonalds, and now ironically there are so many more "Kuma's" available, more than ever before so plenty of alt options. But we'll see if the "masses" can support "wotc neo-5e d&d" for the long haul? Or if/when the "kids" get bored and the ST fad is over and move on, who will be left to support it, since most the original foundational customer support group was kicked out and moved on.

Check AL at cons, and interestingly enough check the demographic analytics of who actually plays d&d, even this version, I think you will be shocked. I know I wasn't.

Could you be a bit more concrete on what's bothering you about these changes or other previous changes?

I don't see how the stances portrayed by others in this thread, or my own, are unimaginative, unchallenging or uninteresting. I for one, as a trans person, am glad a lot of previous baggage from the game around gender and trans people is gone.

 

[Charlaquin]

Anyone who would compare orcs to a specific group of people is disgusting and wrong and not worth paying attention to IMO. Every group has had their share of "orcs" in their past and every group has the potential to be orcs themselves.

I think there is a reason orcs were elves at one point in Tolkien's world after all.

It’s worth noting that Tolkien himself was somewhat conflicted about that origin. It was important to him that evil not be able to create anything new, only corrupt the creations of good. But, he also recognized that orcs being the result of Morgoth torturing elves was awfully victim-blame-y (though he obviously wouldn’t have use that language to describe it).

 

[Charlaquin]

Are you British? Because that's on par with someone who just lost their arm to a bear attack exclaiming, "By George, Lionel, I dare say this ursine behemoth has inconvenienced me by removing my favorite arm. Would you be lamb and prepare the tea for both of us? And do hurry, old chap. I fear I shall not remain conscious for much longer."

The weird thing is that I never really thought of it but you're right. I suspect the biggest reason why the OWOD has aged so poorly is because they used real ethnic/racial groups. TSR/WotC might have been influenced by real ethnic groups, but even the Vistani are not actually Roma. As Mark Antony said, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." It's fair to look at what they did wrong back then, but sometimes I think a lot of people forget what they did right.

Haha, nope, all-American. Just very practiced at tactful understatement