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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 506469" data-attributes="member: 2205">To me, assigning false stereotypes to a race is a symptom of racism, not the definition of it.  The definition of racism is the belief that one race is inherently superior to another.In that sense, yes, D&D can often be racist.  Orcs and goblins are inherently inferior to, say, elves or dwarves.  However, I don't much see how it matters as there's no such thing as orcs and goblins to be offended at the racism of so many players.But this also goes back to our "inherent morality of D&D" thread of a few weeks or so ago.  If you want to use D&D to symbolize real-world situations, then that's fine, but I don't think a game of "hack the orc" really does that in any way.That said, I like to break racial stereotypes as much as possible.  I rarely make orcs evil, just barbaric.  But I often do it with the "noble savage" archetype that was so popular in the Victorian era when applied to the Germanic peoples who brought down the civilized but decadent Rome, or when describing the prevailing opinion of the native inhabitants of North America.  Other times, my orcs aren't even savage at all.</blockquote>