D&D (2024) Does the concept of subspecies of Elves come across as racist to you

[Dannyalcatraz]

Only for the professionally offended.

Mod Note:

That’s poor rhetorical form to foster thoughtful conversation and great rhetorical form to attract moderator attention.

I’m going to give you time to reconsider how to engage on ENWorld by banning you from this thread and awarding you a WP.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

So, no. I think I will emphatically disagree with "psychopathic" being better. I might even venture that there are some people that would be offended if someone kept on using it as a story prompt once they knew about the above.

This. I think that using clinical terms (however mutable and poorly defined) is probably best avoided - although that's not to say that I haven't in the past. Also - as with biological taxonomy - you have modernistic constructions impinging on a fantastic worldview, and it strikes me as dissonant.

The fundamental, recurring issue is that many ideas in fantasy rpgs eventuate from literary and folkloric understandings about good and evil, origin stories, etc. Authentically, these tend to be rather simplistic and reflect group identity as it was previously construed (often hundreds of years ago), where "othering" was commonplace. These ideas clash with modernity, and our modern sensibilities. But I don't think this is an insurmountable problem, and omission often seems to be the best solution.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The fundamental, recurring issue is that many ideas in fantasy rpgs eventuate from literary and folkloric understandings about good and evil, origin stories, etc. Authentically, these tend to be rather simplistic and reflect group identity as it was previously construed (often hundreds of years ago), where "othering" was commonplace. These ideas clash with modernity, and our modern sensibilities. But I don't think this is an insurmountable problem, and omission often seems to be the best solution.

I just don't see how we are being othered by elves

 

[Sepulchrave II]

I just don't see how we are being othered by elves

Perhaps I wasn’t communicating clearly.

When devising motifs to evoke a fantastic, folkloric or mythical sense, it is natural to draw on the kind of patterns which have been established in literature, myths and folklore. These motifs do not typically accord with our modern values, because they reflect a prior understanding: they otherise groups, or turn them into monsters- say, Amorites, Fomorians, whatever.

But replacing this folkloric portrayal with modern interpretations runs the risk of divesting the subject of its mythic power, which seems to me to be the problem that D&D is facing in a number of dimensions.

It’s what I mean when I say omission is often preferable, as it’s often not possible to satisfy both modern sensibilities and a sense of authentic myth. The Drow origin story is a good example, as it comports with many ideas which we might find in an aetiological myth, but is not palatable for reasons which have already been explored.

 

[Deathmaster Banak]

No.