WotC Dungeons & Dragons Fans Seek Removal of Oriental Adventures From Online Marketplace

[Guest 6801328]

It took literally 30 seconds for me to find it in the Boston Public Library's website. Have a nice day.

And you didn't link it!?!?!

Next you're going to ask me to actually get up off my couch in order to prove I'm not racist.

 

[Guest 6801328]

It struck me, people really thought that Oriental Adventures was supposed to be some detailed cultural work that carefully created a nuanced and intricate fantasy world that didn't rely on any stereotypes of any kind?

No.

What on earth made you think that?

 

[Aldarc]

How many months would I have to wait on an intra library loan to get the copy sent to me?

Where are your local libraries?

 

[Derren]

No.

What on earth made you think that?

Some peoples insistance that everything must be respectfully researched (only for non-white cultures of course).

 

[jasper]

Where are your local libraries?

Montgomery AL

 

[Voadam]

It took literally 30 seconds for me to find it in the Boston Public Library's website. Have a nice day.

I did wish you luck, you seem to have gotten it!

Fairfax County, VA population over 1 million, neither edition shows up in our system. Specific D&D books are few and far between here in the library.

So I checked and there are 9 5e Monster Manuals in the system, none for any other edition. Its funny, I checked out a 3e MM II about a decade or so ago, must have been purged at some point.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don't think the world is going to fall apart if every single person cannot instantly have a copy of an outmoded game book from 1985 for a game that is no longer supported in their hands quickly...

And if that's the best argument that can be mustered in defense of keeping OA on Dmsguild, I think this debate is concluded.

EDIT:

And there's delicious irony in it, too: "Man these minorities are so freakin' entitled! They whine and cry about any tiny little slight that might possibly be perceived as racism! The result is that I can't quickly get my hands on a copy of a supplement to a fantasy game that hasn't been in print in 30+ years! IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!"

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I don't think the world is going to fall apart if every single person cannot instantly have a copy of an outmoded game book from 1985 for a game that is no longer supported in their hands quickly. If that's how we handled history, we would be literally buried in items of the past, with no room for the present, much less the future.

And I think that your assertions of how other people should feel and act is terribly ... not cool.

"Hey, I realize that other people might not live in a major city like I do, or even if they live in some minor city like New York, it won't be available in their library, but guess what? You shouldn't have access to this book because, well, reasons. Even though the world has advanced, I don't care."

I went ahead and looked in my area, by the way. Unsurprisingly, it is not only not available locally, it's not available in the three closest major metro areas.

But hey- why should I matter to you, right? Isn't that kind of the issue- if you've never wanted to read it, why do you care if someone else can't?

 

[Horwath]

I don't think the world is going to fall apart if every single person cannot instantly have a copy of an outmoded game book from 1985 for a game that is no longer supported in their hands quickly. If that's how we handled history, we would be literally buried in items of the past, with no room for the present, much less the future.

This is true, but today we have PDFs and optic cables.
So any book that is no longer in economic interest to be printed and kept on some bookshop shelf should be available to be purchased as a PDF.
50 or so MBs on a company server costs next to nothing to maintain.

 

[Todd Roybark]

but did people miss the part of the article that pointed out the bigger issue was that they took 3 or 4 cultures, mixed them together, then presented them as a single unit full of stereotypes?

To be fair, that also seems to be apt descriptor for any of the classes in D&D.

The salient difference, to my mind, is D&D is called just Fantasy, and OA is highlighted as “Oriental Fantasy”, which implies some sort of inherent difference. All fantasy, regardless of the region of origin or inspiration is Human Fantasy and equally valid.

So change the title of Oriental Adventures to Kara-Tur Adventures, put in a disclaimer similar to what is in XGE regarding the Knight and Samurai subclasses; it is a work of fantasy for a game. It is inspired by, but not limited to history, and is not intended to be representative of history or a real people.

If TSR had done that, I think this thread would never had happen.
It didn’t....so here we are.