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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CruelSummerLord" data-source="post: 4003385" data-attributes="member: 48692">I think one of the major problems of applying a Deconstruction/Critique here is, yet again, the presence of sentient non-human creatures.  Comparisons between D&D worlds and our own often seem to neglect this crucial difference.  In the case of Keep on the Borderlands and Against the Giants, the crucial difference is that the orcs, goblins and giants aren't sitting around, just living a semi-peaceful existence.  They're actively aggressive, raiding, plundering, and destroying human and demihuman settlements, and show no compunction about killing non-combatants and taking their stuff.  When it comes to real-life human cultures, imperialist exploitation is quite obviously wrong.  But, in many cases, those other human races didn't actually do anything to actually deserve invasion and conquest, only being "backward" in the minds of those who thought it was somehow their duty to "civilize" them.  But any 'cultural Marxist, Frankfurt School' analogy is a poor fit in a world where these humanoid and giant races are active aggressors on their own-most orcs and hill giants, according to their PHB characteristics, will not be interested in friendly relations with their neighbors, but will actively seek to dominate and kill them.  This kind of analogy could be stretched to fantasy games as a whole-and if the whole genre is in such a supposedly awkward moral position, is it even morally justifiable to play them?  Just as with discussions of how a fantasy world might industrialize, these types of discussions often forget about the presence of non-humans and magic.  Here, we have actual, concrete, proof that these things exist, and they will actively influence how human society shapes and influences itself.  Again, this is a fantasy world, not the real world, and it has to be remembered that the beings that are supposedly being killed and looted are not innocent-they're doing precisely the same thing when the situation is reversed.  As for my own vision of Greyhawk, in many ways it's an unpleasant place-even the supposedly "Good" countries and races do very nasty things to one another, and political pragmatism often trumps considerations of alignment.  With that in mind, there are still realms where justice and equality are more prevalent-and different realms will respond in different ways, some being better than others.  The result is a hodgepodge of racism, reconciliation, sexism, equality, hatred, kindness, shades of grey, and mercy.  Oddly enough, this is similar to the real world, where even supposedly self-interested elites can act with altruism and compassion, or those who claim lofty goals can just as easily perform acts that would be viewed as morally gray, if not evil.</blockquote>

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