D&D General Fantasy Racism in D&D

[SavageCole]

One of the most common ways that I see fantasy game racism play out is elves vs. humans. The effete cultured elves with their long lives and numerous advantages generally demean short-lived and rash humans as beings of low intellect and artistic/magical accomplishment. They see them as an infestation breeding their way into dominance of worlds.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

One of the most common ways that I see fantasy game racism play out is elves vs. humans. The effete cultured elves with their long lives and numerous advantages generally demean short-lived and rash humans as beings of low intellect and artistic/magical accomplishment. They seem them as an infestation breeding their way into dominance of worlds.

Not me. If anyone in games I played in partook of any fantasy racism, it was always elves versus dwarves. That was likely the Tolkien influence, but this was always the stereotypical hatred between races.

 

[Warren Ellis]

Honestly, xenophobia is ingrained in everyone. Often manifests in classisim as well and location Like look at how rural poor are mocked for example, or treated.

I wouldn't be surprised if in lots of fantssy settings, they also really naughty word on those "country bumpkins" or whatever term they have for peasants out in the countryside.

Hell adventurers could easily be that casually insulting, coming in out of town and knowing jack about anything local but self-assured and smug about how they know stuff and etc.

 

[Dire Bare]

In the real world, racism can be difficult to overcome and it can be insidious. In my fantasy campaign, I try to make racism something that the heroes can more easily struggle against and overcome successfully. Make it part of the heroic journey.

So, the local elven nation has a lot of racist ideas about the nearby dwarven hold they've been at odds with over the years and this racism becomes a major foil to the PCs solving the adventure. But, as a part of the successful conclusion, the PCs help bring the two cultures together into a new era of peace and understanding. Getting the PCs proper annoyed with the racist leaders on both sides is a secret bonus goal.

And of course, super-racists (Nazis, white supremacists) make great villains. Slavers always make for good antagonists.

Subverting some of the racist tropes in fantasy and D&D can be fun too. Send the PCs on the standard, "clear out the evil, savage orc raiders" quest, only to find the orcs are being targeted and oppressed by dwarven merchants looking for clear out their caves for mining interests or something equally valuable.

 

[Older Beholder]

In my homebrew world most races have had to put aside their differences to fight invading fiends.
But tensions /prejudices exist.

An example from the last session I ran:
The PC's were in a small Elven town for a festival and kept hearing rumors/reports of Drow being spotted in the woods nearby. When they mentioned this to a half-orc guard he laughed and said there hadn't been a confirmed Drow sighting for 10 years, but Elves are always blaming everything that happens on them.

It's something of a red herring, but makes the world feel a bit more lived in.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

does there have to be racism in your game? Why not imagine a world where there are problems (brigands! Cultists! Rampaging dragons! Dungeons with gold scattered about and no one is cleaning up!) but where racism just doesn't happen to exist?

I'll ask a question in response. Have you ever played a campaign where racism isn't present? Where halflings aren't happy-go-lucky hobbits, gnomes are smart-fidgety crafters, elves are mystical-feylike creatures, and so on?
The fact that the races are different means that there's going to be racial prejudice, stereotypes, and assumptions.

I do play games where there are cults and dragons and gold-filled dungeons, but I also like more depth in my games. Racism exists in real life, and my games tend to be higher on the "realism" scale than others.

I do not take away player choices through racism. I do not tell the players "You can't play this, this, or this" in a setting where those races exist. I do not ban characters from cities based on race, but I do take in the implications of the character's race throughout the campaign.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

In a more common setting, I'd make xexnophobia less prevalent than Eberron. Mostly because those settings are more "point of light" to take a 4th edition reference. I don't think either racism or xenophobia as we know them could develop as a widespread sentiment in early medieval France or England, when nearly everyone spent his whole life within 20 miles of his birthplace. Imagining racism requires knowledge that different people exist, and I am not sure it was the case, except maybe in very general terms. Imagining xenophobia require a sense of "nationalism" that was probably not in the mind of most people before the 19th century.

I think you're conflating nationalism and xenophobia in an ahistorical way. There's no doubt nationalism promotes a peculiar form of xenophobia, but xenophobia is ancient, and if we're looking at a rural, local society which barely knows about other places, there will likely be generalized xenophobia towards outsiders. This is even reflected in D&D's source material - the hobbits of the Shire are quite clearly xenophobic of and suspicious/doubtful towards "outsiders". This isn't the same as "racism", note, and even seems to apply to hobbits to some extent. They even have patrols going around looking for outsiders who might be "causing trouble". And the xenophobia/suspicion doesn't easily go away, either - not even for the nicest of good people.

So I think vague xenophobia and suspicion are reasonable, but race-specific stuff tends to be excessive, and one needs to be wary of making NPCs have unpleasant personalities, especially most NPCs, as some DMs do.

The fact that the races are different means that there's going to be racial prejudice, stereotypes, and assumptions.

You're conflating a bunch of stuff together here.

Racism, xenophobia, bigotry, and racial stereotypes. These are related concepts, but they're not the same things. Racism, as we understand it, tends to be pretty organised and the ideas widespread and typically very negative and often entrenched. Racial stereotypes aren't always negative, and are prejudicial, but not necessarily in an entrenched or hostile way ("Elves talk like this!" "Hobbits love food!" etc.). Xenophobia is a fear of the different, and is typically pretty common, but not the same as racism. Bigotry can be on almost any basis. So just having stereotypes doesn't mean you have racism in a meaningful way, especially if they're not entrenched.

I've played in a number of campaigns and settings where races didn't fit their typical then-stereotypes, note. Taladas (1989), is a great example, with barbaric Elven raiders, depressive non-thieve-y Kender, competent and brave Gnomes, Minotaurs who lead a great and organised empire, Dwarves who feared the underground, and so on. And it was well-put-together enough that it didn't even feel like it attempted to counter obvious tropes. Only when you simplify it like I am does it seem that way - otherwise it just tends to make sense from the history and context of the setting.

 

[Ancalagon]

I do not ban characters from cities based on race, but I do take in the implications of the character's race throughout the campaign.

This sounds like roleplaying penalties for powerful but disliked races like the Drow. "Drow are too powerful, so they have to be discriminated against for balance reasons". I don't know if that is what you are alluding to, but I don't like it.

Playing D&D is often a bit of a power fantasy - you face dangers and defeat them with your cunning, your awesome combat skills and impressive spells, all things we can't do in real life. What if one of your player's fantasy is to be different but not be punished for it?

The Council of Elrond

A philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also Jokes

existentialcomics.com

 

[Burnside]

I had a conversation about this with one of my group just last night, prompted by some of us having watched the round table of Black D&D players & DMs on D&D Live 2020:



Our group is racially diverse, with 1 Black, 1 Latinx, 2 Asian, and 3 White players. I (the DM) am White.

One of the White players plays a tiefling fighter. She really loves the character and wants to continue with it, but she had what I think were some pretty valid concerns. Namely, that playing a tiefling allowed her to sort of "put on the hat" of a person facing racial prejudice, for "fun" and then take the hat off when the game session was over. Unlike some of the other players at the table, she has the privilege of being able to "play" with the idea of being an oppressed minority as a game, while others have to live it in real life. She was uncomfortable with this.

I told her that first of all, of course if she was not comfortable - for any reason - she could just retire the character and play a different one. But I also mentioned that in the adventure we'll be playing next (Curse of Strahd) I don't expect racial prejudice towards tieflings to be a prevalent issue. ALL the adventurers are effectively aliens in Barovia, and will be treated with a more or less equal degree of suspicion, enmity, or hope (depending on the NPC).

She raised the issue with the full group at the end of last night's session. The players of color immediately said they were fine with her playing a tiefling, and fine with tieflings being oppressed/viewed negatively as part of the game. Most of the other players thanked her for raising the issue and said they appreciated her point, but that they basically trusted me and the other players at the table to handle stuff like this in a sensitive and thoughtful way, so for the purposes of our game it was not a problem.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

This sounds like roleplaying penalties for powerful but disliked races like the Drow. "Drow are too powerful, so they have to be discriminated against for balance reasons". I don't know if that is what you are alluding to, but I don't like it.

You misunderstood, then. I do not do roleplay penalties based on the power of the race, I do the things that most of us do:
Have a dwarf dislike halflings because they have too much energy and aren't serious enough.
Have humans hate Yuan-Ti, Orcs, and Drow because they normally kill humans. There are good Orcs and Drow, but the general population is suspicious of them. This is also based on setting. In Forgotten Realms, this is true for most people. In my homebrew world, there are only certain tribes of bad orcs, so only in the regions around those orcs this is true.
Have gnomes and kobolds hate each other.

It is this kind of thing that I do in my games. I honestly don't care how powerful drow are, as far as I've seen, they're not OP in any way. Don't assume I mean one thing, just ask for clarifications.

Playing D&D is often a bit of a power fantasy - you face dangers and defeat them with your cunning, your awesome combat skills and impressive spells, all things we can't do in real life. What if one of your player's fantasy is to be different but not be punished for it?

If one of my players wants to play a certain character, I will allow that. If it's such a far-fetched race that it wouldn't work in a certain setting, I switch settings or location in the world.
I do not punish characters for making different and unique characters. I make the world be realistic, and complications that arise from their race happen as I need them.
Now, tell me, have you never had any characters or NPCs discriminate against any other creature because of their race? If so, do tell me how you accomplished this great feat.