Grumpy RPG Reviews: Blacks in Gaming (Remake)

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

[video=youtube;bqgNP7imE7o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqgNP7imE7o&list=PL2D799F2E6F2AFDFE&index= 11[/video]

Episode 55 – Blacks in Gaming
For Black History Month (Yes, I know I just missed it but February was a busy month for me), this column discusses the role of blacks in tabletop role-playing games.
The essay employs the term black rather than African-American or Africa because most fantasy settings do not have an America or an Africa, even if they do include black people.
Race is an important part of character creation, though there it usually refers to what should be called different species (elves, orcs, humans, etc.) and there is no real mechanical difference between blacks and whites.
The default assumption of both the text and art of most RGP games is the characters are white.
White Wolf Games are transgressive and progressive, making an effort to include blacks in the text and art of their games.
Some fantasy versions of Africa do exist, though your mileage may vary as to the quality and results.
RPGS lag behind other areas of society – such as business, sports and politics – in terms of including blacks. This will change only when fans make it change.

Links;
Steve Sumner’s essay on Race in D&D-
Chris Van Dyke’s essay on Race in D&D-
Atlantic Monthly Comments on Van Dyke’s essay
ENWorld discussion of racially diverse artwork-
Black History Month
Black
White
Blood Meridian
Dante
Ember
Seelah
Roy Greenhilt
Monte Cook’s observations about gaming art
Blacks are better than 12% of the population
Black’s will have purchasing power exceeding $1 trillion
Tokenism
Travis Williams
The African continent in the Rifts game line
Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom
Africa has its own underworld kingdom
Shaman Mages
African settings Nyambe
Atlas Games

 

[delericho]

I found the original version of this video rather interesting, and I was likewise interested to see an update in light of 5e. I do take issue with a few things (but just a few) that you say here, but as far as your core argument goes, I agree - the report card still reads "must do better".

In particular, I was glad to see you agree that 5e does mark a significant improvement here... but at the same time, I was a little distressed that 5 black or Asian depictions out of 75 represented a significant improvement. So, kudos to WotC for making that improvement... but as I said, "must do better".

Oh, and I think I would be quite happy if I never again heard anything about GamerGate. But that's another rant.

 

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

...but at the same time, I was a little distressed that 5 black or Asian depictions out of 75 represented a significant improvement.

(Shrugs) They have to start somewhere. And I would like to have been a fly on the wall, listening in on the conversations that lead to the minorities appearing in the books at all.

 

[delericho]

(Shrugs) They have to start somewhere.

True.

And I would like to have been a fly on the wall, listening in on the conversations that lead to the minorities appearing in the books at all.

Hopefully, it went something like this:

Person #1: Guys, we've not been doing a good job of including minorities. Let's make sure we do better this time around.

Everyone else: Yep, good idea.

 

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

I doubt it was that simple.