D&D (2024) How did I miss this about the Half races/ancestries

[Micah Sweet]

I don't condone personal attacks, but defending and advocating the depiction of racism in the core of a game itself (as opposed to the privacy of one's home game) is going to be taken personally by many. It's not coming off as subtle. You're going to ruffle feathers.

Hey, as long as it can still be part of a published setting, I don't care if it isn't in the core.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why is that a worse baseline than people who need to see racism in their fantasy game?

Toddler-level lore? Is that what you're advocating?

 

[Incenjucar]

Toddler-level lore? Is that what you're advocating?

If the only other option is being stuck with bigotry. Thankfully, in the real world, you don't need bigotry to have a good fantasy game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If the only other option is being stuck with bigotry. Thankfully, in the real world, you don't need bigotry to have a good fantasy game.

You absolutely don't, but you also don't need it gone from published product to have a good fantasy game, unless of course you're talking about personal preference.

 

[Incenjucar]

You absolutely don't, but you also don't need it gone from published product to have a good fantasy game, unless of course you're talking about personal preference.

Good, we agree on the bolded!

 

[Hussar]

That can and should certainly be done better, I agree. Never actually read that module. But it doesn't mean that the adventure is terrible (the popularity speaks against that), it means that there are places it could definitely be improved. If they provided more and equal detail to the NPCs, both slaves and otherwise, would that make a difference to you?

You mean if they actually showed the impacts of slavery and gave any sort of face or identity to the victims? You don’t think that would make a difference?

 

[Hussar]

Yeah, but you don't have to draw that connection. Orcs can just be Orcs. Drow can just be Drow. There's no reason to link them to real world minorities unless you're looking for an excuse to be offended about something.
."
/snip

Yes. You absolutely do have to draw these connections. Otherwise you are perpetuating the problem. Not drawing the connection is precisely the problem.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You mean if they actually showed the impacts of slavery and gave any sort of face or identity to the victims? You don’t think that would make a difference?

How much more would they need to add to meet your requirement of, "showed the impacts of slavery"? Your complaint was that the slaves had no identities. If they had the same degree and proportion of identity as the other NPCs in the module, would that work for you?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yes. You absolutely do have to draw these connections. Otherwise you are perpetuating the problem. Not drawing the connection is precisely the problem.

So agree with your point of view or you're the bad guy?

 

[Hussar]

It could be a generic "underdog" background, which could have any number of reasons for it besides being the victim of racism. You could be the underdog because you were bullied for being a nerd and now you want to stand up and fight those who bully nerds.

Personally, I'd think game perks may the way to go, because otherwise you'd be saying that your flaw affects how other people think about you (which is not only a bit victim-blaming, but also borders on a magical charm effect), whereas flaws in D&D have tended to be about how you yourself think or act.

Sorry. I wasn’t clear.

I meant that being a bigot should be a flaw.

Not being the victim of bigotry.