D&D General In 2025 FR D&D should PCs any longer be wary of the 'evil' humanoids?

[Charlaquin]

That to me falls into the category of "ignorant". I did mention four possibilities.

Eh, I wouldn’t say a soldier “just following orders” or a civilian passively accepting a rapidly worsening status quo because it hasn’t directly impacted them (yet) is ignorant.

 

[Charlaquin]

That inspires the thought of reskinning the Illithid as the Gou'ald from Stargate.

Do I lose my nerd credentials if I say I’ve never watched Stargate?

 

[Voadam]

Do I lose my nerd credentials if I say I’ve never watched Stargate?

Its not binary, your credit score does go down though.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

My point was that they tried NOT make them seem people. I don't think Tolkien got out of his way to make them have some kind of society, or even a lot of what we may call free will. When I think of Tolkien orcs, I don't think "mmm, a civilization with a functional society, where everyone has free will, where a small part of the population is conscripted into armed service to fight a war and who happen to be on the opposite side of us" [while, as you mention, "us" is the side of Elves, who are for most part not nice guys in the first place]. If it was his intent, then it failed to convey it to me and I dare say he could have done a better job.

They obviously have societey and seem to have free will too, although they are probably more suspectible to manipulation by "dark powers" than most people. BUt it is not like humans or even maiar are immune to that. Sorry this just does not work, they are people with names, a society, culture. They come across as people, and mass extermination of them would feel wrong.

And it is not like Tolkien was unaware of this issue, as he struggled with as is evident in his letters, and he was never fully happy with the fate and nature of the orcs.

If we don't apply our modern sensitivities, we can accept a lot of things. Think of the Thirty Years War, where both sides killed half of Germany's civilian population and thought they were on the side of Good doing this.

People usually think they're side of the good. Even when doing horrible things with great confidence. Especially then, in fact. What is the issue with alignment and other such "objective" declarations of morality, that we end up in situations where horrible things are "objectively good" according to the system.

Sure.

And we can still root for them. What I find weird and uncomfortable, is that a lot of people seem to not want moral nuance or complexity. They want to play characters who are objectively good, but still do things that are from any even-semi realistic moral perspective rather questionable. How about just play characters that are not morally perfect? Like not outright villains, but just people who feel anger and fear, experience realistic emotions and prejudices, that do not always do the right things? I have far less issue with a person who plays a vengeful barbarian that slaughters fleeing enemies in anger, with the player understanding that this is rather messed up thing to do, than a player who does the same but insists that their lawful good paladin was perfectly justified in doing that.

But should the cow kill you preemptively after you renounce eating her (while looking hungrily at her calf)?

Well, that seems like a complicated moral question. Thus excellent material for RPGs.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Do I lose my nerd credentials if I say I’ve never watched Stargate?

Its not binary, your credit score does go down though.

Yup

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Do I lose my nerd credentials if I say I’ve never watched Stargate?

It is not terribly good. Not a great loss. I also found it hilarious that they wrote it "Stargåte," so I always insisted pronouncing it like it was a proper Swedish word. I think the original movie was OK though.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

It is not terribly good. Not a great loss. I also found it hilarious that they wrote it "Stargåte," so I always insisted pronouncing it like it was a proper Swedish word. I think the original movie was OK though.

I enjoyed it, the early seasons are a bit mixed, season 2 was poor but I thought the show got better, I enjoyed it and Atlantis but did not watch the end for real life reasons at the time.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Every single Tiefling being recognizable on sight to those who know their history as having been descended from a member of a specific fallen empire was a fascinating concept and it's too bad more wasn't done with it.

Huh. Tieflings are descended from the ruling dynasties of the first civilizations in my setting. I must have accidentally reinvented something 4e did. Again.

 

[Voadam]

It is not terribly good. Not a great loss. I also found it hilarious that they wrote it "Stargåte," so I always insisted pronouncing it like it was a proper Swedish word. I think the original movie was OK though.

James Spader, Kurt Russell, Ancient Egypt, and Sci-Fi. I liked it.

The movie didn't have any non-English letters. In the title that is.