D&D 5E Jeremy Crawford Discusses Details on Custom Origins

[Argyle King]

Throwing out a red herring to see if anyone will bite?

No. It's a common concept in fantasy.

Depending on setting, fantasy gods (and other powerful beings) are very hands-on and involved in world affairs. It is not uncommon for this to include creating a race with a programmed worldview. There are D&D creatures which are explained this way.

 

[Maxperson]

The default was that Drow are evil. Per direct statements from WotC they are moving away from "(insert mortal species) are evil". Especially species like drow who are differentiated by their skin colour. And rightly so.

_
glass.

The PHB states otherwise.

 

[Oofta]

No. It's a common concept in fantasy.

Depending on setting, fantasy gods (and other powerful beings) are very hands-on and involved in world affairs. It is not uncommon for this to include creating a race with a programmed worldview. There are D&D creatures which are explained this way.

But not particularly relevant to the changes in Tasha's. In addition there have been multiple threads shut down because of discussions of race and alignment. While I don't personally have an issue with races that are for all practical purposes always evil in my campaign (feel free to run things differently in your campaign) it's not a topic I care to revisit.

 

[glass]

The PHB states otherwise.

Errata is an ongoing process. That they have not yet done anything about the PHB yet does not alter their statements about moving away from that particular problemative trope. How well their actions match up to their rhetoric remains to be seen, of course.

_
glass.

 

[Argyle King]

I don't believe in alignment and furthermore making a fictional excuse for a problematic concept doesn't stop it from being problematic.

I'm not a fan of how alignment works in D&D either, but the concept isn't (by default) problematic -given context.

Cosmic fantasy beings have real and tangible abilities to shape the world -including creating races with programmed worldviews.

Similar ideas are used to explain why killer robots in a sci-fi setting are fodder or why zombies can be killed without remorse (even if they were loved ones in life).

Personally, I prefer a more nuanced approach -especially in the context of Orcs and such- because I believe that makes for a more interesting story. However, there are contexts in which it makes sense that a creature is "programmed" a certain way.

 

[Argyle King]

But not particularly relevant to the changes in Tasha's. In addition there have been multiple threads shut down because of discussions of race and alignment. While I don't personally have an issue with races that are for all practical purposes always evil in my campaign (feel free to run things differently in your campaign) it's not a topic I care to revisit.

Is it fair to say that, based upon your comment here, the answer to my question is "yes" (at least for you)?

 

[Oofta]

Is it fair to say that, based upon your comment here, the answer to my question is "yes" (at least for you)?

I'm saying that it doesn't matter. It's a separate issue.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I'm not a fan of how alignment works in D&D either, but the concept isn't (by default) problematic -given context.

Cosmic fantasy beings have real and tangible abilities to shape the world -including creating races with programmed worldviews.

Similar ideas are used to explain why killer robots in a sci-fi setting are fodder or why zombies can be killed without remorse (even if they were loved ones in life).

Personally, I prefer a more nuanced approach -especially in the context of Orcs and such- because I believe that makes for a more interesting story. However, there are contexts in which it makes sense that a creature is "programmed" a certain way.

There IS a tension here. Nobody can really fairly say "your fantasy must only run in certain directions." OTOH there are undeniably parallels between racist tropes and ACTUAL fantasy tropes. So, dark colored, barbaric, dumb, violent, evil orcs as a thing really IS problematic, as a generalized thing. Now, it may be that you are OK with that, which is your business (not saying you are or aren't, nothing personal intended). Its hard to really condemn people, up to a point. However, if you insist on running a campaign in which racist tropes are explicated, reified, indulged in as ends in themselves, and then enjoyed as such, I would personally call that campaign and group racist!
This is going to be a long and complicated journey that RPGs are going to have. It is barely started.

 

[Maxperson]

Errata is an ongoing process. That they have not yet done anything about the PHB yet does not alter their statements about moving away from that particular problemative trope. How well their actions match up to their rhetoric remains to be seen, of course.

_
glass.

Sure. When the MM and PHB actually change, so will my position about what is default for Drow.

 

[Oofta]

There IS a tension here. Nobody can really fairly say "your fantasy must only run in certain directions." OTOH there are undeniably parallels between racist tropes and ACTUAL fantasy tropes. So, dark colored, barbaric, dumb, violent, evil orcs as a thing really IS problematic, as a generalized thing. Now, it may be that you are OK with that, which is your business (not saying you are or aren't, nothing personal intended). Its hard to really condemn people, up to a point. However, if you insist on running a campaign in which racist tropes are explicated, reified, indulged in as ends in themselves, and then enjoyed as such, I would personally call that campaign and group racist!
This is going to be a long and complicated journey that RPGs are going to have. It is barely started.

Orcs are evil by default in the MM. Does that make everyone who uses the default alignment for the past several decades racist?