D&D General New WOTC racism allegations regarding Hadozee and Spelljammer

[Scribe]

Wow, 10 pages while I was out for the day/evening.

Isnt this set out? For some time? Was this brought up at all by any of the early access folks? Wild that Wizards would go with this angle at all...

 

[Yaarel]

By the way, the way that 5e portrays the relationship to the D&D gods, is also servile and slavish. Complete with flattery. Horrific punishment of disobedience. Racist engineering.

It is only a matter of time before most people realize, the D&D gods are also just an other slavish narrative, because D&D "tradition".

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

Isnt this set out? For some time? Was this brought up at all by any of the early access folks? Wild that Wizards would go with this angle at all...

I think most people were so fixated on the hadozee's Mach 2 gliding speed that they never got around to reading the lore.

 

[Charlaquin]

Or those people of color were unaware of the minstrel thing as well. I agree with you they should get some more sensitivity guides for stuff like this, I just doubt anyone there had an idea the minstrel picture was a thing (I also doubt they were even thinking of Hadozee as being like black people).

It’s just such an obvious thing to have missed, which makes WotC look incredibly out of touch for not having caught it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There was zero reason to inject the creation of a slave race into the origin story of the hadozee. And no reason to have "saviors" liberate them. And no reason for the hadozee to experience "joy" when serving their masters on spelljammer ships. And no reason to have their masters disrespect the hadozee. All of this is such a self-inflicted wounded.

I personally don’t have a problem with a slavery/liberation storyline…if it’s handled well.

The “joy” at serving “masters” though? Using a metaphor less colorful than I want to, that’s shooting yourselves in the foot. That’s right out of RW southern slavery apologist mythology.

Ditto the whole thing about their simple desires for happiness and work.

 

[John R Davis]

A very old picture someone has trawled to find, because that's what they do.
WOTC and gamers have generally moved on and developed.
Classic bit of befending.

 

[Mecheon]

A very old picture someone has trawled to find, because that's what they do.

the 5e spelljammer book came out like 2 weeks ago, cobber.

 

[Mind of tempest]

anyone know if wotc has stepped in for damage control yet?

 

[Yaarel]

Even in the UA ODD playtest, "the gods" are masters who genetically engineer slave races. The ODD races are racistly predetermined − not because genetics genetically predetermined them − but because the gods made them that way. 5e ODD is full-on fantasy racism.



Dwarf / Dwarves were raised up from the earth by deity. Called Moradin, that god gave dwarves an affinity for stone and metal and living underground.
Dwarf Traits / Your divine creator gave you Tool Proficiency.

Gnome / Gnomes are created by gods of hard work, invention, trickery, and life underground. They learned magic from gods like Garl Glittergold.

Halfling / Guided by gods, halflings gravitate toward heavens. Many halflings are blessed (some say cursed) with a brave spirits that leads them on journeys. Many halflings believe in luck, and attribute their gift to gods, including Yondalla.

Elf / Created by Corellon, the first elves could change their forms at will. The elves lost this ability when Corellon exiled them. Elves take on the characteristics of the environments with which they are bonded.

Orc / Orcs trace their creation to Gruumsh. Gruumsh armed his children with gifts to thrive. Even when they turn their devotion to other gods, orcs retain the fits that the One-Eyed God bestowed: might, endurance, determination, and the ability to see in the dark.


All of these races are fantasy racism. Born that way, because their masters the designed the servants to be that way.



Ironically, the only races that arent genetically engineered by gods to have predetermined biological traits, are ardling and tiefling.



In a stunning comment about the human race itself, "Humans have many gods". As if reallife people who are non-polytheists are nonhumans.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

≈ 5e Subhuman Happily Servile Race
"There was a long tradition of hadozee serving the elves of wildspace. The elves realized that the hadozee were more civilized than "nonhumans". The hadozee served happily on elven vessels."

That's not 5e lore.