Podcast #198: The Controversy of "Evil Races"

This week, Morrus, Peter, and Jessica talk about the controversy around “evil races”. In the news, a new playtest for Dragonlance, a preview of Blade Runner, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves footage screened, and more! Plus Our Favourite Game in All the World and a brand new sketch about the friendliness of bearowls.

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Should We Have “Always Chaotic Evil”

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Hosts: Russ “Morrus” Morrissey, Peter Coffey, and Jessica Hancock

Editing and post-production: Darryl Mott

Theme Song: Steve Arnott

Kickstarter Game Research: Egg Embry

Kickstarter Game Theme: Lyrics by Russ Morrissey, Vocals by “drwilko”, Guitar by Darryl Mott

Malach the Maleficent played by Darren Morrissey

 

[mjsoctober]

In a make-believe world where GOOD and EVIL are actual things, and there are powerful gods who can create other living things, and those gods can be evil, it follows that an EVIL powerful god can create an entire species that has at its core that very real EVIL thing that exists.

Whether or not it is "lazy story telling" or "reductive" isn't the point, the point is that if an Evil God exists and can create an Evil species, then you can have an all evil species.

And you can have that evil species without it being an analogue for anyone in the real world.

 

[MarkB]

In a make-believe world where GOOD and EVIL are actual things, and there are powerful gods who can create other living things, and those gods can be evil, it follows that an EVIL powerful god can create an entire species that has at its core that very real EVIL thing that exists.

Whether or not it is "lazy story telling" or "reductive" isn't the point, the point is that if an Evil God exists and can create an Evil species, then you can have an all evil species.

And you can have that evil species without it being an analogue for anyone in the real world.

"An entire race or culture can be evil, and we can treat them as such with absolutely no moral qualms" is an analogue for attitudes in the real world, no matter how much you'd like it not to be.

 

[Waller]

In a make-believe world where GOOD and EVIL are actual things, and there are powerful gods who can create other living things, and those gods can be evil, it follows that an EVIL powerful god can create an entire species that has at its core that very real EVIL thing that exists.

Whether or not it is "lazy story telling" or "reductive" isn't the point, the point is that if an Evil God exists and can create an Evil species, then you can have an all evil species.

And you can have that evil species without it being an analogue for anyone in the real world.

Tell me you didn't listen to the podcast without telling me you didn't listen to the podcast.

 

[bulletmeat]

All fiction is an analogue for the real world. That's how people relate to a story.

 

[mjsoctober]

Tell me you didn't listen to the podcast without telling me you didn't listen to the podcast

I didn't listen to the podcast, just giving my opinion on the topic that I have seen done to death in so many places.

 

[mjsoctober]

"An entire race or culture can be evil, and we can treat them as such with absolutely no moral qualms" is an analogue for attitudes in the real world, no matter how much you'd like it not to be.

You'll notice I used the word "species" not "race". Our society has this obsession with sub-dividing humans as races.
Orcs are not humans just as Gnolls are not humans.
Also, if we are not capable of playing games without transferring ideas from the games to the real world, then we have a bigger problem. IMO this is like the satanic panic of the 80, and yes, I did live through that. Adults were concerned that people who played D&D (and similar games) would do the same things in real life. It simply isn't true.

I am perfectly capable of holding to be true the idea that Orcs in a make-believe game are Evil, while also holding to be true that in the real world all Humans should be treated equally.

 

[Morrus]

Despite the title, the podcast topic is mainly just about how to use good villains in your game. We're not going to have this exact same discussion about evil races yet again here for the zillionth time, as it always goes exactly the same way, with everybody saying the exact same things (I could have literally quoted the above posts before they were made, I've seen them so many times), and a bunch of people get banned, which is tiresome and more work for me. So I'll close this thread before that happens.