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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chasmodai" data-source="post: 1306821" data-attributes="member: 12445">Nope. These would be the halflings. Y'know, short Chinese guys.Alright, i'm just kidding. Back to the point.I do not honestly believe that DnD is racist in anyway. Most people play in a Western European setting because that's what they're most familiar with. Western European fantasy is what DnD is based on and its what it will always be based on. If you wish that DnD would be more... politically correct in terms of clarifying human skin tones and the like, then what you'll have in the future might be human "subraces". Y'know, like Asian, African American, British, etc, etc. Each subrace will have their own characteristics and personality stereotypes which, in turn, will overturn a brand new boiling pot of disagreements and all the other bad feelings we're trying to avoid.E.g. What the hell do you mean Asians are not as strong as Americans? And why the hell are we shorter??You get my drift.Ultimately, it's just a game. And it's a game that was made to cater for it's players - mainly white people living in the places where there's winter. WotC has recognized the fact that they have a more diverse fanbase than before - so they came out with Oriental Adventures, which not only 'emulates' feudal Japan/China, but also throws in some details about the Malays and Indians. Being Singaporean, and Malay, I appreciate the gesture. And they didn't make too many mistakes either.The reason why I think most of the pcitures in the core books are of white humans/elves/dwarves/etc is because the artists are white humans/elves/dwarves/etc. The same applies to the players. If you're white, you'd most likely prefer to play someone who was white. We people from Singapore have suddenly picked up on the trend of playing Asian characters, even when we're not playing in Rokugan, or an OA campaign. It adds flavor, and a touch of familiarity, because there's a lot of history, traditions and myths and legends we can draw on. All I'm saying is that if the original designers of DnD had been black (or Hispanic, or Asian), instead of white, then DnD would black (or Hispanic or Asian), instead of white. You write and draw what is most familiar to you, and it comes subconsciously. It has nothing to do with racism, bigotry or prejudice. It's just the way the human psyche works.TLDR: DnD was made by white people for white people. But it doesn't have to be this way cos you can simply imagine all the white people depicted in the books to be whatever color you want. DnD is, after all, about using your imagination.P.S. Oh, and about that orc thing. I believe that the DnD concept of orcs is mainly derived from all our ancestors - meaning the Neanderthals. The little details about their way of life and their traditions might sound familiar to you - but bear in mind that the designers had to get their inspiration from somewhere. *shrugs*</blockquote>

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