Racially diverse artwork in D&D...does it influence you?

[S'mon]

So let's start by eradicating those ridiculous defaults, too.

You've just ensured that the most popular drink in my next campaign is rice wine. Awesome!

I like those defaults. Anyway, if you get rid of them you need different defaults - or create a purely generic game, which wouldn't be D&D as neither dungeons nor dragons are generic. I like other games' defaults too, like Call of Cthulu's bookish investigators in 1920s New England, or Anime's pink-haired teenagers with super powers (not thinking of a specific game).

 

[eyebeams]

You cited Wikipedia? That's ludicrous.

You failed to absorb all of what I wrote, which was to follow the citations in the article, which are quite sound. That's silly of you. It is also very silly of you to ignore the quote from Tolkien in the article where he comes right out and talks about it.

Tolkien's dwarves are Norse dwarves. If any group is based upon the Jews it would be the elves.

Norse dwarves are not really much like Tolkien's dwarves. Tolkien nicked some names and crafting skill, but his dwarves are not anthropomorphic rot grubs from the body of a giant and they haven't stolen anybody's hair.

Man, you really have got to read this stuff before you talk about it.

The elves, by the way, are not "without original sin". Read the Silmarillion.

Original sin is not any old sin at all. In the context I'm talking about, it's an element of Catholic doctrine. Again, doing some actual reading instead of explosively guffawing would help you greatly.

 

[S'mon]

I
Whoever moved there. On time scales of less than tens of thousands of years, migration trumps adaptation -- assuming that there's even such a thing as evolution in a fantasy world.

IRL human populations can evolve/change quite significantly over centuries, certainly over millenia. Recent research on eg English medieval skeletons has shown a much higher degree of change over time than previously believed. Of course you don't have to have evolution in a fantasy setting.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

You cited Wikipedia? That's ludicrous.

Tolkien's dwarves are Norse dwarves. If any group is based upon the Jews it would be the elves.

The elves, by the way, are not "without original sin". Read the Silmarillion.

Note: By "read the Silmarillion" I mean refer back to it; I assume that you have read it already.

The extent of the connection is some Hebrew/Semitic sounding names like Khazad-Dûm and Azanulbizar.

 

[S'mon]

I think if you want to look at actual unconscious euro-centricism, your average Anime is a pretty good choice. I think that the animators and writers of j-toons, make pretty much the same choice that we made in choosing non-American characters and for much the same reasons. They find it easier to create 'interesting' characters by populating thier stories with alot of exotic European/American characters and romanticizing European attributes in much the same way Americans are prone to romanticize Oriental features, culture, and appearances.

I'm sure that Eurocentrism is not the right term for Japanese romanticising of Europe and Europeans ook how cool they are! And sexy!) - "Occidentalism", maybe. I love watching Anime depictions of England, where I live - it's quite enlightening seeing yourself through alien eyes.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

I'm sure that Eurocentrism is not the right term for Japanese romanticising of Europe and Europeans ook how cool they are! And sexy!) - "Occidentalism", maybe. I love watching Anime depictions of England, where I live - it's quite enlightening seeing yourself through alien eyes.

Ooh, I wonder how they depict my favorite Londoner, Boris?

 

[eyebeams]

The extent of the connection is some Hebrew/Semitic sounding names like Khazad-Dûm and Azanulbizar.

No, there really was more to it. Tolkien mentioned it on several occasions.

Note also that Tolkien also despised racist doctrines and wasn't afraid to express it, even when it cost him money.

 

[S'mon]

I'm really trying to find a reading of this that isn't a problem. If you have one human ethnicity it implies that the other ethnicities aren't human. If you deny multiple ethnicities to other fantasy "races" it strains credulity, as every other real world species with any significant genetic diversity has ethnicities and marked hereditary differences in appearance.

Plenty of real-world species don't have notable distinct races/sub-species. And the fantasy demi-human races (elves, dwarves) are more like human sub-species than separate species. But in any case, traditionally we have had different races of elves, dwarves, halflings etc - "High Elves" vs "Wood Elves" vs "Grey Elves", "Hill" vs "Mountain" vs ""Duergar" dwarves, "Stout" vs "Hairfoot" halflings. The thing is of course that these are not analogues to real-world human distinctions.

 

[eyebeams]

IRL human populations can evolve/change quite significantly over centuries, certainly over millenia. Recent research on eg English medieval skeletons has shown a much higher degree of change over time than previously believed. Of course you don't have to have evolution in a fantasy setting.

The studies I've read about that sort of thing are pretty clearly linked to acquired changes and not inherited ones (esp with people changing from being tall to short, to tall again). Selection for skin color is something I can see happening fairly rapidly, but even then the real world is does not provide consistent support for the idea that it would outpace migration. There's plenty of room to plausibly put people who have virtually any appearance anywhere without resorting to magic.

 

[S'mon]

Ooh, I wonder how they depict my favorite Londoner, Boris?

I'm sure in Hellsing he'd be a powerful agent of the Royal Protestant Church in its battle with the Papal Catholic agents. Probably have regeneration and an energy ray attack.