Racism in your game?

[Sword of Spirit]

Even though I like to represent more historical prejudices in my games, I agree with Morrus's thoughts about not wanting to make a player feel uncomfortable. No one should feel personally uncomfortable at the table, either because it's hitting too close to home or because it seems like the game is providing veiled opportunity for players to hearken back to and enjoy practices we don't agree with in real life.

Primarily, I like to increase immersion, but in most of my games a struggle of Good vs. Evil is a part of the world, and evils of the past are seen more clearly in that light. Which amounts to a society with less racism and persecution amongst humans (though presen still to some degree), since non-humans can fill that role. One of the things I also keep in mind is my individual players. A campaign I might feel comfortable running with some players may not be right for others.

 

[Derren]

Here's me thinking America was based on equality,

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...."

people can have equality with out needing to be identical, we are all the same in that we are all human, the difference between individuals in the same race are so great that any generalisations are moot.

And just 90 years later they abolished slavery!
Then it only took another 100 years till people where not segregated based on skin color. Talk is cheap and racism comes in many flavors.

That includes (back to gaming):
- Real racial racism (orks vs humans, dwarves vs. elves). Thats the kind of racism most people seem to use when they have racism at all in their game
- "Racism" based on nationality
- "Racism" based on religion
- Racism based on physical features (skin color, sex). That one is apparently the most uncommon in gaming because of still relevant real world issues.

 

[Umbran]

Folks,

Morrus dealt with the one problematic post. Let the real-world politics drop, please. Talk about games. Thank you.

 

[Janx]

I tend to avoid racism, sexism, and such because it tends to hit too close to something my players may have had to actually dealt with in real life. Most of us have never been attacked by an angry horde of orcs. Some of us may have been discriminated against or worse.

I also avoid it because it tends to be exclusionary and divisive on what's viable to play in the game. Don't play a female PC because everybody treats women bad in medieval times. Don't play an elf, because all the other races hate them. Worse, it can cause the players to "get into the spirit" of things and justify treating their friend like crap, just because the setting encourages it.

I might have cultures on the periphery of the main area where PCs come from that have racism or such. But that's easy to manage like Star Trek does. The good guys travel there, and discover what jerks the natives are, and try to change things. or leave.

But I'm really wary of inflicting that on a party in the beginning or in a way they can't really choose a way to deal with it.

 

[Bedrockgames]

This ia definitely a sensitive subject and I think the GM really needs to be careful about how he or she approaches it. Morrus makes a good point, and I think at the end of the day you need to be sensitive to the players and get a sense of what is okay and what isn't. In a fantasy setting, I generally dont get into this beyond orcs hating humans or halfings and elves not getting along. I tend not to drag real world racism into my fantasy worlds. I suppose it gets harder in a modern setting or a historical setting where some of these issues could naturally just crop up in play (even from the players themselves, not just the GM). When it comes to that though I am more concerned about what my players are okay with than tyring to keep things accurate.

 

[gamerprinter]

The Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) does have a general prejudice against non-resident outsiders or "gaijin". In a society divided into social castes, non-Kaidanese are viewed even lower than the lowest caste of society (Hinin/Eta). While commerce exists between Kaidan and outsider agents it is heavily controlled by the state and many things are not accepted or allowed import into Kaidan. This somewhat follows the consensus the Japanese held to outsiders in historical Japan, even using the Japanese word, "gaijin" (long nose people). While 'gaijin' is not purposefully derogatory, when applied as a description for a specific people or persons, it is derogatory.

In the first module of the Curse of the Golden Spear trilogy for Kaidan, the word 'gaijin' and concept is used extensively. For games set within Kaidan, by Kaidanese PCs/NPCs there is no prejudice issue, outside of the caste system which is definitely a part of the setting. But then most of this fits to truths in real world Japan, so it's not an artificial prejudice.

Let me clarify by saying, Kaidanese are a very xenophobic people, reflecting somewhat the people (or at least the government) of Japan during it's feudal period.

 

[the Jester]

In my campaign, most cultures consider themselves to be the superior culture; most races consider themselves to be the superior race; most religions consider themselves to be the superior religion; and most nations consider themselves to be the superior nation.

So a human from the Forinthian culture, the Dexterite religion and the country of Aerisa might think, "Well, he's a dirty heathen elf, but at least he's from Aerisa, and he seems to have good Forinthian values!"

 

[Morrus]

In my campaign, most cultures consider themselves to be the superior culture; most races consider themselves to be the superior race; most religions consider themselves to be the superior religion; and most nations consider themselves to be the superior nation.

Sure. That's how people work in real life. Pretty much everyone considers their country and culture to be superior. And every religion definitely does; pretty much by definition.

The problem is when you bring discrimination into it; especially discrimination based on gender, skin colour, or sexual preference. "Race" in a D&D sense (orcs vs elves or whatever) is OK; it's not comparable to modern real-world race issues, even if people try really hard to make that comparison.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Racism is boring. In my D&D, we go for full-on specism. Humans v. elves v. dwarves v. orcs ...

Though perhaps we should argue about whether humans, elves, and orcs are even separate species, since they can interbreed and their hybrids are not sterile mules.

Hmmm ... campaign idea where humans, elves, and orcs are all branches of the same family tree ...

 

[diaglo]

Sure. That's how people work in real life. Pretty much everyone considers their country and culture to be superior. And every religion definitely does; pretty much by definition.

The problem is when you bring discrimination into it; especially discrimination based on gender, skin colour, or sexual preference. "Race" in a D&D sense (orcs vs elves or whatever) is OK; it's not comparable to modern real-world race issues, even if people try really hard to make that comparison.

don't forget height and weight or body type or intelligence.

we pick on all sorts of things