D&D General "Red Orc" American Indians and "Yellow Orc" Mongolians in D&D

[Mirtek]

not a bibliography, but including a direct quote from Gary Gygax about how important it is to read to become inspired to play D&D.

That is given both the quote and the preceding non-quote text too much weight. It says nothing about what you ascribe to it.

Gary is quoted that he was inspired by this to create D&D and then the non-quote says that the following list are those books plus a few more that inspired the designers to write D&D.

Nothing at all about it being important to read any of this to play D&D.

And it's tucked away at the very end of the PHB in form of a very boring long list. I doubt most players ever even read this page or spared the list after the introductory words more than a glance

It's nothing but a bibliography preceded by the Gary quote and 2 non-quote sentences

 

[Remathilis]

There are a lot of things that go against basic Econ 101 that businesses still do anyway because it's right. It sure as hell isn't cheaper for anyone to reduce their impact on the environment, but a lot of companies are still doing it (and often above regulatory standards). The cynic might attribute that to good PR, but I like to believe that people are basically good and want to do the right thing, when you get down to it.

The position I am envisioning is more PR-focused anyways; someone who can interact with fan concerns in a much more immediate and personal manner, which is not something WotC has been very good at, generally (except for rules questions I guess?). Knocking out the back catalog archives can take place over time and in the background.

You still have to manage cost/benefit analysis. The cost to sensitivity read every old product they sell on DMsG has to be less than

1. The projected sales of those products in a reasonable span of time
2. The possible lost revenue they would lose but not doing it
3. The potential loss of good will that could harm the brand in the long term.
4. The potential loss of sales from just stopping all sales again.

Right now, they have addressed the issue in the form of the blanket content warning. To do more, you need to convince them that the added work would offset itself via increased sales OR that that it will protect future sales off more lucrative projects (such as avoiding a boycott). Right now, I don't think adding those kinds of sensitivity readings are going to get people who wouldn't have otherwise bought Orcs of Thar to buy it (on the contrary, you're telling them why they shouldn't) nor is it going to convince a lot of people who weren't already going up buy the Rules Expansion box or the Wildlands module to buy it because they owned up to racism from 30 years ago. Unless a sufficient enough number of people refuse to buy and future D&D products until this is done OR PDF sales dramatically spike after doing it, it's not worth the cost in manpower to do it.

Goodwill only has value if it translates into more sales for the company.

Now I'm not an MBA. I don't know the cost of hiring readers to read the backlog nor am I familiar enough with market trends to know what such a move might do to potential sales. I just know the pdf sales are a fraction of a fraction of WotC's profits, so unless this move increases this fraction significantly or not doing it hurts thier mainline significantly (or can somehow be done at low or no cost) than the warning label is the best we're getting and the worst is they start pulling offending titles or all titles.

 

[Filthy Lucre]

Have you seen modern nazis? These aren't jacked skinheads anymore. They're scrawny babymen whose primary weapon is a gif of a poorly drawn frog.

Is the alt right full of basement dwelling neckbeard incels incapable of even wiping their own ass? Or were they recently a very serious threat to the United States' democratic process? They can't be both weak/ineffectual AND powerful/dangerous.

I know it's fun to naughty word on our enemies but don't fool yourself into thinking these people aren't dangerous.

 

[CleverNickName]

Dude.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Does a 98-page thread qualify as a "swarm of wild boards"?

I was going to go with, "A smarm of wild bores."

It's like if someone spiked all the warm milk at the actuaries convention with ludes, dude.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'd also like awards to be not named after excremental people.

And I think I'd like it to be influential/recommended books instead of influential/recommended authors in the appendix. This later one is for three reasons: many authors (even those I love) have some books I wouldn't recommend based on quality, because there are some books where I think the content is just inappropriate to recommend (later Fafhrd and Mouser?), and because it avoids holding up authors who were excremental people.

Does that mean you want the books listed, without the authors? Seems pointless to me, as the instant someone looks the book up they'll see the author's name.

 

[Cadence]

Does that mean you want the books listed, without the authors? Seems pointless to me, as the instant someone looks the book up they'll see the author's name.

The various older editions seemed to list author, one or two books by them, and et.al. (Moldvay basic even had a supplemenyal list of just authors.). I don't want to recommend books and have it hard to find them, I'd just like to make it the particular books (who.happen to have authors) as the important thing, instead of the other way around.

 

[Maxperson]

What are the odds that they were intentionally created to represent white colonial imperialists vs. the odds they're just really evil monsters who someone thought would be really spooky a long time ago.

If we can read into things new elements, I don't see why we can't read them out as well. If the meaning and interpretation of HPLs work crystalized the moment he wrote it, why would mind flayers be different - i.e. your interpretation is almost certainly false given what we know of the early designers of D&D creatures.

I think it's more likely that D&D aberrations are alien amoral things from beyond that just don't think like we do, and there are only so many ways that you can differentiate them from human morality in that way.

 

[Umbran]

Is the alt right full of basement dwelling neckbeard incels incapable of ...

Mod Note:
If folks want to continue in the discussion, they should heed and obey the warnings given by mods. Don't be like FL here, who has earned a trip out of the thread.

 

[Maxperson]

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Famously, and incorrectly, attributed to Voltaire.

See also, "95% of quotes on the internet are made up." -Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Corrected that for you.