D&D General The Rakshasa and Genie Problem

[Umbran]

Others that are seeking to be offended on another's behalf and the professionally offended ...

Mod Note:
Grouping folks and dismissing them as "professionally offended" is not acceptable.

Find another topic that doesn't lead you to dismissive approaches to discussion.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Clearly this topic angrys up the blood. I'm sorry for my part.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Others that are seeking to be offended on another's behalf and the professionally offended are not relevant people to get these answers when you seek to discuss with relevant parties. Members of culture/race in question or experts in involved topics are.

Mod Note:

No minority ever succeeded in getting a cultural or subcultural change without allies from others within those cultures. Discounting the views of would-be allies is short-sighted.

Conflating them with “the professionally offended” is inflammatory and counterproductive.

Lets all get back to a more productive and helpful mindset, please.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Clearly this topic angrys up the blood. I'm sorry for my part.

Lets all get back to a more productive and helpful mindset, please.

Yeah, no kidding. 4 moderator warnings in the span of 5 posts (and the 8th post in this thread was a moderator warning, too). Sorry, guys. I didn't know that this thread would be such a chore. I just wanted a constructive discussion about a topic I had been thinking about recently. I guess that's too much too ask from the people on this board.

And looking back on it, yeah, I probably should have marked this thread as a (+) thread. And I could have worded my intent for this thread a bit better, too. A bit too late for either of those, now, even if I clarified the intent later on.

If this thread continues in this way, I will ask for it to be closed down. I don't want to give the moderators anymore work than they already have, and the discussion so far has proven largely unconstructive.

So can everybody please be on their best behavior? Because as much as I don't want this thread to be closed, I will ask for it to be if it returns to the same amount of personal attacks and threadcrapping that was happening earlier. Please and thank you.

 

[Irlo]

Cons -

1. This could be/seem like cultural appropriation. If you're not using the monsters in their intended context, why are you even using them? If it's for a sense of the exotic, it's probably a bad idea to use them. "Write what you know" and be respectful for the context of other people's cultures.

It's probably case by case, but I think you can work around this point. Creatures plucked from their cultural context can bring some fresh ideas to a game world and surprise the players and perhaps demonstrate that a creature / being is not defined by it's supposed culture of origin. Why would a powerful elemental being be locked into one style of fashion, architeture, and value system?

 

[BookTenTiger]

I haven't read every post in the thread, just to warn folks.

One thing I did really like was the idea of WotC citing sources or discussing the cultural origins of monsters in the Monster Manual. Not only would it show due diligence, but it would also be interesting. Some posters have mentioned how much they have learned about other cultures, religions, and mythologies from D&D.

If the Monster Manual had a little section on "Djinn in Mythology" or "Orcs in Literature" or whatever, it might be an interesting way to add some cultural acknowledgements to the text. It would also be helpful to have a "Djinn in Forgotten Realms" or "Djinn in Your Campaign" section, but that might get a little too page-heavy!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I haven't read every post in the thread, just to warn folks.

One thing I did really like was the idea of WotC citing sources or discussing the cultural origins of monsters in the Monster Manual. Not only would it show due diligence, but it would also be interesting. Some posters have mentioned how much they have learned about other cultures, religions, and mythologies from D&D.

If the Monster Manual had a little section on "Djinn in Mythology" or "Orcs in Literature" or whatever, it might be an interesting way to add some cultural acknowledgements to the text. It would also be helpful to have a "Djinn in Forgotten Realms" or "Djinn in Your Campaign" section, but that might get a little too page-heavy!

Not going to lie, I would buy a whole new book if it were just a list of every monster in the monster manual and citing the sources of how they came about in the hobby (from listing primary sources of their origins and an explanation of how they changed when added to D&D, to just explaining where some of the unique D&D monsters, like Beholders, Owlbears, Flumphs, and others were created). A book like that would be awesome if it isn't practical to have it in the Monster Manual.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Not going to lie, but I would buy a whole new book if it were just a list of every monster in the monster manual and citing the sources of how they came about in the hobby (from listing primary sources of their origins and an explanation of how they changed when added to D&D, to just explaining where some of the unique D&D monsters, like Beholders, Owlbears, Flumphs, and others were created). A book like that would be awesome if it isn't practical to have it in the Monster Manual.

It would be so funny to see all the sources for mythological beasts... and then the source for Rust Monsters and Bullettes!

 

[Vaalingrade]

I haven't read every post in the thread, just to warn folks.

One thing I did really like was the idea of WotC citing sources or discussing the cultural origins of monsters in the Monster Manual. Not only would it show due diligence, but it would also be interesting. Some posters have mentioned how much they have learned about other cultures, religions, and mythologies from D&D.

If the Monster Manual had a little section on "Djinn in Mythology" or "Orcs in Literature" or whatever, it might be an interesting way to add some cultural acknowledgements to the text. It would also be helpful to have a "Djinn in Forgotten Realms" or "Djinn in Your Campaign" section, but that might get a little too page-heavy!

This is the issue we get with D&D Core having a pseudo-setting rather than being a base game. Citing mythology at this point would be 'out of character' for the voice of the monster manual.

It's a great idea, but D&D would have to re-center itself to make it happen.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It would be so funny to see all the sources for mythological beasts... and then the source for Rust Monsters and Bullettes!

Exactly! "This monster has a rich and extensive history, dating back to 500 BCE, and this one exists because Gary Gygax looked at a plastic monster, thought it looked really weird, and decided to make it one of the most iconic monsters of D&D ever."