D&D 5E Thoughts on this article about Black Culture & the D&D team dropping the ball?

[neobolts]

Risky post in 3...2...1...

I've always thought the Zulu looked like freakin' badasses. I figured it was just a "Hollywood" portrayal, but the images on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_people(NSFW) Wikipedia page do indeed look freakin' badass. But man could it be problematic...tribal outfits, spears, bare chested ladies...these are the same things that are subverted for stereotyping.

This would be fun to play, but how do you possibly pull that off and where would you be crossing the line in terms of good taste? If you homebrewed a Zulu warrior inspired class, would it be racist? What if someone rolled PC who had pale skin? Or was an elf? Or was a orc? I honestly don't know how to answer these question, or what unexpected answers others might have.

 

[Lychee of the Exch.]

My opinion is that the article is a lazy piece of writing, geared to stir clickbaity outrage by invoking the image of the black americans as hapless victims of cultural oppression.

That racism is well and alive in the USA is undeniable, but I don't think the ToA book as described is fuel for racism. Quite the contrary.

 

[Sunseeker]

Risky post in 3...2...1...

I've always thought the Zulu looked like freakin' badasses. I figured it was just a "Hollywood" portrayal, but the images on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_people(NSFW) Wikipedia page do indeed look freakin' badass. But man could it be problematic...tribal outfits, spears, bare chested ladies...these are the same things that are subverted for stereotyping.

This would be fun to play, but how do you possibly pull that off and where would you be crossing the line in terms of good taste? If you homebrewed a Zulu warrior inspired class, would it be racist? What if someone rolled PC who had pale skin? Or was an elf? Or was a orc? I honestly don't know how to answer these question, or what unexpected answers others might have.

It would likely be a cultural variant class. More likely than not someone who is clearly not a blood member of the tribe would probably have been founded abandoned as a youth and the tribe raised them as their own. You might be a more burly Zulu warrior, or a more dexterous Zulu warrior, but it would be better that way than "Dances with Wolves".

I mean I've limited certain classes from the game to certain cultures or certain variant features to certain regions or peoples, and it's not like D&D has avoided racial and sometimes cultural restrictions on classes before.

Of course if you're asking: how would a white nerdy kid go about playing a Zulu warrior at the table? I suspect the correct answer would be: after a lot of research on the Zulu. Which is essentially what the article is saying anyway: they don't mind D&D attempting to portray a fantasy Africa, but they wish they'd done more research.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But, it doesn't affect him or her at all.

Sure it does. This is the grown-up, RPG centric version of little black, brown and Asian girls and their moms looking for dolls that weren't Barbie back in the 1970s. And, FWIW, girls of ANY race looking for dolls that weren't moms, girlfriends or babies, while the boys got action figures with military, police, and other first responder accessories. It's a lot harder to imagine something when the provided playthings are contrary to that dream.

Likewise, the Gamer of color hoping to run say...a "prince (of similar skin tone) in hiding, exiled from the castle occupied by his usurper uncle" type background will find it harder to do if all the castles in that section where those like him live were destroyed 500 years ago.

Just change it in your game.

Not really the best answer. With the hobby demographics telling us that fewer than 50% of all gamers actually consider themselves GMs, odds are good that the GoC is not going to be in a position to tweak a setting to their heart's content. Then it becomes an issue of asking the GM to do so. And "mother may I" is not a good place to be.

 

[Imaro]

My opinion is that the article is a lazy piece of writing, geared to stir clickbaity outrage by invoking the image of the black americans as hapless victims of cultural oppression.

That racism is well and alive in the USA is undeniable, but I don't think the ToA book as described is fuel for racism. Quite the contrary.

Wow... first post, did you join the site (October join date) just to comment on this article??

EDIT: Actually you joined today... welcome, though I can't help but think the article must have been some powerful clickbait to get you to come to a D&D forum, register for it, and post (all in the same day)... just to let everyone know how much you disliked said article (without of course addressing anything specifically in the article). Well done sir!

 

[Mallus]

I'm still mulling over the article as well as reading through ToA, but I just wanted to pop in and thank [MENTION=48965]Imaro[/MENTION] for his perspective.

edit: I'm coming around to the idea "lazy" is a best way to describe Chult in ToA. Thought I'm not sure what my ideal, or at least better version would entail. Maybe a book with Key and Peele consulting, instead of Pendleton Ward. Or better yet, something where all three collaborate so we get Marceline the Vampire Queen meets Kanye the Giant...

 

[Alexemplar]

Risky post in 3...2...1...

I've always thought the Zulu looked like freakin' badasses. I figured it was just a "Hollywood" portrayal, but the images on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_people(NSFW) Wikipedia page do indeed look freakin' badass. But man could it be problematic...tribal outfits, spears, bare chested ladies...these are the same things that are subverted for stereotyping..

It would depend largely on context and how deep/shallow you go with it. Wearing some hide and feathers, wielding a spear, and being bare chested alone is not enough to really be a stereotype. That's what Zulu warriors literally look like. It's when there's not much else to it or those traits are played up as negative- i.e. suggesting your character or their culture is a noble savage or depraved cannibal.

Even then. if you want to avoid 1 on 1 comparisons, it'd probably be a good idea to make a character *inspired* by a Shaka-era Zulu warrior as one might exist in a fantastic world like D&D opposed to trying to recreate a historical one.

This would be fun to play, but how do you possibly pull that off and where would you be crossing the line in terms of good taste? If you homebrewed a Zulu warrior inspired class, would it be racist?

Depends on what you're trying to communicate with its mechanics. Stuff like an unarmored AC bonus, bonus to spears/shield combat, and and would seem okay. Trying to give them voodoo powers or something? Not cool. Racist simply by means of existing? I don't think so.

[/quote]
What if someone rolled PC who had pale skin? Or was an elf? Or was a orc? I honestly don't know how to answer these question, or what unexpected answers others might have
[/quote]

Depends on how you portray cultures/races. If they tend to be largely analogous to real world cultures, it could be an issue. If you've always readily mix and matched to the point where nobody bats an eye at black people in full plate, a Mesopotamia full of white people, or hobgoblins who mix elements of Romans/Samurai, then I say go for it.

 

[Imaro]

I'm still mulling over the article as well as reading through ToA, but I just wanted to pop in and thank [MENTION=48965]Imaro[/MENTION] for his perspective.

Thanks and just to be clear, I don't agree with everything in the article... for example, I actually think the click languages were a distinctive add that was a positive in my book... but it's the inability of many posters to actually address the article and it's actual content vs. deflect the discussion, distract from the discussion, and disparage the author while avoiding her actual points that irritates me. The funniest thing though is (nearly??) every time a poster has done one of these things in the thread they've used one of the tried and true methods in the list I posted earlier...

 

[Lychee of the Exch.]

Wow... first post, did you join the site (October join date) just to comment on this article??

Yes. I feel strongly about this. And since, in my eyes, ToA (as involuntarily shown in the Kotaku article) does a recommendable job of promoting a more diverse environment in gaming material, I want the authors of the adventure to know that I appreciate their effort.

EDIT: I've been a long time lurker in ENWorld, and I became aware of the Kotaku article on ToA by reading this very thread.

 

[Imaro]

Yes. I feel strongly about this. And since, in my eyes, ToA (as involuntarily shown in the Kotaku article) does a recommendable job of promoting a more diverse environment in gaming, I want the authors of the adventure to know that I appreciate their effort.

Since you feel so strongly about it...Exactly what in the article did you disagree with?