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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DammitVictor" data-source="post: 8017970" data-attributes="member: 6750908">Despite my activity of the last few days, I would actually identify myself much more with #1 than with #2-- I agree with both statements, as a matter of course, but I don't want to see the nature of D&D fundamentally changed-- and when I am upset with WotC, it is more often than not because they have changed something than because they haven't.I do not want to change the fundamental gameplay loop of D&D, the "colonialist narrative" that I have to keep reminding people actually means something except to restore the domain-level play (the act of ruling your colony) and immortal-level play that WotC senselessly amputated in 2000. I just want people to acknowledge the elephant in the room, first because their flimsy denials offend my sense of reason, and second because I believe-- in my heart of hearts-- that consciously acknowledging that certain ideas are toxic makes it easier to entertain those notions without accepting them.Because as far as I know, I'm the only person on this forum saying that it's okay for D&D to be racist as hell as long as everyone at the table is drawing that bright line between what the game says is Good and what is actually good. Everyone else appears to be arguing either that roleplaying is a purely meaningless pastime with no bearing on our thoughts and feelings-- again, obvious nonsense-- or that the gameplay narrative of heroic civilized people going into the wilderness to eradicate uncivilized people isn't problematic.Not to put too fine a point on it, but people who don't think that's a problem are the reason it's such a big problem.Well, I think we can easily start by saying that human(oid) cultures that are based on gross ethnic stereotypes need to be revised-- that this is not a terrible loss, and that most of the work can be accomplished by adding to those cultures rather than subtracting from them.Second, we can acknowledge that it's possible for "the pretty people" to be war with "the ugly people", to have always been at war with them-- for noone on either side to have hope for peace-- without making it psychologically or spiritually impossible for then to be at peace. Human beings are theoretically capable of living in peace with one another, and yet no American on this forum has lived a single day when American soliders were not making war somehwere on the globe.I come from a long line of criminals and adventurers, which I'm proud of, and some of my ancestors took part in the slave trade, which I'm less proud of. I'm a white descendant of the Choctaw Nation. I've had family on both sides of every single American war from the Revolution to World War II, and on the US side of every military engagement since.I am saying this to demonstrate that it is absolutely, 100% possible to kill people and take their stuff and to engage in every manner of crime and war and war crime without the Objectively Lawfully Goodest God of Genocide and Hygiene holding your hand and telling you that you're a good boy. You can still play all the scenarios you ever played before, make all the same decisions you did before, in a world where orcs are simply violently unpleasant people who don't like your face.And then you can tell other stories, too, like the dual-wielding CG orcish ranger who has rejected his evil society. Or... the CG orcish barbarian who's adventuring to get the wealth and allies needed to take over his evil society before his demihuman "allies" beat him to it. Or the CN orcish bard who doesn't give a pile of dead gnomes about his evil society. The orcish rogue who escaped from his human slavemasters, and wants to get rich enough in human society that they can't take him back.See... and this sounds like it's all #2, but it isn't. Orcs were playable in Classic D&D via The Orcs of Thar (though, yiiiiikes, I hope they don't start censoring their old stuff because I love this one but yiiiiikes) and in AD&D via The Complete Book of Humanoids. Don't recall which book, but one of the early First Edition random encounter tables-- for a civilized urban area-- had a result for gangs of humanoids living right in the middle of the city. They might not get on well, they might not have much regard for the law--but they got there somehow and nobody else killed them yet.Monstrous Player Characters are a part of D&D's legacy. They've been a part of D&D's legacy for longer than most of the people saying they ain't.</blockquote>

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