D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction

The latest Unearthed Arcana contains the Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood races. The Dhampir is a half-vampire; the Hexblood is a character which has made a pact with a hag; and the Reborn is somebody brought back to life.

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Perhaps the bigger news is this declaration on how race is to be handled in future D&D books as it joins other games by stating that:

"...the race options in this article and in future D&D books lack the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage. Such traits include things like darkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), or innate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Such traits don’t include cultural characteristics, like language or training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits also don’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignment is a choice for each individual, not a characteristic shared by a lineage."

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

I could, or I could think "I can write English, so surely everyone can write English".

And the link is?

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

Highlanders aren't Black.

Nor Orcs.

 

[Umbran]

Maybe when you play a game don't want to learn a culture. Maybe you want to live adventures like the one you read in Arabian Nights, and buy Al Qadim.

"I want to ignore the issues surrounding this piece of content," is an easy thing to say when you're on the top of the heap, in terms of cultural position.

I still do not view any link you posted saying that Middle East culture reject Arabian Nights. Only link to how AlQadim can be a stereotyped view of Middle Age Middle East. This is true exactly as FR to Reinassance. Don't move the focus.

Continuing to put spotlight on a thing you'd prefer to ignore is not "moving the focus". I see you want to make an analogy - FR is to Renaissance Europe as Al Qadim is to Middle Ages Arabia, and say that since the treatment is similar so you can wash your hands of it. But, that fails on a basic level, because today in our culture, folks of European descent are treated and considered more highly than folks of Middle Eastern descent.

This isn't to say you cannot use, and enjoy, Al Qadim. But acknowledging, and perhaps taking a stab at addressing, how it is appropriating images of a culture we treat pretty shabbily is still called for.

 

[Aldarc]

No. Sorry. I've sad that between Arabian Nights and Al Qadim there is not so much difference. Al Qadim being the DnD version of a flavour that can be enjoyed in Arabian Nights. This is completely another thing to say.

If 1001 Nights is problematic (which it is for reasons already explained to you) and there is not much difference between it and Al Qadim, I'll let you use your brain to figure out why Al Qadim may similarly be problematic.

For the record, the Asians Represent podcast also invited Middle Eastern and South Asian readers to examine why and how Al Qadim contains its fair share of harmful tropes.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

But acknowledging, and perhaps taking a stab at addressing, how it is appropriating images of a culture we treat pretty shabbily is still called for.

I completely agree with this statement.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nor Orcs.

According to Tolkien they are: "Black Uruks of Barad-dûr". And they have a number of other traits that are racist slurs.

Give them ginger hair and kilts and I'll give ye a Glasgow Kiss.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Don't make @Stefano Rinaldelli angry or you're gonna regret it, if ya knowhaddimean. I've seen the Godfather; I know what Italians do to people who cross them.

 

[Umbran]

Nor Orcs.

So, there's an interesting point to be made here.

One of my coworkers is an intelligent engineer, but much younger than I. She just finished watching through the Lord of the Rings movies for the first time, and knew some of us were Tolkien fans, and set up a nice little lunchtime chat to talk about it.

Her biggest thing to start with was... "Wow, orcs are kinda racist, aren't they?"

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, such that someone looks at it and say, "Hey, that's a duck!" you probably want to consider the fact that it is, functionally, a duck.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Don't make @Stefano Rinaldelli angry or you're gonna regret it, if ya knowhaddimean. I've seen the Godfather; I know what Italians do to people who cross them.

I hear they do a natty line in cement overshoes...

 

[Umbran]

Don't make @Stefano Rinaldelli angry or you're gonna regret it, if ya knowhaddimean. I've seen the Godfather; I know what Italians do to people who cross them.

Did you think this was going to end in some sort of fabulous revelation in them? "Oh, wait! NOW I get what you mean!" or something?

You know better than to expect that, yes? So, maybe we can refrain from fighting fire with more, sarky fire. Try to keep it constructive, please.