Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 8187545"><p>Pixies? Elves? Gnomes?</p><p></p><p>Oh, wait, they're all "good guys" aren't they?</p><p></p><p>In all honestly I can't think of any low-level enemy humanoids that do a very good job of avoiding these tropes. I also haven't spent time studying it, though. I'm just kind of going through the list of traditional cannon fodder bad guys in my mind thinking, "Yup, same stereotype." Albeit to varying degrees, and emphasizing different stereotypes.</p><p></p><p>I guess maybe the evil Underdark variants of the good guys would come closest. E.g. Drow. They generally don't have the stupid/carnal/emotional/filthy/ugly thing going on. The criticism in those cases seems to be that they literally have black skin, but in my mind the whole white:good, black:evil problem is very different (and, honestly, one that I'm not as strongly sympathetic toward) from the problem involving the language of dehumanization and subjugation.</p><p></p><p>EDIT: The long term answer is to take a cue from human bandits (and pirates, and ninja, and....?). We don't kill them because they're humans, we kill them because we have identified them as <em>bad</em> humans. But I think it's a long path from here to there, because of all the baggage around orcs and others. When we get to the point where we meet orcs and wonder, "Are these good ones, or bad ones?" we will have made progress.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Guest 6801328, post: 8187545"] Pixies? Elves? Gnomes? Oh, wait, they're all "good guys" aren't they? In all honestly I can't think of any low-level enemy humanoids that do a very good job of avoiding these tropes. I also haven't spent time studying it, though. I'm just kind of going through the list of traditional cannon fodder bad guys in my mind thinking, "Yup, same stereotype." Albeit to varying degrees, and emphasizing different stereotypes. I guess maybe the evil Underdark variants of the good guys would come closest. E.g. Drow. They generally don't have the stupid/carnal/emotional/filthy/ugly thing going on. The criticism in those cases seems to be that they literally have black skin, but in my mind the whole white:good, black:evil problem is very different (and, honestly, one that I'm not as strongly sympathetic toward) from the problem involving the language of dehumanization and subjugation. EDIT: The long term answer is to take a cue from human bandits (and pirates, and ninja, and....?). We don't kill them because they're humans, we kill them because we have identified them as [I]bad[/I] humans. But I think it's a long path from here to there, because of all the baggage around orcs and others. When we get to the point where we meet orcs and wonder, "Are these good ones, or bad ones?" we will have made progress. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction
Top