D&D 5E (+)What Ubiquitous DnD Tropes Get It Totally Wrong?

[Oofta]

But gunpowder existed and was used for war for what historians call “a long-ass time” before things got remotely industrial. Heck, even castle walls took a while to stop being used.

Just don’t have gunpowder have been around for hundreds of years, and no one will bat an eye at the fact that people still carry swords and wear plate armor and hide behind stone walls.

Yeah, we always think "if you have gunpowder you have uzis" or something. We had gunpowder early in the 9th century (it was use a medicine in the 8th century) and it wasn't until the 13th century that cannon became commonplace. Gunpowder was prohibitively expensive for a long time. People were still running around in armor a couple centuries later.

Of course in our world magic doesn't work but gunpowder does. No reason to believe in a world where magic works gunpowder would.

 

[Aldarc]

What DnD tropes get whatever thing they're about wrong, in your opinion?

Religion.

 

[Tonguez]

Crystal Skull feature trans-dimensional beings, not a more advanced ancient civ, and idk where you are getting the “ancient reactor” thing, the arc is just magic.

And regardless, none of these examples leave civilizations entirely stagnant for a thousand years.

Yeah I accept the Ark is magic however

The Temple of Akator in Crystal Skull was built by humans who 5000 years ago had learnt advanced engineering from the aliens. Despite that the Ugha people that Indy encounters in the 1950s are dressed in loincloths and still using bolas and spears....

 

[Hussar]

Actually read a bit about gunpowder in Greyhawk that was a very cool idea. Gunpowder requires dragon guano. Now, it's rare, VERY hard to get, and insanely expensive. Makes the whole concept of gunpowder a lot more interesting.

I took it a step further in my Greyhawk game and allowed dinosaur guano to work. Of course in GH, the only place to find dinosaurs was the Isle of Dread. Same deal - very dangerous and keeps it extremely rare.

Which means that your Gonne can be the equivalent of, say, a Wand of Lightning since it's virtually impossible to get more powder once you run out.

Here's the article that I blatantly plagiarized for my game:

Technology (Greyhawk) - Hastur

hastur.net

 

[Tonguez]

Actually read a bit about gunpowder in Greyhawk that was a very cool idea. Gunpowder requires dragon guano. Now, it's rare, VERY hard to get, and insanely expensive. Makes the whole concept of gunpowder a lot more interesting.

Technology (Greyhawk) - Hastur

hastur.net

Thats pretty cool actually

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

What does it have to do with dwarves in a fantasy setting? Because almost all of fantasy media continues to propegate the myth of biological race. People are constantly and uncritically exposed to the concept in media they enjoy, normalizing it and making it easier to accept.

While I agree with a lot of what you have to say, I disagree here.

Because having Dwarves/Elves/Halflings/Gnomes be the same as Humans would be, well, pretty boring.

And just because something is informed by something bad (in this case, being informed that human races are completely different things rather than just minor variations that affect nothing important) doesn't mean that it isn't, hasn't or can't, turn into something more... I guess useful (can't think of a better descriptor here) to fiction at large.

Something bad can have something good come from it (but not always) and vice versa. Yin and yang, y'know?

 

[Hussar]

The issue isn't that orcs or dwarves are like or unlike humans. The issue is that a given race is given a monolithic culture/appearance/behavior that is the way it is because of race. So, Klingons are the warrior race, Vulcans are the smart/logical race, Ferrengi are all greedy, etc. When an entire race is a certain way, that's a problem. Without a broader view of a race, it becomes, well, racist.

So, sure, some orcs might be warlike and not very nice. Others might be farmers. Still others might be druids. Etc. When the entire race is evil, and that entire race kinda looks/acts/can have parallels drawn to real world stereotypes of people, it becomes very problematic.

And, frankly, our hobby is very, very deeply steeped in the notion and that notion has gone largely unexamined for a long time.

 

[Oofta]

The issue isn't that orcs or dwarves are like or unlike humans. The issue is that a given race is given a monolithic culture/appearance/behavior that is the way it is because of race. So, Klingons are the warrior race, Vulcans are the smart/logical race, Ferrengi are all greedy, etc. When an entire race is a certain way, that's a problem. Without a broader view of a race, it becomes, well, racist.

So, sure, some orcs might be warlike and not very nice. Others might be farmers. Still others might be druids. Etc. When the entire race is evil, and that entire race kinda looks/acts/can have parallels drawn to real world stereotypes of people, it becomes very problematic.

And, frankly, our hobby is very, very deeply steeped in the notion and that notion has gone largely unexamined for a long time.

I agree that races (and worlds) in Sci-Fi are often too homogeneous.

I disagree though on orcs, depending on campaign assumptions. They're a race created by a god that was pissed at the other gods, their nature is part of who and what they are.

In my campaign orcs are not humans with masks any more than a tiger is an overgrown housecat. They are chaotic, they are evil. Yes there are farmer orcs, but their preference is to do raids to get slaves to do their work. They have to raid on a regular basis because the slaves don't last long and so on.

Where do you draw the line? In the Aliens movies, were the xenomorphs just misunderstood? Is there some poet xenomorph that just wants to write about trees? Do some vampires sparkle in the sun?

So yes, for monster races in my campaign, nature overrides nurture pretty much every time. Orcs are not real, nor are they people. They're orcs.

 

[Aldarc]

I disagree though on orcs, depending on campaign assumptions. They're a race created by a god that was pissed at the other gods, their nature is part of who and what they are.

In my campaign orcs are not humans with masks any more than a tiger is an overgrown housecat. They are chaotic, they are evil. Yes there are farmer orcs, but their preference is to do raids to get slaves to do their work. They have to raid on a regular basis because the slaves don't last long and so on.

And all of this strikes me as problematic when these bioforms often have the veneer of historical human cultures.

Where do you draw the line? In the Aliens movies, were the xenomorphs just misunderstood? Is there some poet xenomorph that just wants to write about trees? Do some vampires sparkle in the sun?

Hey look! What a surprise. It's a slippery slope argument that attempts to justify racial essentialism.

 

[Oofta]

And all of this strikes me as problematic when these bioforms often have the veneer of historical human cultures.

Hey look! What a surprise. It's a slippery slope argument that attempts to justify racial essentialism.

Meh. I don't think being humanoid makes orcs human. If xenomorphs (I was thinking Sci-Fi) aren't a good example what about werewolves (when shifted)? Vampires? Ghouls? Harpies? Red Dragons? Beholders? Demons?