When Fantasy Racism gets stupid

[Glade Riven]

I get it - there are folk who love their orcs to be evil and barberous, their drow to be evil, a bit psychotic, and prone to extreme darwinism, etc.

I just find it shallow and pedantic.

Orcs are more interesting if they're hostile jerks because all the "civilized" races treat their beliefs are worthless, keep kicking them out of their traditional hunting grounds, insist on the superiority of civilization, etc.

Drow are more interesting if portrayed with a desperate sense of paranoia, as the only thing holding together their society is the convolution of all the plots going on. They sit only one proper revolution away from having a society that doesn't constantly feel like it's falling apart.

The "good" (aka playable) races have a wide array of ethical possibilities - but the default for many monster races is that they are often portrayed as only exceedingly evil, for no real reason other than players need something to kill. Campaign settings vary on this (some better, some worse), but the Tolkienesq dichonomy-as-standard with no redeemable traits for the bad guys is dull. I'd like to see that trope retired.

 

[Agamon]

I read the thread title and thought it was about people that don't like Dragonborn...

 

[Iapetus]

The "good" (aka playable) races have a wide array of ethical possibilities - but the default for many monster races is that they are often portrayed as only exceedingly evil, for no real reason other than players need something to kill. Campaign settings vary on this (some better, some worse), but the Tolkienesq dichonomy-as-standard with no redeemable traits for the bad guys is dull. I'd like to see that trope retired.

Orcs and drow are playable, as are goblins, kobalds, and durugar. One just has to find the correct backstory. Just as important the "good" races can be even more evil than your stereotypical bad guy.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I can see your point, the idea of regarding a whole species of sentient beings as inherently evil is pretty distasteful, and resembles the propaganda used to justify genocide in the real world.

Otoh, sometimes rpgs are played purely for escapism. It can be good fun to kill hordes of imaginary bad guys, without worrying about whether they're people too.

 

[CleverNickName]

I think any game mechanic "gets stupid" when people start arguing about it.

 

[Sunseeker]

I think that all races should strive to have a pretty solid level of diversity mentally, culturally and such within them. There's a comic I read called Drowtales, and while 99% of all clans are manipulative, paranoid, backstabbing and warmongering, one of them is honorable, uprightious, paranoid and warmongering. And Drow are probably the largest single "society" in the D&D-verse.

Even within the most homogenous of cultures, there are always a few countercultures.

So what I really don't want to see is ONE portrayal for any given race.

 

[Leatherhead]

I hate the "humanization" of monster races. Orcs, elves, vampires, zombies, tentacle beasts from beyond time and space. I am so sick of everything having to be a human in a funny suit. They are magical beings that run off of a different set of physical laws for crying out loud. The fact that elves can live for centuries would change their very mindset and culture in such a way that it would be significantly different than humans.

It's an impossibly human-centric view and it ruins all stories other than the old and tired "man was the biggest monster all along" shlock. It's reminds me of the problem with female dwarven beards and dragonboobies: Why do they need to appeal to humans? Is it so impossible to imagine something that isn't human?

Maybe we should just retire the word "race" from D&D, it's a grossly inaccurate and fuzzy term anyway (in both real life and D&D). In D&D, they would more accurately be called species. Or maybe it should be a different word completely, as golems and undead aren't strictly alive.

 

[Morrus]

I get it - there are folk who love their orcs to be evil and barberous, their drow to be evil, a bit psychotic, and prone to extreme darwinism, etc.

I just find it shallow and pedantic.

I'm sorry to hear that. But let's not call other peoples' tastes in non-existent fictional races "shallow and pedantic", eh?

 

[B.T.]

I just find it shallow and pedantic.

I find your modifications wangsty. In fact, I find your "more interesting ideas" to be trite and overdone. Portraying the savages as a noble, enlightened people while the civilized folk are the true antagonists is trite and overdone. It's a lazy attempt to add depth without effort. Personally, I'm fond of the irredeemable evil. I'm also fond of playable orcs.

 

[variant]

I get it - there are folk who love their orcs to be evil and barberous, their drow to be evil, a bit psychotic, and prone to extreme darwinism, etc.

I just find it shallow and pedantic.

Orcs are more interesting if they're hostile jerks because all the "civilized" races treat their beliefs are worthless, keep kicking them out of their traditional hunting grounds, insist on the superiority of civilization, etc.

Drow are more interesting if portrayed with a desperate sense of paranoia, as the only thing holding together their society is the convolution of all the plots going on. They sit only one proper revolution away from having a society that doesn't constantly feel like it's falling apart.

The "good" (aka playable) races have a wide array of ethical possibilities - but the default for many monster races is that they are often portrayed as only exceedingly evil, for no real reason other than players need something to kill. Campaign settings vary on this (some better, some worse), but the Tolkienesq dichonomy-as-standard with no redeemable traits for the bad guys is dull. I'd like to see that trope retired.

It's far more interesting to you to have orcs as a bunch of poor misunderstood victims, it's not interesting to me. Orcs will always be evil barbarous creatures in my game.