WotC WotC's Chris Perkins On D&D's Inclusivity Processes Going Forward

Over on D&D Beyond, WotC's Chris Perkins has written a blog entry about how the company's processes have been changed to improve the way the D&D studio deals with harmful content and inclusivity. This follows recent issues with racist content in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, and involves working with external cultural consultants.

The studio’s new process mandates that every word, illustration, and map must be reviewed by multiple outside cultural consultants prior to publication.

Leveling Up Our Creative Process: Learnings From Spelljammer

In this blog post, I'll talk about how we in the D&D Studio are changing our review process following the problematic content that appeared in Spell...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[MGibster]

i mean don't we water down everything? fire fighters are not going to die in a fire in a show rated Y either...

I don't think that's the same thing though. Firefighters are generally thought of as heroic indivudals who help people whereas pirates were pretty much the opposite. I just sometimes find it peculiar about what we're okay to include in games/fiction and what we're not. I could make the main villian of a campaign a great conqurer known for leaving behind pyramids comprised of the severed heads of the inhabitants of the cities he's defeated and nobody would bat an eye. But you put in other thigns and it distrubs our sensibilities. Myself included.

 

[Scott Christian]

That doesn't mean you don't tell stories inspired by those old fictions and leaning into them. The 70s-80s psychedelic space sounds / glam rock is alive in Spelljams. That music sounds like I'm watching one of those old space operas. But it also sounds like I could be watching Thor: Love and Thunder, and that's a radically less racist project than Flash Gordon.

No offense, but you mean the Thor that decides to make one of the protagonists of the movie, basically the comic relief, because he is dimwitted. I have a hard time accepting of people being so acutely aware of racist tropes, yet completely oblivious to low IQ tropes.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't think that's the same thing though. Firefighters are generally thought of as heroic indivudals who help people whereas pirates were pretty much the opposite. I just sometimes find it peculiar about what we're okay to include in games/fiction and what we're not. I could make the main villian of a campaign a great conqurer known for leaving behind pyramids comprised of the severed heads of the inhabitants of the cities he's defeated and nobody would bat an eye. But you put in other thigns and it distrubs our sensibilities. Myself included.

Pirates represent independence from external authority. Americans (and many others) love stories like that. Plus the pirates people like are from hundreds of years ago and are easy to separate from the modern kind (who are not treated nearly as favorably).

 

[Marandahir]

No offense, but you mean the Thor that decides to make one of the protagonists of the movie, basically the comic relief, because he is dimwitted. I have a hard time accepting of people being so acutely aware of racist tropes, yet completely oblivious to low IQ tropes.

No offense taken - this is probably an area I need to grow in my understanding of. I didn't see the issues with the movie, but if you say they're there and were offended by them, I'm not going to say you're wrong to be offended. My apologies!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The mind of the people can change. For example the sitcom "Friends" was very..... "modern" for its age, but today it wouldn't be wellcome by the current generation. Other example, let's imagine in a old work a lesbian (who doesn't hide it) character is added to show they are gay-friendly, but today the gay community wouldn't be happy with that character because this gives the bad image of gays because she was too promiscous (and a wrong fashion style).

Pirates are allowed as antagonists, because they are criminals the heroes are going to kick-ass. But if the main character is a corsair, then this should obey some "honor code", for example not attacking civil towns nor unnarmed civilians, respect for the enemy who surrenders, attacking only ships from an enemy power, not neutral countries, not slaves traffic (rescue of prisoners is different)...

The pirates can't be the symbol of independence from external authority. Centuries ago the Otoman pirates attacked the coasts of my land to catch slaves. The men were castrated to be eunuchs (not everybody survived) and the women for the harems. In Spanish languange the expression "moors on the coast" means "sign of danger or menace".

And could you explain me the reason because in a fantasy world a pastiche of Spanish conquerors can be showed as evil antagonists, but not based in Otoman pirates? Why not an action-live movie about the battle of Lepanto, because it would be too ofensive for Turkey?

Today the current generations understand the native Northamerican community has got a different opinion about the old far wests where the "redskins" were the antagonists.

I don't like when the authors talk about the past and the History, and the critiques always is toward the same side, but keeping totally quiet about the actions by others. That is a double standars, "to use use two different yardsticks to measure".

 

[Hussar]

Oh god, don't get me started on their attitudes on SA. /snip

"SA"? Sorry, what's that?

 

[Faolyn]

The mind of the people can change. For example the sitcom "Friends" was very..... "modern" for its age, but today it wouldn't be wellcome by the current generation. Other example, let's imagine in a old work a lesbian (who doesn't hide it) character is added to show they are gay-friendly, but today the gay community wouldn't be happy with that character because this gives the bad image of gays because she was too promiscous (and a wrong fashion style).

I dunno if that's the case, unless the character was written was written badly. Like "I'm gay so I have to have lots of sex." I have watched Legends of Tomorrow (ran from '16 to '22) which features an openly bisexual female (Sara Lance) character who has slept with lots of people, both men and women. And I've seen articles where she's lauded as a break-out character and an example of good LGBT representation.

 

[Faolyn]

"SA"? Sorry, what's that?

Sexual assault, most likely.

I'm willing to guess that the pro-SA people are the type who love hurt/comfort fanfic and want to see character A get raped so that character B can take care of them with their magical genitals of healing. Or else they're the people who still think rape makes for a good character background.

 

[wellis]

I dunno if that's the case, unless the character was written was written badly. Like "I'm gay so I have to have lots of sex." I have watched Legends of Tomorrow (ran from '16 to '22) which features an openly bisexual female (Sara Lance) character who has slept with lots of people, both men and women. And I've seen articles where she's lauded as a break-out character and an example of good LGBT representation.

Wouldn't claiming someone who sleeps around a lot as a good LGBT representation be kind of iffy to those LGBT members who stay in monogamous relationships and such?

Kind of unfortunate she couldn't have been just praised as a character (who has as some of her characteristics being bisexual and being a swinger) versus attaching her swinging ways to her bisexuality somehow.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I dunno if that's the case, unless the character was written was written badly. Like "I'm gay so I have to have lots of sex." I have watched Legends of Tomorrow (ran from '16 to '22) which features an openly bisexual female (Sara Lance) character who has slept with lots of people, both men and women. And I've seen articles where she's lauded as a break-out character and an example of good LGBT representation.

To be fair, she was also pretty much the main character of the show and the writers gave her a lot of agency, so there are plenty of reasons why people would like her.