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Yes to factionalism. No to racism.
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<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 8488830" data-attributes="member: 467"><p>So my problem with "factionalism versus racism" in D&D as a way to avoid negative stereotyping is that it is a distinction without a difference. </p><p></p><p>At the risk of talking too much about real world issues, let me explain what I mean this way:</p><p></p><p>It is bad to say that all orcs are dangerous, evil threats, but it is okay to say that all members of the Orc Supremacist Society are because they raid human villages and such are. That's fine, at a very surface level. But if the goal is to stop dangerous real world stereotyping bleeding into D&D, it's really no better. There are a lot of complex reasons why young orc men join the OSS, and branding all of them as evil terrorists is simplistic and problematic.</p><p></p><p>My point is this: generally speaking, in action adventure storytelling where victory is measured by conflict, we want troops to mow down: nazis, terrorists, bandits, cultists, etc... But if your goal is to eliminate the kind of gross generalizations that take races out of the categories for those things, then it is a little hypocritical to just shrug and accept "faction" members as acceptable for summary execution. Why are we drawing the line here versus there, is my question.</p><p></p><p>And listen, I get why people think "all orcs are evil" is bad in context. My point is that if we really want to confront this idea in D&D that violence is the solution, then we can't simply kick the can down from "race" to "faction."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 8488830, member: 467"] So my problem with "factionalism versus racism" in D&D as a way to avoid negative stereotyping is that it is a distinction without a difference. At the risk of talking too much about real world issues, let me explain what I mean this way: It is bad to say that all orcs are dangerous, evil threats, but it is okay to say that all members of the Orc Supremacist Society are because they raid human villages and such are. That's fine, at a very surface level. But if the goal is to stop dangerous real world stereotyping bleeding into D&D, it's really no better. There are a lot of complex reasons why young orc men join the OSS, and branding all of them as evil terrorists is simplistic and problematic. My point is this: generally speaking, in action adventure storytelling where victory is measured by conflict, we want troops to mow down: nazis, terrorists, bandits, cultists, etc... But if your goal is to eliminate the kind of gross generalizations that take races out of the categories for those things, then it is a little hypocritical to just shrug and accept "faction" members as acceptable for summary execution. Why are we drawing the line here versus there, is my question. And listen, I get why people think "all orcs are evil" is bad in context. My point is that if we really want to confront this idea in D&D that violence is the solution, then we can't simply kick the can down from "race" to "faction." [/QUOTE]
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