I'm a DM of color, and I run a game that features fantasy racism as a part of the central plot. I'm running for a group of white guys (one of whom is my husband) and they're all allied with the culture, but like anyone in a privileged group they have some blind spots. I didn't set out to run a game that called anyone out for this, but it has become a very interesting exercise in teaching about the...more esoteric aspects of institutional racism. It's one thing to be told about microaggressions, but it's quite another to experience them, scene after scene, from both bad actors AND well-meaning NPCs. It's interesting watching the players react at the table, having to do the mental calculus POCs have gotten instinctual about. "Is this as big a deal as it feels like? How much do I want to go into this right now?" I think fantasy is a genre that allows us to tackle things that might be way too sensitive otherwise, and that can make it a very useful way to explore questions about racism without ending the campaign. It requires a deft touch, an immense amount of trust at the table, and a gentlebeing's agreement that we're all engaging in this with the best of intentions. Even then, you can easily run into a lightning-rod situation that requires a lot of...intense communication before it gets resolved. I think the problem with racism in TTRPGs right now is the same problem with racism in general: most of us just can't talk about it without emotions flaring up to take all the oxygen out of the conversation. Even well-meaning attempts to address it are likely to cause flame wars. If a DM could just write a story about fantasy racism that hits the tone they want, it'd be one thing. But this is collaborative storytelling, and it's a GIANT ask for everyone to be on the same wavelength with that. But games can be such an amazing way to untangle these knots in a relatively safe environment; it's worth the effort if there's the will to make it work. That being said, I get the fatigue that comes with being a POC having to deal with race everywhere. XD Personally, it's hard for me to tease out being a minority from my self-image because it affects so much of my life. I tend to play characters who have to find ways of using their difference/minority status to find the thing that gives them purpose. A human fighter from a human village filled with other humans is just not my scene. XD Thanks so much for this video essay; it was really thought-provoking!
In my table we usually include bigotry because we are lgbt+ people, inmigrants in the country we play in or jewish and our scapism invoves fighting against it. tho if a player ever tell me that they are not confortable with it, i wouldnt bring it up in that particular table. sorry for my inglish
In my games, I try to lean on the side of cultural conflicts instead of modern day racisim allegories. Orcs aren't evil. Their culture is just opposed to humanity. Typically, orcs believe that permanent structures like towns, farms, and cities are a defilement of nature. Cutting down a tree is like cutting off one of the earth's fingers. And they aren't entirely wrong, but those morals are at a direct conflict with the majority of humans who, of course, believe that expanding their borders to support more humans is a good act. This puts them at odds without making one or the other into a cartoonish stereotype. You can still do a plot where the players have to defend the town from a warband of orcs, but if the players want peace, not only is it a compelling option but they'll still have a hard battle convincing either side to bend for the other. I do understand why most people include fantasy racism. Assuming innocence, it is an extremely easy way to introduce conflict between two groups that pose no direct threat to each other. It's the same thing with rival houses in political intrigue campaigns. "They hate each other because they're different" or "one of them slighted the other hundreds of years ago" is extremely easy... but also extremely lazy and not the best move for the reasons you stated. Political and cultural conflicts are important for making a D&D world feel real. There will always be people who disagree with the majority, and that's important to represent in a fantasy world imo.
marginalized struggle (race, gender, class, ability, etc) is something i enjoy as a player when presented as a system that can be attacked; my power fantasy is being able to smash hierarchies. so that's the input i give at session 0 whether running or playing, and like every other topic i yield to those who don't want it (as they yield to my ask of no NC17/X-rated RP), and we always institute the traffic-light rule of consent during play
Whole lotta people in these comments that clearly didn't listen and I bet run some pretty boring games if their takeaway from this is "I guess we just can't have conflict at all then!" Nice video, Blerdy. Don't let all the grognards get you down.
This video can easily be titled changed about the importance of session 0. Racism is not necessary but conflict is. Talk to your players and incorporate themes that feel appropriate. Killing dragons is racist in certain settings and that may or may not be okay depending on the players and setting
Who the fuck out there claimed you can't have fantasy roleplay without racism? *taking up hilarious fighting game stance* Okay, let's be honest.. Anyone can include (and exclude) anything they want in their game. That's the whole beauty of it. I highly recommend going into a new game with veils and taboos. People, talk about what you want out of the game. Realism or escapism? Dungeons and fights or social manipulation? If not all players agree on the game they want to play it is nothing wrong with walking away and finding the right group, as I have often done wiith groups excluding cis-people, putting in critical topics like rape with no gain to the story, just schock value, or with groups focused on the table top aspect more than the social play. That way it will not come to the resentment and rant vibe this video sadly gives me. (Sadly for the cvideo losing some value, but also for you having to experience it.) Racism can be one form of conflict, as can be sexism, tyranny, religion, poverty... Why is choosing one of them lazy story telling? Lazy is not about racism here, but about any generic presentation, is it not? I would rather look to game defs for accountability here, because they do build the racism into the lore or don't. (Pathfinder has been reevaluating their ways btw and is moving away from the DnD lore, including the shit about dark elves being sexy antagonists.) (All the while White Wolf keeps Nazi Vampires in their game and makes a point of wasting 1/4 of their foreword to tell Nazis not to play the game. Yes they included Nazis, but just as antagonists, not for Neonazis to play their game. Not really the way of how to not have Nazis playing your game.) I would rather look to streamers etc to set an example of how to tell a great story at the table, because they have a great influence within the gaming community, especially in the English bubble. Their stories and characters will get copied, often without much review. So those topics and dynamics creep into homegames and shapes I would rather criticise how Fantasy as a whole needs to emancipate itself from what Tolkin set up (and that shit actually was racist, but somehow everyone excuses LotR, because it is beloved). We need to stop regurgitating the same unreviewed shit over and over as a whole community, not just in PnP, but also in literary circles. I would look to the whole group for sharing their opinions, taboos and expertise with each other, because you play that game and decide on the setting together. Accountability goes to everyone at the table. Because often it is not the DM who introduces such topics. It's the murderhobo idiot players often enough. But whom I won't blame are home DMs, who work with the material they have and didn't study a whole bachelor degree worth of social sciences to just present a Tiefling librarian NPC well, who sufferes racim from some of their customers to spark my goblin PC to give her flirty pep talks and become friends with her. (The same goblin has a draw for their bestie btw and they joke a lot about their species storetypes.) I really agree with many of the messages here, but I think they are wrapped poorly. What makes it sound even more like just a rant is the focus on "black and brown" players and many great points being mentioned as a mere after thought. Instead of accusing the community of doing something start with the possibility to doing things differently or with your experience as an anecdote, something that first creates sympathy. Because you pushed me in a defensive position a few times during your video and I am a person, who eliminated the word "race", from the game they are developing, as a whole to actually not push players in that direction of thinking. I DO the things you are proposing (to a reasonable degree a s a hobby DM) and still felt accused. I just think that is not the way to reach people. (Feel free to disagree and tell me to go to hell.) Keep it up. Raise thoses questions. But maybe consider how to make the format more positive, so it reaches those, that need to be reached. Love to see stuff about inclusivity and safe actual spaces in DnD.
I can tell by your comment we would not run in the same social circles and the games at our table are not for you. And while I would disgree with some points you bring up to varying degrees of veracity, I can say your overall point of choosing your own table because it is all choice is a very solid one. Like I said, our table is probably not one you would enjoy. But that doesn't mean there isn't one out there for you. Your table is not one I would enjoy, but that doesn't mean I can't have mine. This is good. It is inclusive. It is diverse. It provides something for everyone. And that is the beauty of RPG's... the ability to use imagination to tell a shared story in a fantasy world.
@@NickGreydenDude, it's specifically what advice I gave, look for the perfect table for you instead of changing other peoples table by accusation instead of inspiration. (The fact you neatly left out just now and chose not to respond to.) You don't know how I run my table. I ask for veils and taboos. If you were to came to my table and told me racism is a trigger for you, I will not bring it up and klick whomever does. But somehow I have the feeling I will not have the same priveledge at yours. I would really like to know what made you think, you were not welcome or safe there.
I firmly believe the best philosophy in life, and in tRPG groups, is Wheaton's Law "Don't Be A Dick", and what Bill S. Preston Esq. said: "Be excellent to each other!". I do hope that doesn't make me seem closed minded to those who believe otherwise. Always a dichotomy. - If racism is one group believing they are superior to all other groups, and discrimination is judging someone solely by a characteristic (skin color and sex, beliefs and morality, behaviors and actions, abilities and disabilities, etc.), then a significant bit of the fantasy and reality can be melted away by removing both. Gygax's D&D adapted previous stories, from novels to folk tales, into the lore of the game setting. All of these could be used as presented, and/or could merely be examples of ideas and concepts that could work in one's own setting. That second bit about women as players holds truth, they enjoy the game but have some different needs in the game similarly to how they have some different needs than men IRL. Gaggles of girl gamers will group up and have phenomenal games together, just as guys do among themselves. Intermixing is certainly a thing but is only successful when each's needs are met. What does it boil down to? The haves, and the have nots. Us, and them. The kings, the nobles, and the peasants. One's allies, and the threats to one's survival. Does not the shepherd discriminate against the wolf? Is it bigotry on the part of the shepherd to be vigilant against that wolf's attempts to take a sheep? In this case, the institution is the flock that the shepherd protects and the system is the needs of all parties. Looking to nature, and scenarios like this is grounding and will open closed eyes to how things actually are. The demonizing and dehumanizing is used to make others inferior, via racism, so as to enable discrimination. No human is immune to exhibiting these behaviors, as it is a primal defense mechanism that has kept us safer from harm. Unfortunately, it can be co-opted for use when the harm is merely perceived, or even worse when a group seeks to gain power over others. - As for blacks and browns specifically in the tRPG space, I watched a video recently by @RPGElite (and have since been gradually making it through the back-catalog) about why blacks and browns might not involve themselves in tRPGs. Valid points were certainly made. It is a quandary but Hasbro/WotC's DEI stuff likely wont do much to add more of these people to the hobby. The woke agenda and the corporate reactions to extremists trying to change the course of the whole of society is looking like it is doing incredible financial harm to companies. Capitalism is certainly more based on merit than other systems, but does have it's problems like all the others. Nobody should be a victim in perpetuity, as the instance is a moment in time. Being a victim as the result of playing a social game, is definitely not something to put up with. Move past victimhood and become a survivor who has moved on. It may take years of efforts, but people can be resilient, particularly when situations improve for them and they can finally put that ugly past behind them. Our societies across the globe all have their problems with racism and discrimination, it is largely cultural more than anything else. One human is not inferior or superior to another human, though individuals will be on a spectrum for any given attribute which means they may be great at one thing but only decent at another and poor at yet another thing. Discrimination is all about perspective and perceptions, and unfortunately the social media and mainstream media can push incorrect narratives that further discrimination instead of combating it. - In my D&D experience, I've played Drow, Duergar, Svirfneblin, and humans and non-humans of several skin/scale/feather tones - all in accordance to the setting, typically Forgotten Realms. On Toril, the Gods created the creatures - races, species, monsters, and such - from their perspectives and according to their needs and wants. In that world, the gods are present and have some influence through their worshipers or may take a more direct hand in things. Toril is also loosely based upon our own planet Earth, with each continent represented there - it was created from the imagination of a real human. In the fantasy game space, the escape zone, yeah it can be hard to deal with racism and discrimination when it becomes a defining factor of the Player themself. Isn't the game where nerds go to become heroes and powerful people? Who or what is trying to thwart them, what tasks and opponents need to be overcome to achieve one's fantasy gaming goals? Which castle might the abducted princess be in? This is the part about separating fantasy from reality but also how open minded someone is to be able to change narratives in the gaming space. If the lore doesn't fit the needs of the group, then don't include it. If it is uncomfortable to few, perhaps they should not partake. It isn't D&D that promotes or perpetuates the racism and discrimination, it is the GM and Players. Perhaps it is down to the discussion about how these things will be presented and how the Players wish to interact with it.
I read the title as fantasy realism, and well since you bring up realism, the reading still holds up, that my game doesn't need fantasy realism. I want thematic fiction, thus if I include racism, then that theme is something that gets explored not just added for some weird flavour.
Oh yeah that’s a good take. Fantasy racism imo should be used to explore mature themes in a mature way, not just to add flavor by having orc slurs and stuff to that effect. Something that is often not done well.
When it comes to discrimination in DND, or any Tabletop for that matter, I am always remembered by a story I saw online of a group who ignored the plot to stop an evil lich and instead fought for the legalization of gay marriage, cause the DM told them it wasn't really a thing in that realm. Racism and discrimination are okay in a story, but only aslong as the point of them being there is for the players to have something to go against. Atleast that is my point of view. And if you take something as basic as "Fight the tribe of orcs that has been raiding our villages" and look at it a bit more indeep there is much you can do. In one of my games I had Goblins as a pure "evil" race. One of my players (the entire table didn't knew much about DND lore at that point.) actually wanted to do some in character research on them. Fast forward a few months and multipile sessions and the group is leading goblins from many different tribes to fight Maglubiyet and fight for their freedom.
I hold a very similar view for minors in TTRPG's, specifically PC minors, I don't like it, and I don't allow them. As a history buff I also know that age has changed it's scope, but that's not the modern scope, and we're not playing in 1506, we're playing RIGHT NOW, in todays day and age, where conscripting a 12 year old to fight in a war is immensely horrific. To say nothing of including children in dog fighting and the like. It's just not a useful 'realism' rhetoric because because if people in DnD do regularly live to 80, which it says in the PHB, it's not necessary. Also the lack of racism can say a lot about the setting, like 'we have dragons and wizards tearing apart reality, I'm not gonna mince who I ally with.'
Fantasy racism rarely comes up at my table, due to my obsession with letting players play whoever they want, even in settings where they don't make sense, I often lean on "mysterious fog that teleports you to unfamiliar place." Though I've also just gotten tired of high fantasy on the whole because the different species just end up being stand ins for real world cultures anyways. If you're playing a shorter in stature angry drunkard who happens to be naturally gifted with metal work and swears to live by your promises and has an obsession with shiny rocks, you're not playing a dwarf, your playing a watered-down Scottish stereotype with anti-Semitic undertones.
I read some of the comments and some people are confusing “dnd racism” by player and by characters. What i mean is, some of the comments talk about not agreeing with the notion that a specific race is “bad” or “lesser”, and that to me is dnd racism by players and dm. Now, when the characters in the game have racist views due to their experiences, then thats racism by characters which to me is fine.
I will bring up an arpg experience, not a ttrpg one: i am playing Oblivion and... tend to skip goblin, minotaur, etc. dungeons. Like, i think at least minotaurs in lore are perfectly sapient, just exterminated systematically and thus aggressive out of need to survive or smth. Goblins... well, maybe the setting does do "they are inherently evil" (idk if it does tbh), but they are also killes and, from what i read, enslaved. So eh, the problem i see with this is that you just can't talk your way out of fighting them. You are kinda supposed to not think deep and just enjoy killing hostile npcs. So yeah... i think that if you do include fantasy racism, players should have freedom to fight it ig... or at least not take part in it. ...also, elder scrolls needs diplomacy. Battlespire and daggerfall had those, but ig simplification
Im an Indian non-binary person who lives in india and honestly dont care about racism in my game aslong as my dm doesn't specifically marginalizes any one player
I'd say no to racism, but yes to xenophobia. If you want to play an uncommon ancestry sometimes that's going to have social consequences. A cat person in a town with no cat people is going to get looks. Tieflings are not a race but a condition where your bloodline is literally infected with infernal forces, and there's nothing wrong with random townsfolk being weirded out by a demon looking guy wandering around town. In pathfinder you can play a free-willed skeleton, zombie or other undead, but it says right in the text that you will probably face fear and discrimination outside the small part of the world where undead are accepted. Weird things are weird. It's not racism to be wary of undead or demon spawn in a world where evil undead and demons are causing trouble all the time. But it kinda feels like racism?
I always have fantasy racism. The players just never see it unless they care to look. Often it’s not malicious either. Each of the dnd races have different strengths and weaknesses, it’s just at the same time many civilized societies have decided to pool their strengths together to cover their weaknesses. Why do I do this? Because unlike real racism, in a setting like dnd the difference are relevant and tangible.
I've been playing D&D since the early 80s. So, an old white nerd. Racism has been boiled into the game since before the start and it is high time to change. You're right- its NOT needed. A little more work on the world building can result in plenty of conflict. (Ideologies can be the "always evil.") Thanks for this video.
You know, at the very core of things, nothing needs to be included in your fantasy setting. You can remove racism You can remove gender discrimination You can remove any and all problematic things. You can remove the social classes You can even remove all conflicts. It would be a very boring adventure, sure, but you can definitely create that setting.
I don’t prescribe to fantasy racism in my homebrewed world/campaign. I told my players in session zero - this world doesn’t have “bad races”; it has “bad people” and those people can be part of any “race” but are not indicative of the “race” as a whole.
@@PistonragerSo far it seems to be working and the campaign has been running a year now. They’ve helped kobolds fix their business after vandalism and attended a comedy show at a night club run by a gnoll. Crazy how racism doesn’t actually have to be there if it’s just not.
@@Pistonrager I am sorry hear you are sad. I always go out of my way to impress internet randos. I was under the impression this was a collaborative story telling game. The events that occur are just as easily shaped by my players than they are by me. For context because I want you to dry those tears, you poor boy, the kobolds in question were vendors at a market that fell victim to vandalism. This was the first session of the campaign and was for when they were low level and I was trying to do a more “who done it” then let’s go clear the cellar of rats. After that the group faced an undead monster that was charming farmers; saved a town attacked by needle blights; twig blights; vine blights; ventured into the forest to bargain with a hag to find a corrupted Druid who sent the blights; saved the town; fought bandits along the road from the town to the next city; and after they reached the city they told me they wanted to find a comedy show. Seeing how I’m not a dick, I gave them one. My campaign is dealing more with classism as the rich merchant’s don’t care about the poor which has led to banditry; meanwhile the rich are taking advantage of the bandits by using “fake bandits” to attack rivals with plausible deniability. Then there is the criminal syndicate that is trying to assassinate politically powerful merchants to elevate their own catspaws in a long game to take over the city and the trade that runs through it. There’s the alchemist selling drugs to the miners; the secret necromancer who is trying to stop the farming in the area so he can distract people from his plan to unleash an undead plague upon the city; and the chronomancer who is Benjamin Buttoning through the campaign getting more power the younger he gets that wants to displace a god to allow them to ascend in the god’s place. Then there was the drinking competition; the dagger throwing contest; and the gambling; but I am sure I am doing those wrong too because none of it involves racism. Thanks for your tips. I’ll be sure to insert racism to make you happy. 😂
@@Pistonrager Glad to hear that I can’t play a collaborative story game “wrong”. I always appreciate the approval of internet randos. The kobold vendors and the vandalism was the very first session of the campaign. The players were low level and I wanted to do something other than clearing rats from the cellar. The comedy club was something the players told me they wanted. It wasn’t something I planned. They had a hard travel from the first town to the first city full of bandits, which is a plot point for a subplot in the story. They experienced the first character death and wanted to “unwind”. Just because I don’t prescribe to “all orcs are bad; all kobolds are evil; all goblins eat babies” doesn’t mean there isn’t racism it’s just not a focus or, as I said, all of X race is evil. Eberron shaped the idea that orcs can be more than villains and it was a favourite setting amongst my group before I homebrewed a world for my campaign. Orcs in my world were once soldiers to a conquering demon who then rebelled and are now looking for a way to make society work. Kobolds are just like any other race; doing what they want and living their lives. Historically they came into massive conflict with dwarves but that was because they were working for a dragon that they feared more than dwarves. That war ended and so again, some kobolds went on to just live; some still went and found other dragons to follow. Goblins in my world are viewed as the best warriors and have a society based on mercenary armies. That is strictly because I thought it was funny for a world to fear the might of a professional goblin army. Historically in my world there was an elvish civil war that very few people outside the elves know the true reason for. The “public” are under the impression that a faction of elves became corrupted by an evil god or daemon and became prone to bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed. In actuality, a faction of elves decided all the other races were less pure than elves and were beginning a crusade to wipe out the “lesser races” so that elves can be the sole sentient species on the planet. Then there is a growing monotheistic faction that after four crusades have sectioned off a country of their own. While its been nearly 40 years since their last crusade they have spent that time infiltrating other countries to destabilize economies and political structures so when the next crusade (which they are currently planning and preparing) happens, some opposition will fall much easier than anticipated so they can unite the world under one true god and put to death any who won’t bend the knee. But yeah, I’ll be sure to replace that all with all orcs are bad because I “need racism”.
@@Pistonrager In retrospect I will admit my comments do seem defensive. I am sorry for that. I believe it derived from a misunderstanding perhaps mostly on my part. What I meant initially is that my world doesn’t really have the standard fantasy racism in that certain races such as goblins, gnolls, drow, etc are evil. They are “just people”. The “modern elves” who survived the war of eradication see the “fledgling races” as curious equals who just happen to be short lived. The elves freely gifted lands to the other races and consolidated their power into several allied elvish nations around the globe. It is an “established fact” of my world that it was created by the elvish god of creation but through accident dwarves were actually given sentience before the elves actually existed. The two species lived in basic harmony for several hundred years before an event called The Convergence occurred which is when portals from other worlds/universes/realms which brought other sentient species to the planet. With them came aspects of their gods which led to the Godswar and the establishment of a near universally recognized pantheon of gods. Over a thousand years have passed since then and the world is fairly metropolitan and, as of the current year, there hasn’t been open warfare for nearly a hundred years. Basic “racism” or “otherism” or what you even seem to describe as actual nationalism isn’t completely non-existent, it just isn’t as common nor does it seem to be the fuel for more than anything right now then an impending religious crusade from the monotheists. The main reasoning for this was the end result of the war of ruination when armies of demons and devils tried to conquer the world creating a semblance of either we have to stand together or fall separately. Your world sounds quite interesting and seems to have several aspects akin to my own with a rise of magic-based and non-magic based technologies. I wish you luck and many adventures that define your world and make it memorable for your players for the years to come.
Very interesting video. Thank you. I definitely agree with you. I think racism and other bigotry can be an important part of a story but can also just be left out. In a fantasy world we are allowed to have fun by not having to deal with the daunting issues of the real world.
I used to be a lot more okay with fantasy racism, but to a large extent lately it seems to less be used in good faith to have realistic conflict and more a way of letting people get out their racist impulses with some plausible deniability "protecting" them.
I have a friend who has an obsession with fantasy racism. Specifically playing dwarves who are racist against most elven and some beast races. Im always like "dude what are you" He's a good guy who doesn't hold any of those values in real life... its just really weird.
I'm planning on playing a serial killer who hates everyone from a specific nation, but that doesn't make me a psychopath as far as I'm concerned. Let the man play whatever he wants as long as everyone is fine with it and he doesn't overdo it. You never knows maybe he intends his dwarf to grow in character and learn to accept other races, leading to a nice character arc
Hating on other CULTURES was the thing people did for a variaty of reasosns (it literally drove history). I would advise you to look into medieval(european) history, hating someone because of their skin color was there but much less prevelent cause if you had an other skin color you were on the other side of a sea or ocean probably. It was much more logical to hate on your neighboors.....smh hating isnt just a black or queer thing, its a people thing.
This mentality was literally the foundation for my newest campaign. The world has existed for long enough that all cultures have become intermixed. There aren't really "goblin camps" or "orc strongholds". Every group, good or bad, is made up of a diversity of people because the world is old and the people have all intermingled.
That's interesting. You know the first thing I saw in Balder's Gate 3 is Sex sells (in the player character creation) and Fantasy Racism is practical (related to Tieflings and the Druid conclave). On the flip side, I even saw a White boy complaining how their Teifling Warlock was getting treated... I was like "Now YOU KNOW!!!" At least for that 30 minutes of the game. Sadly, this person I said this to... He didn't get the joke.
I don't allow fantasy racism (and I don't allow PvP racism at all) except when racism is a bad thing in fantasy, a wrong and injustice that needs to be fixed and corrected. In this way, I want to teach why racism is wrong and intolerable, but only when this is ok for all players at the table. In any case, these (racism, specism (because not everyone wants other animals to be treated unequally or as objects, hated or exploited and used), fobias, meat eating, colonialism, patriarchy, wars and fighting, slavery etc.) are things we already discuss in session zero, for example how much and how visibly they can be included and whether something is too sensitive for any player (for example, we once had a campaign that was only about chill adventuring, investigation and solving mysteries and puzzles because two players couldn't stand killing and fighting at all and wanted to limit these themes out of our campaign because their home country has fallen under the war and it would have been too traumatic for them).
I don't think not including racism makes your game less realistic. Romans, for example, considered culture to be the determining factor for who was in the "in" group. So, there have been times in human history when race wasn't important to the social hierarchy. I think American history may skew how we view racism in history in general. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people_in_ancient_Roman_history
I will add one argument I hate - people saying that they need "always evil" races like Orcs often act as if people who dislike this kind of tropes just cannot handle a "gritty" game. And yet once you say a race is always evil and therefore it's ok to kill them, you literally remove all moral dilemmas and trauma associated with having taken a life of an intelligent being or being in a situation where you have to. It's the opposite of gritty. Only argument for deliberate inclusion of fantasy racism or any kind of bigotry I do agree with is this one: While some people seek to escape to a fantasy world where real-life issues aren't present, some seek to escape to one where said issues can be overcome. An example would be if you have a group that wants the kind of campaign where they live out fantasy of defeating fantasy racism, then you want it in to be defeated.But that relies on talking to the group beforehand. Which many GMs who insist on running this stuff don';t want to do for some reason >.>
Honestly you hit the point right there. I think if you are going to include topics like this, they should be talked about before hand and dealt with responsibly. And not including them doesn't mean your game cannot be fun and/or has no challenges.
@@Blerdy_Dispositionhow do you handle the creator gods of the other races/species like gruumsh telling their children to kill members of other races in fantasy stories gods are real
I'm a DM of color, and I run a game that features fantasy racism as a part of the central plot. I'm running for a group of white guys (one of whom is my husband) and they're all allied with the culture, but like anyone in a privileged group they have some blind spots. I didn't set out to run a game that called anyone out for this, but it has become a very interesting exercise in teaching about the...more esoteric aspects of institutional racism. It's one thing to be told about microaggressions, but it's quite another to experience them, scene after scene, from both bad actors AND well-meaning NPCs. It's interesting watching the players react at the table, having to do the mental calculus POCs have gotten instinctual about. "Is this as big a deal as it feels like? How much do I want to go into this right now?"
I think fantasy is a genre that allows us to tackle things that might be way too sensitive otherwise, and that can make it a very useful way to explore questions about racism without ending the campaign. It requires a deft touch, an immense amount of trust at the table, and a gentlebeing's agreement that we're all engaging in this with the best of intentions. Even then, you can easily run into a lightning-rod situation that requires a lot of...intense communication before it gets resolved.
I think the problem with racism in TTRPGs right now is the same problem with racism in general: most of us just can't talk about it without emotions flaring up to take all the oxygen out of the conversation. Even well-meaning attempts to address it are likely to cause flame wars. If a DM could just write a story about fantasy racism that hits the tone they want, it'd be one thing. But this is collaborative storytelling, and it's a GIANT ask for everyone to be on the same wavelength with that. But games can be such an amazing way to untangle these knots in a relatively safe environment; it's worth the effort if there's the will to make it work.
That being said, I get the fatigue that comes with being a POC having to deal with race everywhere. XD Personally, it's hard for me to tease out being a minority from my self-image because it affects so much of my life. I tend to play characters who have to find ways of using their difference/minority status to find the thing that gives them purpose. A human fighter from a human village filled with other humans is just not my scene. XD
Thanks so much for this video essay; it was really thought-provoking!
Maybe it's just my table, but I think we include fantasy racism, cause for us it's fun to dunk on the fantasy racists....
In my table we usually include bigotry because we are lgbt+ people, inmigrants in the country we play in or jewish and our scapism invoves fighting against it. tho if a player ever tell me that they are not confortable with it, i wouldnt bring it up in that particular table. sorry for my inglish
In my games, I try to lean on the side of cultural conflicts instead of modern day racisim allegories. Orcs aren't evil. Their culture is just opposed to humanity. Typically, orcs believe that permanent structures like towns, farms, and cities are a defilement of nature. Cutting down a tree is like cutting off one of the earth's fingers. And they aren't entirely wrong, but those morals are at a direct conflict with the majority of humans who, of course, believe that expanding their borders to support more humans is a good act. This puts them at odds without making one or the other into a cartoonish stereotype.
You can still do a plot where the players have to defend the town from a warband of orcs, but if the players want peace, not only is it a compelling option but they'll still have a hard battle convincing either side to bend for the other.
I do understand why most people include fantasy racism. Assuming innocence, it is an extremely easy way to introduce conflict between two groups that pose no direct threat to each other. It's the same thing with rival houses in political intrigue campaigns. "They hate each other because they're different" or "one of them slighted the other hundreds of years ago" is extremely easy... but also extremely lazy and not the best move for the reasons you stated. Political and cultural conflicts are important for making a D&D world feel real. There will always be people who disagree with the majority, and that's important to represent in a fantasy world imo.
marginalized struggle (race, gender, class, ability, etc) is something i enjoy as a player when presented as a system that can be attacked; my power fantasy is being able to smash hierarchies.
so that's the input i give at session 0 whether running or playing, and like every other topic i yield to those who don't want it (as they yield to my ask of no NC17/X-rated RP), and we always institute the traffic-light rule of consent during play
Whole lotta people in these comments that clearly didn't listen and I bet run some pretty boring games if their takeaway from this is "I guess we just can't have conflict at all then!" Nice video, Blerdy. Don't let all the grognards get you down.
This video can easily be titled changed about the importance of session 0. Racism is not necessary but conflict is. Talk to your players and incorporate themes that feel appropriate. Killing dragons is racist in certain settings and that may or may not be okay depending on the players and setting
Who the fuck out there claimed you can't have fantasy roleplay without racism? *taking up hilarious fighting game stance*
Okay, let's be honest..
Anyone can include (and exclude) anything they want in their game. That's the whole beauty of it.
I highly recommend going into a new game with veils and taboos. People, talk about what you want out of the game. Realism or escapism? Dungeons and fights or social manipulation?
If not all players agree on the game they want to play it is nothing wrong with walking away and finding the right group, as I have often done wiith groups excluding cis-people, putting in critical topics like rape with no gain to the story, just schock value, or with groups focused on the table top aspect more than the social play.
That way it will not come to the resentment and rant vibe this video sadly gives me. (Sadly for the cvideo losing some value, but also for you having to experience it.)
Racism can be one form of conflict, as can be sexism, tyranny, religion, poverty... Why is choosing one of them lazy story telling?
Lazy is not about racism here, but about any generic presentation, is it not?
I would rather look to game defs for accountability here, because they do build the racism into the lore or don't.
(Pathfinder has been reevaluating their ways btw and is moving away from the DnD lore, including the shit about dark elves being sexy antagonists.)
(All the while White Wolf keeps Nazi Vampires in their game and makes a point of wasting 1/4 of their foreword to tell Nazis not to play the game. Yes they included Nazis, but just as antagonists, not for Neonazis to play their game. Not really the way of how to not have Nazis playing your game.)
I would rather look to streamers etc to set an example of how to tell a great story at the table, because they have a great influence within the gaming community, especially in the English bubble.
Their stories and characters will get copied, often without much review. So those topics and dynamics creep into homegames and shapes
I would rather criticise how Fantasy as a whole needs to emancipate itself from what Tolkin set up (and that shit actually was racist, but somehow everyone excuses LotR, because it is beloved). We need to stop regurgitating the same unreviewed shit over and over as a whole community, not just in PnP, but also in literary circles.
I would look to the whole group for sharing their opinions, taboos and expertise with each other, because you play that game and decide on the setting together. Accountability goes to everyone at the table. Because often it is not the DM who introduces such topics. It's the murderhobo idiot players often enough.
But whom I won't blame are home DMs, who work with the material they have and didn't study a whole bachelor degree worth of social sciences to just present a Tiefling librarian NPC well, who sufferes racim from some of their customers to spark my goblin PC to give her flirty pep talks and become friends with her. (The same goblin has a draw for their bestie btw and they joke a lot about their species storetypes.)
I really agree with many of the messages here, but I think they are wrapped poorly.
What makes it sound even more like just a rant is the focus on "black and brown" players and many great points being mentioned as a mere after thought. Instead of accusing the community of doing something start with the possibility to doing things differently or with your experience as an anecdote, something that first creates sympathy.
Because you pushed me in a defensive position a few times during your video and I am a person, who eliminated the word "race", from the game they are developing, as a whole to actually not push players in that direction of thinking. I DO the things you are proposing (to a reasonable degree a s a hobby DM) and still felt accused. I just think that is not the way to reach people. (Feel free to disagree and tell me to go to hell.)
Keep it up. Raise thoses questions. But maybe consider how to make the format more positive, so it reaches those, that need to be reached.
Love to see stuff about inclusivity and safe actual spaces in DnD.
I can tell by your comment we would not run in the same social circles and the games at our table are not for you. And while I would disgree with some points you bring up to varying degrees of veracity, I can say your overall point of choosing your own table because it is all choice is a very solid one. Like I said, our table is probably not one you would enjoy. But that doesn't mean there isn't one out there for you. Your table is not one I would enjoy, but that doesn't mean I can't have mine. This is good. It is inclusive. It is diverse. It provides something for everyone. And that is the beauty of RPG's... the ability to use imagination to tell a shared story in a fantasy world.
@@NickGreydenDude, it's specifically what advice I gave, look for the perfect table for you instead of changing other peoples table by accusation instead of inspiration. (The fact you neatly left out just now and chose not to respond to.)
You don't know how I run my table. I ask for veils and taboos. If you were to came to my table and told me racism is a trigger for you, I will not bring it up and klick whomever does. But somehow I have the feeling I will not have the same priveledge at yours.
I would really like to know what made you think, you were not welcome or safe there.
I firmly believe the best philosophy in life, and in tRPG groups, is Wheaton's Law "Don't Be A Dick", and what Bill S. Preston Esq. said: "Be excellent to each other!". I do hope that doesn't make me seem closed minded to those who believe otherwise. Always a dichotomy.
-
If racism is one group believing they are superior to all other groups, and discrimination is judging someone solely by a characteristic (skin color and sex, beliefs and morality, behaviors and actions, abilities and disabilities, etc.), then a significant bit of the fantasy and reality can be melted away by removing both.
Gygax's D&D adapted previous stories, from novels to folk tales, into the lore of the game setting. All of these could be used as presented, and/or could merely be examples of ideas and concepts that could work in one's own setting. That second bit about women as players holds truth, they enjoy the game but have some different needs in the game similarly to how they have some different needs than men IRL. Gaggles of girl gamers will group up and have phenomenal games together, just as guys do among themselves. Intermixing is certainly a thing but is only successful when each's needs are met.
What does it boil down to? The haves, and the have nots. Us, and them. The kings, the nobles, and the peasants. One's allies, and the threats to one's survival.
Does not the shepherd discriminate against the wolf? Is it bigotry on the part of the shepherd to be vigilant against that wolf's attempts to take a sheep? In this case, the institution is the flock that the shepherd protects and the system is the needs of all parties. Looking to nature, and scenarios like this is grounding and will open closed eyes to how things actually are.
The demonizing and dehumanizing is used to make others inferior, via racism, so as to enable discrimination. No human is immune to exhibiting these behaviors, as it is a primal defense mechanism that has kept us safer from harm. Unfortunately, it can be co-opted for use when the harm is merely perceived, or even worse when a group seeks to gain power over others.
-
As for blacks and browns specifically in the tRPG space, I watched a video recently by @RPGElite (and have since been gradually making it through the back-catalog) about why blacks and browns might not involve themselves in tRPGs. Valid points were certainly made. It is a quandary but Hasbro/WotC's DEI stuff likely wont do much to add more of these people to the hobby. The woke agenda and the corporate reactions to extremists trying to change the course of the whole of society is looking like it is doing incredible financial harm to companies. Capitalism is certainly more based on merit than other systems, but does have it's problems like all the others.
Nobody should be a victim in perpetuity, as the instance is a moment in time. Being a victim as the result of playing a social game, is definitely not something to put up with. Move past victimhood and become a survivor who has moved on. It may take years of efforts, but people can be resilient, particularly when situations improve for them and they can finally put that ugly past behind them.
Our societies across the globe all have their problems with racism and discrimination, it is largely cultural more than anything else. One human is not inferior or superior to another human, though individuals will be on a spectrum for any given attribute which means they may be great at one thing but only decent at another and poor at yet another thing. Discrimination is all about perspective and perceptions, and unfortunately the social media and mainstream media can push incorrect narratives that further discrimination instead of combating it.
-
In my D&D experience, I've played Drow, Duergar, Svirfneblin, and humans and non-humans of several skin/scale/feather tones - all in accordance to the setting, typically Forgotten Realms. On Toril, the Gods created the creatures - races, species, monsters, and such - from their perspectives and according to their needs and wants. In that world, the gods are present and have some influence through their worshipers or may take a more direct hand in things. Toril is also loosely based upon our own planet Earth, with each continent represented there - it was created from the imagination of a real human.
In the fantasy game space, the escape zone, yeah it can be hard to deal with racism and discrimination when it becomes a defining factor of the Player themself. Isn't the game where nerds go to become heroes and powerful people? Who or what is trying to thwart them, what tasks and opponents need to be overcome to achieve one's fantasy gaming goals? Which castle might the abducted princess be in? This is the part about separating fantasy from reality but also how open minded someone is to be able to change narratives in the gaming space. If the lore doesn't fit the needs of the group, then don't include it. If it is uncomfortable to few, perhaps they should not partake. It isn't D&D that promotes or perpetuates the racism and discrimination, it is the GM and Players. Perhaps it is down to the discussion about how these things will be presented and how the Players wish to interact with it.
I read the title as fantasy realism, and well since you bring up realism, the reading still holds up, that my game doesn't need fantasy realism. I want thematic fiction, thus if I include racism, then that theme is something that gets explored not just added for some weird flavour.
Oh yeah that’s a good take. Fantasy racism imo should be used to explore mature themes in a mature way, not just to add flavor by having orc slurs and stuff to that effect. Something that is often not done well.
When it comes to discrimination in DND, or any Tabletop for that matter, I am always remembered by a story I saw online of a group who ignored the plot to stop an evil lich and instead fought for the legalization of gay marriage, cause the DM told them it wasn't really a thing in that realm.
Racism and discrimination are okay in a story, but only aslong as the point of them being there is for the players to have something to go against. Atleast that is my point of view. And if you take something as basic as "Fight the tribe of orcs that has been raiding our villages" and look at it a bit more indeep there is much you can do.
In one of my games I had Goblins as a pure "evil" race. One of my players (the entire table didn't knew much about DND lore at that point.) actually wanted to do some in character research on them. Fast forward a few months and multipile sessions and the group is leading goblins from many different tribes to fight Maglubiyet and fight for their freedom.
Goblin slayer would disagree
wonderful video! thank you for linking all the sources, and i hope you have more videos in the works, because i already binged your whole catalog
Awesome, thank you! I appreciate that you enjoyed my work!
Well said
Thank you!
I hold a very similar view for minors in TTRPG's, specifically PC minors, I don't like it, and I don't allow them. As a history buff I also know that age has changed it's scope, but that's not the modern scope, and we're not playing in 1506, we're playing RIGHT NOW, in todays day and age, where conscripting a 12 year old to fight in a war is immensely horrific. To say nothing of including children in dog fighting and the like. It's just not a useful 'realism' rhetoric because because if people in DnD do regularly live to 80, which it says in the PHB, it's not necessary.
Also the lack of racism can say a lot about the setting, like 'we have dragons and wizards tearing apart reality, I'm not gonna mince who I ally with.'
Fantasy racism rarely comes up at my table, due to my obsession with letting players play whoever they want, even in settings where they don't make sense, I often lean on "mysterious fog that teleports you to unfamiliar place." Though I've also just gotten tired of high fantasy on the whole because the different species just end up being stand ins for real world cultures anyways. If you're playing a shorter in stature angry drunkard who happens to be naturally gifted with metal work and swears to live by your promises and has an obsession with shiny rocks, you're not playing a dwarf, your playing a watered-down Scottish stereotype with anti-Semitic undertones.
I read some of the comments and some people are confusing “dnd racism” by player and by characters. What i mean is, some of the comments talk about not agreeing with the notion that a specific race is “bad” or “lesser”, and that to me is dnd racism by players and dm. Now, when the characters in the game have racist views due to their experiences, then thats racism by characters which to me is fine.
Good video and I appreciate the history. The sound is a bit too quiet though.
I will bring up an arpg experience, not a ttrpg one: i am playing Oblivion and... tend to skip goblin, minotaur, etc. dungeons. Like, i think at least minotaurs in lore are perfectly sapient, just exterminated systematically and thus aggressive out of need to survive or smth.
Goblins... well, maybe the setting does do "they are inherently evil" (idk if it does tbh), but they are also killes and, from what i read, enslaved.
So eh, the problem i see with this is that you just can't talk your way out of fighting them. You are kinda supposed to not think deep and just enjoy killing hostile npcs.
So yeah... i think that if you do include fantasy racism, players should have freedom to fight it ig... or at least not take part in it.
...also, elder scrolls needs diplomacy. Battlespire and daggerfall had those, but ig simplification
Im an Indian non-binary person who lives in india and honestly dont care about racism in my game aslong as my dm doesn't specifically marginalizes any one player
I'm guessing you mean as long as the DM *Doesn't* marginalise any one specific player?
Ya, sorry...
But what if they’re fighting a fascist government? Can fascism be inclusive ?
I believe so actually
As long as one entity or group is in total control. Race doesn't really need to be a factor.
I'd say no to racism, but yes to xenophobia.
If you want to play an uncommon ancestry sometimes that's going to have social consequences. A cat person in a town with no cat people is going to get looks. Tieflings are not a race but a condition where your bloodline is literally infected with infernal forces, and there's nothing wrong with random townsfolk being weirded out by a demon looking guy wandering around town. In pathfinder you can play a free-willed skeleton, zombie or other undead, but it says right in the text that you will probably face fear and discrimination outside the small part of the world where undead are accepted. Weird things are weird.
It's not racism to be wary of undead or demon spawn in a world where evil undead and demons are causing trouble all the time. But it kinda feels like racism?
I always have fantasy racism. The players just never see it unless they care to look. Often it’s not malicious either. Each of the dnd races have different strengths and weaknesses, it’s just at the same time many civilized societies have decided to pool their strengths together to cover their weaknesses.
Why do I do this? Because unlike real racism, in a setting like dnd the difference are relevant and tangible.
yeah, having a halfling exclusive thief guild would make sense because they're small and can fit in tight spaces for example
but is acknowledging and working with those really racism?
@@thodan467 yes. Yes it is.
Racism: the belief each race has distinct and intrinsic attributes.
Its just not the knee jerk racism that is used now
I've been playing D&D since the early 80s. So, an old white nerd. Racism has been boiled into the game since before the start and it is high time to change. You're right- its NOT needed. A little more work on the world building can result in plenty of conflict. (Ideologies can be the "always evil.") Thanks for this video.
You know, at the very core of things, nothing needs to be included in your fantasy setting.
You can remove racism
You can remove gender discrimination
You can remove any and all problematic things.
You can remove the social classes
You can even remove all conflicts.
It would be a very boring adventure, sure, but you can definitely create that setting.
I don’t prescribe to fantasy racism in my homebrewed world/campaign. I told my players in session zero - this world doesn’t have “bad races”; it has “bad people” and those people can be part of any “race” but are not indicative of the “race” as a whole.
@@PistonragerSo far it seems to be working and the campaign has been running a year now. They’ve helped kobolds fix their business after vandalism and attended a comedy show at a night club run by a gnoll.
Crazy how racism doesn’t actually have to be there if it’s just not.
@@Pistonrager I am sorry hear you are sad. I always go out of my way to impress internet randos. I was under the impression this was a collaborative story telling game. The events that occur are just as easily shaped by my players than they are by me.
For context because I want you to dry those tears, you poor boy, the kobolds in question were vendors at a market that fell victim to vandalism. This was the first session of the campaign and was for when they were low level and I was trying to do a more “who done it” then let’s go clear the cellar of rats.
After that the group faced an undead monster that was charming farmers; saved a town attacked by needle blights; twig blights; vine blights; ventured into the forest to bargain with a hag to find a corrupted Druid who sent the blights; saved the town; fought bandits along the road from the town to the next city; and after they reached the city they told me they wanted to find a comedy show. Seeing how I’m not a dick, I gave them one.
My campaign is dealing more with classism as the rich merchant’s don’t care about the poor which has led to banditry; meanwhile the rich are taking advantage of the bandits by using “fake bandits” to attack rivals with plausible deniability. Then there is the criminal syndicate that is trying to assassinate politically powerful merchants to elevate their own catspaws in a long game to take over the city and the trade that runs through it. There’s the alchemist selling drugs to the miners; the secret necromancer who is trying to stop the farming in the area so he can distract people from his plan to unleash an undead plague upon the city; and the chronomancer who is Benjamin Buttoning through the campaign getting more power the younger he gets that wants to displace a god to allow them to ascend in the god’s place. Then there was the drinking competition; the dagger throwing contest; and the gambling; but I am sure I am doing those wrong too because none of it involves racism.
Thanks for your tips. I’ll be sure to insert racism to make you happy. 😂
@@Pistonrager Glad to hear that I can’t play a collaborative story game “wrong”. I always appreciate the approval of internet randos.
The kobold vendors and the vandalism was the very first session of the campaign. The players were low level and I wanted to do something other than clearing rats from the cellar.
The comedy club was something the players told me they wanted. It wasn’t something I planned. They had a hard travel from the first town to the first city full of bandits, which is a plot point for a subplot in the story. They experienced the first character death and wanted to “unwind”.
Just because I don’t prescribe to “all orcs are bad; all kobolds are evil; all goblins eat babies” doesn’t mean there isn’t racism it’s just not a focus or, as I said, all of X race is evil.
Eberron shaped the idea that orcs can be more than villains and it was a favourite setting amongst my group before I homebrewed a world for my campaign. Orcs in my world were once soldiers to a conquering demon who then rebelled and are now looking for a way to make society work.
Kobolds are just like any other race; doing what they want and living their lives. Historically they came into massive conflict with dwarves but that was because they were working for a dragon that they feared more than dwarves. That war ended and so again, some kobolds went on to just live; some still went and found other dragons to follow.
Goblins in my world are viewed as the best warriors and have a society based on mercenary armies. That is strictly because I thought it was funny for a world to fear the might of a professional goblin army.
Historically in my world there was an elvish civil war that very few people outside the elves know the true reason for. The “public” are under the impression that a faction of elves became corrupted by an evil god or daemon and became prone to bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed. In actuality, a faction of elves decided all the other races were less pure than elves and were beginning a crusade to wipe out the “lesser races” so that elves can be the sole sentient species on the planet.
Then there is a growing monotheistic faction that after four crusades have sectioned off a country of their own. While its been nearly 40 years since their last crusade they have spent that time infiltrating other countries to destabilize economies and political structures so when the next crusade (which they are currently planning and preparing) happens, some opposition will fall much easier than anticipated so they can unite the world under one true god and put to death any who won’t bend the knee.
But yeah, I’ll be sure to replace that all with all orcs are bad because I “need racism”.
@@Pistonrager In retrospect I will admit my comments do seem defensive. I am sorry for that. I believe it derived from a misunderstanding perhaps mostly on my part. What I meant initially is that my world doesn’t really have the standard fantasy racism in that certain races such as goblins, gnolls, drow, etc are evil. They are “just people”. The “modern elves” who survived the war of eradication see the “fledgling races” as curious equals who just happen to be short lived. The elves freely gifted lands to the other races and consolidated their power into several allied elvish nations around the globe.
It is an “established fact” of my world that it was created by the elvish god of creation but through accident dwarves were actually given sentience before the elves actually existed. The two species lived in basic harmony for several hundred years before an event called The Convergence occurred which is when portals from other worlds/universes/realms which brought other sentient species to the planet. With them came aspects of their gods which led to the Godswar and the establishment of a near universally recognized pantheon of gods. Over a thousand years have passed since then and the world is fairly metropolitan and, as of the current year, there hasn’t been open warfare for nearly a hundred years.
Basic “racism” or “otherism” or what you even seem to describe as actual nationalism isn’t completely non-existent, it just isn’t as common nor does it seem to be the fuel for more than anything right now then an impending religious crusade from the monotheists. The main reasoning for this was the end result of the war of ruination when armies of demons and devils tried to conquer the world creating a semblance of either we have to stand together or fall separately.
Your world sounds quite interesting and seems to have several aspects akin to my own with a rise of magic-based and non-magic based technologies. I wish you luck and many adventures that define your world and make it memorable for your players for the years to come.
Thanks!
Very interesting video. Thank you. I definitely agree with you. I think racism and other bigotry can be an important part of a story but can also just be left out. In a fantasy world we are allowed to have fun by not having to deal with the daunting issues of the real world.
I used to be a lot more okay with fantasy racism, but to a large extent lately it seems to less be used in good faith to have realistic conflict and more a way of letting people get out their racist impulses with some plausible deniability "protecting" them.
I have a friend who has an obsession with fantasy racism. Specifically playing dwarves who are racist against most elven and some beast races. Im always like "dude what are you" He's a good guy who doesn't hold any of those values in real life... its just really weird.
What the heck
Because that's how cultures work? Everyone being buddy buddy is shit trash.
I'm planning on playing a serial killer who hates everyone from a specific nation, but that doesn't make me a psychopath as far as I'm concerned. Let the man play whatever he wants as long as everyone is fine with it and he doesn't overdo it. You never knows maybe he intends his dwarf to grow in character and learn to accept other races, leading to a nice character arc
yeaah that... is just weird ngl.
I would guess it is the meme, that has been instilled in him by generic fantasy.
Hating on other CULTURES was the thing people did for a variaty of reasosns (it literally drove history). I would advise you to look into medieval(european) history, hating someone because of their skin color was there but much less prevelent cause if you had an other skin color you were on the other side of a sea or ocean probably. It was much more logical to hate on your neighboors.....smh hating isnt just a black or queer thing, its a people thing.
This mentality was literally the foundation for my newest campaign. The world has existed for long enough that all cultures have become intermixed. There aren't really "goblin camps" or "orc strongholds". Every group, good or bad, is made up of a diversity of people because the world is old and the people have all intermingled.
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
That's interesting. You know the first thing I saw in Balder's Gate 3 is Sex sells (in the player character creation) and Fantasy Racism is practical (related to Tieflings and the Druid conclave).
On the flip side, I even saw a White boy complaining how their Teifling Warlock was getting treated... I was like "Now YOU KNOW!!!" At least for that 30 minutes of the game. Sadly, this person I said this to... He didn't get the joke.
I don't allow fantasy racism (and I don't allow PvP racism at all) except when racism is a bad thing in fantasy, a wrong and injustice that needs to be fixed and corrected. In this way, I want to teach why racism is wrong and intolerable, but only when this is ok for all players at the table. In any case, these (racism, specism (because not everyone wants other animals to be treated unequally or as objects, hated or exploited and used), fobias, meat eating, colonialism, patriarchy, wars and fighting, slavery etc.) are things we already discuss in session zero, for example how much and how visibly they can be included and whether something is too sensitive for any player (for example, we once had a campaign that was only about chill adventuring, investigation and solving mysteries and puzzles because two players couldn't stand killing and fighting at all and wanted to limit these themes out of our campaign because their home country has fallen under the war and it would have been too traumatic for them).
I don't think not including racism makes your game less realistic. Romans, for example, considered culture to be the determining factor for who was in the "in" group. So, there have been times in human history when race wasn't important to the social hierarchy. I think American history may skew how we view racism in history in general. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people_in_ancient_Roman_history
I will add one argument I hate - people saying that they need "always evil" races like Orcs often act as if people who dislike this kind of tropes just cannot handle a "gritty" game. And yet once you say a race is always evil and therefore it's ok to kill them, you literally remove all moral dilemmas and trauma associated with having taken a life of an intelligent being or being in a situation where you have to. It's the opposite of gritty.
Only argument for deliberate inclusion of fantasy racism or any kind of bigotry I do agree with is this one: While some people seek to escape to a fantasy world where real-life issues aren't present, some seek to escape to one where said issues can be overcome. An example would be if you have a group that wants the kind of campaign where they live out fantasy of defeating fantasy racism, then you want it in to be defeated.But that relies on talking to the group beforehand. Which many GMs who insist on running this stuff don';t want to do for some reason >.>
Honestly you hit the point right there. I think if you are going to include topics like this, they should be talked about before hand and dealt with responsibly. And not including them doesn't mean your game cannot be fun and/or has no challenges.
@@Blerdy_Dispositionhow do you handle the creator gods of the other races/species like gruumsh telling their children to kill members of other races in fantasy stories gods are real