Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Elves without racism [+]
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 9147397" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>Earlier editions of D&D employed mechanics that confuse "biology" with "culture". This is the essence of the D&D problem with reallife racism.</p><p></p><p>Linking ability improvements to "race" is harmful. The moment one looks to reallife cultures for inspiration to describe a "low Intelligence" "race", it is instantly problematic.</p><p></p><p>Nevermind some "inspirations", such as fantasy literature, are saturated with the reallife racisms of the previous centuries.</p><p></p><p>The D&D mechanics that confuse "biology" and "culture" enforce the perpetuation of racism.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The Playtest is a breakthru. (Tashas and other 5e books set the precedents.) The Playtest reorganizes the earlier "race" mechanics, into "species" mechanics and "background" mechanics. It is the background mechanics that determines the ability improvements. This is a precise solution.</p><p></p><p>It is no longer possible to describe and characterize how an entire species is "low Intelligence".</p><p></p><p>It is not even possible to describe and characterize how an entire culture is "low Intelligence".</p><p></p><p>The background design space means, the INDIVIDUAL can be "low Intelligence" or "high Intelligence". There is no such thing as a culture that is.</p><p></p><p>Example, a character that trains to excel as a Gladiator seems likelier to be stronger than a character who trains to be a Sage. Moreover, these characters can continue to advance in Strength and Intelligence, respectively, as they advance to higher levels. Meanwhile, the background design is versatile, and makes it easy (and legal) to create characters who are individuals that dont represent the trend. Some Sages really are very strong.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, every "Humanoid" species is, by definition, comparable to reallife humans, with free will, the capacity of speech, the ability to learn, the ability to organize into social groups, in other words, form a culture that is diverse.</p><p></p><p>By mechanically focusing on the individual background, the Playtest makes it possible to escape the earlier problem of the D&D collective stereotypes and racisms.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, the D&D Elf traditions are profoundly racist in numerous ways. Both the elven mechanics and the elven narratives are toxic. It is difficult to continue the D&D Elf without being racist.</p><p></p><p>Not everything is bad. There are aspects of the D&D Elf traditions that are wonderful. I love the magic. I appreciate the beauty. I like the diversity of Elves. Many players do. But the Elf has issues.</p><p></p><p>The Playtest designers are close to resolving the issues with the Elf. Removing the ability improvements from the Elf species is a breakthru. Noticing the difference between one "kind" of Elf and an other "kind" of Elf, is actually the choice of spells, identifies what the Elf concept is, and how to make it diverse, in ways that avoid racist or cultural stereotypes.</p><p></p><p>Not everything needs to be a spell ... but for the Elf concept it kinda does.</p><p></p><p>Like the mechanics for the Human species, having mechanics for the Elf species that focus on the individual, who participates in a wider community, is how to have both diversity and avoid stereotypes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 9147397, member: 58172"] Earlier editions of D&D employed mechanics that confuse "biology" with "culture". This is the essence of the D&D problem with reallife racism. Linking ability improvements to "race" is harmful. The moment one looks to reallife cultures for inspiration to describe a "low Intelligence" "race", it is instantly problematic. Nevermind some "inspirations", such as fantasy literature, are saturated with the reallife racisms of the previous centuries. The D&D mechanics that confuse "biology" and "culture" enforce the perpetuation of racism. The Playtest is a breakthru. (Tashas and other 5e books set the precedents.) The Playtest reorganizes the earlier "race" mechanics, into "species" mechanics and "background" mechanics. It is the background mechanics that determines the ability improvements. This is a precise solution. It is no longer possible to describe and characterize how an entire species is "low Intelligence". It is not even possible to describe and characterize how an entire culture is "low Intelligence". The background design space means, the INDIVIDUAL can be "low Intelligence" or "high Intelligence". There is no such thing as a culture that is. Example, a character that trains to excel as a Gladiator seems likelier to be stronger than a character who trains to be a Sage. Moreover, these characters can continue to advance in Strength and Intelligence, respectively, as they advance to higher levels. Meanwhile, the background design is versatile, and makes it easy (and legal) to create characters who are individuals that dont represent the trend. Some Sages really are very strong. Meanwhile, every "Humanoid" species is, by definition, comparable to reallife humans, with free will, the capacity of speech, the ability to learn, the ability to organize into social groups, in other words, form a culture that is diverse. By mechanically focusing on the individual background, the Playtest makes it possible to escape the earlier problem of the D&D collective stereotypes and racisms. Unfortunately, the D&D Elf traditions are profoundly racist in numerous ways. Both the elven mechanics and the elven narratives are toxic. It is difficult to continue the D&D Elf without being racist. Not everything is bad. There are aspects of the D&D Elf traditions that are wonderful. I love the magic. I appreciate the beauty. I like the diversity of Elves. Many players do. But the Elf has issues. The Playtest designers are close to resolving the issues with the Elf. Removing the ability improvements from the Elf species is a breakthru. Noticing the difference between one "kind" of Elf and an other "kind" of Elf, is actually the choice of spells, identifies what the Elf concept is, and how to make it diverse, in ways that avoid racist or cultural stereotypes. Not everything needs to be a spell ... but for the Elf concept it kinda does. Like the mechanics for the Human species, having mechanics for the Elf species that focus on the individual, who participates in a wider community, is how to have both diversity and avoid stereotypes. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Elves without racism [+]
Top