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I saw a big name in old-school D&D have a bad take on the evil people discourse going on. It included ideas of moral lessons and righteousness. I have a hard time believing his heart is in the wrong place, despite that his head is. It motivated me to write a long rebuttal... 1/17
TL;DR: Creating complex imaginary people is better for play and design. It’s better for games as cultural objects and as spaces we learn in. (Play transmits values embedded in the tools of play.) Also, heroes consider the nature of their actions and their use of their power. 2/17
In a fantasy game, we needn’t treat a whole strain of people as evil any more we need to treat every human as evil. Every elf. Every dwarf. Every halfling. The belief that we do for escapist fun, heroics, or moral lessons is a misguided failure of imagination at best. 3/17
We don’t need to depict whole races as evil for us to have games much like they are now. Why? I’ll use Nazis as examples in a heroic fantasy context. (And it's context still much simpler than the real world.) 4/17
1) The “Nazis don’t make all humans bad” rule. You can have evil humans (or Germans) without all humans being evil. Upper echelons in a society can be evil without the average citizen or folks in another society being evil. 5/17
2) The “It’s okay to punch Nazis” rule. When members of a society are bad actors, it’s okay to smite the villains. When everyone’s steel clears the sheath, you don’t always need to consider a baddie’s moral character. 6/17
3) The “It’s not okay to punch the Nazi’s kids” rule. People associated with the villains might not be bad. Some are innocent. It’s reprehensible to harm and kill people guilty only by association. 7/17
3 cont'd) I get not wanting moral quandaries in your game about goblin kids. Well, then, don’t put goblin kids in the goblin bandit camp. If you do, you’re inviting the quandary. That's on you. 8/17
4) The “Some Nazis went to prison” rule. It’s also okay to capture villains and see them tried for their crimes. Killing doesn’t have to be the end of any clash with baddies. Even the worst ones. 9/17
5) The “Germans were liberated from the Nazis, too” rule. When a bad regime falls, the people the regime oppressed have the opportunity for change. They too no longer suffer the evil. 10/17
6) The “Humans are more complex than their Nazis” rule. Having complex people opens the design and play space. It allows for more and more interesting stories. Stories that defy expectations, of understanding, of heroes being heroic in more ways than smiting evil. 11/17
7) The “Anyway, we still got Nazis” rule. Even with complexity, we have plenty of villains. Cruel human bandits. Bloodthirsty goblin theocrats. (Bree Yark for Maglubiyet!) Nihilistic apocalypse cultists. Heartless halfling bootleggers. We’re not short on potential foes. 12/17
8) The “The Nazis aren’t the only problem” rule. Plenty of evil beings exist that aren’t people. Other monsters are destructive or predatory. If you want beings that can be smited without moral considerations, don't make those beings people. 13/17
9) The “Nazis are people” rule. When the war is on, you might not consider your wicked foe’s moral character, but it can be interesting if you do. Doing so shows your own moral character. That’s what makes heroes shine—considering the personhood of their adversaries. 14/17
10) The “Being better than a Nazi doesn’t make you righteous” rule. Real heroes consider the meaning and ramifications of their actions. They consider the moral context of their own behavior and power. 15/17
10 cont'd) Some of the best stories come from mending misunderstandings. From finding common ground with potential enemies. You know, solving the real problem instead of beating one side into submission. 16/17
Let's all work together to make and run better games. 17/17
I didn't expect the response this thread is getting. While I have your attention, we still need to focus on real issues about real people. Here's a great resource with tons of info, and not just for white folks. https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234
Wear a mask. Be well. I wish you joy.
Wear a mask. Be well. I wish you joy.
Several notes after lots of feedback. Hopefully, these points answer some questions or issues I've seen pop up repeatedly. That assumes folks read the whole thread and these, which some clearly are not. 1/8
1) This thread is applicable to D&D, but it isn’t about only D&D. It’s about all fictional media and the poor design choice of absolute morality. Absolutism works poorly for this sort of design. Its benefits rarely outweigh the harm it does. That’s for another thread. 2/8
2) In not being about only D&D, this thread also isn’t about alignment. It applies to alignment in D&D, yes. It also applies to other games and media that ascribe moral absolutes to people. That’s a poor design choice in that fiction, too. 3/8
3) In not being about only D&D or any specific game, the thread doesn’t talk about other forms of essentialism. Ability score modifiers based on race are a problem, but that’s another topic. One others have covered, and I cover here. https://chrisssims.com/2020/01/12/exceptional-scores/ 4/8
4) This thread is about design and writing, tool and media creation. Play, tool use, and media consumption are tertiary issues. The thread might be useful for running a game. But how you play is a social contract among participants. Good tools make that easier. 5/8
5) To be clear, #4 means we should be more concerned with creating tools for the countless ways to play than about how anyone consents to play. Good tools offer breadth without altering the way most of us play anyway. Hopefully, that's with respect and camaraderie. 6/8
6) This thread isn’t about only orcs or drow. It’s about imaginary people, which includes those two in D&D. Such people can be distinct, as can factions within their varied societies, without resorting to caricatures. We can create representations good for varied play. 7/8
7) And, per my pinned tweet, cultural objects such as games are political. “No politics” is a political stance. You might be able to keep politics away from your table, but it’s inherent to art and media. It's inherent in all games made for widespread use. 8/8
PS--To reiterate, all these points apply to beings the media in question claims are people. D&D does so with orcs, drow, and other beings not only labeled with an evil alignment, but also saddled with an overarching evil culture that lacks nuance. More nuance is what we need.
