A short thread on Racial Essentialism in #DnD5e & some possible solutions

Racial, or biological, essentialism is the idea that you have a racial identity that guarantees that and explains why you have certain fixed abilities or personality traits.

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Racial essentialism is not supported by science. Individual genetics, upbringing, & personal choice all result in so much variety within & between members of ‘race’ categories that racial essentialism is empirically false. But worse, it’s harmful!

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2/11

Racial essentialism shows up when someone says, “members of that race tend to be stronger or more prone to violence,” or “YOU are fast or smart BECAUSE of your race,” and so on. Clearly, it underlies a LOT of real world racism.

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3/11

Talking this way about people in the real world is implicitly racist; this is uncontroversial. But this is the way #DnD presents race. Elves are racially superior to orcs, who are strong, stupid, and violent, for example.

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4/11

These are fictional peoples, but many who have experienced racism in the real world recognize racial essentialism when they encounter it in their fantasy, too, and this can ruin their fun. And seeing others joyfully embrace it can be off-putting.

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5/11

Knowing this, if we choose to include racial essentialism in our #DnD5e going forward, we are willfully choosing to make our game less welcoming & less friendly to folks who have experienced racism IRL.

But there are some easy fixes we can try.

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6/11

One I made is Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e, a top seller at @drivethrurpg & featured on @BoingBoing. It ascribes many traits to upbringing rather than biology, allows for mixed ancestry PCs & more.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/314622/Ancestry--Culture-An-Alternative-to-Race-in-5e?affiliate_id=297003

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7/11

Of it, @Polygon says "D&D will change to address racism, but someone has already done the work... required reading for playing RPGs in 2020"

It’s plug-and-play, super easy to swap out for Race in character creation, and retains the lore of D&D.

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8/11

Some other cool solutions to this issue include:
The Half-Race Handbook from @LydiaVonHoy1
Grazilaxx’s Guide to Ancestry from @realmwarpM
An Elf and an Orc had a Little Baby from @victhhe & @AdamMakesTTRPG
All on @DMs_Guild

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9/11

If it’s easy & fun to use, makes PCs more diverse, AND makes the hobby more welcoming/inclusive, why wouldn’t we make the change? Well, some folks interpret these calls for change as a charge that their fun is bad, or they are racist. Not so!

#DnD #DnD5e #ttrpgs #ttrpg
10/11

This is not an attack on people’s fun or #DnD. This is a suggestion for a way to grow and strengthen the hobby, so we all benefit, and so people excluded before can join too. As such, we should all welcome such changes. I do.

Be well & happy gaming!

#DnD5e #ttrpgs #ttrpg
11/11