Stereotypes, Inclusion and Representation in D&D
Episode 92 Streamed Live Tuesday June 14, 2022
The game of Dungeons and Dragons has a long history of natural inclusiveness, notwithstanding it’s historical critics. Neither the game, nor the roleplaying hobby as a whole, limited the players to any certain type. All sorts of people have always been welcome, despite a small minority of jerks who were rotten to certain folks away from the game as well. We all like having friends, and usually more is better. Most of us carried this into our games, and therefore made more friends of various sorts.
In the current age, there is a small contingent of screeching harpies that demand what we have always had, INCULSION. If you don’t have certain folks at your table, then you must be a bigot. Also, the game ITSELF must REPRESENT the modern day, its cosmopolitan attitudes and variety of peoples or else it is problematic. We at Biggus Geekus beg to differ, and we get into it!
Geek Culture
- Eric July received his first shipment and we are ready for the Rippaverse
- ScreenRant shows its skewed perspective
- Just for fun: Pick your favorite iconic D&D weapon
Main Topic: Stereotypes, Inclusion and Representation in D&D
- Stereotypes
- How Stereotypes can be good
- Sets a base line to make the world believable. Players need to see the normal before the abnormal becomes truly “weird”.
- Stereotypical NPCs and monsters allow players a more predictable way to react to the world. Thus the exception is more interesting and intriguing. For example, the friendly barkeep. Others include the sagely but forgetful wizard and the kindly old priest.
- Definition of Monsters
- Monsters are essentially evil.
- This then frees folks from moral relativism.
- The game has alignment, so the intention is that good and evil are REAL in the game.
- When and how can Stereotypes be bad?
- This depends on the folks at the table and how the stereotype is delivered.
- Used as an excuse to be a jerk \”In Character\”
- It’s what my character would do
- How Stereotypes can be good
- Definitions of Inclusion: Here and here
- Legion of Myth Nod: natural inclusion not forced diversity
- Not the inclusion we hear about today
- When has the hobby not been inclusive?
- How can Inclusion be good?
- When and how can Inclusion be bad?
- Definition Representation
- Legion of Myth: Escapism not Representation
- From a DM’s, Perspective, representation must have limits or your world will become cartoonish.
- Due to activism in the hobby, this is Representation today
- When and how can representation be good?
- What then makes representation bad?
One Random Question: How much use/mileage do you get out of “good” monsters in D&D?
Open Discussion: Generating Good Content
- Revisiting old stuff/deeper dive into old topics
- Evergreen topics: Gm Advice
- How To topics
- Exploration of Actual Play
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