Quote from: tenbones on January 09, 2025, 11:59:13 AMThanks Colonialism!

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"

Quote from: Green Demon on January 09, 2025, 10:55:44 AMI accept it's more nuanced. I cut the paragraph because it overshadowed the main point i wanted to make -  that this alleged controversy doesn't really have anything to do with RPG's, whatever our politics - because D&D monsters have never represented ethnic groups.

I quite agree. They're archetypical representations. Anyone who see orcs as Mexicans or black, they need to look in the mirror. That's the real racist.

Quote from: tenbones on January 09, 2025, 11:59:13 AM

Quote from: Green Demon on January 09, 2025, 07:05:55 AMModern colonialism was fundamentally about exploiting the wealth of subjugated nations. It's a late chapter in a very old story - with a prototype in tribes seizing resources from weaker tribes in order to survive and flourish. But I think we can acknowledge colonialism is part of the bloody side of human existence whilst also recognising Old School RPG's are fine - they are something quite different and entirely benign.

But without colonialism, I'd have a bone in my nose, wearing a grass skirt, and be an igorot axe-wielding, heart-eating, head-hunting cannibal.

Now? I'm siting here with a Coach beanie on, pondering buying some Margiela tabi boots on my other screen, while drinking Ethiopean Yirgacheffe espresso made from my Lelit Bianca espresso machine while my greyhounds snuggle around my feet as the snow drifts down and blankets my big yard in the middle of the Lone Star Republic - surrounded by gun-owning, freedom loving fellow benefactors of colonialism.

I probably wouldn't be playing, running, designing and working on publishing my own RPG's right now either.

Thanks Colonialism!

Sarcasm or not, it's brilliant. Your self-awareness broke my brain...in a good way.

One of my directors, where I work, is from India. He's totally Americanized, but when we met he had this particular dislike for British people. And one day we were talking about history, and sure the British really fucked the Indian sub-continent. Which of course he whole-heartedly agreed (confirmation bias is a wonderful thing when wielded artfully by the right people).

Then I mentioned all his other interests - music, Cricket, his favorite clothing, what he likes *best* in modern India, his love for all things technological... and I asked him, were it not for British Colonialism where do you think you'd be? You *live* right now in a former British Colony which still largely upholds western ideals. Your *caste* was one of the lowest in India *prior* to the British coming. His head exploded too.

Now? He plays Warhammer with his sons.

Quote from: tenbones on January 09, 2025, 12:53:26 PMOne of my directors, where I work, is from India. He's totally Americanized, but when we met he had this particular dislike for British people. And one day we were talking about history, and sure the British really fucked the Indian sub-continent. Which of course he whole-heartedly agreed (confirmation bias is a wonderful thing when wielded artfully by the right people).

Then I mentioned all his other interests - music, Cricket, his favorite clothing, what he likes *best* in modern India, his love for all things technological... and I asked him, were it not for British Colonialism where do you think you'd be? You *live* right now in a former British Colony which still largely upholds western ideals. Your *caste* was one of the lowest in India *prior* to the British coming. His head exploded too.

Now? He plays Warhammer with his sons.

And yet, as vast and powerful the British Empire was, English cuisine is pretty bad. You'd think that taking over parts of the Indian sub-continent, China, and other areas, the Brits would LEARN to use the spices from the lands the British Empire occupied.

"Balderdash! It's much easier to bring them into the empire and have them prepare food for us!"

I'm sure some person in the British East India Company probably said this.

Hail Britannia!

EDIT: I do love fish and chips and Beef Wellington is overrated.

Why would the British ever learn how to cook? That's what the French and Italians are for.

Quote from: RPGPundit on January 08, 2025, 10:36:28 AMNo, WotC did not put something about anti-colonialism in the D&D DMG.

But the Monster Manual hasn't been released yet! 
Maybe the kind and caring folks at WotC have something to say about "colonizing" monsters in the new book.

Didn't the new blurbs about the MM just say something about dryads, medusas and hags now being genderfluid or something?

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on January 09, 2025, 03:34:31 PMDidn't the new blurbs about the MM just say something about dryads, medusas and hags now being genderfluid or something?

  Dryads, medusas, and hags are now both male and female. Succubae and incubi are able to flip between either sex. (This is arguably more theologically accurate, but D&D's 'demons' and 'devils' are so inaccurate in so many other ways that it doesn't help much. )

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on January 09, 2025, 05:29:10 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on January 09, 2025, 03:34:31 PMDidn't the new blurbs about the MM just say something about dryads, medusas and hags now being genderfluid or something?

  Dryads, medusas, and hags are now both male and female. Succubae and incubi are able to flip between either sex. (This is arguably more theologically accurate, but D&D's 'demons' and 'devils' are so inaccurate in so many other ways that it doesn't help much. )

The dryads, medusas and hags now being male is nonsensical. Those words are female in English, insofar as English even has gendered nouns. (Don't get me started on the fact that Medusa is a proper noun and her species is gorgon.)

Why are succubi and incubi even separate things if they have no fixed gender? Should rename them collectively to malcubi.

Just to add to the fun of "Anti-Colonialism", Jon Del Arroz does a read and found "Goblin Men's Rights Activists" in an example of play.

Quote from: DocJones on January 09, 2025, 02:54:36 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit on January 08, 2025, 10:36:28 AMNo, WotC did not put something about anti-colonialism in the D&D DMG.

But the Monster Manual hasn't been released yet! 
Maybe the kind and caring folks at WotC have something to say about "colonizing" monsters in the new book.

Based on the previews, they seem more interested in making sure every single monster can be any of their 52 genders.

I always pictured sniveling and grovelling goblins more as simp male feminists personally to curry favor with whomever they're trying to ingratiate themsevles.

I asked Grok to make some more "inclusive" succubus art for the new Monster Manual, since the older TSR monster manuals were "colonized" by attractive white people.

Quote from: DocJones on January 09, 2025, 09:37:35 PMI asked Grok to make some more "inclusive" succubus art for the new Monster Manual, since the older TSR monster manuals were "colonized" by attractive white people.

I'm dying to know what prompt you used for that. Did you have to get specific, or was it enough to just enter, "inclusive and body positive succubus"?