While reading about D&D's Combat Wheelchair, this caught my eye:

"Views on disability in the RPG space are slowly changing. WotC has made edits to the text of Curse of Strahd on D&D Beyond to remove mentions of NPC being ashamed of her disability."

In its tiny way, this is some "cropping out Trotsky from the old politburo photo", Orwell Ministry of Truth level shit.

I now actually find the trigger warning on WotC content on drivethru etc. to be reassuring; it means it's less likely they will go through and retroactively edit historic material to make it compliant. Not that I would consider that very likely anyway, as they are a commercial operation and presumably would not find it profitable to do so.

As for the wheelchair... ok, hope there are no stairs in the dungeon. That said it has magic in the arms (so you can make it go without spinning the wheels), so maybe it can just float up the stairs, like new Daleks.

More generally, I don't know any disabled gamers, but generally the attitude among disabled people I know is they want to get on with their lives with the disability being as small a thing as possible. If any of these folks decided to play D&D, I imagine the last thing they would want is to have the "combat wheelchair" option shoved in their faces. Would this kind of thing not just make people more self-conscious and therefore uncomfortable?

I'm really baffled as to why characters aren't allowed to have feelings "we" disagree with. I mean, I get that they are incapable of viewing fiction without trying to analyze every word for secret political messaging, but I can't comprehend that anyone is so incapable of understanding fiction as a concept.

Today I was with my children at the park, and my daughter's scooter simply did not work once we got off paved paths. The slightly wet dirt road, though graded by a machine, stopped her cold. And the forested area - well, she had to carry it.

This is the reason that wheelchairs, though technically possible since at least the bronze age, did not see much use worldwide until the 19th century. Of course, it's fantasy so you can handwave all that - but in that case, you could also handwave a restoration spell and give them their legs back.

That wheelchair is busted. If it were really in the game literally no character would be without one.

I'm insulted. I am in a wheelchair now, and there's no fucking way cripples go adventuring without somehow having value (and no, your standard D&D PC ain't it, chief) far in excess of the sheer stupidity that (literally, at times) dragging a living boat anchor can be. This bitch is pissing in my face and saying that it's raining. Fuck her "Muh Representayshuns" bullshit.

Quote from: Marchand;1139419While reading about D&D's
"Views on disability in the RPG space are slowly changing. WotC has made edits to the text of Curse of Strahd on D&D Beyond to remove mentions of NPC being ashamed of her disability."

This sort of thing just reminds me of the centuries in which King Lear had a happy ending because the original was too horrible or the 19th century puritan cleaned up version of Shakespeare published by Thomas Bowdler from whom we gain the word "Bowdlerisation".

Should people who are disabled feel ashamed?  No.  Might someone who is disabled feel ashamed?  Yes.  It is within the range of human reaction.  Does portraying the latter mean that you should feel the former.  No.  Only in the mind of a complete fucking idiot!

Maybe they should think about representing people who are fucking flawed, or imperfect or don't view the world through the lens of a 21st century college educated American.  You know, in order to be "diverse".

I don't really give a shit about the combat wheelchair.

The combat wheelchair seems more like something you'd stick some gimmicky NPC with, for a single combat, than anything a player character in a D&D campaign would want to put up with.

In fact, it seems more like something suited to a superhero game with point generated characters rather than D&D. Granted, I've never read 5th edition D&D (or 3rd, other than through video games, or 4th, other than discussions I cringed at participating at). Is 5th edition D&D like Champions or something, can you minmax your character by putting all your points into your wheelchair?

If you have the magic to make a 'combat wheelchair' work, you have the magic to make prosthetic legs work.

The trouble with the latter, of course, is that they're not in-your-face obvious & jarring.

Leaving aside the actual issues (should mainline RPG's from a mega-corp deal with sensitive issues or just skim the surface in order to build the brand in to something we can license for movie deals ...), there are multiple ways a disability could work.

First, it's a world where fireballs shoot elves from their butts, which, I must admit, is a great response to every argument involving realism.

Second, the genre has changed. In a more traditional exploration based game then yes, absolutely, it may be hard to fit in. But in the modern "investigate & arrest"  genre it could totally work. You have your SWAT team party members and your social ones and your smarty ones. When it comes time to hit the warehouse then some members hang back. This would follow the traditional beats of network Tv shows. I could argue that it's actually in the same vein as Detect spells in modern D&D: they are too low level for the game actually being played at the table these days; this is just another ack that some parts of the rules/genre don't fit the modern game.

Anything is possible in an RPG. But not everything is probable...

To me, an NPC in a wheel chair is fine, assuming they are not going out adventuring with the players. Maybe they are being rescued or transported by the players, and that could bring in a whole set of interesting challenges in itself. Or it might be a good way to retire a character.
The logistics... Of adventuring in a contraption like that. 'What do you mean we have to go into a sewer?'

Sure, you could tailor a game for something different and that's one thing. Might be interesting for a break. But for a classical D&D adventure ya' can fek off with it. Magic wheelchair... Where did you get the cash to have that built at first level incidentally? Look, I'm no D&D rules expert but why couldn't you just get some Paladin or Cleric to fix your crippled legs, or do you really want a character to trundle around in a rickety chair, while hoping it has mirrors so you can see the evil orc creeping up behind you.

Maybe we should start a Kickstarter book to have all sorts of medical devices for people with disabilities? I dunno... A magical music box where a little bird sings out your words when you're a mute. Or some Large magical ears that stick to you head if you're deaf? We could introduce some disability parking outside the taverns too, so they can park their steam powered mechanical horses.

A magical wheelchair seems very anachronistic in a DnD game.  How about something like a Flying Carpet or a version of the Luggage (of Disc World fame)

I always loved the magical appendages that Drow made back in the 2e days or maybe a pair of golem powered trousers:

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Quote from: The Exploited.;1139446I dunno... A magical music box where a little bird sings out your words when you're a mute.

I really like the sound of that as a weird gimmick for a villain, or an object left behind by an evil wizard in their lair. It's basically indestructible (or unleashes horrendous consequences when destroyed) and offers disturbing premonitions. Cue creepy Bagpuss music (google it) and then, "He's going to rip your fucking head off... head off... head off..."

Or it's a soul box and the trapped soul begs for release.

OSR product idea: D20 weird and creepy things to come out of an old-timey music box.

Anyway, it was the rewriting of the book that really prompted me to start this thread. Seems like some scary shit to me. We've always been at war with Eastasia, right?

The combat wheelchair appears to be 3rd-party content, and D&D has seen things much more anachronistic in its day.

  But I have a copy of Curse of Strahd I've been planning to sell. Now I'm wondering if I should wait for the new printings to come out and drive up the value of the unexpurgated version.

Quote from: Marchand;1139450I really like the sound of that as a weird gimmick for a villain, or an object left behind by an evil wizard in their lair. It's basically indestructible (or unleashes horrendous consequences when destroyed) and offers disturbing premonitions. Cue creepy Bagpuss music (google it) and then, "He's going to rip your fucking head off... head off... head off..."

Or it's a soul box and the trapped soul begs for release.

OSR product idea: D20 weird and creepy things to come out of an old-timey music box.

Anyway, it was the rewriting of the book that really prompted me to start this thread. Seems like some scary shit to me. We've always been at war with Eastasia, right?

I had a concept for a magical 'desktop PC' used by necromancers to store spells and research.  Very creepy, as the souls inside would beg for release on the 'screen' (actually a section of parchment) if they realized someone was at the keyboard and wasn't the necromancer in question.

But yeah, this looks silly.

:confused: Combat Wheelchair. :eek: I have suddenly realized my RPG life has been incomplete without... Jousting Palanquins! /rushes off to find my 'Complete Handbook: Fighters' for jousting tournament rules