A really interesting modification to the classical D&D character building mechanics that rely on the concept of race. This modification instead throws the doors open to a wide range of...
A really interesting modification to the classical D&D character building mechanics that rely on the concept of race. This modification instead throws the doors open to a wide range of possibilities, instead of limiting the player by making certain races ideal for certain class types, and inadvertently reinforcing the idea that race is actually a biological certainty rather than a social construct.
Marshall’s system relies on divorcing “biological ancestry from cultural heritage.” When creating a character, players don’t choose a race. Instead, they choose the culture in which their character was raised and the ancestry of their parents. Stat bonuses — things like higher intelligence, constitution, or charisma — are derived from culture. Meanwhile, inherited traits — things like height, speed, and life span, and fantastical abilities like breath weapons or dark vision — are tied to ancestry.
A lot of computer games do this. It works really well and makes for interesting character creation: Your upbringing was in a merchant family in the viking culture? Were you the one to physically...
A lot of computer games do this. It works really well and makes for interesting character creation:
Your upbringing was in a merchant family in the viking culture?
Were you the one to physically fight or to run away as a kid?
Were you the reader or the physical doer?
Ok; these are your stats, attributes, clothes and customs.
Just one recent example of this is Mount and Blade II Bannerlords, which I believe is still in beta.
I believe these are the rules the ppl playing in Roll20: Lost Mine of Phandelver used when generating their characters (or maybe it was something similar). I definitely think it is a better...
I believe these are the rules the ppl playing in Roll20: Lost Mine of Phandelver used when generating their characters (or maybe it was something similar). I definitely think it is a better approach in general, but as always should be agreed upon before everyone rolls up their characters. I can also see the point of having the raging horde of monsters be something other than the regular folks. I mean none sane would walk around and slaughter a tribe of sentient green guys and rifle through their pockets for change just because they happen to live in the dungeon being explored by the party. You might talk to them, find out that they are working for the big-bad-evil-gal, then do the true heroic thing and help them organize a union to improve their wages and living conditions... But, sometimes it is just fun to plough through nameless monsters.
I was under the impression D&D is frequently more about species than race, the same way a Grizzly Bear is always stronger than a human. It’s reasonable to expect different species to have vastly...
This modification instead throws the doors open to a wide range of possibilities, instead of limiting the player by making certain races ideal for certain class types, and inadvertently reinforcing the idea that race is actually a biological certainty rather than a social construct
I was under the impression D&D is frequently more about species than race, the same way a Grizzly Bear is always stronger than a human. It’s reasonable to expect different species to have vastly different abilities. This is not true about human races. A human and an Orc are essentially distinct, while a light skin human and a dark skin human are not.
This starts to break down when you think through how a human and an orc are both canonically people, and what it means to play a game where you are inventing essential distinctions between people,...
This starts to break down when you think through how a human and an orc are both canonically people, and what it means to play a game where you are inventing essential distinctions between people, in a real world where fictional "essential" distinctions between people have been used to justify tremendous harm.
I look forward to min-maxing this into the stuff of DM nightmares. Also... didn't Pathfinder already kinda do this in 2E? They have both Ancestry and Heritage.
I look forward to min-maxing this into the stuff of DM nightmares. Also... didn't Pathfinder already kinda do this in 2E? They have both Ancestry and Heritage.
Though, surely the racism built into the game was accidental. There's a reason Myfarog exists to intentionally create a game with these issues as features, to name one notorious example. The 70s...
Though, surely the racism built into the game was accidental. There's a reason Myfarog exists to intentionally create a game with these issues as features, to name one notorious example. The 70s and 80s were radically different from even the 90s (which were still sort of comparatively conservative), and the country was still dealing with its own socio-political crap in unhealthy ways which filtered into every aspect of our culture.
I think it's an interesting concept. I accidentally created a dragonborn character that came from a barbarian culture playing 5e, and am curious what I could've done doing this on purpose.
I entirely agree. One of the things that I'm trying to be personally more conscious of is that pushing back at overt racism is not enough. Racism has been a part of our (speaking as an American)...
Exemplary
Though, surely the racism built into the game was accidental.
I entirely agree. One of the things that I'm trying to be personally more conscious of is that pushing back at overt racism is not enough. Racism has been a part of our (speaking as an American) culture for so long, and has been there so long that sometimes we don't notice. Like the furniture in a house you inherited from your parents.
It's not our fault that racism exists in our culture, but it is our responsibility to re-examine some social norms and consider if they need updating. The point not being to try and prevent any possible offense to anyone whatsoever, but to really consider that our pre-existing social norms have contributed to the society we have today. So if we want to improve our society tomorrow, we need to consider how we want to change both the social norms and the myriad of cultural influences that helped build them.
I realize I may have accidentally defended the racism, but I think you got what I meant. I agree. It's sort of like patching holes in a wall so the hate can't get in. Fix the small, quiet, even...
I realize I may have accidentally defended the racism, but I think you got what I meant.
It's not our fault that racism exists in our culture, but it is our responsibility to re-examine some social norms and consider if they need updating.
I agree. It's sort of like patching holes in a wall so the hate can't get in. Fix the small, quiet, even accidental covert racism as well as the loud overt stuff. It would also mean the next big thing that surfaces in the mainstream in 30 years won't have to be retooled for being problematic, hopefully.
I've got some reservations about potential mechanics kicking the can into nationalism or cultural elitism, but I'll have to see it for myself before I say anything expressing a real issue with it.
My immediate knee jerk reaction when I saw this was 'great, the woke crowd is coming for my favorite hobby, time to sharpen my knives' - but I needn't have worried. The new mechanics are solid and...
My immediate knee jerk reaction when I saw this was 'great, the woke crowd is coming for my favorite hobby, time to sharpen my knives' - but I needn't have worried.
The new mechanics are solid and it'll enhance the hell out of character building looking at it this way. The concept of where your character gained their cultural norms has never really been fluid, it's always been tied to their racial identity - and now it's not.
It's a small change but it's precisely the right change to make. It drives home the concept of 'race' as social construct in all the right ways, and it's so damn subtle most people won't even notice. Kids growing up with this game will think differently and better because of it.
It's come a long way from 1st edition where 'dwarf' and 'elf' were classes like warrior and wizard.
A really interesting modification to the classical D&D character building mechanics that rely on the concept of race. This modification instead throws the doors open to a wide range of possibilities, instead of limiting the player by making certain races ideal for certain class types, and inadvertently reinforcing the idea that race is actually a biological certainty rather than a social construct.
A lot of computer games do this. It works really well and makes for interesting character creation:
Your upbringing was in a merchant family in the viking culture?
Were you the one to physically fight or to run away as a kid?
Were you the reader or the physical doer?
Ok; these are your stats, attributes, clothes and customs.
Just one recent example of this is Mount and Blade II Bannerlords, which I believe is still in beta.
I believe these are the rules the ppl playing in Roll20: Lost Mine of Phandelver used when generating their characters (or maybe it was something similar). I definitely think it is a better approach in general, but as always should be agreed upon before everyone rolls up their characters. I can also see the point of having the raging horde of monsters be something other than the regular folks. I mean none sane would walk around and slaughter a tribe of sentient green guys and rifle through their pockets for change just because they happen to live in the dungeon being explored by the party. You might talk to them, find out that they are working for the big-bad-evil-gal, then do the true heroic thing and help them organize a union to improve their wages and living conditions... But, sometimes it is just fun to plough through nameless monsters.
I was under the impression D&D is frequently more about species than race, the same way a Grizzly Bear is always stronger than a human. It’s reasonable to expect different species to have vastly different abilities. This is not true about human races. A human and an Orc are essentially distinct, while a light skin human and a dark skin human are not.
This starts to break down when you think through how a human and an orc are both canonically people, and what it means to play a game where you are inventing essential distinctions between people, in a real world where fictional "essential" distinctions between people have been used to justify tremendous harm.
Sure fictional worlds and actual worlds are in constant communication. They’re also not the same.
I look forward to min-maxing this into the stuff of DM nightmares. Also... didn't Pathfinder already kinda do this in 2E? They have both Ancestry and Heritage.
Though, surely the racism built into the game was accidental. There's a reason Myfarog exists to intentionally create a game with these issues as features, to name one notorious example. The 70s and 80s were radically different from even the 90s (which were still sort of comparatively conservative), and the country was still dealing with its own socio-political crap in unhealthy ways which filtered into every aspect of our culture.
I think it's an interesting concept. I accidentally created a dragonborn character that came from a barbarian culture playing 5e, and am curious what I could've done doing this on purpose.
I entirely agree. One of the things that I'm trying to be personally more conscious of is that pushing back at overt racism is not enough. Racism has been a part of our (speaking as an American) culture for so long, and has been there so long that sometimes we don't notice. Like the furniture in a house you inherited from your parents.
It's not our fault that racism exists in our culture, but it is our responsibility to re-examine some social norms and consider if they need updating. The point not being to try and prevent any possible offense to anyone whatsoever, but to really consider that our pre-existing social norms have contributed to the society we have today. So if we want to improve our society tomorrow, we need to consider how we want to change both the social norms and the myriad of cultural influences that helped build them.
I realize I may have accidentally defended the racism, but I think you got what I meant.
I agree. It's sort of like patching holes in a wall so the hate can't get in. Fix the small, quiet, even accidental covert racism as well as the loud overt stuff. It would also mean the next big thing that surfaces in the mainstream in 30 years won't have to be retooled for being problematic, hopefully.
I've got some reservations about potential mechanics kicking the can into nationalism or cultural elitism, but I'll have to see it for myself before I say anything expressing a real issue with it.
My immediate knee jerk reaction when I saw this was 'great, the woke crowd is coming for my favorite hobby, time to sharpen my knives' - but I needn't have worried.
The new mechanics are solid and it'll enhance the hell out of character building looking at it this way. The concept of where your character gained their cultural norms has never really been fluid, it's always been tied to their racial identity - and now it's not.
It's a small change but it's precisely the right change to make. It drives home the concept of 'race' as social construct in all the right ways, and it's so damn subtle most people won't even notice. Kids growing up with this game will think differently and better because of it.
It's come a long way from 1st edition where 'dwarf' and 'elf' were classes like warrior and wizard.