6&7 Yells About D&D · 6:05pm Jun 25th, 2020
Ok. So. At this point, if you're into Dungeons and Dragons, you're probably aware that there is a push to move away from the standard 'race' categorization of characters, as it tends to play into and reinforce real-world problematic conceptualizations of race. The other day, I bought a couple of PDFs from Arcanist Press which detail some new concepts for how to replace race with the concepts of 'ancestry' and 'culture'.
It. Is. Awesome.
For a start, it enables you to customize your character on a far deeper level than the rules of the the game formerly permitted -- you can have a character with one gnomish parent and one dwarvish, for instance, or make a tiefling who was raised in an elvish society.
There's also a companion document which introduces a number of non-standard ancestries and cultures. Some are familiar, like gnolls, aarakocra, and tabaxi. Others, like bearfolk, satyrs, and qīvux, are rather more off the beaten track. I tell you, I am absolutely vibing. I may have to start over from scratch on my Ponies and Paladins designs, tbh. Why would I just have Pinkie Pie as a halfling when she could be part-satyr? There are creatures in here that are made of elemental magic, or chaos, or crystals. It's all quite thrilling -- I love character creation, and this is an absolute godsend as far as that's concerned.
Anyway, excited yelling is over. If you're interested in picking up some copies, here are the links:
Core document
Nonstandard creatures
Happy gaming to all,
-6&7
*nods* Yeah, I still play a blend of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D (I started in 1978), and species is a huge factor in the various societies in those worlds. It’s tied closely into not only insular societies but also both religion and morality/ethics.
The humanoid or goblinoid races, so called, have particularly been a topic of occasional but fierce debate almost ever since the game was put out. After all (as I recall a Dragon magazine article pointing out ages ago), their society is based on evil, they have gods whose main bread and butter revolves around keeping them evil, and so forth. But at the same time, why not have good aligned Orcs (as they eventually did in Forgotten realms, demonstrating that even in canon the LE alignment was nurture, not nature)?
So, from a game design perspective, what you’re describing is a logical and well thought out move, and it solves a lot of problems.
Yet from a reffing and story telling perspective, for me at least, the current runs a little deeper. Partially because I like stories about transition, and partially because, in gaming, I prefer for the PCs to be at the forefront of major change rather than simply reacting to changes like they’re the Jedi in the prequels. And I really prefer to avoid game resets; I keep track of the timelines and stories in the worlds we play in, and enjoy tracking how different actions effect one another between campaigns. That’s a lot of game history to set aside.
And most of all, if there is evil to be confronted, I like it to be confronted by players in game far more than by other forces during the prologue.
So. Speaking of ancient history...
Ages ago, when this ancient land was not quite so ancient, there was a series of modules that led into the Underdark itself (its first introduction), through the one existing Drow city (their first introduction), and into the Abyssal realm of Lolth herself (her first introduction). The PCs, if they were powerful, clever, and lucky enough, could fight and kill the Demon Queen on her own turf, ending her influence entirely.
When we ran through it, one of the PCS was a Drow. Her goal was to liberate the Drow from Lolth’s tyranny. She was kind of like if you took Malcolm X, Bobby Seal, and the Buddha, and rolled them all into one. And while we didn’t succeed completely in stopping the Drow from being evil (we had power and wisdom, but no luck), we did weaken the grip of evil upon the Drow.
After Lolth’s death, the Drow scattered, building new cities and establishing new traditions. Meanwhile, even as one of Lolth’s daughters took her place, other Drow gods also arose, filling in the power vacuum. (Amusingly enough, years later in 2nd Edition this was also part of game and novel canon. Well, except for our Drow PC of course.) One of these new gods, in fact, was the Drow goddess of benevolence, dance, and swordplay.
So, progress. Just not enough of it.
So, now I’m envisioning a similar campaign with, let’s say, one or more Orcs and other “monster” species. They adventure together, growing wise and powerful, bonding together across the years as friends under duress will. Eventually, they journey into Hell itself... to fight and cast down the evil gods who keep their people in bondage, freeing the Orcs at last from their tyranny.
Other PCs might represent other species, who also, with their friends, continue on to overthrow the forces of evil that have maintained a chokehold on various peoples for epochs. Goblin, Kobold, Orc, Human, Elf... all of them, as friends and decent people, growing and learning together, striving to make things better the only way they can.
One way or another, a grand change takes place in the universe. The old order is being torn asunder, that a new way might be born. It is a revolution the likes of which has never been seen before. And it is glorious.
And then, when the PCs return to their own world, they might become a new leader to their people, leading them and others to a new golden age. Or they might find that, due to the time differential between planes, ages have passed, and such an age is already awaiting them thanks to their own heroic efforts. Or they might find that their various cultures are finding their own ways of doing things without the old gods’ interference, and just leave well enough alone.
But one way or another, a new age has been born. One very much like what you’ve been describing above.
Yeah. That’s storny epic. I think I need to do that at some point.
*scribbling away*
Also, I forgot to mention in my own excited yelling about campaign ideas: thank you for talking about and posting those links! I will nab those suckers as soon as I can.