Thursday, December 1, 2022

Race vs Species in D&D



The newest One DnD playtest packet, featuring the Cleric and the Goliath Species, dropped today. Wizards of the Coast also announced that they would drop the word "race" and start using the word "species" going forward. I don't think this change surprised anyone as WotC is just the latest in a long line of publishers within the "DnD genre" to do this and I'm sure many saw this "grand conspiracy" coming and its yet another reason to be outraged about a game of make believe with math.

I doubt I'm going to change anyone's mind but I'm going to roll with this change because I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable about the lingo DnD uses. If it were up to me 8 Billion souls would be playing DnD so I'd like to be as accessible as possible.

So, in short, I don't want to be a Dick and I encourage all of you to not be a Dick either.


4 comments:

Jonathan Linneman said...

I'm sure that, as you say, the outrage is on its way, but I'm happy to see that it's finally official. The word "race" has been strangely used in fantasy for a long time...better now than later to start the shift to more culturally appropriate terminology.

I do think there are minds open to being changed on the matter, and I appreciate your part in the conversation...!

Cross Planes said...

I'm glad too and I think there are many open minds out there. I've been using "race" for 20 years on tabletop and computer games and I know some people like "tradition". Thank you for reading and chiming in.

Wesley Austin said...

Great breakdown of the Race vs Species debate in D&D! It’s interesting to see how these terms shape character creation and world-building. Always love seeing how D&D evolves.
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