D & D races are ripped off from Tolkien, and I would say that although he did not use the term, elves and dwarves and men would qualify as separate species. (Although once in a great while elves and men can mate.) Hobbits I think are technically a subdivision of men.
That was my first thought too. Half elves suggest the relationship between elves and humans is like neanderthal to homo sapiens. Based on folklore I would have assumed dwarves, goblins and trolls can't interbreed with humans, but some sources would have giants breeding with humans (even though that seems like the most logistically difficult one).
Of course it's a fantasy role playing game so the whole thing doesn't make any sense. I can't imagine why D&D would have needed any revisions at all. It probably should have gone open source years ago
I'm fascinated by the process of how these changes take root. Why did it take 4 years to filter down into something as uncool and below the cultural radar as D&D, while the Academy announced its own new inclusion standards for the Oscars by September 2020? Do viral cultural ideas (usually awful) still affect the prestige institutions first before wending their way down, the way awful policy ideas start in the Ivys and don't make it down to Hillbilly College for 3 or 4 years by which time the Ivys consider it passe'? (Or the way covid spread from the ski resorts in Colorado and Italy in Jan before hitting red states later in the spring.) I would have thought with X and all the other platforms to disseminate ideas we'd have much shorter transmission time now.
Speaking of the Academy, google "Academy Aperture 2025" to read 2020 articles about the 5 year plan to fight injustice that Hollywood concocted back in the BLM heyday. If you follow the official "Academy Aperture 2025" link today you're taken to a page that just refers to "Academy Aperture" and no longer mentions 2025.
Since it's 1/1, some enterprising young person should start keeping a list of which cultural institutions or genres double down on woke and which move past it, and then report back in 4 years at the end of DJT2 to evaluate their relative successes.
D&D is a business. Someone has to run the D&D department. You think he's going decide it's fine as it is and make no changes? Why do we even pay him.
My opinion is that Word 97 was excellent and every change since has made it worse for me. The only major complaint I had about it back then (it was retarded at handling outlines) was still a problem last I checked. Why did they keep messing with it? Because someone runs the Word department and he can't just say it's perfect.
Here's the thing about these old-time games and genres being tampered with:
Dungeons and dragons and the like were popular with nerdy kids in the 1980s. Those "kids" are now middle-aged men. The vast majority have put aside childish things.
However, some of these kids never developed into emotionally normal adults. They have what might be called "emotional developmental disorders." In other words they are childish, or emotionally/socially retarded: they remain deeply invested in comic books, fantasy, games and so on.
This disorder has comorbidities, such as hypersensitivity, gender identity disorder, possibly certain paraphilias etc.
Because contemporary kids aren't really into this stuff (I know this because I have a 10yo who probably would have liked D&D in the 80s, but doesn't know what it is), much of the remaining market consists of the above weirdos. Because they are so weird, the companies are changing the games to suit their oddities.
Yes, it's kind of annoying, but I have to admit it's funny to see Elon Musk getting worked up about it, because that does suggest he has more than a little in common with these types.
>But, then, the Dungeons & Dragons community probably doesn’t know many women, feminist, trad, or whatever.
> According to Wizards’ internal studies of the player population, 60% of D&D players are male, 39% are female, and 1% identify otherwise
D & D races are ripped off from Tolkien, and I would say that although he did not use the term, elves and dwarves and men would qualify as separate species. (Although once in a great while elves and men can mate.) Hobbits I think are technically a subdivision of men.
'“Races” are now “species.”'
Pretty cool to see them using Weihan Zhang Taxonomy.
If elves are a species, how can you have half-elves?
That was my first thought too. Half elves suggest the relationship between elves and humans is like neanderthal to homo sapiens. Based on folklore I would have assumed dwarves, goblins and trolls can't interbreed with humans, but some sources would have giants breeding with humans (even though that seems like the most logistically difficult one).
Of course it's a fantasy role playing game so the whole thing doesn't make any sense. I can't imagine why D&D would have needed any revisions at all. It probably should have gone open source years ago
Are you a full troll or just a half-troll?
I'm fascinated by the process of how these changes take root. Why did it take 4 years to filter down into something as uncool and below the cultural radar as D&D, while the Academy announced its own new inclusion standards for the Oscars by September 2020? Do viral cultural ideas (usually awful) still affect the prestige institutions first before wending their way down, the way awful policy ideas start in the Ivys and don't make it down to Hillbilly College for 3 or 4 years by which time the Ivys consider it passe'? (Or the way covid spread from the ski resorts in Colorado and Italy in Jan before hitting red states later in the spring.) I would have thought with X and all the other platforms to disseminate ideas we'd have much shorter transmission time now.
Speaking of the Academy, google "Academy Aperture 2025" to read 2020 articles about the 5 year plan to fight injustice that Hollywood concocted back in the BLM heyday. If you follow the official "Academy Aperture 2025" link today you're taken to a page that just refers to "Academy Aperture" and no longer mentions 2025.
Since it's 1/1, some enterprising young person should start keeping a list of which cultural institutions or genres double down on woke and which move past it, and then report back in 4 years at the end of DJT2 to evaluate their relative successes.
D&D is a business. Someone has to run the D&D department. You think he's going decide it's fine as it is and make no changes? Why do we even pay him.
My opinion is that Word 97 was excellent and every change since has made it worse for me. The only major complaint I had about it back then (it was retarded at handling outlines) was still a problem last I checked. Why did they keep messing with it? Because someone runs the Word department and he can't just say it's perfect.
That's why there was Word Perfect. I still miss that program.
We live in unserious times.
Here's the thing about these old-time games and genres being tampered with:
Dungeons and dragons and the like were popular with nerdy kids in the 1980s. Those "kids" are now middle-aged men. The vast majority have put aside childish things.
However, some of these kids never developed into emotionally normal adults. They have what might be called "emotional developmental disorders." In other words they are childish, or emotionally/socially retarded: they remain deeply invested in comic books, fantasy, games and so on.
This disorder has comorbidities, such as hypersensitivity, gender identity disorder, possibly certain paraphilias etc.
Because contemporary kids aren't really into this stuff (I know this because I have a 10yo who probably would have liked D&D in the 80s, but doesn't know what it is), much of the remaining market consists of the above weirdos. Because they are so weird, the companies are changing the games to suit their oddities.
Yes, it's kind of annoying, but I have to admit it's funny to see Elon Musk getting worked up about it, because that does suggest he has more than a little in common with these types.
I guess in the next version of Lord of the Rings Gimli will use a Bow and be seven feet tall and Legolas will be short and hairy carrying a whip.