So @Wizards_DnD has a #DnD book coming out in Nov (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything) that allows players to change their racial traits. Great!

We hope it addresses the essentialism present in the current #DnD races. Will #Orcs still be menacing & savage?

#DnD5e #ttrpgs #ttrpg
1/8

Allowing players to move some ability scores around or alter the default alignment is NOT enough, though. Being able to make the “one good orc or drow” doesn’t address the real problem, which is whole peoples being portrayed as evil or savage.

#DnD5e #DnD #race #orcs
2/8

Being able to make your character be the one orc that doesn’t have the Savage Attacks & Menacing traits, when every other #orc has them, doesn’t help either. Being able to make the exception to the racist rule doesn’t fix the problem.

#DnD #DND5e #racism #orcs
@Wizards_DnD
3/8

What #DnD needs is a full overhaul of “races” that doesn’t describe whole peoples as lesser, evil, & violent — or superior. Keep some differences, sure, but many traits need rewrites.

Ability scores should not be inborn, but neither should savagery or superiority, either.

4/8

And a “fill in the blanks” solution that allows players to just take whatever traits they like from every ‘race’ isn’t helpful either, because (A) the burden is then on the player and DM to write & balance & (B) the narrative of elves, dwarves, etc is lost.

#DnD #DnD5e
5/8

So we hope that @wizards_DnD has done the work to solve this problem, & not just provided a band-aid for it, or outsourced all the work to the players. We’ve always already been able to home-brew races; what we need is leadership that does the work for us.
#DnD #DnD5e #ttrpg
6/8

You know what else would be awesome? If the new thing has rules for making PCs of MIXED ancestry too. If they want diversity, how about moving away from the “half-“ talk and allowing PCs of more than one heritage? We hope they support this.
#DnD #DnD5e #ttrpgs @Wizards_DnD
7/8

We'd like to think we created exactly such a solution, one that rewrites the problematic traits, reframes ‘races’ in a non-essentialist way, & retains the lore/flavor of #DnD.

If that’s your jam, check the free 30 page preview @DriveThruRPG :
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/314622/Ancestry--Culture-An-Alternative-to-Race-in-5e?affiliate_id=297003
#DnD5e
8/8

Line art above is by @bien_flores
Drawing of fighter of elven and orcish ancestry, the wedding scene, and the market scene by @TalonDunning
Color cover image by @badmoonart

All art from Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e.