Let's Read: Coyote & Crow
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 3:44 pm
In March 2021, Connor Alexander, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation launched a Kickstarter campaign for Coyote & Crow, A science fiction and fantasy tabletop RPG set in a near-future where the Americas were never colonized, created by a team of Natives.
I'm not one that pay a lot of attention to Kickstarter, but I saw Coyote & Crow mentioned by people who love to say 'get woke, go broke'. It was immediately apparent that these types of people objected to the game because it tried to create a platform for Native artists and recognizing that people might have a different perspective on their own cultures than those of outsiders is something that these people can't accept. Not only do they not recognize that cultural appropriation and/or cultural insensitivity are possible, they believe that promoting a voice to ensure diversity is itself racist. No, in their mind, the only way to avoid racism is to continue letting people who look like them imagine worlds that look different from our own.
Pictured: Not Racism
In reading about Coyote & Crow I learned that it imagines an alternate timeline which a major disaster that wreaked havoc with Europe ~1500. As a result, colonization didn't happen. Seven hundred years have passed and we're now in an alternate future. While the idea that a future that doesn't have Europeans as speculative fiction is already a bridge too far for some of these people, Connor Alexander also had advice for players. For native players, he suggested they use the fictional culture presented in the book since this isn't focused on real-world tribal issues and 700 years is a lot of alternate history but if they really wanted to imagine their culture in this world, they should go ahead and do that. On the other hand, he asked that non-Native players avoid bringing in real-world cultures because they wouldn't look the same, and it's very easy to create a racist caricature even without meaning to.
Or deliberately, intent can be hard to read
In any case, hearing people seriously argue that a suggestion to play the game in a way that is respectful to real world cultures is exactly like segregated water fountains certainly made me curious about the game. While science fantasy isn't my preferred flavor, and I have a game that I play with my friends that fills my gaming needs, I decided $76.42 was worth it to actually take a look at the game. Since the game book supports the creator and Native Artists, the author did suggest that there was value in buying it even if you didn't intend to play. Obviously if you believe that promoting diverse voices artistically is the problem, that statement was guaranteed to generate blind, frothing rage. It is ridiculous.
Of course, just because something may have cultural and artistic value doesn't necessarily mean it's a good Table Top Roleplaying Game. Designing a game is really hard, and there are a lot of potential mis-steps. My book is scheduled for delivery today, so I'm beginning my review sight unseen. My goal is to be honest about what I like, what I see as problems, and how much mind-caulk the game requires to play. What I'm going to try to avoid is spending a lot of time explaining why suggesting you not make your character greet everyone with 'How, White Man' plays to negative stereotypes and why the game suggests you avoid things along those lines.
The game is clear that we're getting a fictional Native Culture that is not a stand-in for any particular culture, so I'm probably going to talk about that culture to a significant degree during the course of the review. For those of you who are interested in learning more about Coyote & Crow outside of my review, here are some links that may be helpful:
Coyote & Crow Kickstarter
Coyote & Crow Website - This includes blog posts, including asking people to try the game. Some people don't like that.
Coyote & Crow Core Book at Amazon
Since I didn't participate in the Kickstarter, I'm not able to view backer comments and involve myself in the discussion. Outside of people insisting this is or isn't racist, there appears to be a bit of a kerfluffle regarding donated books. As part of the Kickstarter Connor allowed people to purchase additional books for distribution to Native Reservations and Cultural Centers. They received more than 5000 donations. They didn't expect to have that level of support, and it is not even clear that there are 5,000 places to send those donations. It's also very clear that sending 5,000 donations is more expensive in terms of shipping than they estimated. There are some other issues that are normal for any business (see blog posts if you care), so Connor is asking for patience while this gets worked out. Presumably some people are upset that their donated items haven't reached the intended recipient yet, but as far as I can tell there was no firm date for expected delivery and the only people who seem to care are the people who want this product to fail because it makes them uncomfortable that it specifically promotes Native voices.
Doing a Kickstarter, raising over $1 Million, successfully producing and distributing books to backers - that's all gone well, apparently, which is a bit surprising given that this is a first-time Kickstarter and there's a lot involved. The Coyote & Crow Team is releasing a new Crowd-Funding Campaign on Backerkit that launches 9/13. With any luck, I'll have completed this review before then!
I'm not one that pay a lot of attention to Kickstarter, but I saw Coyote & Crow mentioned by people who love to say 'get woke, go broke'. It was immediately apparent that these types of people objected to the game because it tried to create a platform for Native artists and recognizing that people might have a different perspective on their own cultures than those of outsiders is something that these people can't accept. Not only do they not recognize that cultural appropriation and/or cultural insensitivity are possible, they believe that promoting a voice to ensure diversity is itself racist. No, in their mind, the only way to avoid racism is to continue letting people who look like them imagine worlds that look different from our own.
Pictured: Not Racism
In reading about Coyote & Crow I learned that it imagines an alternate timeline which a major disaster that wreaked havoc with Europe ~1500. As a result, colonization didn't happen. Seven hundred years have passed and we're now in an alternate future. While the idea that a future that doesn't have Europeans as speculative fiction is already a bridge too far for some of these people, Connor Alexander also had advice for players. For native players, he suggested they use the fictional culture presented in the book since this isn't focused on real-world tribal issues and 700 years is a lot of alternate history but if they really wanted to imagine their culture in this world, they should go ahead and do that. On the other hand, he asked that non-Native players avoid bringing in real-world cultures because they wouldn't look the same, and it's very easy to create a racist caricature even without meaning to.
Or deliberately, intent can be hard to read
In any case, hearing people seriously argue that a suggestion to play the game in a way that is respectful to real world cultures is exactly like segregated water fountains certainly made me curious about the game. While science fantasy isn't my preferred flavor, and I have a game that I play with my friends that fills my gaming needs, I decided $76.42 was worth it to actually take a look at the game. Since the game book supports the creator and Native Artists, the author did suggest that there was value in buying it even if you didn't intend to play. Obviously if you believe that promoting diverse voices artistically is the problem, that statement was guaranteed to generate blind, frothing rage. It is ridiculous.
Of course, just because something may have cultural and artistic value doesn't necessarily mean it's a good Table Top Roleplaying Game. Designing a game is really hard, and there are a lot of potential mis-steps. My book is scheduled for delivery today, so I'm beginning my review sight unseen. My goal is to be honest about what I like, what I see as problems, and how much mind-caulk the game requires to play. What I'm going to try to avoid is spending a lot of time explaining why suggesting you not make your character greet everyone with 'How, White Man' plays to negative stereotypes and why the game suggests you avoid things along those lines.
The game is clear that we're getting a fictional Native Culture that is not a stand-in for any particular culture, so I'm probably going to talk about that culture to a significant degree during the course of the review. For those of you who are interested in learning more about Coyote & Crow outside of my review, here are some links that may be helpful:
Coyote & Crow Kickstarter
Coyote & Crow Website - This includes blog posts, including asking people to try the game. Some people don't like that.
Coyote & Crow Core Book at Amazon
Since I didn't participate in the Kickstarter, I'm not able to view backer comments and involve myself in the discussion. Outside of people insisting this is or isn't racist, there appears to be a bit of a kerfluffle regarding donated books. As part of the Kickstarter Connor allowed people to purchase additional books for distribution to Native Reservations and Cultural Centers. They received more than 5000 donations. They didn't expect to have that level of support, and it is not even clear that there are 5,000 places to send those donations. It's also very clear that sending 5,000 donations is more expensive in terms of shipping than they estimated. There are some other issues that are normal for any business (see blog posts if you care), so Connor is asking for patience while this gets worked out. Presumably some people are upset that their donated items haven't reached the intended recipient yet, but as far as I can tell there was no firm date for expected delivery and the only people who seem to care are the people who want this product to fail because it makes them uncomfortable that it specifically promotes Native voices.
Doing a Kickstarter, raising over $1 Million, successfully producing and distributing books to backers - that's all gone well, apparently, which is a bit surprising given that this is a first-time Kickstarter and there's a lot involved. The Coyote & Crow Team is releasing a new Crowd-Funding Campaign on Backerkit that launches 9/13. With any luck, I'll have completed this review before then!