Scrivener wrote:I think your missing the point.
D&D evil is not real world evil.
It's not even close.
So don't call it evil then.
Scrivener wrote:Sure you can argue its racist towards orcs and try to draw parallels to real life groups,
This isn't just "racism" that "parallels real life groups". If you wanna make a bunch of dwarves that act like the Black Panthers or elves that act like Nazis, fine. You can even go full blazing saddles with your campaign (
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Jews) without actually being racist.
This isn't racism being discussed/displayed/deconstructed in the game elements. This is the designers of the game describing "lesser races" in a way all to similar to actual racism. Racism isn't an just element in the game; the core system itself is racist, with ubermenschen who are the players who are presumed to be both better and more capable than the untermenschen who are brutish, stupid, and inclined to evil, and who need to either be eliminated or civilized by the "civilized people".
Scrivener wrote:
Heck a species of literal monsters having monstrous tendencies is not the same as saying an ethnic group is incapable of self control.
It was handled here in a way that was very, very similar to actual racism.
Scrivener wrote:
If you were to have demons allowed to change their alignment would you consider a similar quote pertaining to demons to be racist? It is important to remember we are talking about monsters, creatures made by evil, for the purpose of evil.
Since you're defining evil as something other that its english meaning, the above statement is meaningless.
Scrivener wrote:
This is not about members of one species justifying their hatred of other members of their species, this is about a god who is Evil (and easily seen as evil by large segments of the population) making a weapon that is used to systematically kill a species.
So, a Paladin who goes around butchering every demon he sees without talking first is evil?
Scrivener wrote:
Please don't go down this road of "what do words really mean?" You can't give a rigorous definition of Good in real life, hence philosophy.
Which is a good reason NOT to chuck it around wildly (as the DND designers do) or use "good" as a mechanic.
Scrivener wrote:
The D&D definition of evil isn't well defined, but it is hinted clearly and loudly it is "bad guys who do bad stuff, and undead, and primary color dragons".
So, basically, evil is being born to "untermenchen" parents, or engaging in body alteration that society disapproves of (or even having said body alteration done to you), or just acting out in a socially inappropriate way.
Scrivener wrote:
If you want to talk about the morality of suicide bombers using a roleplaying system to center yourself is a very poor idea.
A robust RPG system should have the ability to handle both players who want an interesting, complex world with morality that is intelligently discussed and has shades of grey, and the guy who wants to kill some orcs over a brew. The fact that the 5E system is literally worse than "none at all" is a testament to how badly it is designed.