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D&D Co-Creator Gary Gygax was Sexist. Talking about it is Key to Preserving His Legacy.
@Shyfer Not gonna lie, I'm surprised this has to be said?
Like... everything I've *ever* heard about Gygax pushed the idea that he was THE prototypical grognard that causes the TTRPG hobby so much trouble.
Dungeons and Dragons, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, all the way up through at least 3rd Ed and with continuing themes past that... it has obvious racist and sexist roots in so much of how things are set up, and that's always the first thing I try to throw out any time I run a game.
He was also heavily inspired by racist fantasy novels. I’m not here to say he was an active racist (someone who promotes racist views) but he was for sure a passive racist (someone who doesn’t recognize racist literature when its right in front of them).
I’m not even trying to say we need to cancel Gygax for passive racism. I’m just saying we need to assess the roots of tabletop role playing and figure out how to keep the good parts while abandoning the bad parts. And part of that means discussing that the pulp fiction of the 20s, 30s, and 40s that Gygax was drawing from was HORRIBLY racist.
*nods*
I like that the broader hobby is at least trying right now - even with as small of changes as shifting from 'race' to 'ancestry' or 'background' for establishing starting character genotype/phenotype - but it's depressing how much pushback even that gets from folks who want to defend the way it's always been.
The fact that most of the folks looking to defend the racism are *also* the ones who want to insist that incredibly sexist worlds are "historical"... in a fantasy game?
At least part of that crowd wants D&D to be a gateway into Mein Kampf. I think it’s fine, possibly even good, to have table top games that explore the darker parts of humanity so we can get that shit out of our systems in our basements, but I think the super mainstream games kind of have a responsibility to focus on creating an inviting space for everyone, and the games that get dark need to be considerate in how they design their darkness. Like exploring darkness needs to be the point of the system and it needs to not glorify the darkness. I think D Vincent Baker is a really good example of someone doing that. In Dogs in the Vineyard you’re effectively roleplaying a secret police member and you know what? Its fun! You know what else? It opens your mind up a little bit to how fucked up elements of history have been.