Thread by @BigSquishyDM

So, one of my biggest complaints about D&D is how it treats races.

Ability scores have no place being in races. Saying all orcs are naturally stupid so they get a negative bonus to that smacks of eugenics.

Speed really should be a math equation like AC and passive perception

Because you can work on being faster than you are, and I've know many a person smaller than myself to be speedy dexterous little shits

And if we are looking at some of the magical bonuses you get... Any of them could be considered cultural teachings, but how they are written sound a hell of a lot like stereotypes that have been wished I to existence by magic. "All Halflings are lucky!"

"All gnomes are natural tinkerers!"

"All orcs are literally to angry to die!"

It just sounds so freaking odd to me. It stands out like a sore thumb in this modern age. And all this builds up to the big one.

There are evil races and there are good races.

It comes from the Hollywood need for mindless henchmen. All of these guys are evil, so we don't really need to think about them as a whole.

Which is great for an organization, or for a government bent in genocide and world domination.

All of x race is evil is a bad idea

Because it comes from an old trope that runs deep through Hollywood and other media that got propped up by the eugenics movement - some people are just born bad because every member of their race is inherently inferior.

"All goblins are cowards and stupid. They will shank you for absolutely no reason and should be killed on sight"

"Orcs are frothing mad barbarians who cannot help but to murder and butcher their way from one end of the continent to the other"

"The Drow were cursed to be evil!

And have to move out of their homeland to shake off the evil that runs through their veins!"

Sounds a hell of a lot like "White Man's Burden" Bull Shit. And I don't like that.

"You can just say that the books are written from the perspective of very biased humans!"

Yeah. I could. I often tell my players that we aren't married to lore. Mostly so I don't have to memorize how many times the elven lords bathe in a day. But also because I flat out

Ignore all of this problematic shit. But I shouldn't have to rewrite a product every time I play a game.

"That means that the races are just cosmetic and have no mechanical value. It would bog the game books"

There are plenty to bog down the game books.

We spend so much time focusing on lore of places that don't exist. We've reinvented time! Most of it literally has no bearing on the game whatsoever but it's still there, we could easily put race into that pot and the game would be the exact same as it is now.

I don't know what the solution is to this issue. I am, however, saying it is important to think about what kind of energy you're bringing into the table and space and how to make it better. If you're designing your own games, how do you make that better?

Because it is a trap NO ONE has to fall into.