{"id":7085,"date":"2023-04-24T04:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/?p=7085"},"modified":"2023-04-05T10:42:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:42:24","slug":"crashs-course-ep-11-stereotypes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/2023\/04\/crashs-course-ep-11-stereotypes\/","title":{"rendered":"Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 11: Stereotypes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_499\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-7085-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CrashsCourse_Ep_11_Stereotypes.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CrashsCourse_Ep_11_Stereotypes.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CrashsCourse_Ep_11_Stereotypes.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CrashsCourse_Ep_11_Stereotypes.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/?powerpress_pinw=7085-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CrashsCourse_Ep_11_Stereotypes.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"CrashsCourse_Ep_11_Stereotypes.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4404\" src=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Hello and welcome to Crash\u2019s Course, a short form podcast where I share my thoughts and advice on playing and running tabletop role playing games in roughly about 5 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Today I want to talk a little about stereotypes. Outside of a game setting this can be a deep conversation that can lead to some very nasty subjects, but inside a game setting, the same thing can happen and make things be unpleasant all around.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s my hope that most people can agree that assuming stereotypes are true is not the recommended path to take, but at the same time, most games I see with orcs have them as big, burly brutes with a penchant for smashing things, goblins are chaotic, murder-happy munchkins, and elves are aloof, self-centered elitists.<\/p>\n<p>Also, most dwarfs appear to be from Scotland? That\u2019s odd.<\/p>\n<p>Now I\u2019m not saying you should stay away from the occasional angry giant as an antagonist, and people have gotten a lot of use out of stereotypes in their games over the decades, but that doesn\u2019t mean these concepts are carved in stone. Consider, if you will, a goblin paladin who helps the weak and poor, an orc mage who\u2019s calm, collected, and maybe a bit of a pacifist, or even a horde of machine-hating gnome barbarians.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not the only one who thinks this way. Those who\u2019ve been paying attention to the various editions of D&amp;D may have noticed a decreasing emphasis on Alignment. Sure, they still include it as part of the character sheet, but there it\u2019s meant to be a shorthand guide. \u201cIn the lore of the default campaign settings, X creatures are usually YZ Alignment.\u201d It\u2019s a useful tool for a starting GM using pre-created materials to get a quick handle on a recommended way of how those beings could be expected to behave.<\/p>\n<p>But look at the spells <i>Dispel Evil and Good<\/i>, <i>Detect Evil and Good<\/i>, &amp; <i>Protection from Evil and Good<\/i> \u2013 none of these actually mention Alignment outside of their names, unlike the previous edition versions that were either about evil beings or good beings, you had to pick when you prepared the spell.<\/p>\n<p>In truth, I don\u2019t even like the term \u201cevil\u201d as a concept. There are beings who are selfish and self-centered, of course, but the number of mustache-twirling ne\u2019er-do-wells tying people to train tracks out there is mercifully small.<\/p>\n<p>OK, so you still want a horde of goblins to besiege the PCs town. Go for it, but just \u2026 give them a better reason to do it than \u201cthey\u2019re evil goblins, that\u2019s what they do.\u201d Hunting, gathering, and farming are occupations that result in way fewer goblin deaths, and goblins can be intelligent enough to understand this.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps their crops failed, or a passing army scared away all the game, or they were chased out of their previous home when a dragon moved in, and need supplies to travel further.<\/p>\n<p>None of these options insist that the goblins are evil, but still give them a reason for taking from the people who aren\u2019t them and don\u2019t like them (because of stereotypes, most likely). Better yet, an enterprising party might be able to intervene and find a way to prevent loss of life on both sides. When you assume the enemy\u2019s always evil, that becomes a lot harder to do.<\/p>\n<p>Players of my campaigns have gotten used to this being an option, and have intentionally sought diplomatic options when facing bandits, goblins, necromancers, the undead, undead necromancers, and even dragons.<\/p>\n<p>Of course sometimes an antagonist is just not interested in having a chat, and battle\u2019s inevitable. That\u2019s OK, so long as there\u2019s a reason for it.<\/p>\n<p>(And for the record, \u201cthis one\u2019s a bit of a jerk\u201d is a valid reason.)<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all for this episode, subscribe to just this podcast on Mastodon at <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse\">is.aaronbsmith.com\/@crashscourse<\/a> or subscribe to all my TTRPG podcasts at <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel\">is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Music is <a href=\"http:\/\/modarchive.org\/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&amp;query=169788\">Deadly Windmills by JAM from modarchive.org<\/a>, used with permission, as it\u2019s public domain.<\/p>\n<p>This podcast is distributed under a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">CC-BY-NC-ND<\/a> license.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow this series on\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#x25b6; Patreon: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cogwheelgaming\">https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cogwheelgaming<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6; RSS: <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse.rss\">https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse.rss<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6; Google Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hYXJvbmJzbWl0aC5jb20vY29nd2hlZWwvZmVlZC8\">https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hYXJvbmJzbWl0aC5jb20vY29nd2hlZWwvZmVlZC8<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6; Apple Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cogwheel-gaming\/id1291681389\">https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cogwheel-gaming\/id1291681389<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6; Mastodon (Just this podcast): <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse\">https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6; Mastodon (All podcasts): <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel\">https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MP3 Download: <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/CrashsCourse_Ep_11_Stereotypes.mp3\">Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 11: Stereotypes<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=6006674\">Keep us ad free by supporting us on Patreon!<\/a><br \/>\nThanks to our current Patreon Patrons (as of this upload&#8230;): Chris, Cindy<span class=\"sc-AxirZ bmNQcS\" data-tag=\"user-details-full-name\"> (Patron Emeritus)<\/span>, Ellie, Erik<span class=\"sc-AxirZ bmNQcS\" data-tag=\"user-details-full-name\">, ShanShen, and Walter!<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello and welcome to Crash\u2019s Course, a short form podcast where I share my thoughts and advice on playing and running tabletop role playing games in roughly about 5 minutes. Today I want to talk a little about stereotypes. Outside of a game setting this can be a deep conversation that can lead to some &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/2023\/04\/crashs-course-ep-11-stereotypes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 11: Stereotypes&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[312,293],"tags":[362,318,295,327],"class_list":["post-7085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcast","category-ttrpg","tag-crashscourse","tag-dnd","tag-dungeons-and-dragons","tag-ttrpg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7087,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7085\/revisions\/7087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}