"Woke" Franchises

CarlManvers2019

Writers Blocked Douchebag
The lovely people at Wizards of the Coast being extra woke.

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Ya know what, just skip all the woke stuff, stop pretending you’re anything more than guys wanting to make money

People just want to have fun
 

Hlaalu Agent

Nerevar going to let you down
Founder
"No one is going to take your stuff away! We just want some more diversity!"
t.the Left

You'd think fans learned the lesson, but naaah.

We need to create our own clubhouses and keep them out. We can even laugh at them with the diverse rainbow of people we let in, because they are genuine and just want to enjoy themselves. The irony is that these people are destroying things that are already truly diverse and inclusive in the name of diversity and inclusivity. When people who'd normally hate each others guts can break bread over something they both enjoy, isn't that the acme of both inclusivity and diversity?
 

Urabrask Revealed

Let them go.
Founder
We need to create our own clubhouses and keep them out. We can even laugh at them with the diverse rainbow of people we let in, because they are genuine and just want to enjoy themselves. The irony is that these people are destroying things that are already truly diverse and inclusive in the name of diversity and inclusivity. When people who'd normally hate each others guts can break bread over something they both enjoy, isn't that the acme of both inclusivity and diversity?
It's the wrong kind of diversity to them. The right kind would be their chosen people winning forever while the designated whites are third class citizens in the backalley playing with shitty characters and books that declare afro americans as automatic winners of whatever game they play.
 

CarlManvers2019

Writers Blocked Douchebag
It's the wrong kind of diversity to them. The right kind would be their chosen people winning forever while the designated whites are third class citizens in the backalley playing with shitty characters and books that declare afro americans as automatic winners of whatever game they play.

It honestly makes it feel like they're incentivizing people using "3D Printers" to make their own models and pirate old rulebooks or make their own rulebooks and so on

People will adapt, competition will arise and they will lose money
 

Hlaalu Agent

Nerevar going to let you down
Founder
It's the wrong kind of diversity to them. The right kind would be their chosen people winning forever while the designated whites are third class citizens in the backalley playing with shitty characters and books that declare afro americans as automatic winners of whatever game they play.

Perhaps. But I think it is something else, since they don't really care about blacks, they just pretend, for a variety of reasons. To me, it seems that it is their motive here is to destroy, the whole Post-modern ideology of deconstruction and that twisted human impulse to destroy. That reminds me of a story they had us read in High School, about a gang of boys in post-war England.
 

CarlManvers2019

Writers Blocked Douchebag
Perhaps. But I think it is something else, since they don't really care about blacks, they just pretend, for a variety of reasons. To me, it seems that it is their motive here is to destroy, the whole Post-modern ideology of deconstruction and that twisted human impulse to destroy. That reminds me of a story they had us read in High School, about a gang of boys in post-war England.

You know up to now, I still can't remotely understand what "Modernism" and "Post-Modernism" really actually fucking MEAN

And I took a bunch of Social Science classes before
 

Hlaalu Agent

Nerevar going to let you down
Founder
You know up to now, I still can't remotely understand what "Modernism" and "Post-Modernism" really actually fucking MEAN

And I took a bunch of Social Science classes before

I need to refresh myself, I have a hazy understanding of both. Modernism is an ideology has a certain belief in scientific rationalism, scientific progress and the like. 90% it is a development of enlightenment ideas (it might even be a synthesis of enlightenment and romanticism). Post-modernism is a rejection of modernism from my understanding. But this is just from the top of my head.
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik
Honestly with how Orcs and Drow are going to be just like everyone else and not with a general slide towards evil alignments and apparently how that'll apply to all of the intelligent races and the neutering of the racial ability score differences.... Might be worth it's own thread to discuss and mock.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
To me that looks at lot like they're just trying to score cheap points, honestly. Drow and Orcs are more complex in their new release? Drow and Orcs have always been morally vaguer in Eberron. Their new release allows you to customize origin? That sounds less woke and more like they want free points on a supplement the were already about to release.

I think the only things they're really Wokening is their promise to hire more diverse writers (maybe, maybe just saying it and hoping nobody looks at their employee list) and editing the Vistari to be less of a Romani caricature.
 
Granted, my peeps always treated the rulebooks more as guidlines as opposed to hard and fast rules but I don't see what this is actually doing aside from watering down game mechanics in order to adress non issues for the sake of virtue signaling. As far as alignments go, If I could come up with a good enough origin story, I was allowed to play whatever I freaking wanted, (There is something about playing a choatic good dark elf and nearly every society looking at you like your from the 4th dimension that just makes you warm and fuzzy inside xD)
 
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gral

Well-known member
I think the only things they're really Wokening is their promise to hire more diverse writers (maybe, maybe just saying it and hoping nobody looks at their employee list) and editing the Vistari to be less of a Romani caricature.

That's one thing that bugged me(not buggered me, which is a whole different sort of bother) about the announcement: OK, the Vistani are a gypsy caricature, and it might offend people, but... the whole of Barovia is a fucking caricature, of Balkanic territories ruled by Germans or Germanized Hungarians/Slavs (Strahd von Zarovich rings any bells?) and their Slavic subjects, deeply superstitious and mistrustful of strangers. For that matter, the whole book they are pirating the villain from already is a collection of cliches and racial stereotypes. You may tone down some of it, but you can't get rid of it.

As for watering down game mechanics, they may say they are doing this for 'diversity', but what they will end up doing is making every fucking character the same, which already happens in MMORPGs - most people go for the builds that are in fashion at the time. May as well do away with rolling dice for stats and go directly for point min/maxing(something Pathfinder 2nd Edition already is doing, as I understand it).
 

Senor Hortler

Permanently Banned
Permanently Banned
Granted, my peeps always treated the rulebooks more as guidlines as opposed to hard and fast rules but I don't see what this is actually doing aside from watering down game mechanics in order to adress non issues for the sake of virtue signaling. As far as alignments go, If I could come up with a good enough origin story, I was allowed to play whatever I freaking wanted, (There is something exonerating about playing a choatic good dark elf and nearly every society looking at you like your from the 4th dimension xD)
"Nerd culture is cool, lets try and broaden our base by appealing to the mass market thing going on right now!" Is probably the thought process. Problem of course is that D&D needs people to sit down and half the mindless consoomption for five minutes; which the new base they are trying to appeal to won't do.

Going woke only seems to make money for you when your product can be adapted to fast, quick consumption by the shovel load into the troughs of the new 'fast food, fashion and fucking' consumer. D&D is not that product IMHO.
 
"Nerd culture is cool, lets try and broaden our base by appealing to the mass market thing going on right now!" Is probably the thought process. Problem of course is that D&D needs people to sit down and half the mindless consoomption for five minutes; which the new base they are trying to appeal to won't do.

Going woke only seems to make money for you when your product can be adapted to fast, quick consumption by the shovel load into the troughs of the new 'fast food, fashion and fucking' consumer. D&D is not that product IMHO.


nerd culture was never particularly exclusive though at least not when I was growing up. If you wanted learn people would be happy to teach you, heck they were even willing to create lite/abridged campaigns so you could jump right in and then gradually get more detailed (Pretty much like video game settings.) this this just straight up feels like devolution.
 
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Senor Hortler

Permanently Banned
Permanently Banned
nerd culture was never specifically inclusive though at least not when I was growing up. If you wanted learn people would be happy to teach you, heck they were even willing to create lite/abridged campaigns so you could jump right in and then gradually get more detailed (Pretty much like video game settings. this this just straight up feels like devolution.
I know; but we're not talking about actual nerd culture people popular; we just have the conception of nerd culture by disconnected peoples who run these companies and are trying to get on the pulse of things. The culture of nerdy groups doesn't seem to have changed all that much beyond the platforms they use in the past 30 years. But the 'nerd chic' thing has become popular; so wizards probably sees an opportunity to expand a base.
 
I know; but we're not talking about actual nerd culture people popular; we just have the conception of nerd culture by disconnected peoples who run these companies and are trying to get on the pulse of things. The culture of nerdy groups doesn't seem to have changed all that much beyond the platforms they use in the past 30 years. But the 'nerd chic' thing has become popular; so wizards probably sees an opportunity to expand a base.

sometimes I wish I was born in the 70s
 

CarlManvers2019

Writers Blocked Douchebag
sometimes I wish I was born in the 70s

It would have all caught up to you and every other “nerd” at some point

I wonder how long till “nerd culture” stops being “trendy” or something for all those weirdoes to stop using for stuff like selfies and blogs and as a means to be the popular kids who bullied the actual nerds

Actually, man, “popular kids” bullying “nerds”....I think some people want to imitate fiction at times
 
It would have all caught up to you and every other “nerd” at some point

I wonder how long till “nerd culture” stops being “trendy” or something for all those weirdoes to stop using for stuff like selfies and blogs and as a means to be the popular kids who bullied the actual nerds

Actually, man, “popular kids” bullying “nerds”....I think some people want to imitate fiction at times


people like attempting what they see on TV way too much.
 

CarlManvers2019

Writers Blocked Douchebag
people like attempting what they see on TV way too much.

Except they also want to look like "underdogs" while at it

"Nerds" are weak, introverted, unpopular and different. There's "underdog" aspects there which are ironically "popular" but there's still stuff about them they'd love to bully them for.

Fact they're bullying "underdogs" would be seen for what it is.....unless you can portray them all as a bunch of horrible bullies and such yourself
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik
Velma from Scooby Doo is lesbian... which is fine...

2020.07.13-03.08-boundingintocomics-5f0c78e34686b.jpeg


But don't try and justify your queer tokenism in a ludicrously half backed, after the fact manner.

 

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