Wizards Of The Coast cuts racist lore from Dungeons & Dragons

dungeons Publisher Wizards of the Coast has quietly removed language from its newly released Spelljammer setting, which has come under fire for racist overtones. While D&D Beyond’s online tools no longer contain references to a primate-like race becoming “smart” through enslavement, the physical books already released still contain the problematic language, as well as depictions of a primate-like race that heavily mirror the racist imagery of Minstrel -Shows.

The new Astral Adventurer’s Guide, a setting sourcebook for the revived Spelljammer setting, was released last month. The book fast attracted criticism for his depictions of a primate-like race whose backstory involves enslavement and forced experimentation to alter and enhance their physical and mental abilities. A variety of outlets have highlighted the issue, while many D&D player and Experts | took to Twitter to express his frustration and confusion over an ongoing racism issue that goes back to the origin of the game itself.

my box has reached out to Wizards of the Coast for comment.

dungeons He is no stranger to issues of race and representation. But despite a history of problematic and outright racist depictions of peoples in their fictional worlds, the new is Astral Adventurer’s Guide offers lore containing the “Hadozee”. This is a breed of primates that become “intelligent” through slavery and forced experimentation. This fictional story was also accompanied by images reflecting real-life racist, anti-Black imagery from 19th and 20th century minstrel shows.

Wizards of the Coast has secretly removed references to slavery in the online rules of D&D Beyond, its online store that offers both digital rulebooks and tools like dice and character sheets. However, the company has given no indication that it will print updated versions of the physical books, and The controversial artwork can still be seen in various entries on the site.

The company has not made any public statements about the Hadozee race or the clandestine D&D Beyond updates. However, it has regularly updated players on the status and updates of the “One D&D” playtest, which includes the term “race” for one of the game mechanics – a word that many other publishers of TTRPGs have dropped as part of a larger one Effort to address the legacy of racist language in tabletop roleplaying games.

This recent concern over racial overtones in D&D follows a public commitment by the publisher to address its legacy of systemic racism in its products and to do so in a transparent manner. In 2020 Wizards of the Coast released a statement in which it has committed to making products that better reflect the diversity of its players. It also promised newer books such as Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation, which was also examined for what Wizards himself described as “racially insensitive” text. In its 2020 announcement addressing diversity and the legacy of racism in its products, Wizards also made the following commitments:

We received valuable insights from sensitive readers on two of our recent books. We include sensitivity readers in our creative process and will continue to reach out to experts in various fields to help us identify our blind spots.

We proactively seek new, diverse talent to join our staff and our pool of freelance writers and artists. We’ve brought in contributors that reflect the beautiful diversity of the D&D Community to work on books coming out in 2021. We will continue to invest in this approach and add a wide range of new voices to join the chorus D&D Tell stories.

Sensitive readers, diverse staff, and in-game language changes were all part of the larger effort by the TTRPG companies to create more inclusive and less insensitive material. Yet the world’s most famous RPG, with the clearest history of racist fiction and mechanics, fights on.