I’m a terrible DM but I also don’t do the whole ‘evil races’ thing either when I do actually DM; the only such beings when it does occur being fiendish beings who come from hell or the abyss, or the undead (except for one ‘undead’ lich who only became a (plant based) lich because he feared death greatly).
I remember reading a forum post by Gygax (so relatively recent post, as in within the last twenty years) where he justified the killing of the children of evil races saying that a certain general’s observation of ‘nits make lice’ (in reference to the general pushing his troops to kill the women and children of native Americans) was an observable fact.
Gygax and his chud writings are one of the primary reasons I outright reject “The Thermian Argument” when it comes to how things must be just because that was how the fiction (emphasis: FICTION) was written previously. I don’t just apply it to D&D, but D&D is certainly where I actively reject it in my own campaigns.
I’ve had to deal with some Thermian Argumenters in the past, online but also occasionally in person, saying that anything in the lore or the story’s narration that has horrid ideology and/or political messaging in a piece of fiction isn’t necessarily “condoning” it, yet it can not be changed or rewritten or retconned because that was how the fiction was already written. Fuck that.
Nice, now that’s my kind of campaign.
I’m a terrible DM but I also don’t do the whole ‘evil races’ thing either when I do actually DM; the only such beings when it does occur being fiendish beings who come from hell or the abyss, or the undead (except for one ‘undead’ lich who only became a (plant based) lich because he feared death greatly).
I remember reading a forum post by Gygax (so relatively recent post, as in within the last twenty years) where he justified the killing of the children of evil races saying that a certain general’s observation of ‘nits make lice’ (in reference to the general pushing his troops to kill the women and children of native Americans) was an observable fact.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/dtpgim/gygax_on_lawful_good/
Gygax and his chud writings are one of the primary reasons I outright reject “The Thermian Argument” when it comes to how things must be just because that was how the fiction (emphasis: FICTION) was written previously. I don’t just apply it to D&D, but D&D is certainly where I actively reject it in my own campaigns.
I’ve had to deal with some Thermian Argumenters in the past, online but also occasionally in person, saying that anything in the lore or the story’s narration that has horrid ideology and/or political messaging in a piece of fiction isn’t necessarily “condoning” it, yet it can not be changed or rewritten or retconned because that was how the fiction was already written. Fuck that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxV8gAGmbtk