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He was also heavily inspired by racist fantasy novels. I’m not here to say he was an active racist (someone who promotes racist views) but he was for sure a passive racist (someone who doesn’t recognize racist literature when its right in front of them).
I’m not even trying to say we need to cancel Gygax for passive racism. I’m just saying we need to assess the roots of tabletop role playing and figure out how to keep the good parts while abandoning the bad parts. And part of that means discussing that the pulp fiction of the 20s, 30s, and 40s that Gygax was drawing from was HORRIBLY racist.
At least part of that crowd wants D&D to be a gateway into Mein Kampf. I think it’s fine, possibly even good, to have table top games that explore the darker parts of humanity so we can get that shit out of our systems in our basements, but I think the super mainstream games kind of have a responsibility to focus on creating an inviting space for everyone, and the games that get dark need to be considerate in how they design their darkness. Like exploring darkness needs to be the point of the system and it needs to not glorify the darkness. I think D Vincent Baker is a really good example of someone doing that. In Dogs in the Vineyard you’re effectively roleplaying a secret police member and you know what? Its fun! You know what else? It opens your mind up a little bit to how fucked up elements of history have been.