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Keyleth's cultural appropriation
I need to voice my frustrating and discomfort with Marisha and Matt appropriating Maori culture for Keyleth's people.
Some twitter threads:
I love CR, but it's very white, and you definitely feel it while watching.
Some twitter threads:
- However Keyleth not being Maori and having Maori tattoos and using Maori words (incorrectly I might add) isn't fine because it impacts real living people. So you see that's not just fantasy. That's cultural appropriation.
- A recap of why I'm always bringing up the issues with Keyleth with Maori tattoos because apparently a lot of people missed this when it happened.
- relatively gentle reminder to not give keyleth maori tattoos and use kaitiaki as a greeting since neither she or marisha are maori and kaitiaki isnt a greeting in the first place
- Y'all want to hear about how ironic it is that CR is misusing the word kaitiaki? Of course you don't but you're going to anyway
I love CR, but it's very white, and you definitely feel it while watching.
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Tell me how you feel about fantasy worlds building off of various real world cultures without taking direct, specific practices verbatim? I know I try to be mindful in my games when building out the world, but I'm always learning more each day.
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I'm neither Maori nor German so I can't speak to that, but I do wish as you say for the show to create more of a separation between reality and fantasy cultures. What I can speak to is how lazy it can feel sometimes to see cultures, including your own, lifted wholesale - or more often, lifted in hacked-up parts with no consideration to context or origin - and thrown into a fantasy world to make something sound ~exotic~. Like, Forgotten Realm's Zakhara, Calimshan, and Kara-Tur? Uh-uh. That ain't it, chief. Try harder. *sigh* And part of this is because they're old settings, and just haven't been touched because the entirety of 5e with the exception of ToA has been set in the eurofantasy hub that is the Sword Coast -__-
You know, I really want to believe taking inspiration from the richness of human cultures IRL can be done without being kinda yikes about it. I just have yet to see it really... done... that way. And I think part of this sits with the fact that so much (so much) of fantasy is white and western - to the point of still being definitively so - and part of it sits with me not having gone out of my way enough to search out creative fantasy written by people of colour who make an effort to port stuff over. I think though, generally speaking, given that fantasy is the way it is right now, I feel iffy about stuff being taken verbatim in most cases. There's just such a culture of doing so lazily, or selfishly.
But I think there has to be a middle ground there to allow for creativity and exploration - which is something tabletop, and worldbuilding in general allows for in such a lovely way - without hurting anyone. I think asking the people who actually know it best is always the first port of call - and if the gist one gets is of excitement rather than defensiveness, maybe it's going the right way. I don't want to let my poor experiences in the past colour my openness to the idea of it, you know?
*war flashbacks to playing with white cis men who proceeded to tell me - someone who spoke arabic - that calling the marketplace in the desert town the al-bazaar market made total sense*
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For me, my home games include friends of many backgrounds, and I feel like everyone is really happy with the lore we have. I did poll them all on backstory and where they'd like to see things go. I try to create things that makes sense for the fantasy cultures of the region (like the founding day celebrations celebrating the original war, which different groups have different feelings on). If I were to publish anything I would 1000% hire sensitivity readers to help, but for private games I try to be mindful while also allowing myself room to fuck up. My friends love the games and I can't worry about the internet judging.
As for 5e content from POC creators, the two I think of are:
Sina Una, which is based on Filipino culture
Wagadu, which is based on African cultures
I have wanted to snatch them both, but then this year took a dive and I'm trying to save funds, but they are both definitely still on my list for later.
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That's a good point! There's without a doubt a difference between something made to please a small group of friends, and something made for wider consumption. I'd love to hear more about the lore of your campaign world if you want to talk about it any time. For tabletop, the people at the table are the primary audience - private games are to make those people happy, not to please someone else.
Thank you so much for these links! The art for both of these projects is stunning, wow. I want them so bad *v* Sina Una in particular looks like something I would love to play or run hhh
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Sina Una screams to me. I will definitely be getting that book eventually. The $40 preorder is a good price too (for a campaign guide with a small publisher) so maybe later this summer I can place that order.
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Yeah, seems sensible. I only wish shipping or customs to the UK was kinder haha.
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I love CR too (though admittedly more into C2) and I was recently thinking again about how white it is and although there have been some fabulous guests, I just feel like for the amount of time the cast talks about BLM, it would be really great if they walked the walk better. There's no reason that someone couldn't sit out a future C3 and have a guest sit in for the whole campaign, not just an evening or two.
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I'm glad I thought to post in the end, knowing that it brought awareness to you of this. TwT I feel that way a lot about CR (re: walking the walk), but it is good to know that they are well intentioned and hopefully will become better allies as they learn. It's frustrating that we aren't further than we are, but it's no reason not to celebrate the progress that has been made. :')
I am finally on the home stretch with CR1! I remember I was in the early 20s/30s wrt episodes when CR2 started, and I watched the first couple episodes live before deciding 'nah, I'll finish the first campaign first' and a long time later here I am ^_^ I think I have another 20smth episodes, and then I can finally start with the new campaign, for which I am veeeery excited.
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Congrats on nearly getting to the end of CR1! I'm very excited for you to start the new campaign too. ♥ I think
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I would just like more reflection, I think. I don't know, I'm not super tapped into the CR community, but I feel like a discussion should be happening surrounding all of this. I'm not demanding them to change their group or something drastic, but more of an acknowledgement of the uncomfortable state that is often synonymous with being an ally, rather than just celebration of the easier parts.
I don't know if any of that made sense pfff. I should go to bed soon.
Yesss it will be good! ;w ; tabletop is having something of a renaissance right now, huh? I love that so much.
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I admit I'm not really tapped into that community either. There was some pretty insane stuff that has happened during C2 with the fandom that was Not Good. But I have found some pretty good people in the fandom too! I suppose it's all in where you look. And I agree that there is importance in uncomfortable conversations.
It's so great! Our kid has been a DM since he was in 5th grade and I've been watching him grow up with his friends (and now being a DM and a player, too) playing, it's so nostalgic of when I played for the first time in middle school. I so badly want to play again but I am hard of hearing and have severe tinnitus, that's a tricky thing. Do you play?
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Slowly but surely we will vanquish racism *clenches fist*
Omg, dare I ask what? I have an irl friend who's very into CR, but more the cosplay scene, which is very much not mine haha.
Woah, long time! I only got into DND after I turned 20, and wish I'd had a chance to earlier! That sounds awesome, I find it really cute when I see TV shows that has kids playing from a young age, or I hear stories about it. It's such a good way to make friends and work on both creative and social skills. GAH, I love tabletop rpgs. I do play! I run a weekly game for a small group of irl friends (although we've been sticking to online for a few months now) and I run another game online but I think I'm going to have to call that one to an end, sadly. I miss playing! I play on Saturdays sometimes, but it's not super regular. The dream is to have a dedicated weekly/bi-weekly group with a gang who always play together. >u< One dayyy~
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. :( Have you played any play-by-post? I played regularly in a game for that via discord and loved it so much, I want to run one sometime! I know it's not the same as playing in person (or even via call) but it does scratch the itch a little for me. ^_^
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*raised fist* Totally there with you.
Oh boy, there were too many mini-wanks to mention but fortunately they sort of came and went. I suppose that's the downside of any huge fandom, a certain percentage is going to be frothing at the mouth while a good portion are just chill and stuff. That's so cool about your friend doing cosplay of CR! I'm always totally amazed at the great stuff out there (and the ART. Omfgdgsghf have we talked about the art?!).
That's so cool! Me and our kid were totally squeeing about the kids in Stranger Things playing D&D. It was such a nostalgia kick for me and such a nerd-out for him. :D
That's so great that you play! My bf also has a weekly online group and I've been super jealous listening to him talk about it. :D I think that's a great dream to have. ♥
You know, I've been considering something like play-by-play (I did some RPG back in the day and that was fun) and somehow I didn't even think of discord being a good place for that though it makes sense! Do you have links to any you recommend? I am reeeeeeeeally itchy and would love to scratch that D&D itch. :D
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Yes, I was specifically thinking of Stranger Things' opening!! Agh, it was magic to see it play out. What a cool experience for you and your kid to share. :D
Ahaha, the dnd itch is too reaaal. I found my group my browsing the lfg reddit and searching it for 'play by post', sorting by 'new' (this link should work, I hope!). If you don't find anything you like the look of and want to make your own group, I'd be happy to run something short or play along, too! ^_^ The reddit is reaaaly active nowadays because of the virus, so there's probably a lot of competition for spaces, but sooner or later you're bound to find something. I've played on another platform, I don't even really remember the name of it, but it was super inactive after a few weeks sadly. Discord has been the best pbp platform I've found.