Ethnic Homogeneity in RPGs (Or, Why So Many Burly White Adventurers?)

I've been a tabletop gamer for a little over a decade now. That's a lot longer than some players, and a lot shorter than others. However, I've also gamed with all sorts of groups, and in all kinds of settings. In all that time, there's this weird tendency I've noticed, and that other players I've spoken to have also noticed. It is, in short, a knee-jerk reaction to keeping our game worlds, and the characters within them, in strictly segregated boxes. Like kids who enjoy all the foods on their plate as individual things, but if they touch even a little bit then we freak out and refuse to eat any of it.

Get your rice away from my grits, or I swear to all that is holy I will flip this table.

While we see this in lots of aspects of RPGs, nowhere is it clearer than when someone wants to play an ethnicity that "doesn't belong" in a certain part of the world.

They're People, Not Dishes

I'd like you to try an experiment, the next time you come to your gaming table. Build your character exactly as you normally would, but make that character ethnically different from what's considered standard for the region. Make it clear that you aren't looking to bring aspects of another culture into this region, and that you don't want special access to treasures or skills from the other side of the world. Your character is simply the child (or grandchild) of immigrants, and this is the way he or she happens to look.

Now, if you're part of a relatively open-minded group, you probably won't get any negativity for this decision. Some of your fellow players might even file this idea away for when they play characters of their own in the future. If you are not part of an open-minded group, though, you're likely to catch more flak than a British bomber flying over Berlin. Why do you have to be a special snowflake? Why can't you just be like everyone else, and play someone who looks like they're from here?

It often causes less ruckus at a table if you choose to play a tusked boar-man covered in ritual scars than if you want to be someone who has a different skin tone than the rest of the party.

Every World Has Multiple Cultures

Fantasy worlds have more than one culture, ethnicity, and religion. That's what makes them worlds, and not just nations. Even Middle Earth, which I continuously harp on for being bland, has diverse races of men. From the wild men in the north, to the desert dwellers of the south, there are variations in ethnicity. While no one in the main cast happens to be part of those cultures, or descended from them, that doesn't mean they don't exist.

You see the same kinds of diversity in good RPG settings. Whether you prefer Midgard or Golarion, The Forgotten Realms or The Known World that is the setting for A Song of Ice and Fire, there are all kinds of people, in all shapes, shades, and sizes. Despite their existence in the canon lore, though, it's like we forget that adventurers from all cultures travel all over the world. That they have children, and choose to settle down in places they weren't born. Merchants, caravan guards, diplomats, historians, and even seekers of magical knowledge may find themselves on the other side of the world from where they were whelped, and just decide there isn't anything at home worth going back for.

Especially since most adventurers have had their entire families killed off, anyway.

Unless there is something in your game's lore that specifically says a given nation is sectioned off, and that its people are not found anywhere else in the world, then why would you limit the stories players can tell?

But What If They're Not From Here?

The human mind likes things to be in nice, neat categories it can easily process. It's one reason why, when we have a game set in a given nation or country, and a PC that isn't from that region shows up, our brains glitch. Sort of like how you get used to seeing your teachers in the classroom, and when you see them out in public having ice cream with their kids, you tweak. Because it is a situation that feels wrong, even though you can't explain why.

It's 7:00 in the evening... why isn't she back at my school?

This is why I would suggest that, if the idea of PCs not all being from the same five square miles of ground is a problem, you ask yourself why. Why does it matter how the party got there, as long as the party is there when the adventure begins?

Explaining how a PC got to this place is the responsibility of every player. Some players might go with the ever-popular, "my character lives here," which is the simplest method regardless of your cultural heritage or ethnic appearance. Others, who want to have miles between them and where they began, might have more of a journey involved. Perhaps the fighter did a stint as a caravan guard, and decided he wanted to take a rest from traveling. Now there's this new opportunity on his hands, and he can make a far more lucrative career in this new land. Perhaps the wizard came across a continent to attend the city's arcane university, and now that she has completed her initial study, wants to put that knowledge to the test. The bard is... well... a bard, and this happens to be where he showed up after he left that last town. For undisclosed reasons.

A Closing Note

This post is not to suggest that anyone who has ever disagreed with a character's country of origin or ethnicity is somehow a cross-burning racist. I am not saying players, or DMs, who have problems with these kinds of characters are bigoted. What I am saying is that when we are presented with what, to us, are new ideas, or ideas that change things from our normal comfort zone, we often react by demanding the status quo remain the same. It happens every time a new supplement comes out for a game we like; there is always a group of players who won't allow it at their table, and who claim the rules and flavor as they were shouldn't be changed.

Often, though, once they've had some time to reflect, and actually look at what this new approach could add to their games, they find something they like. Even if they don't feel it's for them, personally, they can see the appeal.

That is the point of this week's Fluff post. Not to accuse anyone of having wrong-bad fun, or to demand that we all change our characters and games right now! I am simply remarking on a trend I've seen, and suggesting that if this is an issue you have encountered, that holding it at arm's length and really looking at it could lead to some new and interesting concepts, and stories.

Lastly, if this is a topic that interests you from a historical perspective as well (or if you're just tired of hearing that people want games to be "reflective of the time period they're emulating"), you should check out Medieval People of Color on Tumblr. It will raise some eyebrows if you thought the Middle Ages was just a bunch of white folks walking around in Europe.

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