While solving quests in Dungeons & Dragons, the gamers who role-play as elves, orcs and halflings rely on the abilities and personalities of their custom-made characters, whose innate charisma and strength are as crucial to success as the rolls of 20-sided dice. That is why the game’s first significant rule changes in a decade, which became official this fall as it celebrated 50th anniversary, reverberated through the Dungeons & Dragons community and beyond. They prompted praise and disdain at game tables everywhere, along with YouTube harangues and irritated posts from Elon Musk.
“Races” are now “species”. Some character traits have been divorced from biological identity; a mountain dwarf is no longer inherently brawny and durable, a high elf no longer intelligent and dexterous by definition. And Wizards of the Coast, the Dungeons & Dragons publisher owned by Hasbro, has endorsed a trend throughout role-playing games in which players are empowered to halt the proceedings if they ever feel uncomfortable. “What they’re trying to do here is put up a signal flare, to not only current players but potential future players, that this game is a safe, inclusive, thoughtful and sensitive approach to fantasy storytelling,” said Ryan Lessard, a writer and frequent Dungeons & Dragons dungeon master.
The changes have exposed a rift among D&D players, a group as passionate as its pursuit is esoteric, becoming part of the broader cultural debate about how to balance principles like inclusivity and accessibility with history and tradition. The changes may fit into the corporate world’s pursuit of diversity, equity and inclusion, but they are also part of a financial strategy. Players responded tepidly to the fourth edition of D& D in 2008, when the game was more punchline than a blockbuster film premise. “The Big Bang Theory” was not yet TV’s highest-rated comedy, and the cultural phenomenon of “Stranger Things,” whose 1980s characters are fluent in D&D jargon, was years in the future. as we knew the game could be.” Players desired greater leeway in creating characters, Wizards Wizards of the Coast executives said in defence of the new rules. The “2024 Player’s Handbook” is the fastest-selling publication in company history, it said.
Players who are frustrated by the recent revisions argue that the innate characteristics of a species gave the game part of its allure. “All the species are becoming humans with decorations,” lamented Devin Cutler, a self-described “grognard”, or veteran gamer. Cutler acknowledged that the game’s orcs – the malevolent, dark-skinned creatures developed by J.R.R. Tolkien – have been associated with negative racial tropes in the real world. But he said their innate traits, however fictional, have accrued authentic meaning over the decades. In reaction to the changes, Musk posted “How much is Hasbro?” on X.
The popularity of the new rules will ultimately be determined at D&D sessions, where players vote with their feet. John Stavropoulos, a user-experience professional in the healthcare industry, believes the game is headed in the right direction. “You want the game to be as fun for each other as possible. D&D at its core says, ‘Make this game what you want it to be.'”
