Some people have responded to this idea with some confusion, so Iāll try to explain it as best I can.
Why āRaceā, as used in Role-Playing Games, is bad.
Most role-playing games explicitly combine a personās physical traits with their morality into one package at character creation, usually presented as āRaceā. By doing this, these games (often unwittingly) support the idea that a personās genetics decide a personās morality and worth.
This is a bad thing because there are people who play these games ā black people, disabled people, women, just to name a few ā who have been told their entire lives they are lesser than others because of the way they were born; because of the way they look. For them, this kind of bigotry is a painful, every day reality. No-one should have to experience that in a game.
This is also why just renaming āRaceā as it is presented in role-playing games to something like āSpeciesā doesnāt help as much as youād think. It doesnāt address the problem at itās root ā the false idea that a personās genetics determines their worth (or: their traits).
Why I think āAncestryā and āCultureā is a good alternative.
By splitting Ancestry ā the physical traits inherited from oneās parents, and Culture ā the traits taught to you by your parents & community, the game mechanics no longer explicitly imply a personās genetics (or: appearance) determine their morality and perceived worth. In this updated system, Bad Tieflings can still exist. Evil dark elves can still exist. Bigoted people who believe all Tieflings and all Dark Elves are evil can still exist.
But those things are no longer assumed to be true at character creation.
Why Iām excited to start using the Ancestry & Culture method.
The world all of our games take place in, Hemelin, has various diverse cultures dotted around the place. I have often struggled to express this well using the existing mould of āRaceā, but before I discovered the āAncestry & Cultureā method, I didnāt understand what was causing this struggle.
I find that using separate Ancestries and Cultures provides much more robust framework for us to design player options for our world with. Iām excited at the prospect of being able to present various cultures that players can identify with without needing to also be of a certain ancestry! Iām excited to empower our players to create more diverse characters that reflect our game world!!
The bookĀ āAncestry & Culture, an alternative to Race in 5eāĀ explains all of these concepts way better than I can. I urge you to read it, even if itās just the free preview.
