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Code Switch

Gaming out race in Dungeons & Dragons

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 β€’ 14.5K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 28 September 2022

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most popular tabletop roleplaying games of all time. But it has also helped cement some ideas about how we create and define race in fantasy β€” and in the tangible world. We take a deep dive into that game, and what we find about racial stereotypes and colonialist supremacy is illuminating.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Chicago was good! We have missed y'all but allow us to rectify that. So we are coming your way for our very first live show since the pandemic shut everything down.

0:11.0

So we have some very special guests including a special musical guest. So come rock with us.

0:16.0

November 2nd at the student-maker theater, tell your mama, tell your friends, tell your people they and you can get tickets at mprpresents.org.

0:25.0

We'll see y'all soon! And in the meantime, let us take you to a different city, a mythical one, in a different world.

0:34.0

Code switch is producer Jess Kang is here to goddess.

0:37.0

Okay, Jane, are you ready? Oh for sure. Let's do a Jess.

0:43.0

In a world filled with magic and mystery, someone looking for adventure might find themselves passing through the once prosperous city of flan.

0:53.0

Deep in the harsh northern frontier. To navigate the unruly city, those adventurers might head to the tavern to grab a drink or hot meal and possibly some work as long as they can keep it under the table.

1:08.0

In these lands, if you look tough enough, the work just seeks you out.

1:16.0

Tonight, the drinks and gossip are already flowing.

1:19.0

Oh yeah, little meat, a little cuss of megos at the mid-eval watering hole.

1:23.0

An older man, a gnome enters. His clothes are a little patchwork and he grips a floppy hat tightly in his hands.

1:31.0

His head is held high though, sizing up the patrons in the room with purpose.

1:36.0

He spots a odd trio. An elf with a glorious shimmering cape, a big guy with glittering golden scales,

1:45.0

and a very creepy looking bug-eyed human. But they look competent enough, so he approaches.

1:55.0

Are you adventurers? My little girl's in terrible trouble. Will you hear my story? I can pay.

2:01.0

What do we say yes? Yes. What's wrong with your girl? How much money do you have? Is she hot? She's hot.

2:08.0

The gnome hesitates. Maybe there's still a better option than these three clowns. He scans the room again.

2:15.0

There's a tough looking dwarf doing a keg stand, a giant woman picking her nose with a knife,

2:22.0

and a mean looking horned man arguing with a book? Okay, this trio will have to do.

2:29.0

And so he lays out his ask. There's an order of knights that keep the law in plan, though they're cruel and corrupt.

2:37.0

The gnome's daughter has been getting in trouble with them more and more. She was arrested last night,

...

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