Wizards of the Coast changing Strahd

[Mindos]

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/fea...ersity-and-dnd

Curse of Strahd included a people known as the Vistani and featured the Vistani heroine Ezmerelda. Regrettably, their depiction echoes some stereotypes associated with the Romani people in the real world. To rectify that, we’ve not only made changes to Curse of Strahd, but in two upcoming books, we will also show—working with a Romani consultant—the Vistani in a way that doesn’t rely on reductive tropes.

[Memnir]

IMHO, this isn't the place I am going to discuss this topic.

[FranOhmsford]

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/fea...ersity-and-dnd

This is just silly.

The Vistani are based on historically real people yes but not the Romany people of today.

Barovia is a Gothic Fantasy setting within Ravenloft that emphasises tropes and yes stereotypes from 19th Century Literature.

It is not meant to be representative of the cultural mores and morals of 2020!

Next they'll be cancelling "Snatch" for its portrayal of Irish Travellers! {as silly as that would be it would still be more realistic to today's issues than changing the Vistani in a Fantasy World!}.

[HungarianRhapsody]

This is just silly.

The Vistani are based on historically real people yes but not the Romany people of today.

Barovia is a Gothic Fantasy setting within Ravenloft that emphasises tropes and yes stereotypes from 19th Century Literature.

It is not meant to be representative of the cultural mores and morals of 2020!

Next they'll be cancelling "Snatch" for its portrayal of Irish Travellers! {as silly as that would be it would still be more realistic to today's issues than changing the Vistani in a Fantasy World!}.

That's a good point. We should keep being racist in our games because they're based on racist tropes from the past. /s

[FranOhmsford]

That's a good point. We should keep being racist in our games because they're based on racist tropes from the past. /s

Wow!

History happened!

Fantasy tropes are based on our own History!

If you want to hide from it that's up to you but by that standard you couldn't have ANY Romans, Greeks, Chinese or English styled nations in D&D because of how ALL are based on outdated tropes!

I suppose you'd also want to wipe all "savage" tribes from D&D pretending those didn't exist in real life just because we see the word as problematic today?

How about BARBARIAN!?! It has always been a DEROGATORY term you know - Right from when the Ancient Greeks first used it to describe anyone who didn't speak Greek!

The Vistani aren't even Romany - They're VISTANI! They're SPECIFIC to Ravenloft in D&D and given the whole point of Ravenloft is to PUNISH Evil-Doers how do you think they should be portrayed?

I watch YouTube videos of people who proclaim they play D&D stating that Orcs can't be good and of course that's not been true for almost the entire history of D&D! Orcs in D&D are not the same as Orcs in Lord of the Rings OR ORKS in Warhammer 40k!

There's good Vistani too and heck in DDO we're playing Tieflings for goodness sake!

I'm not saying that Vistani have to all be thieving bandits {though DDO's version of Ravenloft certainly seems to perpetuate that trope } but changing their style of dress, saying they can't be dancers etc. is just plain silly!
And making them not a travelling people would be dangerously close to pretending travelling people don't exist!

We shouldn't HIDE FROM THE PAST!

We shouldn't try to REWRITE THE PAST!

I've played a character that I probably can't name the kit for on this site but is in the Complete Thieves Handbook in 2nd Ed. D&D and no that character wasn't EVIL!
She was Chaotic Good and her sister was a Priestess of Athena!

D&D is what we make it!

ALL RULES ARE OPTIONAL!

Are WotC gonna ban home-brew games because of problematic characters and stories!?!

How are we supposed to fight Evil if Evil isn't allowed!?!

[Cordovan]

This topic delves too deeply into politics to have it on the forums here. There are quite a few other places to discuss it.