Help Needed With Paper on Racial Representation in Gaming

[CalebTGordan]

Hi everyone!

For those who don't know me because of how little I have been contributing in the last year or so, I am Taylor Hubler (Caleb T. Gordan is a pen name I used in gaming.) I am a community member that has been around since 2009, attending PaizoCon a couple of times, occasionally contributing to Wayfinder, and who has recently started doing some light freelance work for d20PFSRD.com and Flying Pincushion. I wrote a few guides, and while I mostly lurk on the forums I will contribute to discussions when I believe I have something to say.

Following the advice from James Jacobs, James Sutter, Jason Bulmahn, Lisa Stevens, and several others (all of which personally gave it to me at PaizoCon,) I am attending college and working towards earning a degree so that I can one day work in the gaming industry. One of the classes that I am taking is Interracial Communication, which explores communication about and across racial lines. We are to write a final paper that involves research and study, and I would like to write a paper related to racial representation in gaming. Specifically, racial representation in table top role playing games, how that representation has evolved over time, how it might change into the future, and how it has or has not been beneficial thus far.

I need some help with this paper, especially the research part of it. I do not have the time or resources to seek out and find a diverse enough sample of the early rulebooks and adventures. If I can call upon the community here to help me, I need people to look at rulebooks, modules, and possibly adventures, to gather some information from them for me.

Please dig through your old libraries, PDFs, and collections and report back here with the needed information for this project. Without your help I may only have parts of 3rd ed, the three core rulebooks for 4th ed, and 5th ed for D&D, and pretty much everything for Pathfinder. That would only cover a narrow window of history, selection of game systems, and publishers. I need more.

What to look at:

• As many hardcover rulebooks and boxsets as possible for D&D from its first edition to today.
  
• Hardcover core books for major settings: Forgotten Realms, Dragon Lance, Ebberon, Golarian, Razor Coast, etc.
  
• Core rulebooks for as many other systems as possible: Hero, Fate, d6, d20, Mutants and Masterminds, etc.

Please only look at box sets (because they are often meant to be an introduction to the game or were the first major releases for a game,) and hard covers. I may consider looking at popular and famous adventures later, including Paizo APs.

I have a huge Pathfinder library so I don't need others to help me with getting the information from them.

Please post the desired information here in the following format (so I can easily browse, find, and record it on an excel sheet.)

Name of Book:
Year Printed:
Game System:
Publisher:
How many individual characters are represented in the product:
Going over each individual give me the following:
Name (if they have it). What archetype of the game they represent (class, role, etc.) What race they are. (Color of skin, though if they are non-human please state that as well.) If they are a protagonist or antagonist. How many times they are represented.
Any additional insights or thoughts related to that product and racial representation within it.

Other ways to help:
Suggesting primary sources on racial representation in table top gaming for me to read, such as similar studies or interviews with industry leaders. I have found a few blog posts about opinions on the matter, but I can't use opinion pieces that haven't also been backed by research and facts I can confirm on my own. For example, a piece where someone talks about walking through GenCon and seeing a lack of characters of color is not helpful to my research at this time. A piece where an industry leader explaining their company's policies and practices on the matter will help.

Double checking what others have posted and confirming that it is correct, or offering further insight into a product listed.

NOT filling this thread up with debate or personal opinions at this time. I would like to have this be a place where I can gather information (should it be provided.) I will post my paper in a new discussion, and that will be a place to debate and discuss the topic of racial representation in gaming. If you wish to discuss racial representation sooner, start a new discussion please.

If I have time and a need to do more I may set up a place for personal experiences, but at this time that isn't needed.

If you have an alternative and easier way to gather the information please let me know. If you want to be super helpful and do the excel sheet or a database for me, all the better!

Please help me out with this, as without this information I may need to look into doing the paper on a topic that requires less involvement and research. If I have to do that, it will not involve gaming, which will make me very sad.

Thank you so much for any help you can give.

[CalebTGordan]

Just to clarify a couple of things:

• I know how hard it is to label racial groups in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. The difficulty to do so is certainly part of what I am going to write about. One reason it is so hard to label is that labeling races in real life is just as difficult. For example, some would have those from the Middle East labeled as white under some circumstances, and there is the question of if we should lump everyone from the Asian continent as Asian or be more specific by using their country of origin,

  For the purposes of this study, and to make it easier on all of you, let's label them as White and Non-White. For both, do your best to label their nearest parallel ethnicity in the real world. For example, in RotRL there is Ameiko who could be thus labeled as Non-White/Japanese.

• If you can't tell, say the art is black and white and pretty crappy, or the character depicted is in full plate armor, then label it as Unknown or Ambigous.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

By 'represented' do you mean 'named/mentioned in passing', 'some description' or 'given stats'?
Also, 'protagonist' will in RPGs basically mean the PCs. 'Antagonist' will mean they are working against the PCs. Is this really the interesting? What if the NPCs are a good mix of 'good' and 'bad', but can work with or against the PCs? What if they likely never encounter PCs? I'll just list their given alignments. Lawful is mostly good, Chaotic is mostly bad. Actually it's more like Lawful likes community spirit, while Chaotic doesn't so much. Lawful people can still be jerks and Chaotic can be merely self-absorbed but not harmful or malicious. Neutral are...neutral. I'll add the alignments but they don't really tell you much of anything without reading the description of the characters.
Times represented? Do you mean how many times they show up in the text?

Name: Hollow World (boxed set)
Printed: 1990
System: D&D BECMI
Publisher: TSR
Characters (given stats and something of a personality)
Kjodar Triudar's son - White, viking warrior, N
Miarla Triudar's daughter - white, priestess, N
Moctitlapac, non-white/'Aztec', cleric king, C
Deithryl Steelheart white/elf, warrior, L
Ug-rum, Beastman/'neanderthal', shaman, L
Drianna, white/elf, warrior, L
Thiordanna, white/elf, warrior, C
Bastieq, hutakaan (jackel person), shaman, N
Tiolathar, non-white/'south American', priest, L
Truisa, non-white/'South American', warrior, N
Bondur, white(ish)/dwarf, warrior, C
Ragna Earshot, non-white/orc, warrior, N
Zoranthis, white(ish), Kubitt (miniature humanoid), warrior, N
Haarss, NA/lizardfolk, warrior, N
Emilio, non-white? (no picture, noted as being 'dark'), warrior, N
Carola, white, rogue, N
Adronius, white, warrior, N
Vanassius, white, rogue, N
Ramose IV, non-white ('South American/'Northern African'), priest, N
Tafiri, non-white (see above), priestess, N
Lanca, non-white ('south American'), wizard, L
Trylthyn, white/elf, fighter-wizard, L
Doraka Togoro, non-white/black, warrior, L
Tiradon, white, warrior, N
Brynna, white, warrior, L
Trokalikos, white, commoner, L
Lorpin, white, warrior, C
Alphaks, N/A (formerly white), god, C
Alphatia, white-ish, god, L
Asterius, unknown but preseumably white, god, N
Atzanteotl, white, god, C
Bagni, D&D troll, god, C
Bartziluth, N/A, bugbear, god, C
Calitha Starbrow, white/elf, god, N
Diulanna, white, god, N
Eiryndul, white/elf, god, C
Faunus, N/A unknown, probably satyr, god, C
Frey and Freyja, white, gods, L
Garal, white/dwarf, god, C
Halav, white, god, L
Hel, 'white', god, N (should probably be C)
Ilsundal, white/elf, god, L
Ixion, N/A (older than mortals and always has golden hair and golden skin), god, N
Jammudaru, N/A ogre, god, C
Ka, N/A dionsaur, god, L
Kagyar, 'white'? neanderthal, god, N
Karaash, N/A orc, god, N
Korotiku, non-white/black, god, C
Koryis, white, god, L
Loki, white, god, C
Mealiden, white/elf, god, L
Odin, N/A older than mortals, god, L
Ordana, N/A treant, god, N
Palartarkan, white, god, N
Petra, white, god, L
Pflarr, formerly non-white 'South American/Egyptian', currently hutaaka, god, N
Protius, N/A older than mortals, god, N
Rafiel, probably white, god, N
Ranivorous, N/A gnoll, god, C
Rathanos, non-white/'south American', god, C
Razud, white-ish, god, N
The Shining One N/A kobold, god, C
Tarastia, non-white/'south American', god, L
Thanatos, N/A - primal force of nature, god, C
Thor, white, god, N
Twelve Watchers, unknown ethnicity, god, N
Valerias, N/A older than mortals, god, C
Vanya, white, god, N
Wogar, N/A goblin, god, N
Zirchev, white, god, N
Zorena, white?(noted as being very dark with black hair and dark eyes), rogue, N
Geissyl, white/elf, warrior, N
Caryldian, white/elf, warrior-wizard, C
Oglaf, white/giant, C
Otlakzilatl, non-white/'south American', undead mummy, C
Draglu, N/A beastwoman, C

Basic impression: this set tried to be more racially inclusive than was common in earlier D&D products. There are several non-white cultures which are generally portrayed as decent people. The only really nasty one, the Azcan (Aztec wannabes), are evil because they have been taken over and corrupted by an evil god (formerly a white elf). Even traditional enemy races like orcs or lizard-men get a chance to be something other than evil fodder for low-level adventures. Still a majority of white people (including elves and dwarves) all over the place.

[CalebTGordan]

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

By 'represented' do you mean 'named/mentioned in passing', 'some description' or 'given stats'?

I know this is probably not going to help but: Yes.

Quote:

Also, 'protagonist' will in RPGs basically mean the PCs. 'Antagonist' will mean they are working against the PCs. Is this really the interesting? What if the NPCs are a good mix of 'good' and 'bad', but can work with or against the PCs? What if they likely never encounter PCs? I'll just list their given alignments. Lawful is mostly good, Chaotic is mostly bad. Actually it's more like Lawful likes community spirit, while Chaotic doesn't so much. Lawful people can still be jerks and Chaotic can be merely self-absorbed but not harmful or malicious. Neutral are...neutral. I'll add the alignments but they don't really tell you much of anything without reading the description of the characters.

Times represented? Do you mean how many times they show up in the text?

I see what you mean. In core rulebooks there will be clearer protagonists and antagonists, like Pathfinder's iconics and the NPCs they fight in art. Box set adventures and setting books might not be so clear.

*Edit*
Thanks for the first entry! I do like your solution but because not all game systems use alignment I may need to think of something different. I basically want to know if a character is a hero, villain, both, or neither.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

'hero'? 'Villain?' To whom? Their own people? Enemies?
In most of the cases, that really depends on how you interact with them. They are NPCs with their own goals and values, and whether you want to make friends or enemies with them is really up to you. Very few of them are set up as obvious baddies or goodies. A few, like Moctitlapac, are unapologetically evil. Some like Oglaf have the traditional 'society is to blame' background.
Some are traditionally 'enemies' and are considered evil because they are non-humans in a setting dominated by humans (and elves, etc.) and basically just try to protect their race against outsiders. The alignment system is rather misleading.
e.g. Valerias is listed as Chaotic but she's really more concerned with freedom and passion and love than being a jerk to people. Vanya is Neutral but she loves war and conquest and her entire raison d'être is conflict (which makes her the enemy of any peaceful culture).

[CalebTGordan]

It is hard to get at what I am trying to look at I guess. One question I want to answer is how is each race being represented. Are we going to see white is good and black is evil type situations or is there going to be a more even mix of role amoung the races.

I just finished up a big project for another class so this week I am going to get started on putting my own stuff up here from the Paizo books. Hopefully it doesn't take too much to do.

[CalebTGordan]

I am going to have to change focus on this. I did do some of the work myself but I think I may not have approached this the right way. I am still going to do my paper on race in gaming but I am going to open it up to video games. There are far more available studies and information for me to use once I do that.

[Caineach]

CalebTGordan wrote:

I am going to have to change focus on this. I did do some of the work myself but I think I may not have approached this the right way. I am still going to do my paper on race in gaming but I am going to open it up to video games. There are far more available studies and information for me to use once I do that.

I know that feeling. Always a disappointment to realize there isn't enough information out there for you to do a decent project on what you want to do. Good luck.

Too bad I just got rid of all my old books, or I would help.