Dungeons & Dragons: The misinformation and false accusations of misogyny continue.

Culture critics misquote and misrepresent a fifty year old publication.

There’s no money in getting the story right. Only in trying to tear down a legacy.

Youtube shorts is not driven by factual accuracy. The algorithm does not reward accuracy.

[embed]We Love TTRPGS. and their call out of the unethical and poor reporting on youtube shorts.

Pinned by @welovettrpgs @welovettrpgs 10 months ago (edited) Edit: My original thumbnail for this video was very respectful and professional. After months of DnD shorts making no correction my ire grew and my thumbnail changed to better express my views. I am now returning it to the original thumbnail as the conversation has only just begun regarding damage caused by misinformation. **Return to previous post: My health isn’t in a great place right now for the type of negative reactions this video will surely generate from bad faith arguments and trolls. So if I don’t respond to comments please be aware I may need some time away after this video goes live. It was difficult to make. I want to be very clear: I don’t hate anyone. I can even see where Will was coming from when he looked at that old Dragon Magazine article. At first glance, it does seem like “the original rules for women in D&D.” Women were not even mentioned in OD&D. Therefore .... right? The problem is that’s not the full story. And when hundreds of thousands of people hear only that simplified framing, it becomes more misinformation generating hate in a world already drowning in it.

And my frustration isn’t about one video. It’s about accuracy and respect for the game’s history. I’ve been playing D&D since 1980. I lived through the Satanic Panic when people outside the hobby smeared us with lies. I was bullied as a kid for loving these games. That hurt — and as an adult, I won’t tolerate seeing the same kind of distorted narratives used inside the hobby now, especially not by creators with big platforms who younger players look to for guidance. Furthermore, misrepresenting a Dragon Magazine article from nearly 50 years ago to smear older gamers isn’t going to restore the rights women are having stolen from them right now, here in the US. Get your own house in order before lamenting about the shit we had to endure in the 70s and 80s.

For clarity, this video isn’t meant as an attack. It’s meant as a teaching moment. Context matters. OD&D in 1974 didn’t impose any gender-based rules. The Dragon Magazine article in 1976 was optional, written by Len Lakofka — not Gygax or Arneson — and never canon. The first actual gender-based mechanics in D&D didn’t appear until the AD&D Player’s Handbook in 1978. And was gone with 2E AD&D. That’s the history, and it deserves to be told truthfully, with respect for the people who built this hobby, like Len Lakofka and Jennell Jaquays. This hobby has long been a refuge for the LGBTQ+ community and remains so today.

I’m proud that D&D has grown from something we were ridiculed for into a hobby embraced worldwide. That’s why honesty matters so much. We owe it to each other, and to the next generation of players, to treat the truth with care. Thanks for understanding. - Aten”

As someone who’s LGBT myself, I have come across this video and have yet to see it but I have a hunch as to what is going on.

History is rewritten by the gentifiers thread no one of today ever sees her can understand the past and they certainly seem to not care about the words of those who are actually there.

While postmodernism remains a very interesting and sometimes effective tool in critiquing culture and trying to question assumed truth and that the pursuit of equality and writing the wrongs of the past is incredibly noble… people are treating some other things in the past as if they are akin to blackface.

I’m all for progress but I’m not liking the lies and I’m not liking misrepresentations of what was in order to get views and clicks.

Luckily, We Love TTRPGS. is on the case. Sadly they seem to be the only ones on the case.

And it seems that our culture and the like has a bunch of young individuals that do not understand that making a mechanic in a game is not akin to sexism. Crones are the names for witches. Historically. While it can be used as an insult ( though I’m not sure anyone who would still use such a word as an insult would exist today) depictions of witches as old and ugly and otherwise reading of death is part of fear of black magic and the old superstitions. The reason why it’s an insult is because it’s calling someone a witch.

it reminds me of how Ben Riggs falsely accuses the original creators of Dungeons & Dragons of misogyny when they made Tiamat chaotic evil.

Tiamat is from Mesopotamian folklore. she is the mother of all monsters. Making a female dragon the agent of chaotic evil not show and does not show I hatred of women as some people would have you believe.

There’s a lot of money to be made on selling absolute lies. Worse… it could be people are confused and remarkably ignorant and then generating a lot of friction by taking out bits and pieces and making a false tapestry that doesn’t not reflect reality. people try to correct them and then the the video with the original lie gets engagement.

And you can see this exactly in the kinds of people that make such accusations against fiction. It is always some social media post making a great big deal or apologia and self-flagelation that stinks of virtue signaling rather than actual efforts.

Considering the kinds of abuse that go on then the tabletop RPG square and other nerd circles when it comes to a very illiberal and unprogressive “Progressive Clique”… it only makes sense people are trying to repeat a mantra so they don’t get to be the next target.

The whole idea that Dungeons & Dragons is a white male nerd gross misogynist Playhouse of white nationalism and all the like is incredibly false and was made by the Christian right to try and stop the new Big thing. just how Pokémon Go had hit pieces on it. just says Dungeons & Dragons is called a hive of white supremacy and all the like as person Crock-Pot academics that have no right to be called academics.

I would urge you to check out the video linked here and the other videos by that channel. If you have any complaints leave them here and if they’re valid I’ll listen. If they’re not, you can shove it up your ass. In a bad way.