Safety & Growth

OOC

One of my core goals while playing games is creating a safe, welcoming space where everyone can succeed. With Edgewar in particular, I'm trying to experiment with and then formally adopt specific strategies to make the setting, story, and overall experience more inclusive. Part of this is "de-colonizing" D&D, fantasy, scifi, etc.

Strategies

We discuss possible strategies in the Black Pyramid Discord. I compile them here.

SG1. After a session, the GM posts story notes. This helps reassure players that if they miss an important detail they can find it later.

SG2. The team agrees on specific tactical roles. This helps players narrow their focus regarding what the team expects from them.

SG3. We use a private table-talk channel to discuss the climate of the table and resolve possible tensions or conflicts.

SG4. NPCs only have pronouns, not genders. So a "male Elf mage" becomes an "Elf mage (he/him)."

SG5. None of the natural, sentient, mortal species have inherent alignments, like order (law), chaos, good, or evil (e.g., Goblins, Orcs, Drow, Duergar). In particular, evil is not genetic. A species may have a predominant culture and that culture may be prejudiced, self-serving, etc. Some unnatural and/or immortal species may have an inherent alignment, such as order (law), chaos, good, or evil (e.g., Devils, Demons, Celestials, Modrons). However, an individual from a particular culture or with a particular inherent alignment could still be raised with different values or convert to different values.

SG6. We usually don't use gods from the real world.

SG7. In D&D 5E, we use the Ancestry & Culture supplement as inspiration.

SG8. The ancestry and culture of "dwarves" is Dvar.

SG9. A player always has the option to join the session without playing or even speaking. They may want the company or to follow the story, but they aren't in the right place to actively play (e.g., physical place, wellness place). This is not a pressure to "show up no matter what."

SG10. Barbarians are called "primals." (The term/idea "barbarian" has problematic history, including saying that people with different values and lifestyles weren't "civilized.")

SG11. Shamans are called "spiritbound." (Many real religions have shamans.)

Gods Retconned Mar-15-2020

As a creator and GM, I'm actively trying to decouple gods and pantheons from specific races. Certain gods and pantheons may have close connections to specific races in the distant past, but an individual of any race can worship any god. Such worship is not necessarily because of past colonization and cultural assimilation.

Where I've been using real-world gods, I've retconned some swaps. I made these choices partly based on just finding good matches for existing PCs and plot, and partly because the elven culture and religion have an outsized influence via Tanyth Aramont (the Elven Hegemony).

• Apollo: Corellon Larethian (The Seldarine--Elven pantheon of the light)
• Ares: Tempus (Faerun)
• Athena: Haela Brightaxe (Dwarven)
• Hephaestus: Moradin (Dwarven)
• Persephone: Sehanine Moonbow (The Seldarine--Elven pantheon of the light)

I've edited the wiki to reflect those changes.

I'm continuing to use one god/spirit from the real world, Lusifee. In this case, I like bringing more visibility to under-represented legends.

FYI, the following divinities have also appeared in Edgewar so far, but they're fictional so they don't need retcon:

• Bahamut (Draconic)
• Dugmaren Brightmanle (Dwarven)
• Erevan Ilesere (The Seldarine--Elven pantheon of the light)
• Luthic (Orcish)
• Primus (Mechanus)