tonightimalive replied to your post āi feelā¦meh on some of samās answers re goblins, but also just...ā
Thatās why I loved meeting nott, because it was like a reversal of his last character...and then it turned out to be the same thing in different clothes
I was always taking Nottās backstory with a grain of salt (especially given how vehemently--and clearly honestly--she argued for the murder of what we presumed was her clan early on). But thereās definitely always been an underlying hope that, even if Nott never made peace with the idea of being a goblin, that at least her/the audienceās understanding of goblins in Exandria would be complicated. And it is something that weāre seeing complicated re: orcs with Fjord! And while Tieflings donāt fall into quite the sameĀ āalways evilā trope, they are canonically (in D&D canon) written to at least heavily lean that way. So thereās definitely a lot of disappointment there, compounded by the fact there is so much stuff the cr cast does really well.Ā
kimabutch replied to your post āi feelā¦meh on some of samās answers re goblins, but also just...ā
strong agree. I'm trying to keep in mind that it's bigger than a single person and a very pervasive trope, but it's frustrating still. I have a tiny bit of hope that sam expressed openness to there being good goblins in matt's world. a tiny bit.
Yeah, by far the most comforting thing he said on Talks tonight was that he had a lot of questions for Yussaās butler (did we ever get his name?? I canāt for the life of me remember). And the presence of a non-evil goblin character definitely makes me feel better about the prospects of them exploring this somewhere further down the line. Still, I wish Sam had acknowledged that people arenāt so much upset about him hating goblins, and that people are instead uncomfortable with the implication that an entire race/species could be inherently evil--especially given the history that narrative is tied to. I donāt know what exactly got tweeted at him, and I know nuance is harder to communicate on Twitter (also I can imagine that some people were just straight up mean), but I knowĀ the cast can take criticism without interpreting it as a personal attack, and I wish that had happened here.Ā
So, yeah, Iām not mad, exactly, and itās hard to place the blame on a player for their individual backstory, or the DM who is--even if Matt heavily homebrews--drawing from a world created by other people. I really wish there were bigger conversations happening amongst the writers at Wizards of the Coast on this subject. And rectifying the problem is really only a matter of shifting perspective--itās so easy to move formĀ āall orcs are evil because they wereĀ ācreatedā by an evil godā toĀ āOrcs are often ostracized and viewed asĀ āevilā by other races given their original creator.ā Shifting theĀ āevilā perception into being a bias shared within the world, as opposed to a truth of a given race is a relatively easy solution to a complicated problem without entirely overhauling existing canon (not that I would have an issue with that). It also allows for more interesting character and narrative exploration! Honestly one of the most annoying things (for me) aboutĀ āalways evilā races is that itās such a boring concept! Whereās the fun in an entire race/species sharing the same moral alignment??
caduceus-tealeaf-derolo replied to your post āi feelā¦meh on some of samās answers re goblins, but also just...ā
same. especially when he played scanlan,
God I have so many complicated feelings about Scanlan. I think a lot of Scanlanās characterization stemmed from the fact they were first playing at home, and the cast clearly had a lot of familiarity with each other, and a good understanding of each otherās boundaries. There were a lot of jokes that Iām sure would have felt very innocuous when happening in a home game, that suddenly feels very uncomfortable once played in public. A lot of my initial hang-ups with Scanlan were addressed or mellowed out over the course of the campaign (the main thing that wasnāt was his penchant for modifying peopleās memories, but I feel like weāre getting a good tragic look at the flip side of that this campaign). But I am happy Sam chose to go in a very different direction this campaign, even if I also have my hang-ups with Nott. (Though all of my hang-ups there are narrative driven and donāt have much to do with Nott as a character in and of herself. I love Nott to bits and she probably qualifies as one of my favorite characters this campaign. Itās been a confusing week.)Ā
