# D & D got woke and that's good because you should have all been playing that way (or not if you didn't prefer))

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-got-woke-and-thats-good-because-you-should-have-all-been-playing-that-way-or-not-if-you-didnt-prefer/933114>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** rpg-dnd-wargames\
**Created:** [February 17, 2021, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-got-woke-and-thats-good-because-you-should-have-all-been-playing-that-way-or-not-if-you-didnt-prefer/933114 "2021-02-17T10:36:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 812

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-got-woke-and-thats-good-because-you-should-have-all-been-playing-that-way-or-not-if-you-didnt-prefer/933114/812 "2022-10-20T21:33:43Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> No, they don’t. Squirrel feet don’t have opposable digits like those. Monkeys do.

Do Hippopotamuses have opposable digits? Cats? Wolves? Lizards? Come now, you claim you play D&D, you have to know all the anthropomorphic animal PC races have opposable digits. Your point here invalidates your arguments.

> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> No, they are not. _Especially_ the ears on the minstrel character.

Yes they are. And it is a BARD, not a minstrel. You should know that. Calling it a “minstrel” is poisoning the well, and a poor debating trick.

> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Yeah - like an ape

Now it is an ape, not a monkey?

How many apes have wing flaps?

They are meant to be a descendant from a race of flying squirrels.

You also should _know_ that WotC is a very liberal company, and aren’t sneaking in hidden racist dog whistle pictures. Stop trying to find dirty pictures in the ice cubes, eh?

Look, you are wrong here. Stop digging deeper (which I am a master of , so mea culpa on that), and just do a Emily Litella.

Not that early D&D was in any way woke, I will cheerfully admit. A product of it’s time. Almost every PC character was white, nearly every female was scantily clad. But WotC has “woken” up- and is now even getting castigating in game reviews for being “too woke.”

And certainly there is clear racism in FRPs, as that Ernie Gygax game so obviously shows.

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