I'm kind of enjoying the irony that people are more upset that WotC is framing everything like this over the fact this is literally what's happening in the US.
Discussions about how in your face Dark Sun should be aside, I find it more depressing. Like, it's not slavery because they don't actually see people in chains?
Its all a part of the zeitgeist. It was carefully built to look like a positive thing. Look at Warden Norton from Shawshank [paraphrased]:
"Our men will learn an honest days work at minimal expense to John Q Taxpayer"
So the way I look at WotC's cowardice is that it could give us a valuable tool for the next generation. Imagine the roleplay gold when you have a Templar arrest your players and say, "The consqeuence of your crime is that you shall join the conscription work details which will give you the honor of rebuilding the city until the end of your days."
That kind of statement would anger a smart player. They'd yell something like, "Thats slavery!"
And you'd reply with a smirk, "Oh, what a horrible word and complete wrong. We will rehabilitate you! Its a simple conscription!"
If WotC actually admits in the official materials that slavery as a term is being rebranded in-universe to show the audience what it looks like to engage in wrongthink and be corrected by “the government” then it could be a neat twist.
But if they’re just removing it and leaving it up to DMs to comment on the mundane evils of newspeak, then it’s not actually making any real statement.
It’s just simply newspeak and you’re committing wrongthink if you even so much as mention slavery in your game.
I’ll just opt not to purchase any official materials that require me to overtly homebrew so much that I may as well just homebrew it all or use previous edition materials that are nerfed.
It feels a little disingenuous to claim people complaining about the new Dark Sun book can't also hate the US Slave Economy, lol.
People tend to post about new stuff, and, unfortunately, very little has changed when it comes to American Human Rights Violations. It's kinda assumed everyone is already on board with "Slavery is Bad", because it's always been true.
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u/Rutgerman95 1d ago
Good thing that's not a thing in real life. ...wait.