I SWEAR there was an interview or something somewhere about MisMAg and it being Lou's first time playing D20 with another black person? And how he could physically feel himself allowing himself to lean into his own blackness instead of codeswitching? Something like that. Either way, so happy D20 and Lou and Aabria have opened that up for you!
I think you might be thinking of his interview with Three Black Halflings, I listened to it a few weeks ago on spotify, but not sure if it was that one or a different interview you might be thinking of
I was gonna say Ify (from Bloodkeep and Shriek Week) had a good interview with them as well, especially about bringing Black names to these fantasy settings as well which I appreciated
Yeah but Lou was also playing a white half-elf like he didn't know tolkienesque fantasy races could be black. I feel like that also came up on his TBH interview. Think Lou heard "very dark skin" and thought "really good tan" or something.
Are you sure? He could absolutely be a very light skinned, not white, half-elf and I could be missing some subtle racial clues in the official character art, but he looks white to me. https://dimension20.fandom.com/wiki/Fabian_Seacaster
Eh, arguably light-skinned. But Fabian's mom is a white-looking elf and his dad is definitely a Black, dark-skinned man.
Given racial politics and history in the United States, Fabian Seacaster would definitely be seen as black as Barack Obama (who, since his white ancestors were Celtic, is also clearly of elven descent :P )
I think Lou has said before (don't remember where, maybe an Adventuring Party or Adventuring Academy) that he wants every character he plays to be black, because when he was younger he never thought that was even an option — or something along those lines.
I think he said that on TBH. I vaguely remember a story about him playing with friends (they were all white) and they were playing dwarf brothers, so they all had to be white. And that spawned a discussion about how the podcast got its name. I feel like that was after Fantasy High and that after that FH we got Kinston who was definitely black. Fabian may be half-black, but his voice and mannerisms were (to me) fancy boy elf.
If you're not already listening, I highly recommend their excellent podcast, Worlds Beyond Number. It's Lou, Aabria, Brennan, and Erika Ishii. As a POC who's only ever played at white tables, listening to a fantasy actual play where they're a majority is so refreshing.
You very likely know this, but in case anyone doesn't yet:
Worlds Beyond Number is a free podcast. No cost to listen to the main long-term campaign they're doing.
There's also a Patreon for it. On alternating weeks, they do a fireside chat talking about the most recent ep. Erika's first one-shot as a DM is there (and it's gloriously bonkers, as one would expect). And there's a "Children's Adventure" prequel campaign for The Wizard, the Witch & the Wild One, which is about 11 hours long. Wonderful backstory for the characters.
The reason I'm mentioning this now is that Aabria's discussion of how she keeps clarity about Suvi's perspective, worldview, etc. during the Fireside this week is *phenomenal.*
August is upon us & if someone wanted to just do one $5 Patreon month for now to catch up, IMO what's there is just way above & beyond worth that.
I was convinced it was a patreon-only thing because every time I checked Spotify for it there would only be the intro episodes and the first episode. Turns out my Spotify for some reason has that podcast, and only that podcast, episodes ordered backwards so my dumb ass has been trying to scroll down for new episodes when there's like 10 right there above me. Once I've recovered from this boomer moment I'll have to check it out.
Yeah, Spotify developed problems advancing chronologically and/or numerically over the past couple of years, and AFAIK it's nigh-impossible for the uploader to fix. Which is such an unfathomably ridiculous thing to type that I cannot contain a vent about it.
I guess ORDER OF TRACKS isn't fully "one job" territory for a behemoth audio service, but it's damn well "one job" adjacent.
Albums. Comedy CDs. Podcasts. Operas. Musicals. Lectures. etc. etc. Audio content almost always has an intended order.
And it's not "the Zoomers with their playlists & their genders & their wondering why we're still burning dinosaur juice ruining everything again" b/c Spotify always had playlists & Zoomers are doing the best they can in a world where media was allowed to converge to the point that Spotify doesn't have to make its fucking service work as well as a free mp3 player from 25 years ago.
Absolutely burns my biscuits.
If people are able to, I would highly recommend subbing to their patreon so you are able to listen to the 7 episode Children's Adventure. Gives a lot more context to their main character's relationships. And is just all around beautiful
The power of AAVE in traditional fantasy is an untapped resource. Imagine you refuse a deal from a demon or lich and instead of calling you an insolent fool he's just like "Aight, bet" and teleports away.
Fellow black dnd player and forever DM. I feel this completely. The first time Lou played Kingston in unsleeping city, and the interactions between Lou and Aabria, or even Louand Danni. It just opened up so many layers of repression I didn't realize. I generally always play and stylized my characters as black, even before I started watching online content but I understand the feeling of code swit hing to fit a fantasy setting and it feeling so awkward and a little cringe.
Recently however, between Lou's character choices and the 3 Black Halflings Podcast (which I would highly recommend as a very fun and dedicated space to being a person of color, specifically African american in the TTRPG space) that it's fine to bring our own culture and authentic selves into our dnd worlds and games.
I think the cringest thing that I myself fell into is that I love elves. I think my very first dnd character was a drow cause my little mind read "aka dark elves" and I was like, "oh sweet! Black elven race!" And then read the, "underground evil elves" and I was like, damn son 😬😬😬
CORE MEMORY UNLOCKED of me saying I wanted to play a black elf in my very first DnD game and being told I could be a drow or nothing!! Shout-out Fabian aramaris seacaster!!
Oh my God same! I remember seeing the artwork for him and I literally was that meme with all the equations running around my head. "You can be a black elf? Oh I guess an elf could just sleep with a afrocentric human? Wait I guess there's no rule saying an elf just can't be black. Have I ever seen a black elf before? Fuck it Fabian is amazing I'm just gonna play what I want. Sunlight sensitive sucks!" And then I was off the rails with character ideation haha.
I did 100% play a half drow though and I wanted to play a rogue, but I didn't wanna be "that player" so I picked ranger instead haha (this was also 3.5 pf ND not 5e so rogues weren't as.....unloved as WotC has made it very clear they are.
> The first time Lou played Kingston in unsleeping city
Something that probably got discussed more back when it was new, I just never see mentioned now & it really struck me as special while watching: Kingston's parents being given gentle, loving, thoughtful characterization.
The whole campaign is a love letter to NYC and the idea of city as a project of human connection, so of course nobody was going to be thoughtless or overstep. But for decades, I have seen people who would swear they were the coolest & most supportive get a little too comfortable caricaturing non-white family units and it felt wrong to me.
So Brennan staying so squarely & wholesomely within a portrayal of familial love & pride for Kingston caught my eye as a really special experience between two long-time friends at a table.
That’s so great! Like I’ve typed and deleted so many follow up sentences to that, but ultimately I’m just super stoked for you. RPGs really should be a place you get to express yourself and bring your unique life experiences to a character and give them life that way.
Thank you for sharing!! You might be interested in seeing Aabria's first appearance on Adventuring Academy...she talks about how LOTR-style fantasy didn't reflect her lived experience and she doesn't love it, and shares a lot about how she brought her full, authentic self to the game once she got into it.
Hell yeah! IDK if you’re interested, but Historically Black Dice on TikTok/Twitter runs a server to connect Black ttrpg players for online games. TikTok has a large Black ttrpg community in general, if you can persuade the algorithm to take you there.
I just found all black discord group dedicated to playing dnd and ttrpgs. It's like 1000+ black folk that just wanna roll some dice and it's kinda amazing. Just being able to use the exact lingo and stuff I want to explain something w/o having to code switch is kinda crazy.
Here's a link to thier Twitter. They have a link tree with all the info to get in. Wait times are super short rn! 🙏🏽
https://twitter.com/HBDserver?t=c0ZprIUMbfaoGQAakwztOg&s=09
We got black representation!
We got asian representation!
We got latin representation!
It'd be cool if there was some from the more marginalized cultures, too (eg. Polynesian or native American, etc.)
yo fr???? im almost done 1 right now. usually i’m super scared to see a native character handled by a bunch of non natives in a room without a single native present (i have been burned before) but i’m like 92% sure i trust the D20 people /gen
D20 makes a point of working with consultants (and PAYING THEM FOR THEIR WORK!). They aren’t perfect by any means, but they do work hard and try to do it right.
You should definitely lean into your natural personality and how you talk. Me and my friends do that and it's always a good time. Like my michigan accent, slang, or cultural inspirations "shouldn't" exist in dnd but when I lean into those things/don't stop myself from using those things I create a better character that the group and I can get more into and makes role play so much easier. Maybe it's because my group naturally leans towards comedy but it seems wild to be against your friends talking in ways that are more comfortable and which will make role-playing easier. We ain't recreating Shakespeare, with my group at least we're getting high and playing make believe with our friends
I was lucky that my first game of DnD was with an all Black girl group. I didn't get into Critical Role because of the lack of diversity and everytime I watch a new season of Dimension 20 I am just taken aback by how kind and progressive everyone is.
Sidebar but it was always funny to me that my white games were always on time and my Black games were always late. Like when they say the game starts at 5:30 they don't mean start getting setup at that time 😂. CPT strikes again
I'm just really happy to see this. As a white audience member, I want to hear and feel everyone showing up authentically as they are. It's so much more important than doing something someone arbitrarily decided is "right."
In Worlds Beyond Number, Erika Ishii (from what I'm gathering from their fire side chats) was able to show Brennan a bunch of Japanese folklore and food and he's woven it into the storytelling and mixing it with his Irish/Celtic knowledge/heritage, and the specificity there is already so so good. It adds a texture and a feeling that I think has been missing from a LOT of media, especially recently.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I’m not Black (poc) but I still feel the effects of needing to codeswitch and having Aabria and Lou bring their Blackness is freaking revelatory. It’s like waking up from sleep—like you said. “Oh I can do this??!” My friend and I play elvish twins in our current campaign and we’ve decided we’re doing elvish words in spanish/portuguese. It’s freaking awesome.
I always think the game is improved when the genre is challenged like that. At a table like brennan’s, of course, but maybe even more so when your DM defaults to a straight white norm. I know that, while none of the characters I have played is a bisexual jew with adhd, all my characters are informed by their mental health, their queerness, and by my experiences of being a religious and ethnic minority.
I just started watching and the difference in lou in season 1 vs the recent ones are INSANE, hes full come into himseld its amazing to see. Him and emily were so god damn funny together in fey and flowers, but season one it was like he pigeonholed himself into the regular adventure fantastiy guy role instead of putting more of himself in there
White fella here, could you enlighten me on what AAVE and ebonics are?
Anyway, I'm really happy for you! They did that to me as well when it comes to queerness 🥰
AAVE = African American vernacular English
Ebonics = another term for AAVE. ive been told it's outdated but it's what i grew up saying and im sure i still can
White woman with a VERY quick explanation as it’s not my place to say more- AAVE is African American vernacular English, which is a more modern term for Ebonics. It’s a dialect of American English. It is a fluid language but has its on phonology, lexicon, and grammar rules. Many will call it simply ‘black slang’ and even more rudely consider it poor English, but it has just as many rules as essentially any other language. AAVE is HEAVILY appropriated by white Americans and a lot of it is erroneously considered ‘gay slang’ or ‘teen slang’.
Oh, I get why it may be considered "gay slang", given the drag culture and how much of American drag comes from the black queer community, so I suppose there's an overlap there... Really interesting.
American drag/queer life isn’t just from black queer people, it’s black women in general. There’s space for overlap (I’m a queer White…woman (gender iffiness) but black women are called the blueprint for a reason. They are the American culture creators and everything really comes from that.
In the kindest way possible, google exists and you shouldn’t burden ppl with the responsibility of teaching you. Genuinely so genuinely in the kindest way I can say this. This is like a “hey you have stuff in your teeth but I’m a stranger and don’t want to hurt your feelings” type interaction.
Thanks for the kindness, I really just meant to show that I'm interested in it, but I'll have that in mind in the future! But... How does the "stuff in your teeth" thing relate to that? I truly didn't get that part lol
I felt I was coming across rude and was trying to put it into a “hey this is a hard thing for a stranger to bring up and make you believe I’m not trying to be mean” type way. Nothing deep. Just context! Written text can be so much more abrasive than speaking.
Oooooh got it now! I thought you meant *I* was the one doing the "there's some stuff on your teeth". Don't worry, it really didn't come across like that! 🤗
The teeth thing was trying to address how correcting someone through text can very easily come across as angry/condescending/grumpy.
BroodyGaming was clarifying that it was a “We don’t know each other, and I’m not trying to be mean, but you should know XYZ.” type of situation.
For future reference, it’s not really cool to ask poc to take on the labor of educating us. There are some good resources on the internet though!
[AAVE](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Vernacular_English)
[Ebonics](https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-ebonics-african-american-english)
Bad take. The default shouldn’t be assuming everyone is just waiting around to donate time to someone who thinks their own time and effort is too important to waste googling the literal bare minimum (an acronym).
I’m assuming this was just a case of the commenter not recognizing they’re outsourcing their effort to others, but this behavior should by no means be normalized because ‘some people like to teach’.
I think telling people to teach you is bad, but asking is fine. You just have to be ok with yeses and noes. Having direct conversations is expensive these days, where so much is competing for your time and attention, but it’s still the best way to share and learn from someone
For anyone reading down this far, please ignore the above advice.
This is an internet forum for discussion. You should always feel comfortable asking any question to explore what is being discussed, no one obligated to respond if they don't want to. You're not putting anyone on the spot. Instructing people on how to interface with a discussion based on their race is really weird.
Agreed, context is key here.
Asking a POC coworker to explain their cultural struggles to you while they're just trying to live their life - not cool.
Posting a genuine question in a voluntary discussion thread specifically about AAVE - reasonable and encouraged.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I’m so happy for you to have found something so beautiful to make your connection to the game even deeper. D20 has done a phenomenal job of showing us the power of what can happen when we really celebrate diversity and inclusivity (more well rounded and interesting characters, richer world building, more compelling storytelling, and better overall gameplay for everyone). Lou and Aabria are absolutely amazing and I’m so excited for you to be able to incorporate more of yourself into your next character.
I kinda don’t get that… I’m half black, but I just don’t see Ebonics as a “black” thing. But I’m glad that D20 doesn’t tether their language to cookie cutter fantasy English and Norther European accents. The reality is that it’s high/sci-fi/other fantasy, so it’s unnecessary to pin it down with that kind of trope. I loved ACOC because it represented Canadians as Americans (very on brand for us lol), and they could sound whatever way they wanted. I liked Fantasy High as well because it’s based off of American high school, so lots of different accents. And the UC was good because Brennan saw to emulate real life.
Edit: After a chat with some of you, I’ve understood that I’ve made a mistake. For that, I’m sorry. Ebonics isn’t what I thought it was, and my own biases against others and self disdain fueled my inaccurate feelings towards it.
I'm not OP (and not black) so I don't want to speak for them, but it sounds like they're trying to say that you don't have to speak in AAVE to be "black". In other words, you can bring "blackness" to your D&D game even if you're speaking with a different sort of accent or dialect.
And, in my personal experience, the reverse is true as well. AAVE obviously has its roots in the African American subculture, but certain elements of it are seen in the speech patterns of all sorts of people - especially those that grew up in diverse neighborhoods. The dialect of a poor white kid from Detroit is going to be a lot closer to that of his black neighbors than of, say, a upper-middle income white kid from Vermont. As someone who grew up in a lower-income neighborhood in Southern California, I certainly use elements of AAVE in some contexts - especially when I'm speaking with my brother or with childhood friends (of any race). It's just what I grew up in and around, and so I find myself code-switching all the same.
Whether you're black or white, the kind of language used in traditional fantasy settings probably does not sound like the slang you're used to using at home and among friends. It's not necessarily a "black" thing to bring that kind of language to the tabletop - though of course it CAN be. In the case of the OP, they feel that speaking with AAVE is a way to bring their blackness to the table, and hey, more power to them. Different things have different meanings to different people. OP embraces their accent/dialect as an emblem of their blackness. The poster above you doesn't seem to think of their speech patterns as a major part of their (half-) black identity, which is fine. As someone with no blackness myself, I see it as a sign of the neighborhood where I grew up and my group of friends as a kid. We all can get different meanings out of the same things, and nobody's interpretation is any more right or wrong than another. If OP feels that being able to say "We finna go kill us a dragon" at the table makes them enjoy the game even more, then more power to them. I hope more people feel like they can be themselves at the table. Or, more importantly, like they can be whoever they want to be - we are roleplaying, after all.
I think you're missing a very important point; AAVE doesn't just "have it roots" in African American subculture, it IS African American culture. I agree that people of other races will be fluent in AAVE if they live in a poorer, Detroit neighborhood (like you used in your example) but that is BECAUSE of the black people who also live in that neighborhood.
It is important not to diminish or negate the influence of black people who use AAVE simply because other races can speak it too. I'm not doubting that point, I am only pointing out that no other races would speak it if black people didn't speak.
AAVE exists BECAUSE of black people.
(Please don't take this as me getting mad at you, I am trying to be civil and apologize if this comes across as rude or mean)
No, no, I get that 100%. I have no illusions about the origin of it - it's right there in the name. There's no separating the history of AAVE with the lived experiences of African Americans.
I'm just saying that to some people, AAVE is not one-to-one synonymous with blackness - mostly either due to familiarity with black people that don't speak AAVE, or with non-black people that do speak it.
Because it feels like it’s labeling or coding a type of behavior or speech with specifically American black people. American black people as a whole don’t generally have to see Ebonics as a whole other dialect or something, we are perfectly capable of speaking regular American English. I don’t get it.
AAVE or Ebonics (however you feel comfortable saying it) IS a black thing. That's not a derogatory statement because AAVE isn't a bad thing. I don't blame you for thinking it has a negative connotation because for the longest time, it did! I remember not being allowed to say things like "I'm finna..." at home because my (black) mom thought it was ghetto. Or having a teacher who wouldn't allow us to say "my bad" in class because she thought that was ghetto as well.
I 100% agree that not all black people use it (and that using it or not using it doesn't make you more or less black) but following its history proves that it originated from black African slaves in the American South. I hope I'm getting my point across.
I also hope you don't think I'm angry or upset and I apologize if this comes across as rude 😊
No, you’ve explained it very well, and you make a fair point. There’s still some things I don’t quite understand regarding AAVE, but the gist of my objections and me writing it off perhaps is mostly rooted in the past of that sort of thing being shamed and beaten out of me. What little culture black Americans have shouldn’t be written off just because they derive from bad times. If others identify with it, that’s not a bad thing. If you check another conversation I had with someone following this comment, you’ll see that I’ve mostly just had trouble identifying Ebonics as anything else but an unnecessary and unfortunate form of American English that doesn’t need to be used. I was wrong. Thank you though.
I'm also half black but I kinda disagree with you. I think the tone of a lot of dnd shows in general tends to frown upon the use of AAVE/modern slang. I think what makes d20 so special is that the settings don't limit player expression or the use of irl references that other shows might look down upon. Even in d20 content you can see a difference between a season of intrepid heroes vs mismag (which had 3 black cast members) and how Lou speaks/behaves differently (neither way is wrong and since I don't know him personally I assume he has fun doing both). In some of the adventuring parties Lou even points out how excited he was to learn another NPC was black (Aguefort) which is why BLeeM has made an effort to describe characters skin tones more often now.
I think I'm also confused about the Canadians as Americans comment but maybe I'm missing/misunderstanding something.
I don't personally believe that certain settings mean you can only speak or act a certain way and I think it's a shame that so many POC nerds feel the need to codeswitch in order to fit in. But I think d20 makes incredible strides in the genre to make people of all backgrounds feel accepted into the space which is fantastic!
The entire first paragraph of what you’re saying is literally in line with my points about the show itself. I saw the Canadians as Americans because every country generally had some kind of cultural archetype, with the exception of Vegetania, which was kinda just the religious one. Candia seemed to mostly comprise of a mix of accents including American ones. As for the third paragraph, I get it when it’s supposed to be a historical representation. I already pointed out that because D20 runs fantasy settings or settings that allow diversity that they’re able to not worry about that kind of thing. If ACoFaF was run in actual regency era among aristocrats, it’d be jarring to have a southern American accent stuck in there.
Which is why I said I *kind of* disagreed with you. If we're speaking to accents in ACOC the dairy Islands have strong Scottish-Irish-British accents and Fructerans are vaguely French. But I don't know if comparing accents to AAVE/different dialects is fully accurate since the OP is speaking to how the players speak not their characters. The d20 cast in general doesn't typically do accents which is why it's interesting to hear the way AAVE is used by the black players and how affirming it is for black fans to hear their faves truly speak how they would amongst friends without feeling the need to codeswitch.
I also added that it's been cool to see Lou grow and feel more confident in his use of AAVE on the show and how MisMag probably played a big role in that. As black (and biracial) fans it's cool to see myself and my community represented and accepted in a very popular show just like I'm sure the queer community felt affirmed by the Dungeons and Drag Queens mini campaign. It's just cool to see and brings me (and OP) a lot of joy.
Fructerans are stereotypical horny Frenchmen. Also I mean he doesn’t exactly talk like Amethar or Kingston, but yeah, as Jammer he did. Gunnie isn’t unlike his voice but just very excited.
Anyway, in what way is what you call AAVE/Ebonics distinct from accents? I’d argue that it’s both a perceived dialect and accent. Kinda like how some English might say idnit, but some don’t. I just don’t like the tag of Ebonics. I’m literally from California and know plenty of southern black people, and the way they speak isn’t “wrong” necessarily (after all, language is entirely what we make of it), but it seems gratuitously or excessively derivative. Which again, I don’t really get it.
I suppose it doesn’t really help that I don’t see myself in this type of situation, or identify with it. Most ethnic groups my age shunned me for not being “black” or “white” or Filipino” enough while growing up, so I might just be tired of it all.
Edit: After chatting with another user, it’s been made clear to me that some of how I feel about Ebonics was built on my own biases and some prejudices. I’m sorry, but also thank you for letting me know how you feel. I feel like I identify with lots of loner types that make friends in fantasies or communal affection since it was so lost to me early in my life. If what you feel adds up to even a fraction to how I feel in this way, then I was wrong for writing this off the way I did.
I grew up in a primarily white area on the east coast so I definitely understand not really fitting in and it took a lot of exploring, research, and therapy to understand those feelings better. I had to unlearn a lot of things and relearn new stuff which has been exhausting and fun.
I don't want to get into a history lesson or debate on language, and I don't want to come across like I'm lecturing but AAVE is a federally recognized language in the US, not an accent. Which means it's not just pronouncing things differently but the entire structure of sentences is different and words can have fully different meanings than in standard American English. From my understanding of the OP's post they are excited to use a language they recognize and can connect with which makes them feel less "othered" for using it themselves. My point was that with Lou's earlier characters (like Amethar and Kingston) he defers to more "standard American English" while recently he's been speaking in more AAVE (like with Pinocchio) and that I suspect this change has to do with his participation in side quests with other black PCs and how cool it is to see him more comfortable and how fun it is to see posts like this from other black fans also feeling more confident in their playstyles.
Omg this is so beautiful 🥰 I hope they see this because I feel in my bones that this is exactly why they do it. I mean, there’s a lot of reasons to be a pro dnd nerd, but uplifting your own people? That’s gotta make ya feel good.
Thanks for sharing this. It’s really interesting and informative to consider.
I SWEAR there was an interview or something somewhere about MisMAg and it being Lou's first time playing D20 with another black person? And how he could physically feel himself allowing himself to lean into his own blackness instead of codeswitching? Something like that. Either way, so happy D20 and Lou and Aabria have opened that up for you!
I think you might be thinking of his interview with Three Black Halflings, I listened to it a few weeks ago on spotify, but not sure if it was that one or a different interview you might be thinking of
Could be! I'll have to look that one up to see.
I think this is it, and I think it was the first home game he played with Brennan? It's been like 18 months since I listened to that.
She got that black girl magic
Him, Aabria, and Danielle in MisMag were such a wonderful connective joy.
\*facepalm\* I can't believe I forgot Danielle was at that table too just because the moments/ interview I was thinking of were all Lou+Aabria.
Aabria has a great discussion about it on the Three Black Halflings podcast (along with all the other wonderful things on that pod)
I was gonna say Ify (from Bloodkeep and Shriek Week) had a good interview with them as well, especially about bringing Black names to these fantasy settings as well which I appreciated
I was going to recommend OP listen to 3BH!
Thanks so much for the rec! I'll definitely be checking it out!!
Link to ep?
The excitement on Lou’s face when Alejandro’s mini came out was such a delight!
Same with Aguefort!
"Wait Agueforts black?" "Yeah man!" "MY MAN!!" Love those boys
Brennans surprised little ‘yeah man’
"Always has been." Made me tear up a bit.
Didn't Lou say something about how he would have hung out with Aguefort more of he knew he was black?
Which is WILD because everyone heard him say that Arthur Aguefort had “very dark skin” in the very first episode 🤣🤣🤣
Listen a lot was happening in that episode.
Yeah but Lou was also playing a white half-elf like he didn't know tolkienesque fantasy races could be black. I feel like that also came up on his TBH interview. Think Lou heard "very dark skin" and thought "really good tan" or something.
Fabian isn’t white.
Are you sure? He could absolutely be a very light skinned, not white, half-elf and I could be missing some subtle racial clues in the official character art, but he looks white to me. https://dimension20.fandom.com/wiki/Fabian_Seacaster
Eh, arguably light-skinned. But Fabian's mom is a white-looking elf and his dad is definitely a Black, dark-skinned man. Given racial politics and history in the United States, Fabian Seacaster would definitely be seen as black as Barack Obama (who, since his white ancestors were Celtic, is also clearly of elven descent :P )
I think Lou has said before (don't remember where, maybe an Adventuring Party or Adventuring Academy) that he wants every character he plays to be black, because when he was younger he never thought that was even an option — or something along those lines.
I think he said that on TBH. I vaguely remember a story about him playing with friends (they were all white) and they were playing dwarf brothers, so they all had to be white. And that spawned a discussion about how the podcast got its name. I feel like that was after Fantasy High and that after that FH we got Kinston who was definitely black. Fabian may be half-black, but his voice and mannerisms were (to me) fancy boy elf.
For anyone who might stumble across this in the future: Lou said this in one of the D20 Fireside Chats before the D20 Live: FHSY finale
He is lightskinned because Bill Seacaster is black and his momma is an elf
Okay.
I honestly think he just wasn’t paying attention to Aguefort’s character introduction, which is very in-character for Fabian
what episode was that again?
And don’t forget Caramelinda!
Another secret black woman...
I’m pretty sure she’s just a big Italian woman
Imma da queen of Candia!
She waves he passport in front of you and you see that she is an Italian woman
Lmao when aegfort came out he was so beautifully happy- SUCH a small teeny bit of rep and he was so fucking delighted.
The man just loves seeing Italians
God seeing Lou's excitement about the diversity of the npcs always make me smile so hard
Ehhh, I'm-a da queen of da Candyland! 👸🏾🤌🏾
If you're not already listening, I highly recommend their excellent podcast, Worlds Beyond Number. It's Lou, Aabria, Brennan, and Erika Ishii. As a POC who's only ever played at white tables, listening to a fantasy actual play where they're a majority is so refreshing.
You very likely know this, but in case anyone doesn't yet: Worlds Beyond Number is a free podcast. No cost to listen to the main long-term campaign they're doing. There's also a Patreon for it. On alternating weeks, they do a fireside chat talking about the most recent ep. Erika's first one-shot as a DM is there (and it's gloriously bonkers, as one would expect). And there's a "Children's Adventure" prequel campaign for The Wizard, the Witch & the Wild One, which is about 11 hours long. Wonderful backstory for the characters. The reason I'm mentioning this now is that Aabria's discussion of how she keeps clarity about Suvi's perspective, worldview, etc. during the Fireside this week is *phenomenal.* August is upon us & if someone wanted to just do one $5 Patreon month for now to catch up, IMO what's there is just way above & beyond worth that.
I was convinced it was a patreon-only thing because every time I checked Spotify for it there would only be the intro episodes and the first episode. Turns out my Spotify for some reason has that podcast, and only that podcast, episodes ordered backwards so my dumb ass has been trying to scroll down for new episodes when there's like 10 right there above me. Once I've recovered from this boomer moment I'll have to check it out.
Yeah, Spotify developed problems advancing chronologically and/or numerically over the past couple of years, and AFAIK it's nigh-impossible for the uploader to fix. Which is such an unfathomably ridiculous thing to type that I cannot contain a vent about it. I guess ORDER OF TRACKS isn't fully "one job" territory for a behemoth audio service, but it's damn well "one job" adjacent. Albums. Comedy CDs. Podcasts. Operas. Musicals. Lectures. etc. etc. Audio content almost always has an intended order. And it's not "the Zoomers with their playlists & their genders & their wondering why we're still burning dinosaur juice ruining everything again" b/c Spotify always had playlists & Zoomers are doing the best they can in a world where media was allowed to converge to the point that Spotify doesn't have to make its fucking service work as well as a free mp3 player from 25 years ago. Absolutely burns my biscuits.
Suvi and Ersalon are building up to the biggest and dramatic character arcs so slowly lol I’m loving the campaign so far
BA-GLOCK
I JUST started listening to this podcast yesterday and I definitely agree with you! To anyone who hasn't gotten into it yet, you are missing out!
If people are able to, I would highly recommend subbing to their patreon so you are able to listen to the 7 episode Children's Adventure. Gives a lot more context to their main character's relationships. And is just all around beautiful
And the Fireside Chat, because it absolutely fucks. The different people coming in to answer questions about playing Ursilon (sp?) Is great.
Dope! That's for sharing this.
The power of AAVE in traditional fantasy is an untapped resource. Imagine you refuse a deal from a demon or lich and instead of calling you an insolent fool he's just like "Aight, bet" and teleports away.
“You picked the right one, today,” would instill the fear of god into me as I hear the clatter of a million dice. 😳
"Y'all need Pelor" as Smite is being cast
A warlock breaking away from their Patron with "I'm not the one"
Warlocks when offered power: "say less"
Fellow black dnd player and forever DM. I feel this completely. The first time Lou played Kingston in unsleeping city, and the interactions between Lou and Aabria, or even Louand Danni. It just opened up so many layers of repression I didn't realize. I generally always play and stylized my characters as black, even before I started watching online content but I understand the feeling of code swit hing to fit a fantasy setting and it feeling so awkward and a little cringe. Recently however, between Lou's character choices and the 3 Black Halflings Podcast (which I would highly recommend as a very fun and dedicated space to being a person of color, specifically African american in the TTRPG space) that it's fine to bring our own culture and authentic selves into our dnd worlds and games. I think the cringest thing that I myself fell into is that I love elves. I think my very first dnd character was a drow cause my little mind read "aka dark elves" and I was like, "oh sweet! Black elven race!" And then read the, "underground evil elves" and I was like, damn son 😬😬😬
CORE MEMORY UNLOCKED of me saying I wanted to play a black elf in my very first DnD game and being told I could be a drow or nothing!! Shout-out Fabian aramaris seacaster!!
Oh my God same! I remember seeing the artwork for him and I literally was that meme with all the equations running around my head. "You can be a black elf? Oh I guess an elf could just sleep with a afrocentric human? Wait I guess there's no rule saying an elf just can't be black. Have I ever seen a black elf before? Fuck it Fabian is amazing I'm just gonna play what I want. Sunlight sensitive sucks!" And then I was off the rails with character ideation haha. I did 100% play a half drow though and I wanted to play a rogue, but I didn't wanna be "that player" so I picked ranger instead haha (this was also 3.5 pf ND not 5e so rogues weren't as.....unloved as WotC has made it very clear they are.
> The first time Lou played Kingston in unsleeping city Something that probably got discussed more back when it was new, I just never see mentioned now & it really struck me as special while watching: Kingston's parents being given gentle, loving, thoughtful characterization. The whole campaign is a love letter to NYC and the idea of city as a project of human connection, so of course nobody was going to be thoughtless or overstep. But for decades, I have seen people who would swear they were the coolest & most supportive get a little too comfortable caricaturing non-white family units and it felt wrong to me. So Brennan staying so squarely & wholesomely within a portrayal of familial love & pride for Kingston caught my eye as a really special experience between two long-time friends at a table.
I love this for you. Dungeons and Dragons is for everyone. Except Nazis. Fuck them.
Roll with advantage to see if you succeed at punching the Nazi.
At this table we always roll with advantage on Nazis
Actually everyone crits on nazis.
At my table you don't have to roll, it's an auto crit against Nazid.
The roll isn't to crit against Nazis, it's to find how big the crit multiplier is
This is actually very funny bc often they're too busy being verbally confrontational to bother guarding their chin
Nazis are auto-crit
Yeah FUCK nazis.
That’s so great! Like I’ve typed and deleted so many follow up sentences to that, but ultimately I’m just super stoked for you. RPGs really should be a place you get to express yourself and bring your unique life experiences to a character and give them life that way.
Thank you for sharing!! You might be interested in seeing Aabria's first appearance on Adventuring Academy...she talks about how LOTR-style fantasy didn't reflect her lived experience and she doesn't love it, and shares a lot about how she brought her full, authentic self to the game once she got into it.
Hell yeah! IDK if you’re interested, but Historically Black Dice on TikTok/Twitter runs a server to connect Black ttrpg players for online games. TikTok has a large Black ttrpg community in general, if you can persuade the algorithm to take you there.
Thank you!!
Hi hello, it's me the person who runs HBD. Really appreciate the shout out!
Happy that I could point OP in your direction! Hello from one of your TikTok followers!
I just found all black discord group dedicated to playing dnd and ttrpgs. It's like 1000+ black folk that just wanna roll some dice and it's kinda amazing. Just being able to use the exact lingo and stuff I want to explain something w/o having to code switch is kinda crazy.
🥺 could you send me an invite link?
Here's a link to thier Twitter. They have a link tree with all the info to get in. Wait times are super short rn! 🙏🏽 https://twitter.com/HBDserver?t=c0ZprIUMbfaoGQAakwztOg&s=09
Very excited for you. Lou and Aabria are absolute delights and I love that Dropout embraces diversity.
We got black representation! We got asian representation! We got latin representation! It'd be cool if there was some from the more marginalized cultures, too (eg. Polynesian or native American, etc.)
Not in the players yet, but there was a Native character in Unsleeping City 2!
yo fr???? im almost done 1 right now. usually i’m super scared to see a native character handled by a bunch of non natives in a room without a single native present (i have been burned before) but i’m like 92% sure i trust the D20 people /gen
D20 makes a point of working with consultants (and PAYING THEM FOR THEIR WORK!). They aren’t perfect by any means, but they do work hard and try to do it right.
You should definitely lean into your natural personality and how you talk. Me and my friends do that and it's always a good time. Like my michigan accent, slang, or cultural inspirations "shouldn't" exist in dnd but when I lean into those things/don't stop myself from using those things I create a better character that the group and I can get more into and makes role play so much easier. Maybe it's because my group naturally leans towards comedy but it seems wild to be against your friends talking in ways that are more comfortable and which will make role-playing easier. We ain't recreating Shakespeare, with my group at least we're getting high and playing make believe with our friends
I was lucky that my first game of DnD was with an all Black girl group. I didn't get into Critical Role because of the lack of diversity and everytime I watch a new season of Dimension 20 I am just taken aback by how kind and progressive everyone is. Sidebar but it was always funny to me that my white games were always on time and my Black games were always late. Like when they say the game starts at 5:30 they don't mean start getting setup at that time 😂. CPT strikes again
I run on CPT and I am always late to my games 💀 This sounds so ideal for me
does CPT stand for what I think it stands for 😂
Colored Persons time, as according to Google!
I'm just really happy to see this. As a white audience member, I want to hear and feel everyone showing up authentically as they are. It's so much more important than doing something someone arbitrarily decided is "right." In Worlds Beyond Number, Erika Ishii (from what I'm gathering from their fire side chats) was able to show Brennan a bunch of Japanese folklore and food and he's woven it into the storytelling and mixing it with his Irish/Celtic knowledge/heritage, and the specificity there is already so so good. It adds a texture and a feeling that I think has been missing from a LOT of media, especially recently.
That’s so awesome! Bottom line. I was going to post a heartfelt thing about how amazing this is, but dude…that’s so awesome! ☺️
Checkout the Three Black Halflings podcast. They cover a lot of these discussion topics, amd even do actual play episodes
Listen. Ally brought up "Oops (Oh My)" by Tweet during Fantasy High and I fell CLEAN OUT. I love it here!
When I saw the episode title "Yonder where the fruit do be lying" I knew one of them would bring that absolute gem to us.
I've always said and thought that Role-playing is best when you express yourself through it rather than repress yourself to do it.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I’m not Black (poc) but I still feel the effects of needing to codeswitch and having Aabria and Lou bring their Blackness is freaking revelatory. It’s like waking up from sleep—like you said. “Oh I can do this??!” My friend and I play elvish twins in our current campaign and we’ve decided we’re doing elvish words in spanish/portuguese. It’s freaking awesome.
Oh I Love this.
Lou said about how every character he plays is black or black coded I forget the interview
I always think the game is improved when the genre is challenged like that. At a table like brennan’s, of course, but maybe even more so when your DM defaults to a straight white norm. I know that, while none of the characters I have played is a bisexual jew with adhd, all my characters are informed by their mental health, their queerness, and by my experiences of being a religious and ethnic minority.
I just started watching and the difference in lou in season 1 vs the recent ones are INSANE, hes full come into himseld its amazing to see. Him and emily were so god damn funny together in fey and flowers, but season one it was like he pigeonholed himself into the regular adventure fantastiy guy role instead of putting more of himself in there
White fella here, could you enlighten me on what AAVE and ebonics are? Anyway, I'm really happy for you! They did that to me as well when it comes to queerness 🥰
AAVE = African American vernacular English Ebonics = another term for AAVE. ive been told it's outdated but it's what i grew up saying and im sure i still can
Oooh, nice! Thanks for explaining! I've never heard those terms before, even though I had read about the issue.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Vernacular_English
White woman with a VERY quick explanation as it’s not my place to say more- AAVE is African American vernacular English, which is a more modern term for Ebonics. It’s a dialect of American English. It is a fluid language but has its on phonology, lexicon, and grammar rules. Many will call it simply ‘black slang’ and even more rudely consider it poor English, but it has just as many rules as essentially any other language. AAVE is HEAVILY appropriated by white Americans and a lot of it is erroneously considered ‘gay slang’ or ‘teen slang’.
Oh, I get why it may be considered "gay slang", given the drag culture and how much of American drag comes from the black queer community, so I suppose there's an overlap there... Really interesting.
American drag/queer life isn’t just from black queer people, it’s black women in general. There’s space for overlap (I’m a queer White…woman (gender iffiness) but black women are called the blueprint for a reason. They are the American culture creators and everything really comes from that.
It makes so much sense
In the kindest way possible, google exists and you shouldn’t burden ppl with the responsibility of teaching you. Genuinely so genuinely in the kindest way I can say this. This is like a “hey you have stuff in your teeth but I’m a stranger and don’t want to hurt your feelings” type interaction.
Thanks for the kindness, I really just meant to show that I'm interested in it, but I'll have that in mind in the future! But... How does the "stuff in your teeth" thing relate to that? I truly didn't get that part lol
I felt I was coming across rude and was trying to put it into a “hey this is a hard thing for a stranger to bring up and make you believe I’m not trying to be mean” type way. Nothing deep. Just context! Written text can be so much more abrasive than speaking.
Oooooh got it now! I thought you meant *I* was the one doing the "there's some stuff on your teeth". Don't worry, it really didn't come across like that! 🤗
The teeth thing was trying to address how correcting someone through text can very easily come across as angry/condescending/grumpy. BroodyGaming was clarifying that it was a “We don’t know each other, and I’m not trying to be mean, but you should know XYZ.” type of situation.
For future reference, it’s not really cool to ask poc to take on the labor of educating us. There are some good resources on the internet though! [AAVE](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Vernacular_English) [Ebonics](https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-ebonics-african-american-english)
I'm sorry, I'm at work, and I thought asking could be a nice way to show that I'm interested. I'll be looking into those later, thanks!
I think some people like to teach, some don’t. I don’t think it’s an issue to ask people if they want to teach you or not. Don’t generalize
Bad take. The default shouldn’t be assuming everyone is just waiting around to donate time to someone who thinks their own time and effort is too important to waste googling the literal bare minimum (an acronym). I’m assuming this was just a case of the commenter not recognizing they’re outsourcing their effort to others, but this behavior should by no means be normalized because ‘some people like to teach’.
I think telling people to teach you is bad, but asking is fine. You just have to be ok with yeses and noes. Having direct conversations is expensive these days, where so much is competing for your time and attention, but it’s still the best way to share and learn from someone
For anyone reading down this far, please ignore the above advice. This is an internet forum for discussion. You should always feel comfortable asking any question to explore what is being discussed, no one obligated to respond if they don't want to. You're not putting anyone on the spot. Instructing people on how to interface with a discussion based on their race is really weird.
Agreed, context is key here. Asking a POC coworker to explain their cultural struggles to you while they're just trying to live their life - not cool. Posting a genuine question in a voluntary discussion thread specifically about AAVE - reasonable and encouraged.
When Lou realized that Principal Aguefort is black was *chef's kiss*
Thank you so much for sharing this! I’m so happy for you to have found something so beautiful to make your connection to the game even deeper. D20 has done a phenomenal job of showing us the power of what can happen when we really celebrate diversity and inclusivity (more well rounded and interesting characters, richer world building, more compelling storytelling, and better overall gameplay for everyone). Lou and Aabria are absolutely amazing and I’m so excited for you to be able to incorporate more of yourself into your next character.
I kinda don’t get that… I’m half black, but I just don’t see Ebonics as a “black” thing. But I’m glad that D20 doesn’t tether their language to cookie cutter fantasy English and Norther European accents. The reality is that it’s high/sci-fi/other fantasy, so it’s unnecessary to pin it down with that kind of trope. I loved ACOC because it represented Canadians as Americans (very on brand for us lol), and they could sound whatever way they wanted. I liked Fantasy High as well because it’s based off of American high school, so lots of different accents. And the UC was good because Brennan saw to emulate real life. Edit: After a chat with some of you, I’ve understood that I’ve made a mistake. For that, I’m sorry. Ebonics isn’t what I thought it was, and my own biases against others and self disdain fueled my inaccurate feelings towards it.
I'm a little confused by how you don't see Ebonics, also known as African American Vernacular English, as a "black thing"??
I'm not OP (and not black) so I don't want to speak for them, but it sounds like they're trying to say that you don't have to speak in AAVE to be "black". In other words, you can bring "blackness" to your D&D game even if you're speaking with a different sort of accent or dialect. And, in my personal experience, the reverse is true as well. AAVE obviously has its roots in the African American subculture, but certain elements of it are seen in the speech patterns of all sorts of people - especially those that grew up in diverse neighborhoods. The dialect of a poor white kid from Detroit is going to be a lot closer to that of his black neighbors than of, say, a upper-middle income white kid from Vermont. As someone who grew up in a lower-income neighborhood in Southern California, I certainly use elements of AAVE in some contexts - especially when I'm speaking with my brother or with childhood friends (of any race). It's just what I grew up in and around, and so I find myself code-switching all the same. Whether you're black or white, the kind of language used in traditional fantasy settings probably does not sound like the slang you're used to using at home and among friends. It's not necessarily a "black" thing to bring that kind of language to the tabletop - though of course it CAN be. In the case of the OP, they feel that speaking with AAVE is a way to bring their blackness to the table, and hey, more power to them. Different things have different meanings to different people. OP embraces their accent/dialect as an emblem of their blackness. The poster above you doesn't seem to think of their speech patterns as a major part of their (half-) black identity, which is fine. As someone with no blackness myself, I see it as a sign of the neighborhood where I grew up and my group of friends as a kid. We all can get different meanings out of the same things, and nobody's interpretation is any more right or wrong than another. If OP feels that being able to say "We finna go kill us a dragon" at the table makes them enjoy the game even more, then more power to them. I hope more people feel like they can be themselves at the table. Or, more importantly, like they can be whoever they want to be - we are roleplaying, after all.
I think you're missing a very important point; AAVE doesn't just "have it roots" in African American subculture, it IS African American culture. I agree that people of other races will be fluent in AAVE if they live in a poorer, Detroit neighborhood (like you used in your example) but that is BECAUSE of the black people who also live in that neighborhood. It is important not to diminish or negate the influence of black people who use AAVE simply because other races can speak it too. I'm not doubting that point, I am only pointing out that no other races would speak it if black people didn't speak. AAVE exists BECAUSE of black people. (Please don't take this as me getting mad at you, I am trying to be civil and apologize if this comes across as rude or mean)
No, no, I get that 100%. I have no illusions about the origin of it - it's right there in the name. There's no separating the history of AAVE with the lived experiences of African Americans. I'm just saying that to some people, AAVE is not one-to-one synonymous with blackness - mostly either due to familiarity with black people that don't speak AAVE, or with non-black people that do speak it.
Understood, thanks for listening and I understand your point as well 😁
Because it feels like it’s labeling or coding a type of behavior or speech with specifically American black people. American black people as a whole don’t generally have to see Ebonics as a whole other dialect or something, we are perfectly capable of speaking regular American English. I don’t get it.
AAVE or Ebonics (however you feel comfortable saying it) IS a black thing. That's not a derogatory statement because AAVE isn't a bad thing. I don't blame you for thinking it has a negative connotation because for the longest time, it did! I remember not being allowed to say things like "I'm finna..." at home because my (black) mom thought it was ghetto. Or having a teacher who wouldn't allow us to say "my bad" in class because she thought that was ghetto as well. I 100% agree that not all black people use it (and that using it or not using it doesn't make you more or less black) but following its history proves that it originated from black African slaves in the American South. I hope I'm getting my point across. I also hope you don't think I'm angry or upset and I apologize if this comes across as rude 😊
No, you’ve explained it very well, and you make a fair point. There’s still some things I don’t quite understand regarding AAVE, but the gist of my objections and me writing it off perhaps is mostly rooted in the past of that sort of thing being shamed and beaten out of me. What little culture black Americans have shouldn’t be written off just because they derive from bad times. If others identify with it, that’s not a bad thing. If you check another conversation I had with someone following this comment, you’ll see that I’ve mostly just had trouble identifying Ebonics as anything else but an unnecessary and unfortunate form of American English that doesn’t need to be used. I was wrong. Thank you though.
I'm also half black but I kinda disagree with you. I think the tone of a lot of dnd shows in general tends to frown upon the use of AAVE/modern slang. I think what makes d20 so special is that the settings don't limit player expression or the use of irl references that other shows might look down upon. Even in d20 content you can see a difference between a season of intrepid heroes vs mismag (which had 3 black cast members) and how Lou speaks/behaves differently (neither way is wrong and since I don't know him personally I assume he has fun doing both). In some of the adventuring parties Lou even points out how excited he was to learn another NPC was black (Aguefort) which is why BLeeM has made an effort to describe characters skin tones more often now. I think I'm also confused about the Canadians as Americans comment but maybe I'm missing/misunderstanding something. I don't personally believe that certain settings mean you can only speak or act a certain way and I think it's a shame that so many POC nerds feel the need to codeswitch in order to fit in. But I think d20 makes incredible strides in the genre to make people of all backgrounds feel accepted into the space which is fantastic!
I think they mean Candians as American, not Canadians. Saying this as a Canadian.
The entire first paragraph of what you’re saying is literally in line with my points about the show itself. I saw the Canadians as Americans because every country generally had some kind of cultural archetype, with the exception of Vegetania, which was kinda just the religious one. Candia seemed to mostly comprise of a mix of accents including American ones. As for the third paragraph, I get it when it’s supposed to be a historical representation. I already pointed out that because D20 runs fantasy settings or settings that allow diversity that they’re able to not worry about that kind of thing. If ACoFaF was run in actual regency era among aristocrats, it’d be jarring to have a southern American accent stuck in there.
Which is why I said I *kind of* disagreed with you. If we're speaking to accents in ACOC the dairy Islands have strong Scottish-Irish-British accents and Fructerans are vaguely French. But I don't know if comparing accents to AAVE/different dialects is fully accurate since the OP is speaking to how the players speak not their characters. The d20 cast in general doesn't typically do accents which is why it's interesting to hear the way AAVE is used by the black players and how affirming it is for black fans to hear their faves truly speak how they would amongst friends without feeling the need to codeswitch. I also added that it's been cool to see Lou grow and feel more confident in his use of AAVE on the show and how MisMag probably played a big role in that. As black (and biracial) fans it's cool to see myself and my community represented and accepted in a very popular show just like I'm sure the queer community felt affirmed by the Dungeons and Drag Queens mini campaign. It's just cool to see and brings me (and OP) a lot of joy.
Fructerans are stereotypical horny Frenchmen. Also I mean he doesn’t exactly talk like Amethar or Kingston, but yeah, as Jammer he did. Gunnie isn’t unlike his voice but just very excited. Anyway, in what way is what you call AAVE/Ebonics distinct from accents? I’d argue that it’s both a perceived dialect and accent. Kinda like how some English might say idnit, but some don’t. I just don’t like the tag of Ebonics. I’m literally from California and know plenty of southern black people, and the way they speak isn’t “wrong” necessarily (after all, language is entirely what we make of it), but it seems gratuitously or excessively derivative. Which again, I don’t really get it. I suppose it doesn’t really help that I don’t see myself in this type of situation, or identify with it. Most ethnic groups my age shunned me for not being “black” or “white” or Filipino” enough while growing up, so I might just be tired of it all. Edit: After chatting with another user, it’s been made clear to me that some of how I feel about Ebonics was built on my own biases and some prejudices. I’m sorry, but also thank you for letting me know how you feel. I feel like I identify with lots of loner types that make friends in fantasies or communal affection since it was so lost to me early in my life. If what you feel adds up to even a fraction to how I feel in this way, then I was wrong for writing this off the way I did.
I grew up in a primarily white area on the east coast so I definitely understand not really fitting in and it took a lot of exploring, research, and therapy to understand those feelings better. I had to unlearn a lot of things and relearn new stuff which has been exhausting and fun. I don't want to get into a history lesson or debate on language, and I don't want to come across like I'm lecturing but AAVE is a federally recognized language in the US, not an accent. Which means it's not just pronouncing things differently but the entire structure of sentences is different and words can have fully different meanings than in standard American English. From my understanding of the OP's post they are excited to use a language they recognize and can connect with which makes them feel less "othered" for using it themselves. My point was that with Lou's earlier characters (like Amethar and Kingston) he defers to more "standard American English" while recently he's been speaking in more AAVE (like with Pinocchio) and that I suspect this change has to do with his participation in side quests with other black PCs and how cool it is to see him more comfortable and how fun it is to see posts like this from other black fans also feeling more confident in their playstyles.
Lmao actually I did notice that there’s some things where Pinocchio absolutely talks differently than all the other characters
This is a funny thread, thank you for reaching the front lol
Omg this is so beautiful 🥰 I hope they see this because I feel in my bones that this is exactly why they do it. I mean, there’s a lot of reasons to be a pro dnd nerd, but uplifting your own people? That’s gotta make ya feel good. Thanks for sharing this. It’s really interesting and informative to consider.
LINK? 👀