Design - On Common

 Design - On Common

Common as a language system in d&d is a simplification in order to facilitate design around getting people moving forwards more quickly.

But you should also be adept enough to recognize that it is rooted in a deeply colonialist idea.

The concept that cultural norms can be pushed aside by erasure of language is a very eurocentric, and really a generally oppressive indoctrinate idea pushed by conquering powers.

I do not blame anyone for using Common in d&d though. Not all games need to be a meditation on culture and its effects in their fantasy. That's perfectly fine. If you want to have a game where goblins and orcs speak a loose facsimile of the same language as elves and humans, that's perfectly alright. That game is just as valid as any other.

But don't come to me and complain about my expanding languages to find nuance. Don't tell me I'm wasting my time. Don't come and say that d&d isn't for the things I'm doing with it. I have no patience for your racism. And that's what it is. Dogmatically, colonialist racism.

I've had people again and again, players even, say that they just want to understand everyone. That they should be able to. That with the wave of a hand and a magic spell, suddenly every nuance and idea opens up to them. I find the idea kind of gross. It ignores where things came from, and where they are going. It implies that everyone not using common is somehow savage, or simple, or an outlier. That's not the games I design.

If that's the way people want to play, there are plenty of games for that. There are plenty of kick in the door badass heroes waving swords and flinging fireballs. There are plenty of dungeon crawls, heroes of the realm, games to play. That's not what I'm interested in building.

Don't tear down designs you don't care to learn and understand.