An Observation: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

The story arcs in the original dragonlance had examples of women over-coming the patriarchy, and others over coming specie-ism and racism.  Contemporary DND says ... we're trying to have fun at this table not delve into social issues that upset people ... and so the fantasy world is post patriarchal and post racism/specie-ist.  However, the drow have remained matriarchal.  The downside is that individuals that fell into these traps in the past could readily be identified as evil, and fantasy typical relies on good vs. evil themes.  Nothing in these comments are intended to be emotionally charged but simply offered as an explanation of both sides of the story.

Im just wrapping this adventure up after playing it once a week for 2 years straight! I can say without a doubt that there is balance in the male/female casting choices. It never seemed over the  top to me. My players loved it. I had to embellish parts of the book because not enough attention was given to character development and story moments.

Foss, I agree with you 100%

A.) What I recognize is that portraying women as capable and in positions of leadership on parity with men is good storytelling. And I question using the term "bias" with all its negative connotations to describe WotC depicting women having agency and making meaningful contributions to the movement of the plot, especially after decades of men being over-represented as leaders and shapers of events.

2.) I find it weird the original poster claims to not have a problem with women being portrayed prominently (which they absolutely shouldn't, by the way) but still made a whole thread to call it out as a problem.

Wild how this thread keeps getting necroposted.

Men were never the sole demographic. Women played D&D back in the day. They were unfortunately excluded from a lot of tables - a problem that hasn't entirely been extinguished. And you're right that in ages past when D&D wasn't as popular as it was now people who did play it were often looked down on for it, and not just when the satanic panic hit. I remember how things were back then. I remember being ostrasized for a lot of my hobbies because I grew up being a nerd before it was cool That's why I reject gatekeeping and exclusivity and making people who have traditionally been excluded feel unwelcome. The lesson I learned from living through those times was this: Being bullied and othered and excluded sucks, and I have an obligation to not perpetuate that kind of behavior.

You're right that D&D is a product of our real world. And that's the source of a lot of the problems that have made people feel unwelcome. Because without significant, maintained, intentional effort it's impossiible to have a product of our real world that doesn't replicate our real world problems. For decades D&D replicated real-world problems around racism and sexism, partially because people steeped in our culture didn't closely interrogate how they were recreating our cultural problems in the game and partially because some of the early designers - Gary Gygax included - explicitly wanted to invoke real-world racist stereotypes as in-game stereotypes.

Ok, This again THIS AGAIN.  I know i missed it, but I don't care, to what ever fresh skidmark startecomplaining about ladies in adventures...

STOP WHINGING THAT WOMEN PLAY AND APPEAR IN THE GAME! When i started in the 90s, there were veteran women player who started in the 70s. They wouldn't say much because a 40 year old woman might not want to talk to a 12 year old boy (me) during the height of the satanic panic. 
THEY 
HAVE 
ALWAYS
BEEN 
HERE.

as to Drangonlance specifically, I want to point out, that one of the Authors, the person who created half the setting, Margaret Weis, IS A WOMAN. We wouldn't have Drangonlance without women so stop getting your boxer stuck in your braces about women in the game.

(For anyone wondering why i am going off so hard, I had to deal with some 'women out of gaming' chud last night and i was not able to force choke him through the internet, so I am still pissed. So pissed i became British for a second. )

I feel like I look a little unhinged complaining about necroposting now that the last comment before the one I posted yesterday is... one I posted in June. I swear there was a comment there, and part of it took a rather naive position that real-world issues don't affect the game and part of it was that men were the target audience when the game began. I feel like the guy in the cartoon with the singing and dancing frog, but nobody else sees the frog sing or dance but him.

GnollItAll is right - and this happens to be true for a lot of hobbies we enjoy: Women have always been here.

Quote from ApplePaladin >>

I feel like I look a little unhinged complaining about necroposting now that the last comment before the one I posted yesterday is... one I posted in June. I swear there was a comment there, and part of it took a rather naive position that real-world issues don't affect the game and part of it was that men were the target audience when the game began. I feel like the guy in the cartoon with the singing and dancing frog, but nobody else sees the frog sing or dance but him.

GnollItAll is right - and this happens to be true for a lot of hobbies we enjoy: Women have always been here.

 
Don't worry about it. People who have been around the forums long enough know to check the post number. You were obviously (to me) reacting to a post that was deleted later.

S'all good.