So this is an issue I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. As a white male, I feel very conscious of the need to represent other people and communities in any game I run, and I am making an effort to do so. However, I'm not in the habit of giving physical descriptions of my NPCs, and so a lot of them come across as men because of my limited voice range. I want to try to get more racial diversity into my NPCs as well, but it doesn't seem the best idea to just go 'you see a black woman' because that kind of description doesn't really sit well with me, and I don't know how to get it across more subtley.

I think there is also a wider issue in D&D and fantasy which I have brought into my own game of the standard setting of Northern European kingdoms, and again I want to be able to challenge that while not tearing apart all the lore I have for my home-brew world. I've also noticed that because of the staggering amount of races in D&D, each individual race becomes more and more homogenised as you just describe NPCs as an orc man or a halfling, and the same, in my experience, applies to humans, so I want try and counteract that while being respectful to the cultures I'd be drawing from.

I know this can be a very contentious issue, and bad representation is as much of a problem as no representation, so:

Have any of you struggled to achieve diversity among different tribes and cultures in your games, or have any tips on how to achieve it? Do any of you guys have strategies for dealing with these things in-game?

I personally struggle enough to remember that there are so many dnd races out there, and most of my NPC's are human simply because, in my mind, that is the default!

I have it in my head, however, that there are regions where different physical traits are prevalent. There is a tribe of orcs who are more like ogres in size & strength, and another where they are thinner and more wirey. I have a city in the desert in which, by either tanning or natural pigmentation, will be home to predominantly darker skinned people (though some races, like dragonborn, would probably be paler because their scales will conduct the heat more if they were darker). I also have places which are melting pots where every way you look are different people of different races, clans, heights, etc.

In a fictional world where the people are all of the same colour (let's say pale blue, because of a quirk in the minerals in the land), then it's not unreasonable to say that everyone is pale blue.

You need to establish what people are in your world, and where they are, how much they travel (you don't need specifics, just "do travel" and "stays in mountains" is enough) and then represent the fictional world you're making, not the real one.

It's for this very reason that I decided today to remove humans from my world entirely, and replace them with Fourthlings, based on the Edge Chronicles. They are effectively humans, and will use their stats in lieu of humans existing, but their explanation is that they are called Fourthlings because their bloodlines stretch to the four corners of the world - they are a bit of everything, so variant humans are explained by being a bit more this or a bit less that, and their "average" aspect is explained, it's all explained - but no longer do you need to "represent" humans from the real world in a fictional world. Their skin colour could be anything (perhaps a bit goliath for greyer tones? a bit dark elf for darker ones, or high elf for paler? A bit of orc for more greenish hues? Perhaps their skin is just a little rough, almost scaly, or their nose and ears are a bit lrger than average?), and that takes away any direct comparison to the real world - though a lot of people would probably still try to make it, just so that they can complain about it.

(1) Look into literature written by respected Female and POC authors to see how they describe themselves and other people.

(2) Recognize the difference between unique characteristics and cultural identities. Referring to someone as "Black" or "White" sweeps over their individuality in favor of large umbrellas that have broad social significance.

(3) Treat everything as a spectrum. "Natural" skintones range everywhere from nearly translucent to ink, and fantasy skintones cover the full range of hues and textures.

(4) Highlight meaningful details. A woman with dark complexion might have a telling scar suggesting a history of military service, or deep wrinkles beside her eyes suggesting that she likes to laugh deeply and often.

The purpose of describing someone is to give them depth and individuality. Acknowledging someone's skin color is fine, so long as it is just dressing for what actually differentiates them as a "person". Be specific.

Edit: Also, note the difference between what is true and what is apparent. While someone may be male, female, intersex, or otherwise, they are likely to appear masculine, feminine, androgynous, or otherwise. Especially when someone is wearing a full suit of platemail, you really only have secondary and tertiary qualities to work with.

I might not worry too much about tearing apart the lore of your world. Maybe just correct it. In Northern Euope during the middle ages, there were intermingling of cultures from all of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. People traveled, they explored the world around them. They were aware of other cultures, even then. For inspiration you could take a look at The 13th Warrior or Gladiator among any number of other movies or books.

As has been suggested, lean more on being aware of culturally specific details. Little things like how someone talks with body language and hand gestures. How they react when someone shows them the bottoms of their shoes or feet. How they address people that they have just met versus old acquaintances. Things that make them people or elves or dwarves... you get the idea. Sticking strictly with skin tone as a description might be considered bad representation.

Also, physical deformity, speach impediments, physical disability, incurable disease, mental illness and poverty are not recent creations. They have been around since the dawn of human civilization and have been treated with varied levels of acceptance for just as long. Being transgender is also not a recent creation of our civilization. Hawaiian Mahu and Native American Two Spirits are only two examples.

To answer your question: I don't stick with skin tone as a descriptor of how an NPC acts towards the party. When I describe a physical appearance, I focus on physical attributes like body size, musculature, (un)graceful movements, scars that type of thing. I try to use skin tones as a secondary or tertiary descriptor of the person. I'm also lucky enough to have a table that would rather use the person's name or job title to refer back to them versus relying on skin tone. As a side note, one of the most powerful NPCs in my current campaign is female. Which, througout most of history in a good many cultures, just wouldn't be allowed. Thus far, the only time I rely on skin color to describe a creature is when I'm introducing a dragon.

If you feel the need to racialize your game, then you will have to have different continents with different environmental pressures to drive evolution.  If you want to have dark skinned halflings then they need to be from the equatorial part of the planet.  Do you want to have light complexion orcs, then put them further to the north.  Or you could ignore all of the racialize garbage being shoved into games, and just put out a fun game that keeps people coming back.  It can be whatever you want.  If you have real problems with race, just make everyone purple and be done with it.

There is an endless amount of diverse and cool character art online, so I always have an image of an NPC that is likely to have a speaking part and I'll display it at the appropriate time. As a bonus, the art often gives me additional inspiration for personality quirks and whatnot.

Well, the easy way to get across the idea of "this isn't a white guy" without being overt is to have pictures. The other thing to do is to have people from multiple in-world cultures -- ideally ones that aren't just clones of real world cultures with the serial numbers filed off.

When describing female NPCs, try to steer away from attractiveness descriptions. I find it incredibly frustrating when female characters in fantasy books are characterized by how pretty they are, while the guy characters are described by how they move, speak, and act. They deserve to be defined by their abilities, strength, and personality, not their attractiveness.

Here is an example that shocks some people.   When you watch cartoons drawn by Americans,, we draw Asian eyes differently.  We try to represent the epicanthic fold to show that these are Asian characters.

But when you watch anime drawn by Asians, they draw everyone with the same eyes.  Why? Because it is a minor unimportant feature - like the folds of your ear.  Not worth drawing.   Instead they use blond hair or blue eyes to represent Caucasians, rather than different eyes.

Quote from Memnosyne >>

(1) Look into literature written by respected Female and POC authors to see how they describe themselves and other people.

 

Can't stress that enough! There are tons of fantasy and sci-fi books out now that are written by diverse authors and thoughtful about how they present issues around race, gender, culture, and class. R.F. Kuang's Poppy War series is a big sprawly military fantasy with magic, drawn specifically out of Chinese history; Nnedi Okraofor has written great fantasy books that take place in a fictionalized West Africa. Becky Chambers' Wayfarers books are a great sci-fi universe that has a number of distinct humans with their own identities and characters, interacting with a wide array of aliens of different identities. 

And +1 to making sure you're describing all of your NPCs focused on that character's own distinct personality, movement, dress, and appearance. Don't have a bunch of Smurfs with their own personalities and a Smurfette whose only distinction is being female. 

' Or you could ignore all of the racialize garbage being shoved into games ' (sic)

Racism has been a keystone of the entire fantasy genre going all the way back to at least JRR Tolkien. PoC have been part of fantasy RPG culture since the very beginning. The use of the word "racialze(d)" in this context is extremely offensive.  [REDACTED] It advances the lie that the representation of diversity in gaming is sonehow "forced", rather than simply an accurate representation of reality, and that the exclusion of diverse culture representations is not in and of itself inherently a product of "racialization".

Now, that being said, if you want diversity in your game world, then it is up to you to represent that diversity in your game world by putting characters in your game world who represent the diversity of your game world.

The easy way to do this, of course, is to base game world cultures on real life human societies. If you are going to do this, then it would behoove you to study accurate depictions of those cultures in their own words.

Rome was not built in a day, and you don't have to build an entire universe in order to build a scenario taking place in one small pocket of it. Start small, build from there.

A very large pet peeve of mine is the idea that an entire sentient species can be "evil" (or "good"). Sentient creatures think for themselves and make moral choices for themselves. Stereotyping an entire species/race is one of the foundations of racism.

One good thing to think about, as well, is that before the advent of motorized transport, people who travelled to far-off lands distant from their home cultures were likely to have been exceptional in some way, and not representative of the median member of their society.

Thanks guys. Maybe slightly overemphasised the 'black', 'white' bit a little in the original post, because I'm not too bad with that part. Otherwise, great advice, definitely stuff I'll think about and check out when it comes to the books etc.!

I try to use the world around me. I look in books or premade dungeons and read over the descriptions of how the authors describe different races of humans. personally i see this as a good medium and allows progress

Quote from YannikusIII >>

it doesn't seem the best idea to just go 'you see a black woman' because that kind of description doesn't really sit well with me, and I don't know how to get it across more subtley.

 

If you are in the Forgotten Realms, then say, 'You see a tall Rashemi woman,"  Or perhaps, "You see a short man with dark skin indicating Calishite heritage." Or, "You see a tall elf with the typical pale blue skin of a Silver Elf." Or, "You see a Shield dwarf, but with a red beard, probably indicating a Mountain dwarf ancestor."

I have a quicksheet of the race descriptions and I make sure to mention the heritage of every single NPC the players inteact with more more than a few seconds. I'm subtly letting my players know that there is no such thing as a "default human" or "normal elf" or whatever. Everyone's heritage gets mentioned, so no-one's heritage is special.

I also try to mix it up. I don't want all the merchants the players come across to be Rashemi, or all the tavern guards being Damaran (with a few exceptions, of course, to suit the story).

Also, throw in the occasional reference to diversity. Have a guy casually mention his husband. Don't make a fuss, don't bring attention to it at the table, just make it part of the scene.

Have some people in the game avert the tropes. For example, there is a town leader in one of my games who is fine with same-sex marriage but who forced a couple out of town because they were living together out of wedlock.