Over its 50-year history, Dungeons & Dragons has both mirrored, and at times challenged, the real world’s attitudes towards race and identity. Focusing on the evolution of character creation and its mechanics around race reveals some interesting shifts and patterns that both align with and challenge the foundational tenets of white supremacy.

Let’s take a walk through the 50-year history of D&D and see how the choice of Race in character creation has evolved and its impacts on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in this series.

In Part 2, let’s take a look at some of the more modern D&D mechanics from third (2000), fourth (2008), and fifth (2014) editions, analyzing the incremental shift towards diversity.

Over its 50-year history, Dungeons & Dragons has both mirrored, and at times challenged, the real world’s attitudes towards race and identity. Focusing on the evolution of character creation and its mechanics around race reveals some interesting shifts and patterns that both align with and challenge the foundational tenets of white supremacy.

Let’s take a walk through the 50-year history of D&D and see how the choice of Race in character creation has evolved and its impacts on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in this series.

Part 1 of this series takes a look at the Foundational Years of D&D’s history, reviewing materials that were foundational to this tabletop hobby, starting with Chainmail in 1971 up to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd edition in 1989. Analysis will be presented on how these foundational years appear to reinforce a racial hierarchy and collude with biological determinism.