What do you think of cross-cultural roleplay?

[WarKitty]

I'm thinking primarily of real-world based games like World of Darkness, where one would presume that real-world cultures or their descendants are in existence. Is it appropriate to play a character of a different culture or a cultural minority that you don't belong to? What things would one have to watch for?

[An Enemy Spy]

As long as you don't stereotype, I don't see the problem I've never held to the notion that everyone should only hold to their own culture and never try out other ones. Seems xenophobic to me.

[Rynjin]

Wouldn't particularly be roleplaying if the only role you were ever allowed to play was yourself.

[Frozen_Feet]

It's flatly the entire point of several non-fantastic games, to learn about and try to empathize with anothee culture. Really, roleplaying is an excellent vehicle for just that.

As for stereotypes, for casual games, those are fine too. It's not always relevant to spend a lot of time to dig deep into another culture. For fantasy games in particular, you're often just trying to rapidly evoke a feeling or mental image, and for that, stereotypes are a powerful tool.

As for what to watch for? Playing as a member of another culture is similar to speaking a different language, literally the same if you try to speak the relevant language. If you don't know a lot about it, you will commit false passes and you will stick out to natives or those who know more about the culture than you do. This isn't something to worry about much, but it is good to acknowledge that it will impact what sorts of roles you can convincingly play. For example, if you want to play a character who is very prim and proper, but don't actually know politeness rules of the culture you're trying to emulate, you will mess up. If you try to play a soldier of a culture which's military you're not familiar with, you will mess up. So on and so forth.

That's not a reason to not to try it, though. Messing up is inevitable when you're just beginning. Fortunately, the stakes in your typical roleplay are close to nill. If your character turns too hard to play, make an easier one.

[A.A.King]

You can play whatever the game lets you play and whatever the group thinks is appropriate is appropriate. The only thing you have to 'watch out for' are the particular (over)sensitivities of the people you're playing with (and those are probably more mechanics related like: "No Paladins!" OR "Please no, bards suck"). Hell, if you really wanted to you could even play some really messed up stereotypes if you find the right group for it. I mean, I don't think that is why you asked the question, but unless you plan to live stream your sessions whatever happens in your game room stays between the players and nobody can judge you for it.

Make a character you would like to play, make sure the group likes him/her too and just have fun. It's that simple.

[Scarlet Knight]

I'm thinking primarily of real-world based games like World of Darkness, where one would presume that real-world cultures or their descendants are in existence. Is it appropriate to play a character of a different culture or a cultural minority that you don't belong to? What things would one have to watch for?

Is it appropriate to play a character of a different culture ? Of, course. Any DM who has players interact with any cultures outside their own has done so while roleplaying the NPCs.

What to watch for? If you know your fellow players, just avoid anything that will anger them. If you don't know the other players, ask ahead of time.

And you can stereotype if you want. Why? Because there is really only 2 reasons to play a stereotype ; so you can keep in character or so that other players understand you.

Example? We've all seen movies with the mischievous Irishman and the grumpy Scot. There are plenty of michievous Scots and grumpy Irishmen, however, if you stereotype them, your fellow players will have a handle on your character in just a few minutes. You can always add depth as you go along.

The other reason is for you to keep in character. Inigo Montoya is Spanish but the character would have been fine if he was French, Italian, Russian or whatever. So I often pick a culture who's accent I can do, and use it only when I am speaking in character.

[Honest Tiefling]

I don't see why not. Obviously, you have to be respectful of what you are doing and have some idea what you are doing. I played a few games of Shadowrun and Vampire in the great era of the Weeabo...Which I am getting the feeling is mildly related to the issue at hand. If you want to RP another culture, do some research. There's always the lazy route of being of mixed descent, if you feel that might ease some issues with knowing a lot of a foreign culture. And hey, those exist too!

I am going to assume you're not an idiot that needs this repeating, but I do think it needs to be said: the type of person who makes a person of another culture that annoys people is going to be the one who will NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT IT. Not IC, not OOC, we get it, you like Anime, we sorta figured out what ethnicity your character was from the name Reiko, now kindly stop mentioning it.

And for crying out loud, don't do an accent unless you have theater training. Unless you are REALLY good at it...You're going to either offend someone, or confuse somebody who can't tell what you are doing.

[Delicious Taffy]

No, it's awful. You shouldn't be allowed to play any race except human, and then you can only play the race and gender you actually have in real life. Don't even think about getting "creative" with the name, either. You have two choices: your real name or a generic one. Oh, and you should also think twice before giving your character any skills or equipment you don't have in real life.

[2D8HP]

...And for crying out loud, don't do an accent unless you have theater training. Unless you are REALLY good at it...You're going to either offend someone, or confuse somebody who can't tell what you are doing.


Oh please do try accents, but only if you're bad at it.

Sadly most quit when their attempts are greeted with confusion or laughter.

If you are good at it though, just stop it, well done it's boring (unless you're going full throttle Robert Newton in Treasure Island, or just do Brian Blessed in ham-to-ham combat. That's hilarious. Or do Julia Child!)

[Heliomance]

And for crying out loud, don't do an accent unless you have theater training. Unless you are REALLY good at it...You're going to either offend someone, or confuse somebody who can't tell what you are doing.

No, I'd give exactly the opposite advice here. Try an accent, if you want. It's not hard to get pretty good at it, if you put in a bit of effort, and Youtube is full of tutorials. I've just started playing a character with a Russian accent, which has pushed me into actually improving my Russian accent. I'm not perfect, but who gives a damn? I'll keep working on it.

[Aedilred]

I think the extent to which you can get away with doing accents is a "race-based" one as much as anything. If you're white British/American and do a bad French accent or American/English accent or Welsh accent, nobody's really going to complain - unless they are both of the nationality in question and have no sense of humour. If you do a good one, so much the better.

If you were to do a stereotypical "central African" accent, though, or a bad Indian accent, people would be much more likely to be concerned, because it comes with a whole lot of baggage and could be seen as demeaning/mocking that culture in a way people are uncomfortable with.

Compare, too, for instance, the Gallic shrug and the camp limp-wrist. Both are utterly stereotypical (and consequently instantly recognisable), but the latter is much more likely to cause offence, because homophobia is much more pronounced and relevant than oppression of French people.

It's a case of knowing your audience, doing your research where possible so you're not causing offence through ignorance, and, failing that, directing mockery at insensitive stereotypes rather than falling into them. That last is still tricky, though, as I've met people who can't tell the difference between parodically mocking racists and just being racist.

[Donnadogsoth]

I'm thinking primarily of real-world based games like World of Darkness, where one would presume that real-world cultures or their descendants are in existence. Is it appropriate to play a character of a different culture or a cultural minority that you don't belong to? What things would one have to watch for?

I don't like to play appropriate games, they give me a headache.

We played Chinese gangsters one time in a modern-day Mage game. It was great fun and hilarious. We had a car chase in downtown Toronto and were pursued by a black dreadlocked motorcyclist whom we dubbed the Rastinator.

[WarKitty]

No, it's awful. You shouldn't be allowed to play any race except human, and then you can only play the race and gender you actually have in real life. Don't even think about getting "creative" with the name, either. You have two choices: your real name or a generic one. Oh, and you should also think twice before giving your character any skills or equipment you don't have in real life.

I feel like there's a significant difference between, say, a white american playing an elf mage, and the same white american playing a mexican immigrant. The simple problem is that stereotypes about elves don't matter because there are no elves. Stereotypes about, say, mexican immigrants, can actually make a difference because there are in fact mexican immigrants in the u.s. who can be affected by negative stereotypes.

[Telonius]

Whatever it is, as long as you can play it well, go for it. The problems only crop up when you play something badly. Playing cross-culture (or -age, -gender, -religion, -whatever) badly can have a few extra downsides compared to playing an Elf or a Gnome badly. But even there, mistakes can be transformative. It might be the first time a person has tried to think of the other as though it were the self.

[Eldan]

No, it's awful. You shouldn't be allowed to play any race except human, and then you can only play the race and gender you actually have in real life. Don't even think about getting "creative" with the name, either. You have two choices: your real name or a generic one. Oh, and you should also think twice before giving your character any skills or equipment you don't have in real life.

Does that mean I can give any character any skill I have in real life? If we play D&D, can I have working knowledge of Anorganic Chemistry III, Physical Chemistry II and Thermodynamics?

[Delicious Taffy]

Does that mean I can give any character any skill I have in real life? If we play D&D, can I have working knowledge of Anorganic Chemistry III, Physical Chemistry II and Thermodynamics?

A character with the same advanced knowledge as the player would honestly be really interesting. Imagine an assassin played by a surgeon, or an artificer played by a physicist. Heck, even a bard played by a guitarist would add an extra level of fun. So, by all means, go for it if your fellow players and DM approve.

[Donnadogsoth]

Does that mean I can give any character any skill I have in real life? If we play D&D, can I have working knowledge of Anorganic Chemistry III, Physical Chemistry II and Thermodynamics?

Now the quest is to find a laboratory set-up that would allow you to do something with all that knowledge.

[Eldan]

One could probably make explosives with access to medieval stores and markets and some creativity. Tanneries, dung pits, charcoal burners... should all be around. Something can be done.

[Trekkin]

A character with the same advanced knowledge as the player would honestly be really interesting. Imagine an assassin played by a surgeon, or an artificer played by a physicist. Heck, even a bard played by a guitarist would add an extra level of fun. So, by all means, go for it if your fellow players and DM approve.

All of my regular gaming groups for the past three years have been this: everyone is, at the very least, a hard science PhD candidate, and most of them have hobbies requiring advanced knowledge as well. It is a unique experience. One thing to bear in mind is that a lot of the equipment in a "laboratory set-up", if that's the term you want to use, is there for the sake of precision. If all you want is fire and chaos, the equipment need not be nearly so precise.

We tried using our "real-world" stats once, for a lark, under D&D 3.5. All well and good, except that we tried to convert IQ to Int by correlating bell curves. (And, coincidentally, we've all had our IQ professionally tested for psychological reasons.) Craft, of course, is an Int-based skill, as is Knowledge.

You know how some groups argue over who gets to be the wizard? They were bickering over how many people could get to be Experts, which ended up being all of them.

The campaign didn't last very long before real-world obligations got in the way, but the few sessions we played were hilarious, mostly for comments like these: "Hey, fae have DR/cold iron. Go warm up the coilguns." "No, wait, why don't we just heat the entire dungeon to the melting point of gold and draw off the liquid gold from the bottom? We know dwarves. This is doable."

It was like watching a bunch of Sparks, really.

[Genth]

This : https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/cultural-appropriation-rpg-version/

Is a really interesting and insightful resource on the topic.

[Donnadogsoth]

This : https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/cultural-appropriation-rpg-version/

Is a really interesting and insightful resource on the topic.

Interesting site--thanks. My question is,

What authority should judge how fair is fair when it comes to elements and depictions of foreign cultures? If a white Keeper of Call of Cthulhu, for example, wants to include North American Indigenous individuals, otherwise known as Indians, in his 1920s game set in backwoods Quebec, how much should he read up on the subject before he should feel himself acquitted of a charge of “hatred”?

[thorgrim29]

I mean you'd have to have a talk with your group first about the research you did into the subject. If you're going for historical accuracy it's not going to be pretty, in those days they would essentially abduct kids and lock them up in religious schools where they'd be beaten for speaking their language or talking about their culture, also scrubbed with bleach to whiten their skins. Add to that that a ton of them would probably be veterans of Vimy and other WW1 charnelhouses while the québecois largely refused conscription, rioted and hid in the woods there would have been a ton of tension.

[lio45]

Does that mean I can give any character any skill I have in real life? If we play D&D, can I have working knowledge of Anorganic Chemistry III, Physical Chemistry II and Thermodynamics?

I don't know about you guys but in my own roleplaying group (we're physicists) using our knowledge has always been pretty common, even when we're supposed to be dumb-ish characters. If your character comes up with a great in-game solution for a problem using real-life chemistry skills, I wouldn't disallow it as a DM; I like to reward inventivity and good ideas. We have always kinda assumed our characters had some of our own skills by default -- after all, the player does the thinking for the character, so...