Our little group of bigots

[Ryblackadder]

Let’s get one thing straight, I do not endorse any sort of racism of any kind and neither do the players. However, during our games we play in a fantasy setting with morals and beliefs that are outdated to say the least. It’s just part of the world and we’ve accepted that. Half orcs are seen as violent, stupid, and untrustworthy whether they grew up with orcs or not. Tieflings are seen as near devilish creatures and the holy church is constantly trying to keep them down. Drow that attempt to become good people need to either save the world several times or accept that second class citizen ship is the best they can hope for. These kinds of descrimimation are part of our stories and even character flaws... but we just got a new member of the group who’s... well black. We’ve had many a POC at the table before and so far have had no problems but I’m just wondering how to make him comfortable with well this world or if we have to change it. He’s new to role playing games and I don’t want to scare him off. There’s no descriminaion by color in this universe but I don’t want to make him uncomfortable. Any suggestions?

[hymer]

Any suggestions?
Talk to him. Explain what sort of campaign you're running, and ask him how he feels about it. Tell him how you're willing to change things. Explain that you really want to do this right, but you're not sure what 'right' is in this case. And whatever you agree on, have a chat again at the end of the first session to see how it worked out. Make it clear you're willing to have a running dialogue about this and any other subjects about the game.

[Satinavian]

Talk to him about it out of game ?

I am not sure how to handle it any other way, if it bothers you he might object.

[redwizard007]

"Hey Guy. I've been playing up some of the optional injustice issues built into the less socially accepted races in this campaign. In many ways, this is pretty similar to what I see happening in the real world. Some of this I do intentionally to make the guys uncomfortable and force a decision about morality, other bits are to maintain the consistency of the setting. The biggest favor that I can ask of any of my players is open and honest feedback after a gaming session. Whether it's positive or negative feedback, I appreciate all of you helping to shape our gaming experience."

Or something like that.

[Koo Rehtorb]

Just include it in setting expectations the way you should be doing about everything else of note before inviting someone to a game.

[jayem]

"Hey Guy. I've been playing up some of the optional injustice issues built into the less socially accepted races in this campaign. In many ways, this is pretty similar to what I see happening in the real world. Some of this I do intentionally to make the guys uncomfortable and force a decision about morality, other bits are to maintain the consistency of the setting. The biggest favor that I can ask of any of my players is open and honest feedback after a gaming session. Whether it's positive or negative feedback, I appreciate all of you helping to shape our gaming experience."

Or something like that.

Allegedly as part of a survey the American Soldiers were asked to pick one of three cards at random, and then answer the question on it. One was trivially true, one trivially false and one "are you taking drugs". They then had a safe zone to be honest in.

Applying that to this. If you'd be happy to pause the campaign because it would stop doing what you intended and become offensive when compared to real experiences. Then perhaps also be willing to pause the campaign because he's a newbie and might want to experiment with his character. The catch being of course if he takes that option you don't know his motivation.

[Blackhawk748]

Has he said anything about it or otherwise looked uncomfortable? If not, then you dont need to say anything.

[LudicSavant]

Has he said anything about it or otherwise looked uncomfortable? If not, then you dont need to say anything.

Worth noting that people who feel like they are in the presence of bigotry or other negative social situations often will not say anything about it and actively hide their discomfort, attempting to go along to get along even if they aren't all that happy about it.

That said it is still entirely possible that he has no problem with it. Nonetheless, simply talking about it as some others have suggested sounds like a good idea.

[Darth Ultron]

The best thing to do is nothing. Unless a player complains about something, you don't need to do anything.

Your player is not any different then any other player. Any player might not like something. But you don't need to walk around on egg shells because of it.

[RazorChain]

Not often that I agree with DU but I advise do nothing.

Unless this becomes an issue it's an non issue.

Asking the player if it's allright that elves and dwarves aren't friends and call each other pointy eared git and shorty is probably not going to accomplish anything

[Slipperychicken]

My regular group for the past 5-6 years has a majority of three american blacks (one GMing, two playing) who have all been perfectly okay with ideas of fantasy-racism there. Our group embraces and plays with it to an extent in ways that sometimes serve as an outlet for our own experiences with race and class in america. At the end of the day we're doing this to have fun, and of course our game-worlds are going to be much less than perfect, and that adds to the experience.

I think the way to go is to give him the same respect you would to any new player, be mindful of any microaggressions you might be putting out, but also try not to get awkward or change your GMing in obvious ways because you have a dark-skinned player. Anyone getting into a dnd-fantasy universe is going to expect dumb brutish orcs and wicked demons, so I don't see this as an issue. I think singling him out, pandering, or walking on eggshells around him is going to be more awkward than anything in your game-universe.