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By Christopher Perkins
This blog is one of the ways in which the D&D Studio discusses topics of interest to those who play and enjoy D&D.
In this blog post, I’ll talk about how we in the D&D Studio are changing our review process following the problematic content that appeared in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space.
Harmful Content
If we discover that something we created is harmful or hurtful to fans, we correct it. Then we identify how it happened and how to do better in the future.
The first printing of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space included two pieces of content that fans correctly flagged as offensive. The first is an illustration of a hadozee bard that resembles offensive minstrelsy materials and other racist depictions of Black people. The second is a paragraph about hadozees that reinforces harmful real-world stereotypes. Future reprints will omit both the illustration and the offensive text, neither of which had been reviewed by cultural experts.
Inclusion Reviews
In the weeks since fans flagged the offensive content in Spelljammer, we in the D&D Studio have been building and testing a new inclusion-review process. Inclusion reviews ensure our games are inclusive and welcoming for all players.
Previously, inclusion reviews were done at the discretion of the Product Lead, who identified which pieces of a product needed an outside inclusion review. The studio’s new process mandates that every word, illustration, and map must be reviewed by multiple outside cultural consultants prior to publication.
While the D&D team is racially, ethnically, gender, and cognitively diverse, we don’t want our marginalized employees to be burdened with the task of reviewing content for cultural competency. That’s why we leverage the expertise of outside cultural consultants.
Inclusion reviews now happen several times during a product’s development and at least once during each of the following phases:
- Text Creation phase
- Art Creation phase
- Final Product Review phase
Text and art are reviewed separately until the Final Product Review phase, when cultural consultants review the edited text and final art side by side.
Implementation
Now let’s peek at how the new inclusion-review process works.
Consultant Reports. After completing their reviews, the cultural consultants submit written reports that are shared with the studio’s leadership team. The Product Lead then works with the Art Director and the Managing Editor to develop a plan that addresses the consultants’ feedback.
Next Steps. The feedback and the proposed changes are compiled into a single document for review by the consultants and the studio’s Executive Producer. Once the changes are approved, the plan is implemented. If the plan requires the creation of new content, that content receives its own inclusion review.
Reprints
The new inclusion-review process applies to not only products in development but also reprints. In other words, every reprint is an opportunity to conduct a new inclusion review on previously published content.
As I write this blog post, Spelljammer: Adventures in Space is about to be reprinted. Applying our new inclusion-review process to the Spelljammer reprint led us to make additional changes, which are captured in our official errata document and reflected on D&D Beyond.
Moving Forward
Just as D&D is a living game that grows and changes as we learn, so too will our inclusion-review process evolve and improve.
We are expanding our pool of cultural consultants so that we have the expertise needed to review the variety of material we publish. We will also continue to listen to D&D fans who call attention to offensive content. We will do our best to make this process as diligent, methodical, and universal as possible, better ensuring that our products bring joy rather than cause pain to our fans.
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