There's a lot going on right now, both personally and on a larger scale. Of these two areas, I want to focus on the latter, specifically in terms of the BLM movement and associated movements occurring across the world. I'm using the time I have available now to shut up and listen. There are more important voices that need to be heard right now, and a lot of conversations that have been going on for far too long that I and others need to pay attention to.
Below are links to several articles, posts, and threads related to the BLM movement and racism in ttrpgs and the ttrpg community, with specific emphasis on Dungeons and Dragons. This is by no means an extensive list, nor is it meant to be: it's a starting point though, which is better than nothing.
I would like to thank DM Steve (aka @DeeEmSteve) for sending several of these links my way.
James Mendez Hodes has a bunch of articles on race in games. Some also come in video format, which may be more preferable. Of most interest to me were the following:
The Giant Robot of Offense: a three-tiered method for for creating content that won't harm people. [article | video]
"May I Play a Character From Another Race?": a discussion on how to and how not to appropriately play characters of other races (also extends into genders & cultures to an extent) (also also useful for GMs wanting advice on depicting NPCs of other races & cultures). [article]
How to Change Your Conversations About Cultural Appropriation. [article]
Best Practices for Historical Gaming: also applies to real-world settings, and is also probably worth a read for people making fantasy games based on real-world locations or cultures. [article]
KiennaS - co-author of the TTRPG Safety Toolkit - breaking down bioessentialism, the concept that certain traits are determined solely by biology [Twitter thread] which in turn is a response to the following article by James Haeck in regards to reimagining Ability Scores. [article]
Alaya Swann's article on white supremacy in online D&D, with a good part on the non-whiteness of medieval Europe. [article]
John Kim with an old article (arguably two in one) about racism in games, with a specific case study on D&D's drow. [article]
Cypheroftyr wrote this article on Roleplaying the "Other", talking about people playing characters of other ethnicities. [article]
Zaiem Beg, a former editor-in-chief for WotC's Magic: the Gathering, shares their experience with racism within the business. [google docs]
Orion D. Black on the relationship between race and depictions of violence in TTRPGs. [articles: part 1, part 2]
Cecilia D'Anastasio with an article on Tomb of Annihilation and its successes (and many, many failures) working with 5th edition's "major black culture" [article]
This article in turn links to POCGamer's article on previous editions of Chult, with a focus on 4th edition. [article]
Asians Represent! are doing a readthrough and analysis of Oriental Adventures, an AD&D book. [video, part 1]
Swordsfall's page on what Afropunk is and how it relates to the Swordsfall RPG setting and its creation. [article]
Finally, whilst not necessarily a discussion on the subject, I really appreciated seeing The Wagadu Chronicles (honestly go check out their project, it's super cool) Twitter thread about positive interactions between black and white people before systemic racism. It's something I am painfully ignorant about but also now super fascinated by. [Twitter thread]
If you have any additional links to suggest, let me know and I'll add them to the list. Feel free to share where it's needed.
EDIT 10/06: How could I forget medievalpoc! This Tumblr is a great resource for people wanting to see historical depictions of black people in medieval Europe; it's got tags based on region and time period, a long list of resources and external links, and in general is a good resource for GMs wanting to see how POC were depicted in those times.
