D&D: WotC Quietly Updates Core Book Language For Inclusivity
D&D creator and streamer Teos Abadía, aka Alphastream, compiled a list of WotC’s quiet updates to the language in their core rulebooks.
For a while now, WotC has been updating the text in their core rulebooks, reflecting a move towards more inclusive language. These changes have come without fanfare, not mentioned in one of the D&D “studio updates”, or elsewhere. At least, not in any official capacity.
But in early 2023, D&D creator Teos Abadía, better known as Alphastream, mentioned on the Mastering Dungeon podcast that WotC had made some updates to the books without issuing official errata. And shortly after that, was contacted by a listener, who alerted Abadía to changes in the three core 2014 D&D books.
At the D&D Creator Summit, these changes were brought up, and though WotC said they planned to share the changes, at press time no mention has been made. In light of that, Abadía has released a compilation of the changes. Below you’ll find a brief list of what’s different—for the most part it seems to be changes to descriptive text and general terminology rather than outright mechanical changes—but you can find the whole list here.
A Compilation of WotC Inclusivity Updates
In 2023, WotC updated the language of the 2014 core books for sensitivity and inclusivity. The language of games evolves, just as our society evolves. Let’s examine the changes and learn how to improve our own creations.
As Abadía points out, these aren’t sudden changes. They’ve been in place for months now, on both D&D Beyond’s site and mobile app. But they’re such small changes that don’t meaningfully change the way the game is played, hardly anyone has noticed.
After all, when was the last time you read through the core rules? Once you learn them, it’s not often you go back to look up a rule unless you’re actively using it. Similarly, as Abadía states:
“Most of us didn’t notice the problems either, because such changes and impacts are subtle. It is also worth noting that these changes are also guiding how all recent books have been written.”
And indeed, some of the changes reflect that. For instance:
- The word savage is removed in many places, replaced with brutal, merciless, and ruthless
- References to “civilized cultures” being inherently better has been removed
- Madness, insanity, and crazy are replaced with more specific language that specify effects with more clarity
Again you can find a compilation of these changes, and the context surrounding them at Alphastream.org.
WotC continues their drive towards a more inclusive, sensitive 2024.
