Easy moral patch: These specific goblins have all made unambiguously evil choices that warrant a good slaying. Like kicking dogs. You're not slaying goblins because they're goblins, you're slaying dog-kickers that happen to be goblins. There are plenty of goblins who do not kick dogs, but they're not a part of this fight. This is still a political statement that dog kickers are evil. I doubt anyone would mind that, and those that do are better off leaving my table anyway.

I don't care about politics in my games (and shows/movies) as long as it fits into the world and into the story. A TV show examples for that is Torchwood. It has to be the most gay scify show (at least it is the most gay I know) but all of it fits together and I love the show, even as a totaly hetero/cis guy. It doesn't feel forced but is just how everything just it. Not sure if I can explain it good, hope it is somewhat to understand.

Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might *choose* not to examine them, but this is an active *choice* on your part, and you don't get to pretend that your entertainment is "free of politics".

"I don't want to talk about/see politics" is always synonym to "I support the status quo, and I will aggressively reject anything that goes against it". Nothing that happens on a public space is free of politics, even when it's not controversial.

That may be the case for some people, but most adults just like some good lighthearted fun without any of the real world implications attached to it. This obviously doesn't excuse bigoted mindsets. I'm talking about campaigns where me and my players just want to do some good old goblin slaying without the need for anyone to chime in with a "UM actshually those goblins have families too".

When I say "I don't want politics in my gaming," I mean it literally. Like, I don't care for the Star Wars prequels because they spend a lotta time just doing politics instead of space battles. I don't wanna sit through boring ass senate sessions listening to motions and passing votes. I wanna blow shit up!

Aren't goblins ontologically evil in most DND settings? That should take care of that specific issue anyway.

I learned after the fact, that most of Torchwood is just how John Barrowman is. He insisted on having a scene with a shirtless Stephen Amell in Arrow as well.

Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might *choose* not to examine them, but this is an active *choice* on your part, and you don't get to pretend that your entertainment is "free of politics".

Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might *choose* not to examine them, but this is an active *choice* on your part, and you don't get to pretend that your entertainment is "free of politics".

"I don't want to talk about/see politics" is always synonym to "I support the status quo, and I will aggressively reject anything that goes against it". Nothing that happens on a public space is free of politics, even when it's not controversial.

I feel like a lot of people, who complain about politics in gaming are not _choosing_ to examine/not examine the political assumptions, they are simply not realising that they’re there. Often these themes reside deeper in the storytelling so you have to actually engage with it to be aware of them. People who complain about it only choose a handful of topics to be mad about, because they are against it.

Or, you know. We could just ignore those pseudo-moral excuses and do some good old goblin slaying because they're in the dungeon, laying traps and we want the loot. Not everything needs 12 layers of logical depth. Sure, it's fun to explore moral implications from time to time, but more often than not, no one cares.

Exactly. What they're really mad about is the fact that there's a black person, a gay person, or woman with normal sized tits in the game.

Agreed. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's a big difference between playing a gay character and derailing the entire campaign because you choose to lead a gay rights movement while the world is being overrun by the demon king's hordes. I don't care about the former and have done so myself, but I boot you from my table for the later. Not because I'm against gay rights, but because that's not the kind of story I'm interested in DMing and you're free to find a DM who's interested in this storyline, but you won't take my campaign and players hostage for your Selbstdarstellungsdrang.

Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might *choose* not to examine them, but this is an active *choice* on your part, and you don't get to pretend that your entertainment is "free of politics".

Nah, they've long fallen to the usual cycle of "here is a species of interesting antagonistic creatures" -> "Oh wow, that sounds interesting. I want to play them" -> "Yeah sure, here's a playbale variant of that species. We've removed all traces of evilness and uniqueness because god forbid players playing evil characters". Same as Drow, Orcs, Fairies and Goliath.

man I just wanna play my lyre and have an adventure and have fun. I don't wanna argue over politics. I game to get away from all that. I think it's ok to want to have some space between stuff.

Seriously. Every form of entertainment has baked-in political assumptions, and that definitely includes #ttrpg . You might *choose* not to examine them, but this is an active *choice* on your part, and you don't get to pretend that your entertainment is "free of politics".

I mean I can understand having occasional exceptions to the rule so the players can get an interesting non standard experience, but straight evil aligned critters should always be present in fantasy settings especially ttrpg and DND specifically.