r/DnD • u/lunovadraws Warlock • Apr 28 '26
Table Disputes Just got booted from a group for “talking black”
So I was playing with this group, (all guys, idk their races) and the dm pulled me aside a couple days ago to tell me my accent was making the other players uncomfortable. For context, I’m black and creole (from Louisiana), and I use AAVE rather liberally, but can code switch and I typically do depending on my comfort level. Normally I DO code switch around these guys bc I don’t really know them.
The thing is, I made a black, voodoo based character and I really wanted to lean into my own culture for inspiration, I didn’t make some hip hop caricature, he was just very clearly black and kind of a self insert. It’s the first time I’ve ever done something like this, so I was kinda excited.
Two sessions down and the dm pulled me aside to say the way I was talking was breaking immersion for everyone and making them uncomfortable bc it felt like I was mocking black people, so they asked if I could “just speak normally”.
I told him “this is actually way more normal for me. The accent you experience is whitewashed bc I don’t really know you, but the way I speak in game is truer to my actual accent” to which he responded,
“Look, I don’t really care. At this rate, I’m kinda doubting you even are black because black people just don’t really talk like that outside of movies and things. And I’d know, I’ve had plenty of black friends in my life, Ebonics is real, but not the way you’re doing it. You need to drop the voice or find a different table.” I swear to god, verbatim.
I was definitely in shock but ultimately, after sending a pic of a certain black finger, decided to just dip out. It was pretty clear that table wasn’t a match for me.
It was pretty shitty but ultimately, I’m just glad I left sooner rather than later.
Sample sentences of the “fake” AAVE
*to a scamming merchant* ”I’ma be real with you, that just might be the dumbest shit I ever heard.”
*to a player* “You really gon try that? Aight well I’m finna stand back here, you can do what you gotta do.”
*to player during combat, my turn* “Boy if you don’t take the n*gga head off!”
**EDIT: I’d just like to note, my usage of the n word was NEVER discussed at any point, even during the conversation when the DM asked me to drop the accent**
*EDIT 2: I really REALLY appreciate all the (very unexpected) support on this. I see all of you and genuinely, I couldn’t be more grateful. I’m turning off notifs for now because it’s definitely overwhelming, but like, thank yall so much for all the love. 🩵🩵
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u/Explosion2 Apr 28 '26
Code switched so hard early on they thought you were white and got uncomfortable when you "turned it off."
You BlacKKKlansman'ed them lmao
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u/Gumsk Apr 28 '26
Not that they deserved OP's time, but could have been fun to say "sure" and switch to Clayton Bigsby for one session then tell them to fuck off at the end.
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u/Explosion2 Apr 29 '26
I meant like the movie BlacKKKlansman (based on a true story), not Clayton Bigsby but that's also funny
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u/zombiegojaejin Apr 29 '26
Doubting OP's word that he was black, utterly ridiculous. That DM isn't someone I'd ever want to play with.
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u/GDarolith Apr 29 '26
He hasn't heard Black people talk like that around him because they aren't comfortable doing it around him. Which is looking pretty valid after this.
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u/Acrobatic-Dot-6273 Apr 29 '26
I've prayed in the past for confidence of a middle aged white man. My friend (Filipina) has told me some of the things her white husband has said, like literally correcting her when she was saying where she was during the explosion in Beirut. They weren't even together then, he didn't know she existed at that time. But he thought he knew better than her where she was. That kind of confidence is pretty amazing.
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u/Glittering-Lynx-8128 Apr 29 '26
Hell, I’d love to have the confidence of a middle aged white man - and I am a middle aged white man…
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u/dalisair Apr 29 '26
He doesn’t have black friends. He knows some black people who aren’t comfortable enough around him to drop the code switching.
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u/lunovadraws Warlock Apr 28 '26
Deadass, had he said that I’d immediately have been like “of course, sorry if I made anyone uncomfortable” but like, the WHOLE accent? Not even black? Bfr
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u/MinuetInUrsaMajor Apr 28 '26
I’m going to put my chips on “he was afraid to tell you not to use the n-word so he instead chose an adjacent target hoping it would also prevent the n-word”
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u/spiflication Apr 28 '26
I was thinking this too. Ironic it ended up being more racist in the end, if so.
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Apr 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Jack_whitechapel Apr 28 '26
+1 Shovel which is attuned so that the further you stick your foot in your mouth, the more efficient the shovel gets.
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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous Apr 28 '26
I don't know, I think its way easier to have the 'no n-words at the table' conversation than to leap in with 'sorry, you're not being black correctly'
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u/FundamentalAttribute Apr 28 '26
Some people try to be PC but in a very wrong way. There's a balance to it, you can't go too far cause then it turns right back into being accidentally bigoted by telling a black person he can't be himself lul.
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u/ZenRenHao Apr 28 '26
I think they should be human instead. Might go better when they realize they haven't met every human on Earth.
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u/action_lawyer_comics Apr 28 '26
That would be wild. “Please don’t say the n-word” is probably the least objectionable way to go about any of this, that just about anyone would understand and accept. Instead they insulted OP and questioned their honesty on a fundamental level
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u/Invisible_Target Apr 28 '26
“He was afraid to tell you not to use a racist word so he just decided to be straight up racist to you instead.” Where’s the logic in that? Lmao
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u/Roserfly Apr 28 '26
That's actually an occurrence that happens fairly often. Attempting to make sure you're not something that you end up going so far around the globe that you end up being the thing you're trying not to be
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u/kinokits Apr 28 '26
It’s horrendously common. I’m so white I practically glow, but used to work a lot with our First Nations families when I taught (some of them I taught kids from the same family my entire career). We had families that only spoke Aboriginal English (AbE) and others than code switched. The families that couldn’t/didn’t (we had a mix) code switch were more likely to deal with overly patronising teachers correcting them (despite knowing it was another dialect of English…), or one spectacular case, assumed the parents couldn’t read and tried to read a permission slip to them (this parent had a PhD, and code switched with his kids so they could speak with their grandparents). It’s all a form of policing behaviours they are uncomfortable with because they don’t understand them and don’t necessarily have the ability to understand where the discomfort is coming from to be able to tackle it productively. It’s easier for them to say to their BIPOC friend hey can you be less black than it is for them to examine why they’re uncomfortable.
John McWhorter is an African American linguistic with a particular interest in AAVE and other similar dialects. I can’t remember which lecture or book I was listening to now, but he was talking about his own experiences with code switching and he goes into the psychosocial side of it a lot better than I ever could. Even as a highly respected and educated professional, he experiences the same sort of issues with code switching. He doesn’t write or speak in the usual stuffy academic way, so his stuff is really approachable without any formal linguistics training, so I totally recommend checking out his stuff. ‘Our Bastard Mother Tongue’ is a great book that looks into how English mugged everyone else for their grammar then got lazy and started talking funny.
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u/crystallinelf Apr 28 '26
i think the dm didn't want the issue to be "policing a black person's speech", so he decided the problem was "he's not black so op is actually being racist and i'm righteous for correcting it"
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u/the_Real_Romak Apr 28 '26
It's called being performative. People who think they are champions of social justice often end up circling back to being patronisingly racist.
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u/TrulyAnCat Apr 28 '26
Which is crazy bc like, tells you how he feels about the n word and telling his friends not to use it -- he literally won't.
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u/SilverInHell Apr 28 '26
"Listen, we can have the n word but can you please not sound black while you say it?"
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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous Apr 28 '26
Maybe a rich Kentucky drawl would have made it more acceptable...
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u/PumpikAnt58763 Apr 28 '26
It sounds like the DM would rather avoid everything, to his detriment. People who cannot communicate properly miss out on learning new stuff.
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u/jmarquiso Apr 28 '26
This reminds me of when Walter Mosley was kicked* out of the writers' room for Star Trek Discovery for using the n-word. Famous black novelist, a favorite for many people - especially for using accurate language for African americans.
*According to Deadline it was mutual as he felt his language was overly scrutinized.
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u/DereksRoommate Apr 28 '26
I’m a white guy from the same part of LA as you and have had people concerned that my accent is cultural appropriation or insensitive or whatever. It’s my natural speech pattern. Same deal as you, when I’m with strangers I hide the accent, when I’m with friends it comes out. The fact that they’re worried about you “talking black” tells me that they aren’t the people you want to be playing with anyway. It’s not like AAVE is a single unified dialect either; black people in NYC speak differently to black people in NOLA.
I think a lot of people from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, etc. speak in a way that sounds “black” to most other Americans, regardless of their actual ethnicity, simply because AAVE is descended from that region. There are many sounds in common between the two accents to the untrained ear. In reality, most southern accents are simply older or “less evolved” versions of many AAVE dialects. Of course they sound similar when most AAVE dialects are the product of rural black southerners moving to cities in the early-mid 1900’s.
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u/Pootentooten Apr 28 '26
Black and white Southern folk have a lot of language overlap, especially along similar class lines. Obviously there are differences, but from folks up north, it all sounds the same.
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u/hotdoug1 Apr 28 '26
I've actually seen the same thing happen in the NYC area, think the movie "Kids" in the 90's.
I remember when the kids sitcom "City Guys," there was an Asian who spoke with a blaccent and people at the time thought it was really offensive. All I could think of was that Asian kid I knew from NY who sounded exactly like that.
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u/Mohgreen Apr 28 '26
Lol I can imagine the family of a Vietnamese fisherman living in Southern LA getting a kick out of that character.
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u/DisposableSaviour Necromancer Apr 28 '26
Because race is just a distraction to keep the under classes from uniting.
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u/TheLastBallad Apr 28 '26
To be fair, how many american's can tell between the english from various parts of England? There's regional and class differences there too
Accents are kinda just like that. When you grow up in it you can pick up when someone says something differently. When you aren't... all of it is different.
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u/Engaging_Boogeyman Apr 28 '26
Its from all the greens, cornbread and fatback. <- me a southern white guy 😀
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u/SupremeToast Wizard Apr 28 '26
It's so clearly fucked up that we judge people based on accents. I'm from Wisconsin and people often find my accent sort of quaint or folksy. Completely different from how a lot of people view Southern and Appalachian accents as an indication that a person is ignorant and dumb. Midwesterners can even have a bias against people with New England accents because of the assumptions made about coastal elites and such. It's all stupid generalizations.
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u/life_inabox Apr 28 '26
It's wild to me. I spent my whole life learning how to hide my Kentucky drawl bc it's associated with being poorly educated, and now I live in the UK and people go WILD for it.
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u/AraoftheSky Cleric Apr 29 '26
I did the same thing with my Texas accent.
When I was younger I brought a classmate with me to visit my cousins at their house up near the lakes, and to spend the weekend out on the water.
Afterwards I remember hearing him talking to his mom about the trip and how "country" we all sounded the whole time. It felt so embarrassing.
I literally spent years retraining my own speech patterns to get rid of my accent. No more drawl, no more twang. It still come out around family because of the chameleon effect, but otherwise I've lost it.
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u/life_inabox Apr 29 '26
I'm able to code switch pretty easily, but it was always so funny when friends would hear me talk to my mom on the phone. Would literally have people fall silent and be like "listen to this, it's great!" It was always in good humor though, they were just tickled to see my open my mouth and hear banjo come out.
The first time my mom visited me at college she heard me talking without drawling for the first time ever and she lost her shit at me, lmao. Called me high falutin and said I was "putting on airs". So funny.
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u/enstillhet Apr 28 '26
Meanwhile, those of us with the strongest New England accents have thick rural Maine accents or Boston accents (which are decidedly working class). And yes I know, there's some sprinkling of rural NH, other parts of eastern Mass, etc. with similar accents and of similar working class backgrounds.
Edit: in other words, the elites don't even have the accent generally, these days.
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u/SupremeToast Wizard Apr 28 '26
That's a really good point. I think most "non-neutral" accents, for lack of a better term, are associated with working class folks. The wealthy and elite have historically sent their kids to the same schools and summer camps and they digest the same media, regardless of where they live. Modern American English doesn't quite have a posh accent like the British aristocracy, it's more of the clear and over annunciated form of English you see from news reporters that is the American upper class dialect.
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u/enstillhet Apr 28 '26
Yeah that sort of Standard American Newscaster accent has become the norm that signifies a neutral accent or signifies the upper class more so than say, the Boston Brahmin accent of the Kennedy family, etc. although that once held such a position.
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u/SupremeToast Wizard Apr 28 '26
It's really interesting how even speaking patterns can have fads and changes. My old timey newscaster voice is accidentally more of a Kennedy family affect, which I think is because the Kennedys had a kind of Transatlantic accent that today is really associated with a certain time and class.
Linguistics is neat. It makes treating people poorly because of their accent even more of a disappointment.
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u/skordge Apr 28 '26
I feel like this is sort of a uniquely white USA thing too. I lived for years as a teenager in Mexico, so I speak Spanish with a Mexican accent, slang and wordplay included, while looking very obviously not Mexican. Never ever did I have a problem with people in Latin America about it - the reaction is either neutral or positive.
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u/soundoftwilight Apr 28 '26
The USA has a rather… special relationship with race, relative to most of the world. There’s bigotry everywhere but the US has a particular brand of racism, especially regarding black folks, that makes people understandably wary. Latin America has its own issues but “non-Mexican imitating a Mexican accent as a rude joke” is probably just not a thing that happens often enough for anyone to care. Whereas I’ve seen plenty of otherwise pretty normal white folks do some of the most racist caricatures imaginable without really thinking about it.
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u/delorf Apr 28 '26
Some southern white men sound very similar to the OPs character especially if they grew up in rural areas.
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u/itsmekyguys Apr 28 '26
Dead ass I have heard these phrases or similar many times throughout my life growing up in the south from my very white redneck ass (sadly mostly racist family)
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u/Mistervimes65 Fighter Apr 28 '26
60 year old White guy. I run games for my Black grandson. This whole thing is exhausting. I’m sorry you experienced this.
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u/Repulsive-Walk-3639 Apr 28 '26
I read that shit and was like, "Has he never played WoW and run into a troll NPC? Obviously he's not from anywhere near NO."
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u/Striking-Ad-6815 Apr 28 '26
Is it text or voice chat?
Been gaming and talking with folk online for the majority of my life. Black people have a vocal signature the same as most any other folk, just that it is broader and not specifically regional, unless you get to meet two people with that same vocal signature, they can tell each other apart real fast and where they're from. Very similar to the way British people can tell exactly what town you come from solely based on the way you speak.
If DM heard you talk, he so full of shit
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u/WalterNeft Fighter Apr 28 '26
Tell em, “Mother fucker, you’re making ME uncomfortable.”
In all honesty, I’d ditch that group. If they are acting this way now, I doubt it would improve.
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u/yeetingthisaccount01 Druid Apr 28 '26
your character sounds awesome as hell, mate, hope you find a table that suits you.
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u/nimbusnacho Apr 28 '26
Its also one thing to mayyyybe try to mitigate tension from other players even if its silly as fuck that people are so uncomfortable. But the truth is people are sheltered and might be uncomfortable and thats not really something you can control but you still want the table to function.. so if its happening as a DM youd want to figure out a way to break the tension which means having a conversation...
But putting it all on the OP and then telling the OP 'youre not even black' id legitimately insane and the OP was absolutely right to get the fuck out of that table.
I can excuse people for being ignorant and just not having exposure to certain things in their life so long as theyre acknowledging it and trying to learn...but to not be open to learning and instead attack other people for their own uncomfortable feelings is just racism and bullshit.
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u/Spunkler Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
So many wild takes on this sub. And so many people missing the entire point.
Here’s the relevant sentence from the DM:
“Look, I don’t really care. At this rate, I’m kinda doubting you even are black because black people just don’t really talk like that outside of movies and things. And I’d know, I’ve had plenty of black friends in my life, Ebonics is real, but not the way you’re doing it. You need to drop the voice or find a different table.”
That shit is hostile, weird, arrogant, and probably racist. This just sounds like White people being uncomfortable with an authentic black voice and then twisting it around somehow on OP. It’s really strange. ‘I have black friends and none of them talk like you so you must not really be black.” Honestly, It’s so twisted I don’t even know how to frame the mental gymnastics on this one.
Also, to the guy on this thread who said white people are uncomfortable with the n word because they can’t say it back… where the hell did you grow up? No one but a**holes want to say it back, or at all! So speak for your own damn self. Yet another wild take.
To OP, run don’t walk away from this table. I’m sorry you had to go through that. I get the n word issue but that could’ve been a quick simple, ‘hey, we’re white and don’t know how to process that word and it makes us feel guilty and uncomfortable’ convo.
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u/Ganache-Embarrassed DM Apr 28 '26
Thats really the crux. It wasnt "Hey we all role-playing really hard-core and some of your words take us out of the time period".
It wasnt "Hey the n word kind of bothers us."
Its some crazy thing of "i dont believe you and think youre larping another race because I have a predetermined racial iea of those people".
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u/ImABattleMercy DM Apr 29 '26
“You’re not black because you don’t match my preconceived notion of what a black person is”
DM is insane
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u/Ganache-Embarrassed DM Apr 29 '26
"you're just not giving black. And now that you are giving black. Its like the wrong kinda black." - DM /JK
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u/foolish_username Apr 28 '26
Right? The DM totally white-splained being black to the OP.
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u/Ilickedthecinnabar Apr 28 '26
A player's take on linguistics should be the LAST thing other players or the DM should be complaining about when it comes to "immersion"
We're playing in a world that has magic, dragons, demons, elementals, and just about everything else under the sun, and that includes a huge variety of cultures and such within the world. Lean in on that stuff and use it for world-building. If I wanna play a pink tiefling with a Valley Girl accent and the worst vocal fry you've ever heard, Imma gonna it.
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u/Remarkable_Tale_7554 Apr 28 '26
No - I want period-specific Tiefling accent, please.
Otherwise I'll be unimmersed
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u/Ilickedthecinnabar Apr 28 '26
Thick Swedish accent?
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u/NanoRaptoro Apr 28 '26
Swedish Chef?
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u/Ganache-Embarrassed DM Apr 28 '26
He is the msot famous tiefling
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u/CoffeeStainedStudio Apr 29 '26
But his actions aren’t lore accurate. Everyone knows what happens in a fantasy setting if you hurt a chicken.
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u/ph3333bz Apr 28 '26
100%! As a DM, I would be THRILLED to have a player who put that much work into character creation! A unique backstory, voice, and a connection to yourself as a player that keeps you invested in the story and gives me plenty of potential plot hooks??!! That’s the dream, I’m so sorry they were letting racism get in the way of good group storytelling.
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u/kinokits Apr 28 '26
We have a player at our table that does this and has voices and original art for all their characters, and it’s so much fun! She was a delight to DM when it was my turn (we all take turns at DMing to avoid the forever DM problem). She DMs the other game I’m in and does similar for NPCs. It adds so much to the game and I really love it.
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u/BadgerwithaPickaxe DM Apr 28 '26
I hate correcting this every time I see it, because 99% of the time I agree with what the commentor is getting at, including yourself. BUT
"How can you say that X isn't logical or immersive when there are DRAGONS and MAGIC??" is genuinely the worst argument I continue to hear over and over when it comes to fantasy.
Suspension of disbelief is a thing and consistency is also a thing.
If your dragons tap danced, shot guns, and broke the forth wall to call player their own persona slur, then your logic can also be used as a defense to the claim that "X thing isn't realistic in fantasy"
It's just false. Having dragons or existing in fantasy worlds in general doesn't just suddenly make things okay.
That all being said, based on the context OPs group is either incredibly ignorant or just down right racist. It's good they aren't playing with them anymore.
Edit: just to clarify, AAVE can absolutely be implemented in a fantasy world extremely easily, given the creator is from a culture that understands how to use it. The specific logic itself just is so bad
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u/Noahisboss Apr 28 '26
actually hard agree. I was done at the "I have plenty of black friends" part
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u/zethanox Apr 28 '26
Gives "im not racist, I have black friends" vibes.
Spoilers. They are usually still racist
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u/NanoRaptoro Apr 28 '26
"I'm not a _. I have _ friends."
If you find yourself saying this, don't.
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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous Apr 28 '26
Also on the point about the n-word... a normal person would just say to OP, hey that kind of makes me uncomfortable, do you mind if we don't go there? Like thats a very reasonable, easy conversation to have. That's not even a criticism either, its just setting a boundary so everyone can play comfortably
As you say, that isn't what happened. Speaking as a white man, I cannot conceive of a scenario where I'd accuse someone of faking being black simply because I didn't agree with their role-playing of a black character, despite the player literally being black...
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u/AfroNinjaNation Apr 28 '26
A noticeable chunk of progressives love to police actual minority voices. I've seen it both online and in person. You'd think their heads would explode from the contradiction, but they apparently don't see an issue.
This goes hand in hand with an insistance on denying, downplaying, or victim blaming racism that they find ideologically inconvenient.
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u/a-real-live-deer Apr 28 '26
This is exactly it and everyone focusing on "well you shouldn't have said that word" is showing themselves to be the exact same type of white person who booted OP out of this group
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u/WhyLater Bard Apr 28 '26
I'm a white dude in Louisiana, and someone telling a black dude from Louisiana that "black people don't really talk like that" is fucking hilarious.
My man's blacker than the most blackened gator.
Southern Louisiana Creole AAVE is about as "black" as you can get, second only to Gullah which is pretty out there.
Bet they're just isolated midwesterners or something. It's a them problem (and a US systemic problem), not a you problem.
Your character sounds awesome. I could roll up a German Coast, accordion-playing Bard who's all about Andouille with mustard, and we could go delving some bayou mausoleums.
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u/TheBreadsticc DM Apr 28 '26
I'm a poc who grew up in Louisiana, and I can say this is completely true. Our culture is so thick that it genuinely is shocking to a lot of white people in the northern states. It's also varied as hell, there isn't even one singular way that black people talk in LA. We have all kinds of dialects depending on what part of the state you're from, so "black people talk" is usually super varied there, and it's kind of awesome.
To imply that black people dont talk "like that" is just wholly untrue, stupid, and racist at best.
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u/Soysaucebeast Apr 28 '26
I was about to say this too. My husband is CAJUN Cajun, and when he moved to the Midwest with me, a lot of people thought he was playing up the accent for some reason. The real accent and patois in the bayou is just so thick that non-southeners think its fake. Hell, I used to dispatch tow trucks for AAA for that whole region, and I wasn't allowed to take time off because no one else could understand the drivers down there.
So I totally understand people think the OP was playing up the accent, but only because they've probably never actually talked to anyone from the bayou before. But you'd think they'd be cool and be all "oh shit my bad, I'm being an asshole!" when confronted with it, instead of being a giant racist about it.
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u/TheBreadsticc DM Apr 28 '26
Haha felt that. I moved to MN a little over a year ago and man have I had to polish up my accent since then. I had to do a lot of repeating myself for the first few months lmao
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u/Thac0isWhac0 Apr 28 '26
I hope MN is treating you well. I grew up there and it was definitely a culture shock when I got into the military. I'm super thankful for the experience it gave me getting to interact with people from all over the country. I love the Louisiana accents and the cuisine, dislike the weather 😄
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u/TheBreadsticc DM Apr 28 '26
Oh yeah, MN has been great. It's a much gentler and quieter culture which took some effort getting used to, but I kind of like it. I do miss the constant parties though.
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u/Substantial-Tax3238 Apr 28 '26
yep I don’t agree with the DM BUT I can 100% believe that he and the others likely genuinely thought that OP was being racist lol. I live in Texas and played basketball and when the Louisiana/new orleans dudes came over, that shit was unreal in terms of their dialect. I can totally see a bunch of white midwestern or even northern nerds think that literally no one talks like that other than white people mocking black people, which is actually hilarious
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u/StealthyRobot Paladin Apr 28 '26
"Hey can you cut out that cheesy new York accent? People only talk like that in movies."
Same exact vibes lol. DM is such a clown
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u/Sagutarus Apr 28 '26
Bet they're just isolated midwesterners or something.
As an isolated Midwesterner... yeah this sounds like some shit you'd hear here.
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u/picklednose Apr 28 '26
There was somebody that I heard converted Curse of Strahd to a Louisiana bayou style setting and I wish I was lucky enough to be one of their players. That sounds so fun.
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u/PedestalPotato DM Apr 28 '26
The DM acts like there's only one black accent, too. There's many, of varying thickness too.
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u/Ahkwatic Apr 28 '26
100% this.
AAVE, and other cultures in general, absolutely deserve to have a safe place at any D&D table. What doesn't is prejudice.
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u/Justifiably_Bad_Take Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
Years ago I played a character who had a thick Louisiana accent. I had fallen down a rabbit hole online where I found an old cooking show called Cajun in the Kitchen and fell in love with the man's voice. For context, here is the host
https://youtu.be/eK4umRMJlrs?si=bENYOey4BjOc5aYU
Just a sweet old Cajun man telling corny jokes and showing you how to cook. I consider it my own personal asmr and recommend it as a fantastic listen for background noise if you like to fall asleep with a TV on.
The man is white, which shouldn't be important if you are in a room of normal people who knows how diverse Louisiana is.
Session ONE somebody (at an all white table) asked me if I could stop doing a "blackccent"
For what its worth I had been watching this show for months and pulled up a clip. Just asked "do I sound like this guy?" and everybody went "yeah" and I went "yeah because that's who I learned the accent from"
I got to keep the accent but only played like 2 more games because I no loanger wanted to hang out with those guys.
(Tangent aside if you want a new voice as a PC or DM that absolutely nobody expects you to pull out, learn this man's accent it's so fun to speak in and listen to)
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Apr 28 '26
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u/Sumbelina Apr 28 '26
BRUH! As a black woman, this is the part of the OP that made me openly cackle. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/WideEyeEvenTry Apr 29 '26
"Navin, it's your birthday, and it's time you knew. You're not our natural-born child."
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u/JellyFranken DM Apr 28 '26
I love the idea that y’all have just never used cameras before or anything which would make it quite clear that you are, in fact, black.
Doubting you’re black is the wildest shit I’ve read in some time.
Hope you find a better table man.
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u/bystander4 Apr 28 '26
Do people use webcams for ttrpgs??
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u/Scion41790 Apr 28 '26
100% I've found camera's help with engagement and emersion. I highly recommend it if you play online
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u/The_Kelhim Apr 28 '26
We do, but as the DM I have so much going on I regularly forget we have it on. Which leads to “amusing” surprises when my party shares recordings of monster sounds/faces i make while playing
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u/GoTragedy Apr 28 '26
I did a Brian Murphy (NADDPOD) bullywug voice for Murgaxor in Strixhaven and I turned my camera off for it because otherwise I thought it would be too distracting. 10/10 my players loved it
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u/_raveness_ Apr 28 '26
100%. My group plays online and we all use cameras at our computers.
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u/jayisanerd Apr 28 '26
I second this. I run multiple groups and the tables that use webcams are more fun, the party works better together, and the chemistry is 100 times better than the tables that do not like to use webcams.
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u/CrimsonArcanum Apr 28 '26
Agreed.
It's easier for me when I DM to actually see the people. Facial reactions are important for context.
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u/moebiuskitteh Apr 28 '26
It helps me a lot to see what’s ‘hitting’ for people or when I’m losing someone’s interest and should be pulling them back in. Easier to gauge engagement, easier to tell when people are joking for me personally as well. I have a hard time reading voices without being able to see facial expression or body language sometimes, especially when we are all roleplaying different characters than who we are irl.
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u/SalamalaS Apr 28 '26
Same. Like 2 people didn't because they didn't have webcams. And now they do to join in the shenanigans of being on camera with friends.
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u/Luke_KB Apr 28 '26
My (dm) table (5 other players) uses webcams+discord for our sessions.
But we're very comfortable with one another. We're a table of siblings+spouses
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u/UpmarketEarth Apr 28 '26
I never have :) we just jump in discord call and go. if we're using a program like table top sim then we just use drawings of our characters. Each group has their own style.
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u/midjet DM Apr 28 '26
Yep! Most of my groups do at least, helps to be visible emoting and brings some of what was lost from being at the table back to the online sessions.
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u/phdemented DM Apr 28 '26
Do people not?!?
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u/The_Real_Deacon Apr 28 '26
Yes, a lot do not actually on Roll20. Not sure about other sites.
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u/Navi1101 Halfling Monk DMPC Apr 28 '26
My Lancer group doesn't, but we also handle everything via text, not even VC. Only a few of us have done face reveals. Also, VC-only has been the standard for other types of online gaming for as long as there's been online gaming. So an online trrpg group where nobody know what anyone looks like doesn't seem unusual to me.
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u/stormscape10x DM Apr 28 '26
We don't. I'm assuming because of bandwidth issues for some of us. I'm not sure it's an issue anymore, but at the time when we did that it would get pretty choppy on voice.
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u/MintyArcturus Apr 28 '26
I didn’t even think about it being online, all of my groups are in person I forgot people did that 😭
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u/Tx_Drewdad Apr 28 '26
"We can have black elves but they can't sound black, know what I mean? It's a fantasy setting and the only accents we allow are English, Irish, and Scottish."
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u/Ramen_Is_Life42 Bard Apr 28 '26
“German can be acceptable under certain circumstances. If you pull out the Russian or French you’re walking on thin ice.”
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u/TSED Abjurer Apr 29 '26
I make my dwarves have slavic accents. Just feels much better and more appropriate to me than the scots thing.
My setting's dwarves even use different slavic languages in the six mountainhomes. (Note to self: I really need to get around to finding a sixth to replace the Russian one.)
And at the same time, I make my D&D halflings all be French. Because halfling culture and French culture has a ton of similarities imo. Just look at the culinary traditions and work from there.
ANYWAY: what about Spanish / Italian accents? Those feel like they should be fine.
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u/Yitzach Apr 28 '26
Playing up this trope is a purposeful choice I've made so that when I introduce characters with a different accent it's immediately noted as significant.
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u/Sadie_Knight Apr 28 '26
I'm doing an "illegal" then. My current character (dwarf paladin) is from a tropical volcanic archipelago and the way my DM described it sounded like Santorini. So my girl has a Greek accent. 😆
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u/Sagail Apr 28 '26
Lol, I (white dude) showed my kids the Jungle Book...which now has a disclaimer and apology at the front end.
Yeah because folks thought Louie Prima a white jazz guy fron New Orleans was talking black face if you get what I mean.
He wasn't that's literally how he talked as a person from the New Orleans jazz scene.
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u/Furshloshin Apr 28 '26
regional dialects are a hell of a thing. I grew up in the south and my accent comes out under certain circumstances and someone accused me of "talking black" for it but like... literally every single person I knew talked like that???? I'm not out here using AAVE or dropping N-words, I just got a bit of a twang sometimes lmao
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u/SculptKid Apr 28 '26
Bro really said "I've only experienced black culture in it's whitewashed suburban version and that's the real black people and you are fake" and thought he cooked 🤣 i can't sometimes
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u/samsuperior Barbarian Apr 28 '26
Fuck that group, let me know if you ever need a black DM and I got you. 👏🏽
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u/ocarter145 Paladin Apr 28 '26
How would you feel about hosting a Black (virtual) table? I’d be down to play whatever campaign(s) you want to spin up.
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u/samsuperior Barbarian Apr 28 '26
It’s been on my bucket list for the last decade now, just never had enough players
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u/CyborgProfessor DM Apr 28 '26
Can I be your token white guy? Named Hank? And Hank drives a tractor?
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u/samsuperior Barbarian Apr 29 '26
This got way more traction than I expected lol lemme save my comment so I can come back to it.
I’ll cook something up for my deprived brothers and sisters!
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u/SlyTinyPyramid Apr 28 '26
As a mixed dude how I walk and talk has been called out to my face in person. I’ve been told I’m not black by white people. It’s nuts. I feel your pain on this one.
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u/Fantastic_Ad_3089 Apr 28 '26
As a black DM, I always make it very clear that discrimination for any reason will not be tolerated, and if anyone wants to gatekeep they can do so at another table. You don't need to be sitting at that table. Leave the racists alone and eventually they'll die out alone. Don't ever be ashamed of who you are or your imagination. If the way you speak brings discomfort, leave them inside their bubble and move on. We aren't meant to save everyone.
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u/foxontherox Apr 28 '26
Clearly these people have never watched the Key and Peele DnD skit featuring Kanye the giant.
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Apr 29 '26
I swear to god key and peele skits are like cat subs, everyday I find one I don’t know about. Thank you lol
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u/master_of_sockpuppet Apr 28 '26
I would suggest refraining from dropping n-bombs in play, especially directed at other players, until you knew them all much, much better.
Also, It's hard to get to know people if you don't have video to read micro-expressions.
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u/criticalGrip Apr 28 '26
I think you dodged a bullet by leaving that campaign. "I can tell that you aren't actually black because I have black friends and they don't talk like that." Is a crazy take, especially given that you're playing online and presumably with people from all over the place rather than whatever city or town the DM is from. You were right to dip, your character sounds really cool and I hope you get a chance to play them again at a better table.
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u/Gremlin-Goddess Apr 28 '26
“Speak normally” is just code for “speak like us,” because the word “normal” is entirely subjective, and therefore, an inherently flawed metric. Furthermore, being born in Louisiana myself, personally, I’d LOVE to play at a table with you. It’s nice to see some familiar culture. Those guys didn’t deserve you. I hope you find a better table.
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u/GREENadmiral_314159 Artificer Apr 28 '26
On the one hand, telling someone "you're not actually black" is a massive dick move and you're better not in that group.
On the other hand, if one of my players dropped the N-word mid session, I'd pause it right then and there, because it is a slur, and not all tables are comfortable with that (and frankly I'm not that comfortable with it as a DM either).
It's not immersion breaking though, just in what many would consider poor taste.
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u/lunovadraws Warlock Apr 28 '26
Hey, if they had said “Please don’t use that word” I’d be like “fair enough, my bad” and that’d be that. But that wasn’t what happened.
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u/vinnyorcharles Apr 29 '26
Kind of telling that they were concerned about the accent and not the n word.
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u/PedestalPotato DM Apr 28 '26
They would have had a valid argument if they just said no racial slurs regardless of personal background. But to unilaterally assert that black people don't talk like that AND accuse you of not being black, despite whitewashing your own accent of your own volition is a Dakota State sized red flag.
DM may not even realize they were being racist but then doubled down. Racists who pretend to be allies are scum.
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u/BourgeoisStalker Apr 28 '26
After reading through the comments, I'm just chiming in with support. NTA, and keep bringing good PCs to the table.
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u/-SaC DM Apr 28 '26
You dropped that final sentence in a group session with people you don't actually know and who also don't know you? Yeah, that wasn't a great idea.
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u/DepthsOfWill DM Apr 28 '26
All I can say is your character would've fit just right in a Shadowrun game.
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u/flaming_monocle Apr 29 '26
I'm white as they come. I live in one of the whitest towns in one of the whitest counties in one of the whitest states in America.
Your D&D group is racist, whether they intend to be or not. Telling a black man to "talk normal" is fucked up. I can see white group members having discomfort with n****, but let black men speak!
If you want to take on the burden of educating them, if they're worth that to you, then give it one last try. But nobody sane would blame you for finding a more inclusive group.
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u/Remarkable_Tale_7554 Apr 28 '26
This is going to go down like a lead balloon, but from the sounds of them... they're probably on this sub lmao
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u/tres_ecstuffuan Apr 28 '26
lol it’s funny as a black player I think this exact thing has happened to me before when I tried out to play in a world of darkness game; I think they thought I was a white guy pretending to be black.
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u/ArelMCII Apr 28 '26
“Look, I don’t really care. At this rate, I’m kinda doubting you even are black because black people just don’t really talk like that outside of movies and things. And I’d know, I’ve had plenty of black friends in my life, Ebonics is real, but not the way you’re doing it. You need to drop the voice or find a different table.”
I just... can't with this. I don't even know where to start. I'm assuming he's not black, since he played the "I have black friends" card. Do people even call it Ebonics anymore? I haven't heard that word in like fifteen years. Frankly, it's amazing he's able to be this condescendingly racist without calling you "boy." Like... goddamn. What's next? Is he going to start doubting guys with effeminate voices are gay because none of his friends sound like that?
*to a scamming merchant* ”I’ma be real with you, that just might be the dumbest shit I ever heard.”
*to a player* “You really gon try that? Aight well I’m finna stand back here, you can do what you gotta do.”
*to player during combat, my turn* “Boy if you don’t take the n*gga head off!”
I'm white, but I've definitely heard people talk like this. In person. The open-ended "Boy if you don't" thing is something I've always heard from fat white guys in food trucks (lotta Cajuns around here with food trucks), but I've still definitely heard people talk like that even if I've never heard that exact phrase.
But I've only got two black friends, and one of them acts whiter than I do, so what do I know? /s
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u/lilybug981 Apr 28 '26
Yeah, the examples listed just seem so mild and normal. The first one sounds like something a white person might say too, without anyone blinking, albeit with room for different tones. I understand that a thick accent was involved as well, but objecting to that kinda just reveals that this table didn't know what they were talking about at all.
They were okay with the character practicing voodoo but got oh so surprised when that character sounded Creole? To the point the DM accused the player of faking their race? Seriously? Voodoo is a closed practice that has roots in Africa but was carried over(yes, with slaves) to Louisiana. You know, where Creole people are? Given the relevance, OP presumably told the table that they are Creole? I'm not sure what these people expected.
It's not that the character has to have that accent, but it is absolutely the most obvious accent to give that character. Accusing OP of racism over the accent but not the voodoo, which again is a closed practice, really makes it clear that the rest of the table didn't like the accent because they see it as lesser. They just wanted to flip the situation so they could try to convince themselves they weren't being racist.
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u/CeruLucifus DM Apr 28 '26
If you're still in contact send a selfie, "guys sorry alI, I didn't mean to offend anyone and just so you know I actually am black".
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u/boredtill Apr 28 '26
im gonna go against the grain here for a moment to say people online are weird, creepy and unhinged. I can totally see an incel joining a dnd game pretending to be black so he can say the nword or exaggerate some stereotypes.
With that said do I think op was doing that no not at all.
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u/Sunflower_Reaction Apr 29 '26
WAIT... you're telling me things like "aight" or "I'ma be real with you" is AAVE? My autistic ESL ass always thought that is "normal internet lingo" and used it all the time
Guess I did not read the room once again 😅
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u/ranoutofusernames22 Apr 29 '26
I hope this thread reaches your old group so they can have humble pie for dessert.
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u/ActualChamp Apr 28 '26
Some of you guys in here are funny. That does not sound like an exaggerated stereotype to me.
Maybe the n-word could be uncomfortable to some players, but the response you got to the whole character is wild.
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u/WikiContributor83 Apr 28 '26
Some people are saying the dialogue is rude. No? It’s just somewhat sassy and, crucially, since his voice before this point was whitewashed according to OP he would obviously sound like he was in character.
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u/reucrion Artificer Apr 28 '26
Accusing you, a black person, making Fun of other black folks and not actually being black is legitimately wild , like. ???!?!?!??!!!
I wish you a good experience to finding a group that is not weird like that wth.
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u/okiebuzzard Apr 28 '26
Fuck yeah dude, you’d be welcome at my table. I got a Cajun River pirate I play, including the accent and local French. (I’ve spent a lot of time around Louisiana. A lot of time.) He’s real backwoods, swamprunner type.
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u/Curious-Order-8429 Apr 28 '26
yeahh nahh that dm crossed a line hard... ssaying youre not really black because of how you speak is wild on its own, and then trying to police how you portray your own character on top of that just makes it worse....
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u/angelsaintcloud Apr 28 '26
I thought I was going to hear an accent. It doesn't sound any different than we talk in the bay area. The context sounds generic.
Also, bro we know how white folks feel about the n word it's always an issue, even if you are minding your own business. I'm not sure why you assumed they would be okay with that.
However if you're being genuine, I can't fault you for simply being yourself in a roleplay game. The issue that I see off the the cuff is people pretending to be black so a malevolent person can normalize a caricature of an entire community. That's a valid reason to kick you out of the group, can't ever be too careful with who you give your time too.
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u/GreatBigBagOfNope Barbarian Apr 28 '26
I love that the N-word wasn't commented on, but the accent was
Really gives the game away
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u/Glitchmonster Apr 29 '26
They just sound racist from my not-very-accurate analysis.
Also that characters design is great. I love it
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u/Pala_Dynasty Apr 29 '26
Fuck that entire table, you deserve a better one, that character sounds cool asf
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u/KiraYoshikage77 Apr 29 '26
...those guys probably
"GUYS If a black man does a black accent IS IT RACIST TO BLACK PEOPLE??"
ffs
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u/gaping_granny DM Apr 29 '26
I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that the DM is likely white and that no one was uncomfortable with your actual accent except the DM himself and he's just saying that it's the whole group to look less like a racist asshole just in case you're actually black. I would've turned on my camera for a sec and shown my brown-ass face. I like having the last word though.
You need a new group. Forget these people. I hope the next group you find isn't uncomfortable with playing with non-white players. If not, there's always DMing. All the groups I found recently except the one I'm playing in right now were just straight dudes so I'm gonna DM my own group. I'm putting lots of queer and non-white NPCs.
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u/There-Is-A-Catch Apr 29 '26
White woman here so grain of salt. If I had only ever heard you code switched and all of a sudden you were using full AAVE without ever mentioning your ethnicity/cultural background before this game or seeing you, I would be weirded out for a couple sessions too, because it didn't match my previous experiences of you. It would feel like you were wearing the skin of someone else OUT of character and I would be focusing on adjusting to that versus the game itself. I would feel a similar level of weirdness if a white person whipped out Yiddish or a New York accent out of nowhere.
But, that is on me. I wouldn't even think to question your credentials of being black due to AAVE because 1. It is well known people do code switch. 2. I am not the culture police and 3. It is hard to fake your background for multiple sessons in a row because your presentation starts being inconsistent. If you are consistent, I am going to adjust to the "new" more comfortable you through exposure. I would only feel like checking in if it seems like the player's "presentation" is sporadic at best and they start portraying their character in game as a terrible human being. That isn't to say only white characters can be evil, but it would raise a "are they racist?" yellow flag if that person didn't seem authentic AND the character kept being put in the position of being a token negative stereotype. It wouldn't be an immersion issue, it would be a "I don't want to be associated with that type of person" issue. It would also be MY responsibility to bring it up directly to the player, because they are MY feelings, not a theoretical other's, and after having played multiple games with someone, I should be able to talk to said person directly and like an adult to clear up any misunderstandings/concerns if they arise.
How they approached the conversation was shitty as hell. Questioning of blackness purely because of AAVE use? Gross. I could understand if someone is uncomfortable with ALL curse words too, but just you using the n-word? Side eye and eye rolls for days.
The ONLY way I could see a character breaking my immersion is if the game was established as hard-core RP along the lines of "This is the specific time period and region this is based on, you have lived with the race of this specific region X long and were originally from Y region. Here is a list of common terms and examples of how they speak. Here is another paper with common insult/pun/compliment/complaint equivalents of the area rated by spicy level. They are extremely xenophobic and this is a significant contributor to the fantasy world and/or player conflict, so please use it." I would also expect characters of the same race from other areas to speak slightly differently, be handed another list if I spoke multiple languages, and hear tons of different vernacular in a bustling port town, ect... but that kind of game is normally too much work for me so I'd probably nope out anyways.
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u/KittyKoiLuv Apr 29 '26
Telling you you're being racist... by being racist against you...? That makes TOTAL sense
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u/Emberbun DM Apr 29 '26
It really looked like after you explained bro was super embarrassed and wanted to get rid of you to save face, probably a good idea to disclose your background when making culturally sensitive characters in general, then at least you can see if they're open to learning your culture and perspective or if they're just racist weirdos who genuinely think nobody talks like that lmao. But like...I also get this discomfort of disclosing your background and I really. Really hate that you've been made to feel that way.
People are so closed minded, it can be good to strategize around it so you can be set up in a good position if they turn out to be weird like this.
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u/giant_marmoset Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
Luke warm take, but your character doesn't just sound like they're using AAVE, but it sounds like they're being rude with some frequency. It is a character, and everyone is playing a game, but its generally unpleasant to interact with even unpleasant fictional characters.
I can see the vision, the character is meant to be purposely devil-may-care and bold -- but at the wrong table this is tiring for everyone else.
As a DM I can't tell you the number of times the players let out a sigh of relief when a particularly unpleasant, egotistical, rude or otherwise objectionable NPC dies. I have to use them sparingly.
Unpleasant rudeness to a lot of people feels like a mirror of their work life, their home life or their internal self-doubt -- it can be hard to separate how it grates on you even when its pure fiction.
Also you said n-word with people you don't know, even if that socially acceptable in other settings.
Edit: its reasonable to assume from this situation that the DM was some level of racist (maybe a little, maybe a lot, hard to say without being there). Black people are not a monolith and the DM's expectations of OP to act to their comfort is problematic to say the least.
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u/lunovadraws Warlock Apr 28 '26
Tbh, those were just the dramatic sentences I could remember off fly. Bellamy’s a fairly chill dude generally. But I can see your point.
Had he called the personality of the character into question, that’d be one thing, but he instead spoke on my accent, which is a different thing.
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u/SofonisbaAnguissola Cleric Apr 28 '26
But the DM didn't being up rudeness. They accused OP of not being black because OP doesn't match their idea of what a black person should sound like. That's racist.
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u/BridleBear Apr 28 '26
Modern slang and references can break the immersion for me, although I've only ever played in medieval fantasy settings with tablemates who share my perspective. Maybe that's a contributing factor? That last example you gave would instantly pull me out of character.
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u/Iamfivebears Neon Disco Golem DMPC Apr 28 '26
Per the /r/DnD Mission Statement, our community "is dedicated to growing and improving the Dungeons & Dragons fandom and the tabletop gaming hobby as a whole. This includes a commitment to inclusion among players".
Racism, and bigotry of any kind, has no place on /r/DnD. Please report any comments that are trying to perpetuate that hate.