Does anyone ever get tired of when the DM tries to throw in half-assed racism into a setting?

Does anyone ever get tired of when the DM tries to throw in half-assed racism into a setting?

Example: Imagine stock setting A has elves and dwarves, and they are supposed to be racists towards each other in all of the setting notes

>Elf in party
>Runs into an encampment of dwarves
>Random, no-name NPC dwarf says "ugh, elves. I hate those guys." and gives elf some gruff
>They meet with the leader
>Leader literally doesn't care that an elf is there and lets them go on the quest
>When they get back, everyone loves the heroes and nobody remembers the no-name NPC who gave elfy some gruff.

Why did you even include the idea that dwarves and elves are assholes to each other if you aren't even going to roll with it? Either just say that elves get along perfectly normal, or have the dwarves actually do shit like refuse to converse with any party that has an elf or even allow them to cross the road.

Why does this half-assed narrative still continue?

I feel you.

The worst example of this is "designated dindus", usually beastmen or orcs. Yeah, yeah, they're Noble Savages enslaved by Strawman Empire despite being physically/magically superior, everyone treats them like shit despite them doing nothing to warrant that, etc. etc.

In best cases this becomes a soapbox for GM/author to rant about how capitalism/communism/ideology author doesn't like is EVIL and men are THE TRUE MONSTERS.

In worst case, the designated dindu race is attractive to author and it's blatant waifushit / mental wank.

I'm really tired of elf-dwarf hatred in general, feels like it just needs to be there because someone else did it.

This is the worst.

I don't mind it when authors use fantasy to explore broader social issues. I like weightier fare.

What I don't like is when the author has absolutely no tact or grace and just falls back on Human Empire bullies the Noble Savages. At best it's trite, at worst it's patronizing and racist.

The autism is strong in this thread. Have any of you considered that maybe it was just that one dwarf who said something and the leader could really care less? Are you all genuinely confused that one person can think one way and someone else can think another way?

Yeah, it sucks shit all the time. I don't think that many GMs even understand how to play on a prejudice during games.

I remember once playing a game where we were a bunch of soldiers from a cursed elven army or some shit and everyone was supposed to treat hate us because of an old grudge. It came up only once, in the stupidest way possible:
We are resting in a tent somewhere on the field, next to the encampment of a "friendly" army. Some of these guys called us knife-ears, we punched them and went our ways.

But apparently the same country's citizens are very keen and happy to sell us anything with a discount despite us shopping while in our uniquely decorated armor that screams "HEY, I'M A HARBINGER OF DOOM ASSHOLE!"

I had a party of two elves and a dwarf once. The rivalry was surprisingly muted and it was only brought up once because there was a hardass dwarf NPC they dealt with on a regular basis. They were investigating a dwarven tomb and they got the guy talking about his ancestors and shit.
It happened like one time and they were just the Ranger, the Paladin, and the Wizard otherwise.

The problem here, my dear autistic user who cannot grasp reading comprehension, is that often times the setting notes will explicitly say that "Dwarfs hate Elves" as a general statement, meaning your idea of "just one dwarf" is retarded.

In conclusion, you are ill bred and your mother was likely a mutt.

Love
-user

>setting is dwarves hate elves
>therefor all dwarves hate elves
You're an idiot. Only an idiot believe is extremities such as that

>Make a war veteran character, a fuckin 80 year old human who's been long retired and watched his wife waste away and die from a disease brought in by foreigners
>Upbringing, PTSD, and grief all culminate into massive anti-nonhuman ideology
>One member of the party is a member of the ONE nonhuman race he's fine with
>Other member of the party is a dhampir, but he doesn't really know this
>They meet up through investigating reports of a kidnapping
>Find a cult dedicated to a nonhuman god, the cultists are runaway slaves and nonhumans
>slaughter each and every one of them save for the leader who is specialized to fuck and back for running away
>Cult leader sends out signals to other hidden sects of the cult and some slaves
>Rioting begins in the streets, guards vs rioters and looters are taking advantage of the chaos
>Side with the guards, slaughter dissenters, kill the lead rebels and a group that were trying to assassinate the queen during the riots
>Get a mansion for our deeds
>All the humans in the city are extremely pissed after the riots, because of the damage the nonhumans caused
>Our group gets in close with the queen because we saved her life
>Try to get her to make a more active move against nonhumans to drive them out of the country
>She tells us that the nobility is rife wih corruption, and they would never give up their nonhuman pets and toys
>Mfw now we have to figure out a way to purge the unclean nobility in order to create a racially pure and superior country

>could really care less?

Well then why don't they?

Because it's possible for everyone to live with each other and not agree on all the same stuff? Am I talking to reddit or pol ITT? Which end of the extreme retard spectrum is it today

>>setting is dwarves hate elves
>>therefor all dwarves hate elves
No, but more than one should, dicksmack.
>You're an idiot.
Yes, what idiot believes what the setting's book says, right?
>Only an idiot believe is extremities such as that
>only idiots believe the setting rules
And you have the guts to call others autists?

>setting is dwarves have beards
>therefor all dwarves have beards
If you shave one dwarf it does not stop the setting from having dwarves with beards. But if there is only one dwarf around with a beard despite this information being passed down by the GM, then he must have forgotten something.

>Why did you even include the idea that dwarves and elves are assholes to each other if you aren't even going to roll with it?
Because it's usually a mark of character in a leader to bury their personal grievances and pettiness for the sake of their people.
That dwarf leader would be ill advised to shit talk the elf who has come to risk his life for his people's sake when the dwarf leader needs people exactly like that.
I know you Americans have had a long line of terrible examples of quality leadership, but you lot have enough experience with practical racism in order to know when it does, and does not, apply.

>Why does this half-assed narrative still continue?
Tolkienism by way of Gygax and "tradition".

>rules are irrefutable and set in stone
Fuck off back to pol or whatever cuck reddit sub forums you came from

>pcs gone from land a long time due to magic, dwarf, half orc, gnome, kobold
>find burgeoning city with a varied population, humans, dwarfs, halflings, orcs
>orcs and dwarves have their own quarters
>turns out that dwarves are refugees
>orcs, comprising almost entirely of women, children, and lame men are the cause of the dwarf refugees
>orc army swept from the north, steamrolled everything in their way until the southern coast cities threw EVERYTHING in a grand throwdown some 4 years ago
>orcs held in the city in order to "repay their debt to society by labours to rebuild what they tore down"
>Indentured servitude at best, and rapine as well, if the half orc children present are anything to speak of
>good guy dwarf cleric takes issue with this
>half orc barbarian (to my surprise) completely drops the ball, engaging the situation only sparingly at best
>word filters down of an orcish army, headed by a half orc, on the way, demands parley
>village representatives + pc party meet orcish leaders who demand all of their people turned over, as well as a portion of the wealth (the pcs found out that several of the city's guilds had profited massively from the orc labor) the city had gained from their bodies
>village representatives refuse at first to give up the orcish labor, but pcs convince them to do so, but will not budge on turning over their hardwon harvests, smithed products and the like to more of the "filthy savages who pillaged our homes and slaughtered our families once"
>orc army leaders simply tell them that war will be had, and to prepare
>pc party relations to town leaders disintegrate overnight, each side blaming the other for the entire mess
>meanwhile, EVERY dwarf girds for war, pulling long stored and cared for weapons and armor from storage, casting blame on no one
>orcs in the city have heard word of rescue, but know little else besides
So faggots, is this situation meeting your approval?

Good.
Now kill everything that isnt a dwarf. The dwarves will rule again. Not as equals, as superiors.

I suffer from the flipside of this, where the players intentionally roll muh edgelord racist characters and then expect me to play into that as a GM/fellow player. Then they get upset that their racist character gets shunned or that nobody is racist towards them in a setting where I didn't include racial tension between races to begin with because I feel like I cannot pull it off well enough.

How do I into racism?

Did somebody say "IM SAD"?

>Because it's usually a mark of character in a leader to bury their personal grievances and pettiness for the sake of their people.
That's literally the opposite of what happens in most political settings though. Usually a leader will refuse to make congress with racial enemies to avoid losing face with his people, which allows opponents to rise in power as factions become divided over the most inane things. ESPECIALLY with a tradition based race like dwarfs and elves tend to be.. Plus, there are many others who can fill in the elf's role of "mid-level wizard" from human, gnome, halfling, tiefling, or any other race that the dwarfs DON'T have a beef with.

There really is very few advantages here for the leader, and all the more risks.

If the players don't get their shit together, they are gonna fucking die, and the entire town will be sacked, the butchery will make the Saxons blush.
Don't force yourself to apply to something that makes you uncomfortable because the players want it, user.
Tell them upfront there is some shit you don't really do, and don't want to, and they can take it or leave it.
I don't do erp, never felt comfortable doing it as a GM, so I don't, period, and players can fuck off somewhere else if they want it.

>Usually a leader will refuse to make congress with racial enemies to avoid losing face with his people
Yes, if they are stupid.
A canny leader should be able to manipulate the situation enough to survive a challenge, especially if someone says "Hey, I know we don't get along, but I will fight and die for you if you want me to". The only way the leader would actually lose face is if the elf failed and brought catastrophe, whereas success, even at the cost of the elf's life, could easily be spun to "Well, I knew he was an exception, and you lot couldn't see it, that's why I'm boss".
And who says the meeting needs to be open? Shit, talk to a representative from the group on the d/l, no one needs to know or make it public, do you even into politicking?

>A canny leader should be able to manipulate the situation enough to survive a challenge
Pure sophistry. Like I said before, there is literally no reason to hire an elf when a human will make due with 100% less the risk. The leader could easily lose face just by being willing to meet with elves, and the rumors that opposing politicians will being to spread will only incite the leader's downfall faster. Even meeting in secret, there is still no logical reason for it to occur at all because there's too much risk in an opponent finding out and parading this fact around as a weapon than anything you could ever possibly gain beneficially from it.

The ONLY way that what you said should ever come into play is if the specific quest REQUIRES that an elf come along, and that's more of an exception to the rule.

If you consider anything you said as "politicking", then I doubt you would ever rise in power, or if you did, keep your seat for very long.

>there is literally no reason to hire an elf when a human will make due with 100% less the risk
Considering that most pc parties contain both, why are you saying that there needs to be a meeting with the elf?
Do you think actual governments do not work via proxies to hash out deals that can't be out in the open? Why are you assuming that a, everything is done in the open, and b, anything done will be found out?
>anything you could ever possibly gain beneficially from it
>you hired an ELF
>he is a member of the human's mercenary band
>you hired an ELF
>the mercenary band saved our lives
>you hired an ELF
>were it not for the efforts of that ELF, we would be dead, if you have a problem with being alive, perhaps you can go present yourself to the ELF and let him know?
I am confused at your notion of racism being so overblown and pervasive that it prevents logic even at the highest levels. Even in America, blacks served in every war we ever had with another country, despite "not being a part of the armed forces proper". Despite their clear untouchable status, the leadership still used those willing to fight and die for them because the leadership at the highest levels was NOT stupid enough to turn away bodies (the leadership at the state level was, however, there was an incident in New York during the Civil War where a senator told a group of blacks that had mustered for service that it was a white man's war and it would be won by white men).

>Even in America, blacks
Oh, you're trying to be /pol/. Nevermind, you win. I've lost interest in what you have to say.

>you're trying to be /pol/
You can't use historical racism to inform how it would work in a created piece, now?
Fantasy racism is... different? You seem to be implying that fantasy racism must, by rote, be so overblown and ridiculous it utterly blows away anything approaching sensible or reasonable/responsible conduct, and that is foolishness.

Hey man, I already said you won and I have no interest in what you have to say. Stop replying to me. I don't want no part of it.

>user acknowledges racism against black people, but also that those in power would be willing to exploit them like anyone else
>HURR /POL/

Come on man.

With my groups the racism is usually the casual kind. Like a dwarf expressing surprise that an elf would actually eat meat or an elf expressing surprise that a dwarf even cooks their food. The few instances where we go full on "I will fucking murder you because you are race X" is rare (IE terrible thing happens, it gets blamed on non-humans or similar) or a player being edgy. Think Witcher. Definitely a lot of racism, not usually violent however.

This. Any GM who runs a game where racism exists in such black and white extremes has no idea how racism works.

All throughout human history, different leaders and governments have been willing to have open exchange with members of other races. Wise kings and leaders knew there was significant benefit to trading with Orientals and sand niggers. Even common folk understood this to some level even if they didn't like seeing foreigners in their streets.

Historically the only people who are that opposed to other races showing up are small ultra-nationalist sects who despise any kind of cultural exchange.

I dunno what to tell you.
Also,
Racism is usually something present, but only fools (and the lower class) take it to the next level, usually.

>ALL members of BOTH races MUST be assholes to each other

Yeah, nah.

No matter how many times I see this pic I'll never stop laughing. One of the show's more brilliant moments.

Honestly the best description of a gormless GM. Just replace "children" with "players".

I hardly ever include that sort of racism in my games.
Mostly because everyone gets along just fine, be they elf or bugbear, so long as nobody from THE GODDAMN WESTLANDS comes over.

Nationalism up, racism down.

No. It feels like a breath of fresh air. I feel genuinely elated when I insult dwarves as an elf and imagine that I'm actually talking to niggers.

The best instance of Dwarf/Elf racism was in my very first game, with two players who had never played tabletop before. Just to illustrate, the Dwarf guy named his Dwarf with his 1337speak screenname, and the Elf named his character "Vaseline", because Elves are gay.

These guys were also twin brothers, and constantly bickering. They brought that straight to the in-character discussions. And I'm telling you, the Elf was legit annoying. Not in the least because he was the stereotypical Elven Ranger who hung back, but was a huge know-it-all, while the Dwarf was a stereotypical Dwarven Barbarian who was always in the thick of it, but never presumed to tell anyone anything. So every time it was the Dwarf who got tired of the Elf's bullshit, and the player would announce both in and out of character "I grapple the Elf".

Long story short, "grapple the Elf" became the motto of the campaign.

OK, I've seen a lot of people invoke /pol/ when they started losing an argument, but this is downright the most shameless refusal to acknowledge a good point that I've ever seen.

No user, *you* are the /pol/.

Well in my setting the dark elves, who live in the northern parts of the world, are bros with the local norwegian viking dwarfs.

Both even drink at the same tables.

In my campaign setting, orcs and the such are degenerate subhumans that the rest of the races tolerate so long as they don't go apeshit and start attacking people.

In other words: niggers.

>Trying to provoke /pol/ arguments after the fact

Cute pic

Better to replace it with frienemy relationship with actual hatred being think of past and now it mostly elf vs dwarf banter occasionally or some radical fringe groups thing

>/pol/
>historical example of African Americans in the armed services
How is that /pol/ when it is Veeky Forums?

Dwarves are supposed to grumble about everything. But just that; grumble about it.

Tangentially related but
>Be Warlock in WoW RP server
>Casually say to a friend in the cathedral district that after the war with Garrosh, we should do more than just 'throw them in internment camps'
>Once more: this is during a war with Orc-Hitler
>Draenei comes up
>His entire race was nearly wiped out by Orcs
>Says that one shouldn't continue the 'cycle of hate'
>Counter with the cycle can be broken by 'wiping out the Orcs'
>They say both sides are equally guilty
>Loudly condemn Humans for 'invading' the Arathi Highlands
>Invading
>The birthplace of humanity
>Call him out on this bullshit
>Crowd gathers around
>Say that Orcs have always been savages who killed people and haven't ever made penance
>Say Thrall didn't do shit about the invasion of Ashenvale
>Crowd starts calling my Warlock out
>"Stupid bitch!" "Racist Cunt!"
>Bring up the Alliance has tried to have peace on numerous occasions and Orcs/The Horde have almost always fucked it up
>Have people screaming in the middle of Stormwind that Varian was a bloodthirsty racist and idiot who "started" the war
>End up getting punched and have to be dragged from the impromptu lynch mob.

There weren't any fantasy racists in WoW then, but there sure were a ton of fantasy SJWs

It's exact opposite Horde-side. Vast majority of Orc RPers are in-universe stormweenies.

This is why I fucking gave up on retail WoW RP. I played a paladin who hated orcs and undead and was a loyal monarchist who, despite not being noble himself, urged that the common people had their place in an orderly society and people treated him like a genuine fascist.

There was a legit political movement on my server that emulated IRL republicanism/communism and it was fucking great until all the modern-values-in-medieval-settings characters hijacked it.

It's probably done so often because it shows up a lot in fiction, and has since LotR. Everyone from Discworld to Zootopia (and the ingame fluff, most likely) has done it, so the DMs think it can't be that hard.
Heh.

Yes we are. MG Horde side. Garrosh did nothing wrong, Thrall was a twat, but either way the hummies deserved it all. Now get off our lawn and leave us alone.

>republicanism/communism
>related at all
More retarded than anarcho-communism.

Me and my friends like making racist jokes irl so sometimes I might have Goldie Shekelburger the Gold-Pincher try to pull a fast one when selling merch to players.

Oh I'm well aware.

I know on wyrmrest they basically held the Horde equivalent of the Nuremberg trials--completely fucked over the Orc RP scene because most Orc RPers got obsessed with joining Kor'kron guilds.

Some Pandaren faggot went on a big spiel on the forums about how he'd rape "captured Alliance whores" and essentially tried to die doing the roman salute and screaming 14/88 at the top of his lungs.

I was just playing as a Warlock from Gilneas, so of course they're extremely patriotic and of course they'd have a problem with the Orcs and Undead that kicked them out of their homeland.

Still, for a while I met more "Give peace a chance" types than casual racists on the alliance side. Even met a Night Elf "married" to an Orc ICly. My char gave her shit for it.

That's essentially what I played with my Warlock, whose family was a lot more like a "Royalist" middle class than anything.

Meanwhile the nobles I meet are:
>A: Glorified criminal guilds
>B: Literally cucking themselves, as in, one of the nobles was in an open relationship between his wife and a Draenei man
>C: Fancier mercenary companies
>D: "Fairy Princesses." a.k.a. big extravagant castles and massive armies at their disposal.

You see, they have a REASON to dislike each other. This is good.

What i am talking about is lazy "oh this race was always treated like shit because REASONS, whatever, i ain't got the whole day to worldbuild."

Old WRA RPer here.

All the shit aside, I still found Horde RP slightly more engaging.

Alliance was mostly waifu shit and Worgen edgelording. I gave up on it around when my book dumb lady paladin kept getting hit on by other women. It was weird.

Horde RP wasn't much better.
>ignore Orcs, they're all fantasy /pol/tards
>ignore Tauren and Pandas, they're always furfags
>ignore Trolls, you can never understand them
>ignore Forsaken, they're either grimdark or wacky mad scientists
>ignore Goblins, they're all gold-toothed snake oil salesman and mafioso wannabes. Also you can't understand them
>ignore Blood Elves, they're just anime power fantasies

But there was slightly less waifufagging and overall I just kind of prefer the Horde's lore and personality so it was easier for me to get into it all.

>TFW played a Warlock that hit on a paladin lady
>On Wyrmrest
>Now wondering if I was one of those women

That aside, I tried some cross-faction RP

>Happened at the end of mists
>It was to try and help Alliance and Horde get over their problems with one another
>Was meant to share poetry and some shit
>Random Belf attacked the alliance delegation
>Turns out they were an OOC PvPer
>Ended with the alliance raiding thunderbluff
>Saved my one friend on the horde and gtfo of there
>meet aforementioned "Night elf married to an Orc"

God damn it I just wanted some fun RP maybe with a reason for my char to put racism behind them.

>What i am talking about is lazy "oh this race was always treated like shit because REASONS, whatever, i ain't got the whole day to worldbuild."
That's just lazy GM'ing, period, tho, has nothing to do with racism in a fantasy setting.

Did the paladin have trouble pronouncing multi-syllable words and was her name Montaine

Nope, had an accent but that wasn't their name.

Ah well.

Didn't people hate other people from nearby towns? They should just hate every foreigner.

>Character is a war veteran who is trying to work their way up in politics in order to make a racially pure country
Did your character also happen to fail art school per chance?

Except that it's a very common bad example of racism in a fantasy setting.

I ran with orc dindu's in one campaign.

They were heavily discriminated against, lived on the shitty side of town in squalor and filth, nobody liked them or tried to help them. Basically they were there because nobody was willing to actually kill the orc babies after defeating an Orc horde, so they brought them into their society, but fairly unwillingly. Some hated them because family members had been killed, others feared them because the horde could have destroyed them.

So what you ended up with was
>young orcs mostly raised by single mothers
>violent culture and religion that encourages wrongdoing
>pissed off at the human/elf/dwarf coalition that killed their fathers/grandfathers and left them in poverty
>old orcs shocked at the state of things
>young orcs see the elderly as traitors and cowards
>widespread crime and violence, but mostly against each other as guards shadow them as soon as they leave orctown
>some try to break out of the mold, but face opposition from the other citizens, who don't trust them
>resentment among citizens for the (insufficient) taxes they have to pay to keep the orcs alive

Basically I was trying to create a situation in which everyone can be an asshole. Where discrimination is justified, and unjustified on a case by case basis. Where things could be better, but aren't.

>Seemingly neutral human empire was actually founded on a pact with demon hundreds of years before the campaign starts
>Imperials spent those hundreds of years building infrastructure and bringing order with fairly minimal violence
>Plot involves the demon coming back for his payment, which is the souls of the current generation
>Also he was going to destroy the world or something
>As the party is trying to piece things together, we go to talk to the elves who've for the most part isolated themselves since the deal was made
>The elves proceed to condescend to us relentlessly about how foolish and stupid humans are for making the deal
>They spend most of the conversation saying "I told you so" to people who inherited the problem and are actively trying to rectify it
>Meanwhile they spent centuries doing literally nothing about the problem
>When confronted about their inaction they just shrug it off with more condescension and smugness about how much smarter they were for not getting involved in the first place
>Had to restrain myself from having my character slap the elf leader across the face and tell her to stop blaming him for his ancestors' follies

I never truly hated elves more than at that moment. That DM had a nasty tendency to make almost every NPC smug and condescending, regardless of the circumstances. It was a very trying campaign.

Actually never had that happen before. The one time that I made racism a major theme of my setting, it ended with the players joining a race war.

>Definitely a lot of racism, not usually violent however.
Why the fuck do you think the Scoia'tel exist?

I've tried putting actual fantastic racism into games that I run but my players enjoy it for about 30 seconds and then it's just irritating to them. It's all well and good when it's low-level ruffians the party can beat up to "teach them a lesson", but any time there's an important NPC or some person or group more powerful than the party that doesn't like one or more them just because of who they are I never hear the end of the whining. I think most people like fantasizing about kicking an ignorant goon's ass, but they get all panty-peeved when asked to fantasize about being discriminated against or picked on because of who they are.

Because nonhumans get treated like shit in human kingdoms. Oh and all of that land is rightful elvish clay, at least in their minds. Then don't forget that they are funded by Emyr, who you can guarantee simply sees them as another means of sapping the strength of the northern kingdoms. Besides, there isn't daily pogroms, just occasional ones. Which means there isn't a lot of violence.

>if there is racism, it's hackneyed and cliched, with steroetypes instead of attempting to actually work out how racism actually developed in the real world, let alone create a realistic mirror in a fantasy setting
>if it's not included, everyone complains about how everyone gets along too well, the setting doesn't feel realistic

There's no good way of solving this, at least not in a way that will actually become a part of the plot or a large part of the setting. Just include some racist insults and jokes and leave it at that.

I will go out of my way to avoid young black men, (specially if they're wearing red) on the street. But I love football and all my favorite players are black.

Individuals have merit. Your party elf is worthy but knife ears are still shit.

The solution is to not have stupid fantasy races and just use actual races of people you idiot

Yes.

PAINT THE CITY IN ORC BLOOD.

How does that change anything? People still think of racism only in modern terms at best, if not even shallower than that. No one actually looks at it and tries to understand both sides and their mindsets.

Present it one angle at a time, and have every angle be a somewhat valid point.

Why couldn't I do that with fantasy races?

No, that's exactly what you have to do.

Used to RP a lot on WoW. I was a part of the Holy RP scene and those showed up all the fucking times.

>The Forsaken are kidnapping and torturing people? We need to negotiate
>The orcs are murdering people and invading land? We need to negotiate
>The elves kidnapped one of our nobles and is torturing them and ransoming them back to us? We need to negotiate
>WE
>NEED
>TO
>NEGOTIATE

Never any calls for war, never any righteous indignation at this clearly evil shit, just negotiation. These were fucking PALADINS. Steadfast warriors of the Light infused with it's power to defeat evil going 'You know what we should do? NOT defeat evil.'

We started calling them U.N Paladins

1 dead evil dude and an alive good dude isn't better than two alive good dudes.

You're going to have to explain that one.

I laughed at this picture for like a minute straight

2 crusaders can do god approved super moves like leaning against each others back and becoming a weed whacker for infidels, single crusaders can't be a weed whacker for god (without extensive difficulty)

You can with Herod's axe

I hate it when the dindus are superior (longer-lived, wiser, more magically powerful, whatever) and are given no actual reason why they would be enslaved. For instance, elves are often this role in more modern works like Dragon Age and The Witcher. Except fucking WHY would elves put up with this shit when they live for hundreds or thousands of years and have better magical acuity than humans? It's often due to some vague bullshit about humans being stronger politically with no explanation as to how they got that way or why a race that constantly picks fights with stronger beings would ever have gained power to begin with.

Or the Lance of Longinus which, according to legend, can devastate the countryside for miles around with a single swing
I also think they found it on some king's table? The legend of king arthur was kinda weird like that

To be fair, unless the story is explicitly trying to explore in depth the culture of one race, every character of a certain race is somewhat of an ambassador of their race, from the audience's perspective.

Even if a character differs from the rest of their race (for example, the one elf willing to work with and listen to humans in a setting where all other elves think humans are retarded monkeys that should get the fuck out of their forest and leave them alone, or the one dwarf that bothered to leave the mines and caves and live under open air) they're defined by the difference to their race and, thus, still technically serving as a representation of their race even if it's by contrast.

Having a dwarf introduce himself by randomly insulting elves, ESPECIALLY when such a prejudice is common to the point of expected in the genre, tells the audience that in this setting dwarves hate elves. If that's not the case, then it needs to be shown to the audience that's just one random individual's opinion.

tl;dr: Storytelling involves more than simply making up a world and making up people for it, and information about the setting the world takes place in must be presented to the audience in a clear and logical way. This is true in every possible medium of fictional storytelling, including RPGs.

If in a setting the audience is told that dwarves hate elves, then any dwarf who does NOT hate elves should be clearly introduced as an exception to the rule and played that way - such as by showing other dwarves rejecting the non-elf-hater.

The Fisher King was a mysterious figure who had the grail, which kept him from dying from the horrible wound the spear had given him. Why he had either, I can't fucking remember. Probably some Biblical shit.

This.
The idea could work, but you need to make it plausible

Plausible version: humans recently won a decisive and brutal campaign against elves, using superior numbers tech and resources, and enslaved the remaining elves because that's what these humans do to cultures they defeat in war

Implausible: super long lived and magically advanced and spiritually wise beings who are basically humans but better, are slave cause they just kinda have always been slave for no reason.

There's also a very clear difference in racism versus people perceived as outsiders and racism versus people perceived as neighbors.

For instance, people in the American South are vastly more likely than average to live or work with black people, despite being perceived as the racist ones. This gives rise to a historical observation that is still surprisingly true a century and a half after it was first phrased, that "Southerners don't mind blacks getting close, as long as they don't get too uppity; Northerners don't mind blacks getting too uppity, as long as they don't get too close." This can be observed right here in 2017 by the fact that blacks are significantly more housing-segregated in New England than in the former Confederacy, which tends to show itself in things like district demographics, school attendance, and the like.

A lot of clumsy fantasy writers and also GMs tend to not understand this, and you see people who ostensibly grew up among whatever the oppressed group of the setting is having the "gas them all" absolutist kind of hatred, which is simplistic to the point of insulting and doesn't actually impart any kind of message or point other than "these guys are irrational assholes." There's also a lot of truth in the observation that it's not uncommon for racists to have friends of the race they despise, often with complicated exceptions to their logic.

While this is a good example, I'd add internal racism amongst the group as well. Orcs who try to act civilized are accused of acting human or playing respectability politics, and might be shunned by their own people as well as find the people they're trying to appeal to (humans, elves etc) will always see them as a good example of a bad race at best.

To de-metaphorize here, blacks are more racist towards blacks than whites are. The term "race traitor" used to be the sole domain of the KKK and similar groups, but in the last few years I've mostly seen it used by identity politicians ostensibly defending the race they're insulting.

I went to a mostly black high school, and the one black kid in the class that wasn't a fucking retard was more white than some of the actual white students, and was treated as such by the nigs around him.

Still RP'ing on WRA. It's amazing how these people can act. Made the mistake of walking into the Mage Quarter, some Draenei were speaking Eredar to eachother, which is stated in lore to sound like Demonic. Some Rogue chick commented on that, and a huge OOC argument that she was racist for saying the Draenei sounded demonic, which ended in half the people outside of the bar ostracizing her. Never saw her again.

Fuckin' people, man.

That is why MG horde is much better. Most RP'ers do so in whispers. They won't talk out loud. Though really to dodge 90% of the bullshit, keep to the central area of Orgrimmar and avoid Silvermoon altogether. Oh, and never ever go to goldshire if you're alliance unless you're into that sort of thing

just keep away from unitology, guaranteed you will get kicked, complete SJW's

More than in one setting, with different GMs have i seen "this race is stronger, more beautiful and oh-so-magical, but they are naturally submissive to humans." The games in question rarely lasted more than three sessions and i'm thankful for that.

Some people shouldn't be allowed near rulebooks.