Since its inception in the 1970s, the game has codified racism, in the form of strict inequalities between its fantasy races, within its ruleset. But they’re also a symptom of longstanding issues with the lore of D&D. Today, the black-as-other and related tropes are widely viewed as a problematic narrative devices. What he did not fully comprehend when he created the character, he said, was how Drizzt’s blackness would contribute to how that othering was perceived by his audience. Savatore says this othering was always his intent. That feature, which marks him as a member of an inherently violent and untrustworthy race of elves, casts him as the other and invariably sets him at odds with his neighbors. While the humans, dwarves, and other fantasy creatures that inhabit the Dale present as vaguely Nordic or Viking, Drizzt has black skin. It tells the story of a drow named Drizzt Do’Urden and his adventures among the inhabitants of Icewind Dale, a northern region in D&D’s Forgotten Realms setting. The Legend of Drizzt began in 1988 with The Crystal Shard, Salvatore’s first published novel. Salvatore and performed for YouTube by Benedict Cumberbatch. Drizzt as shown in the video Sleep Sound, a poem written by R.

D&d crystal race