PCs (personal computers) were a thing back then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_computers

In Baldur's Gate III there is a choice between two genders: male and female. You have to choose. At character creation, after you create your character, you get to create another character. It is called something like "the person who you dream about", or something like that. I think it is your character's love interest. You get to create your character and that character as a member of any species, skin color and any one of those two genders. You can even select color for species that are not as defined in the lore. You are shown the default colors, but you can tick that option and it shows you all the colors for skin and hair, even if it wouldn't be available by default or not recommended from a role playing point of view. You can make a pale dwarf and a black elf if you are so enclined. As stated in the rules, elves don't have facial hair, but you can still add it to them. You can even add beards to women. Yes, it is possible, I checked. So if you want to create a black-as-coal-skinned bearded high elf female (which goes against the lore) that dreams about a bald pale dwarven female, you are free to do so.

Knowing this now, I am curious if you actually intend to get the game, and this information was the only thing that was keeping you from doing it, or you just started this conversation with the sole intention of creating controversy.

POC and LGBT people existing isnt politics. Also, what do you think all the fantasy worlds kings and queens and factions and so on are? Thats politics.
Way to miss the point...its not about char creation, Larian was always nice about that but beyond that they created a very white world. If anyone here creates controversy, its the racists, bigots and sexists who have a problem with diversity and inclusivity.

Since dtgreene brought up personal computers, I'm inclined to throw in that, as far as I know, there are no Proof Of Concept characters in the game. They're all finished products, rather than mere demonstrations. Mod-makers might have appreciated some POCs though: simple characters with no backstory and minimal dialogue, maybe even not discoverable without cheats, but that showcase what special abilities the engine can handle. This could be helpful if those specials would not fit well with the main storyline, but would be useful to a modmaker writing their own stories.

Yes, I seem to be missing the point indeed. Since, like I said, Larian gives you the opportunity to create any kind of character and any kind of love interest for that character, what was the point again?

I don't know anything about "white world". I didn't play any of their other games, so I don't know what you really mean by that. Can you please explain what you understand as being a "very white world"?

D&D is all about inclusivity. In your adventures you meet characters of a multitude of races. Of all colors. In Baldur's Gate III you get to play as Drow, Dwarf, Elf, Githyanki, Halfling, Half-Elf, Human, and Tiefling. Listed in no particular order other than alphabetical, so that none of them gets to be offended. That's 8 races, most of them having 2 or more subraces to choose from. "Subraces" not implying inferior quality and ownership of one race over other, as some people would tend to believe, but specific traits (beliefs, cultural, geographical, physical, religious) that sets one subrace apart from the other, while still being members of the same race.

And you're picky about a specific color? Wow, talking about racism. Because you can't possibly try to tell me you feel limited in your choice of races in a D&D game.

Well played. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that a "dad joke" will be enough to keep people calm in a thread like this.

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You know, _Pax_, part of the reason that this topic draws so much blowback from the community has a lot less to do with people's openness and a lot more to do with people disliking people going out of their way to manufacture drama so that they can climb up on a soap box. People have enough drama in real life. They practice escapism so that they can get away from it.

There is a difference between being open to something and feeling compelled to make certain that you make it completely unambiguous that you are not only open to everything but actively be a booster. The latter is political correctness.

I should point out that the purpose of my post wasn't to make a sweeping judgment about Ed Greenwood, TSR/WotC, or the Forgotten Realms. I was only trying to help OP. Given the level of sensitivity and the high bar they seem to have set on this issue, I think that they would generally find the BG series and Forgotten Realms to be frustrating. Siege of Dragonspear was done by Beam Dog and came out in 2016.

While I would think that the quotation you provided from Greenwood would be enough for most people just looking for a casual diversion, I don't think it will be enough for OP, who seems to need some level of affirmation from their escapism. (Also not a judgment, just an observation.) Greenwood's perspective shows that the FR are open, as is D&D generally. That said, the examples Greenwood cites are more akin to Orientalism than they are a modern dive into intersectionality, and certainly the BG franchise didn't explore intersectionality until 2016 after the franchise was taken over by a new developer. So, all sweeping judgments and moral righteousness aside, I don't think SarahGabriella is likely to find what they are looking for, and I think they are very likely to find a lot to nitpick. It's be like watching a movie with that person who has already decided that they won't like it, and they spend all of their time picking apart every plot hole. If we're being honest, that's what would happen here.

POC are definatly playable and recruitable in BG3. You can pracitcally change the skin colour of your character to various different shades appropriate for the race. (I haven't checked it but I guess you can't colour a human bright pink, but could do so as a tiefling)

(and just because people mentioned it: Yes some races are considered genrally evil, like drow or Githyanki. They are not always evil, but their society is considered evil. Drow are slavers, to them capturing someone and selling them or using them for labor is absolutely fine, they are just raised that way. A drow raised by friendly humans would not be considered evil in general.)

As for LGBT characters, during character creation you have to choose between Male and Female, but as far as I know romances are not limited to a specific sex, at least not in a cis way, or not for all NPC´s. I haven't seen an option to make a Transgender character yet.

Thats species not races and how many of them are black people?
The only ones creating drama are the ones that have a problem with my question. I want people of color and LGBT people in games, got a problem, dont comment.

Nice personal attack you posit about me however, it sounds like you think you know me. You dont, dont make assumptions you cant back up.
Well, trans women are women and trans men are men so im not hung up about that. Also, player char creation is fine in Larian games, i wondered mostly about NPCs being persons of color as that was not the case in DOS2.

Btw, the term race is being wrongly applied, theyre different species.

Thx for the help tho.

Since one of the very first settlements you can explore has people of at least four species of sentients, including humans with a variety of skin tones I'd say yes on at least half of that question.

As for the other half, I dunno. My character has been too worried about the Mind Flayer parasite slowly nibbling at his brain to try to get into anyone's pants yet.

Agreed that the term "race" doesn't really make sense, or at least means something different from what it does in the real world.

However, species are distinguished by whether they can interbreed (different species can't interbreed), but we have creatures like half-elves and half-orcs that are the result of such breeding (and my understanding is that they're still fertile).

Then again, I've seen the term "race" used in a few games in the SaGa series, where the differences between races are more drastic, particularly when you look at the robot and monster races. (Then again, SaGa 2 *does* allow your character, who is the child of two humans, to be a robot or monster.)

Well, it is a fantasy game set in a fantastic world. It is not real. It is not like the real world, it does not deal with the same world problems we deal. D&D is a role playing game that is played with pen & paper and uses dice and a set of rules for determining the outcome of events. It was born back in the 70s, when people tried to emulate the experience described in the Lord of the Rings books written by Tolkien. It was all about the adventure, with people gathering together around a table and having a really good time together. It is still played all around the world. There are D&D groups that meet on a weekly basis for decades now. It is played together by people of any skin and sex, and it doesn't take a stand on things such as this, not to my knowledge. Then again, it could be just me being ignorant.

Things like "people of color" is not really a concept in the world of Forgotten Realms, the world where the fictional city of Baldur's Gate exists. There are individuals of different color skins, but it has no implication of cultural background or social status or anything like that. As someone else pointed in this thread already, the Drow are a race of dark skinned elves and the common knowledge is they practice slavery on members of other races. They are seen as a race of evil beings. And, no. They are named races, not species. The D&D manual calls them races, so that is what they are. It is my fault if I don't manage to describe correctly this things to you, and I'm asking for forgiveness if I can't make myself more clear.

If you want a better description of the world, the races, the people and all the D&D universe, then I kindly suggest you browse this free Basic Rules document. It will help you familiarise yourself with the universe, the world and the rules used in Baldur's Gate III, and you will be able to judge for yourself if Baldur's Gate is a world you want to immerse yourself in or not. As far as I know, that document is the best introduction to the rules and how the game is played in real life. Baldur's Gate is a computer role playing game, but it has to use those same rules.

Larian may have made some kind of game or another in the past, I don't know about that, but Baldur's Gate is licensed by the Wizards of the Coast, who own the rights for Dungeons & Dragons, and they are in turn owned by Hasbro. It doesn't really matter if other games where more or less white; Larian will have to follow the general guidelines described in these rules, because it is a D&D game.

Off-topic, if you really are interested in a video game about people of color, then I can tell you about a recently announced game that focuses on this kind of things. It is named The Wagadu Chronicles, and they just reached their goal on Kickstarter. I watched a video or two that the developers made about it and it really seems to shine. It is, as they describe, an Afrofantasy Setting for offline & online role-play. The lore of the game is based on African myth, it even uses African art for the game. As far as I know, they even have people of color in their development team. The Wagadu Chronicles is developed by Twin Drums. They are a diverse bunch, some remote and some based in Berlin, Germany. I think they are doing a great job and their game seems to take shape really well. Take a look on their website, on their kickstarter page, maybe you find there something you like. People of color and African myth take the center stage on that game.

Remember that brief period of time following the 90s when no body cared about race? That time when people were not concerned about "representation"? When developers made characters and we got into those characters, their stories, and it did not matter if they were white, black, asian, orc, lizard, human, or elf. What mattered was their WHO they were, not what they LOOKED like; because for that brief period of time we realized that there is more to a person than what you see on their skin. We connected over the experience of being human, the love, loss, rage, fear, and need for purpose. I remember a time when this stuff did not matter.

I am black and I have personally identified with all the characters of every race and every sexual orientation, every time a character was written well; I identified with a human.

I can appreciate concern surrounding racism, as I have been a victim of it myself, but you do not solve racism by invoking "diversity". Racism stops when we stop talking about it. When people stop being concerned about "representation" of POC and care more about humans. If you need someone of your race to identify in a game to have fun with it, I think you are missing the point of the art. True art conveys something which is universal in all of us, it speaks to us in a way that is more that skin deep.

There is a great star trek moment which exemplifies my point. In the episode where they bring Abraham Lincoln on board and he refers to Uhura with what you could consider and "offensive" word for a black individual, and the beauty of the moment is that she doesn't even know to be offended by the term. Because in this wonderful vision for the future of humanity captured in this show, people stopped caring about race, we moved passed it and saw everyone as individuals. Humans.

Sure, as long as we can agree that not getting the answer you might have hoped for doesn't mean someone has a problem with your question. But I certainly have seen that there are some people in this thread who have nothing to contribute other than their own sense of grievance that isn't in any way germane to your OP.

I'm not quite sure why you think I attacked you. My reference to creating drama had nothing to do with you. I wouldn't have taken the time to answer if I had thought that was your motive. I took your question at face value.

I'm not sure what else to say except look at the signage/cover art. It shows the major companions. So those are the strong leads. Decide for yourself if that's diverse enough.

Really wise words. I don't share your skin tone, but to me that's just color and it is as important as the color of your clothes. I do share your vision though, and I think this weights a lot more. Yes, the 90s were... I don't really know... more sane? For the lack of a better word. Less conflict, that's for sure. And Star Trek, man... that TV series was ahead of its time! It tought us to look at the person for what it is and not the color of the skin long before this young generation came with all this representation issues. As far as I'm concerned, we're all human. And what defines us is our actions. What we do. Because you don't choose your skin color, but you do choose your actions. If we're on the same level about the actions, then I am positive that neither one of us will have misconception about our skin tone or color. I am sorry about you being a victim of racism. In this day and age, you would think that, as advanced as we got in all the other fields, at least we could've put basic stuff like this behind us and act all in a civic manner. It really hurts to see stuff like this happening in the 21st century. It's a disgrace for us as a race.

As I see it, you linked version 0.2 from 2014. My version is more recent, 1.0 from 2018. Still, it doesn't matter.
I had no idea about that part, Corellon Larethian being androgynous. I most certainly don't mind. Now that I look for it, it is mentioned in both versions of the documents. I guess Wizards made some modification to the rules. Or maybe they were there all the time and I didn't pay attention. I knew about Corellon Larethian being the god of elves and magic, but that's about it. Well. If it makes more people playing D&D, all the better. And if there are people who are disturbed by this, they can certainly make a house rule about it. I don't see this as such a big issue. It's a role playing game. In a role playing game stuff like this is more possibile than anywhere else. And no one should have any problem with the type of character you want to role play. Since this is role play we're talking about, people generally keep an open mind about it.