Senior Thesis Method Section

As my topic is so specific, there is not a lot of literature out there that directly addresses the topics that I am going to discuss for my thesis. As such, I have had to find articles that mention what I am going to discuss, and then have to work with it so that it applies to the world of Dungeons and Dragons. It was also difficult trying to figure out exactly what I want to say, because the topics that I am addressing are so general and wide-ranging, that it’s not very easy to narrow it down without acknowledging everything that I am not directly including in my thesis.

            Race theory was the concept with the most specific literature relative to my topic. There were two very informative articles that specifically focused on the social structures and racial hierarchies built into D&D. That’s basically what I was looking for. I didn’t think that I would be able to find anything that specific, and would have to settle for a little less. Fortunately, I decided to use the 5^th Edition Player’s Handbook to, in a way, provide the most direct result of the systematic racism that I argue is present in the lore of the game, based on the in-game descriptions of the playable races, such as half-orcs and half-elves, the two races that I have analyzed up to this point.

            For game theory, there was not a lot of material that related to tabletop gaming in general. Instead, it focused more on video, board and card games. However, my argument was that many of the concepts that applied to those aspects of game theory also applied to D&D. I wanted to find articles that showed how games, both electronic and tabletop, could have a strong effect on the players both mentally and emotionally.

            At this point in my thesis, I picked Half-Orcs to analyze because they are one of the most recognizable, and most widely hated, by consumers of the fantasy genre of popular culture. As they are almost completely depicted as being aggressive, brutish and dim-witted, it only made sense to me that I would want to dive deeper into how they are fit into D&D. However, I was a little surprised with the almost benevolence with which they were described. The Player’s Handbook stated that Half-Orcs normally formed tribes with humans and that more often than not they were fairly diplomatic, at least with each other, not so much with enemy tribes and factions. They did make sure to mention, however, the inherent violent temper that exists within every Half-Orc, and how each one must either fight against their nature to be good or lean into it and become exactly what everyone says and thinks about their race.

            I chose Half-Elves for notably the same reason. They are known with the same notoriety as Orcs/Half-Orcs, just on the other side of the spectrum. They are the most recognizable race, specifically just plain/high elves when it comes to popular culture in the fantasy genre. Known as the original arcane users, other than humans, it was also fairly obvious here that I chose to analyze them as well. Most people only really know of High Elves, those seen in Lord of the Rings, who inhabit tall, glittering spires and find themselves in a sprawling metropolis and booming economy thanks to advanced technology combined with magic.