The new boxed set allows players to have campaigns in the stars instead of on the ground. The lore behind one of the six new races that have been introduced in Spelljammer's Astral Adventurer's Guide has caused a stir among fans.
The Hazodee are a race of monkeys. The Hadozee were killed by a wizard after he kidnapped them and tried to sell them as soldiers that were magically enhanced. The Hadozee's back story is similar to the real world events of people being forcibly experimented on against their will. If you are black, you may have heard of a person using the word "monkey" as a slur.
The Hadozee were introduced in 1982 during the second edition of D&D, but there was no new lore back then. Wizards of the Coast removed the lore from all digital versions of Spelljammer. They apologized for not vetting all Hadozee-related content before it was released. Future physical editions won't feature the new Hadozee lore, and athorough internal review is being done, which will see the company take "necessary actions" once it's completed
The D&D team wrote a letter of apology. Some of the characters in the game have been monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real world groups have been and continue to be. Changing how we work to ensure a more inclusive game is important to us.
Several races across the franchise's history are linked to racist stereotypes. For example, orcs have been stereotyped as evil and brutish, and the beloved Curse of Strahd setting had been called out in the past for its depictions of Romani people. In the summer of 2020, the D&D team talked about their plans to do better in this area, either through sensitivity readers or mechanical changes to certain races so players can get away from those stereotypes. Every adventure in the anthology was written by a person of color.
The Hadzoee is not listed in the credits of the guide as a diversity consultant. It may be worth asking if it is possible to get the racial baggage out of D&D completely. Maybe One D&D will help the company with controversies in the future.
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