BLUE ROSE Returns, Championing Diversity & Inclusiveness

Back in 2005, Green Ronin published a roleplaying game called Blue Rose. It was designed by Jeremy Crawford (yep, him who works at WotC on D&D 5E), Steve "Mutants & Masterminds" Kenson (that's his actual middle name), Dawn Elliot, and John Snead, and was billed as a "romantic fantasy" game, of the genre for whom Tamora Pierce, Mercedes Lackey, and Jacqueline Carey are known. It used the True20 System, which was a slimmed-down, modified version of the d20 System, and won multiple ENnies. And now it's back!

This time round, the game will be using the Adventure Game Engine, which powers the Dragon Age RPG, and will be funded via a Kickstarter launching in April. One of Green Ronin's reasons for bringing it back is that the game tackled a number of diversity and inclusiveness related issues, and those issues are very much the subject of intense - and often unpleasant - debate and conflict today.

You can click on the cover image below for the full announcement from Green Ronin's Chris Pramas.

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What's Romantic Fantasy? It's "a subgenre of fantasy fiction, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the romance genre". According to Wikipedia, the genre's focus is on social, political, and romantic relationships.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Regarding my signature - My goal with Kiraya's Korner is to create a safe space for diverse gamers to converse with like-minded folks, away from the often hostile environments of places like Twitter (or even here, though EN World is a hell of a lot more civil than Twitter has been lately), without having to worry about defending themselves and their opinions. It'll be a place to take a break from being a force for change and just be a gamer. It'll also be a place to hide, when the fight gets too overwhelming. It won't be a place for debate or arguing or "social justice warrioring" - it'll be a place for the warriors to relax, dress their wounds, and then head back out in to the fray with renewed vigor and confidence.

That's the goal, anyway.

 

[Ace]

My apologies for getting a little riled up last night.


People are not a political issue or an agenda. There is more to expression and publishing than the almighty dollar. Sometimes a company wants to make a statement, regardless of the financial fallout.

And sometimes abuse needs to be called out for what it is. That's not censorship, its human decency.

Freedom of speech gives you the right to say whatever you like; it doesn't give you the right to an audience; it doesn't give you the right to a venue other than some random street corner.

These things matter to you. Its understandable

To your points, everything in the human sphere is political and even the value of tolerance as vs. what society demands and even what decency is in inherently political. Agreed that there is more reasons to publish than money though and I'll note Blue Rose was profitable AFAIK, heck they got my money didn't they I'm not anti-tolerance even if I think Aldea is silly

Calling about perceived abuse is fine but yes using economic leverage to censor ideas is wrong. Imagine if the Right was in charge , a corporate version of HUAC shutting down businesses who ideas were not acceptable to the Far Right would be just as bad , imagine if Run-By Publishing got this treatment " publish Red Daisy and that "abusive" unnatural junk and you'll never see any money from Good Socks and were number #5." That's what I am trying to avoid .

 

[Umbran]

Think of this as a variant of O'Sullivan's First Law , All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.

Folks,

While we do allow some discussion of sexism and racism within our hobby, broadly speaking, EN World otherwise has a No Real-World Politics rule. The above, I'm sorry to say, is getting into general political theory, and is over the line.

Let us keep it to discussion that's particular to RPGs, please. Thanks all.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

These things matter to you. Its understandable

To your points, everything in the human sphere is political and even the value of tolerance as vs. what society demands and even what decency is in inherently political. Agreed that there is more reasons to publish than money though and I'll note Blue Rose was profitable AFAIK, heck they got my money didn't they I'm not anti-tolerance even if I think Aldea is silly

Calling about perceived abuse is fine but yes using economic leverage to censor ideas is wrong. Imagine if the Right was in charge , a corporate version of HUAC shutting down businesses who ideas were not acceptable to the Far Right would be just as bad , imagine if Run-By Publishing got this treatment " publish Red Daisy and that "abusive" unnatural junk and you'll never see any money from Good Socks and were number #5." That's what I am trying to avoid .

These sorts of tactics are commonly used by a variety of companies in a variety of industries for a variety of reasons. Its not the exclusive province of niche game publishers. It is a valid tactic and it is up to the venue involved whether and how they will respond.

For example - http://files.gencon.com/Gen_Con_Statement_Regarding_SB101.pdf

Edit: Regarding Umbran's post above, if the link crosses the line, my apologies and I'll remove it. It, in my opinion, straddles the line.

 

[Ace]

Regarding my signature - My goal with Kiraya's Korner is to create a safe space for diverse gamers to converse with like-minded folks, away from the often hostile environments of places like Twitter (or even here, though EN World is a hell of a lot more civil than Twitter has been lately), without having to worry about defending themselves and their opinions. It'll be a place to take a break from being a force for change and just be a gamer. It'll also be a place to hide, when the fight gets too overwhelming. It won't be a place for debate or arguing or "social justice warrioring" - it'll be a place for the warriors to relax, dress their wounds, and then head back out in to the fray with renewed vigor and confidence.

That's the goal, anyway.

I'd advise starting a forum of your own for that, by invitation and see where it goes. Hosting is fairly inexpensive, sometimes free with adds and the tools are all out there and so much easier to use than when Eric and the other started this site. A little moderating should create the safe space y'all want .

I was here when ENWorld started as basically a water cooler for 3e gossip and its a major player now you may manage the same.

Good luck.

 

[Fergurg]

Folks,

While we do allow some discussion of sexism and racism within our hobby, broadly speaking, EN World otherwise has a No Real-World Politics rule. The above, I'm sorry to say, is getting into general political theory, and is over the line.

Let us keep it to discussion that's particular to RPGs, please. Thanks all.

Unfortunately, there is no way to discuss this game without discussing political theory. This game is being marketed as an agent of social change; hence, to discuss it is to discuss the social change they want to bring and use this game and its Kickstarter as Green Ronin's tool of choice.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It's my favorite system, even over D&D 5e, which I do really like. I love the stunt system, I love the way it handles classes, I enjoy the Dragon Age setting and magic system and I am looking forward to Blue Rose as well.

What kind of stunt system does it have? I'm always a bit leery of those.

 

[Umbran]

Unfortunately, there is no way to discuss this game without discussing political theory.

Well, if you cannot find a way to discuss the game without discussing political theory, then you can't discuss it. But I think you are suffering tunnel vision here.

This game is being marketed as an agent of social change; hence, to discuss it is to discuss the social change they want to bring...

The game is more than its marketing. You could discuss the actual *game*, rather than is marketing. You could discuss how maybe the marketing is less about bringing about social change, and more about putting something forth to and for an under-served portion of the gaming market. You could discuss the impact upon people at tables - not so much about Left and Right, but about Joe and Jane.

 

[nomotog]

What do we know about the game? I have been pecking for info here and there, but haven't found too much and I kind of assume that they will end up changing things in the new edition.

 

[fjw70]

Has anyone around here play or have read the original BR? If so how do the rules support the genre? What is the setting like? How do the rules and/or setting support diversity and inclusiveness?