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The Journey To...North America, Part Two
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<blockquote data-quote="Skepticultist" data-source="post: 7739282" data-attributes="member: 6898719"><p>That's because you are entirely 100% correct: I do not care about the finer points. If I'm using the Aztecs as bad guys, I'm not going to be running them as "historically accurate." I'm going to increase the number of skulls used in their art ten thousand fold, I'm going to have them enslaving people by the thousands, and there is going to be literal <strong>rivers of blood</strong> flowing out from their temples. Because, you know, <strong>BAD GUYS</strong>.</p><p></p><p>I've been running games for 30 years, and if I have learned anything, it's that the finer points <strong>don't matter</strong>. I have never, in my entire life, encountered a gaming group that was interested in a detailed exploration of the finer points of <strong>any</strong> culture. In fact, I generally consider myself to have done a great job as a DM if I can make a strong enough impression on the players that they remember the name of the country they are in, or the town they just saved, or an NPC they met last session. </p><p></p><p>I mean seriously, the last campaign I ran was set in a "Persian" city (not actually Persia though, since my campaigns are not set on Earth), which was emphasized in every possible way, and exactly one of my five players clued in to that enough to actually give his character a "Persian" sounding name. I ended up with a party that had a native "Persian" character named "Rutger." As is Rutger Hauer. That's what real DMs who run real games have to deal with.</p><p></p><p>There is no way that the average DM running a game for the average group of players is going to get those players to do enough reading to really comprehend a foreign culture (and I include medieval European cultures in that) on anything but the most superficial level. That comes far too close to being <em>homework</em>. You <strong><em>might</em></strong> be able to get the whole party together to watch <em>Apocalypto</em> and then be able to say to your players "The bad guys are the Aztecs, like in Apocalypto, except even more heavy metal."</p><p></p><p>And that's going to be entertaining and fun in a way that the "respectful" approach being advocated in this article simply never will be. That's what the people writing and commissioning these articles just don't get. What y'all are advocating for is <strong><u>incredibly boring gameplay</u></strong> -- at least it is for most people. </p><p></p><p>What's really frustrating about this debate is that before the argument even begins, you people have defined the terms in such a way that you think you can't lose. It's all about the word "respect," which is being completely misused and abused in this debate. You guys say "respect" when what you really mean is "in accordance with our imagining of how things should be done." What you don't get is that using Aztecs as bad guys or presenting Hiawatha as a dragonslayer is not "disrespect," it's just <em>having fun with historical concepts</em>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Skepticultist, post: 7739282, member: 6898719"] That's because you are entirely 100% correct: I do not care about the finer points. If I'm using the Aztecs as bad guys, I'm not going to be running them as "historically accurate." I'm going to increase the number of skulls used in their art ten thousand fold, I'm going to have them enslaving people by the thousands, and there is going to be literal [B]rivers of blood[/B] flowing out from their temples. Because, you know, [B]BAD GUYS[/B]. I've been running games for 30 years, and if I have learned anything, it's that the finer points [B]don't matter[/B]. I have never, in my entire life, encountered a gaming group that was interested in a detailed exploration of the finer points of [B]any[/B] culture. In fact, I generally consider myself to have done a great job as a DM if I can make a strong enough impression on the players that they remember the name of the country they are in, or the town they just saved, or an NPC they met last session. I mean seriously, the last campaign I ran was set in a "Persian" city (not actually Persia though, since my campaigns are not set on Earth), which was emphasized in every possible way, and exactly one of my five players clued in to that enough to actually give his character a "Persian" sounding name. I ended up with a party that had a native "Persian" character named "Rutger." As is Rutger Hauer. That's what real DMs who run real games have to deal with. There is no way that the average DM running a game for the average group of players is going to get those players to do enough reading to really comprehend a foreign culture (and I include medieval European cultures in that) on anything but the most superficial level. That comes far too close to being [I]homework[/I]. You [B][I]might[/I][/B] be able to get the whole party together to watch [I]Apocalypto[/I] and then be able to say to your players "The bad guys are the Aztecs, like in Apocalypto, except even more heavy metal." And that's going to be entertaining and fun in a way that the "respectful" approach being advocated in this article simply never will be. That's what the people writing and commissioning these articles just don't get. What y'all are advocating for is [B][U]incredibly boring gameplay[/U][/B] -- at least it is for most people. What's really frustrating about this debate is that before the argument even begins, you people have defined the terms in such a way that you think you can't lose. It's all about the word "respect," which is being completely misused and abused in this debate. You guys say "respect" when what you really mean is "in accordance with our imagining of how things should be done." What you don't get is that using Aztecs as bad guys or presenting Hiawatha as a dragonslayer is not "disrespect," it's just [I]having fun with historical concepts[/I]. [/QUOTE]
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