D&D General Modules with a political message?

[AnotherGuy]

In reality it is the "No politics"-Crowd who has a political agenda ("no minorities in my media! No Liberal stuff in my media, in any media!").

I'm not convinced that is true.
The Wire for instance is a predominantly black cast and there is an argument to be made that it is the best show ever aired. How do you explain that?

 

[M_Natas]

I'm not convinced that is true.
The Wire for instance is a predominantly black cast and there is an argument that it is the best show ever made. How do you explain that?

The wire is from 2002 till 2008. The right wing pushback on media just started at this time (with Obama becoming president). If the wire would be made today, the "No politics" Crowd would push back against it, too.

 

[billd91]

When marvel comics lost their political neutrality then also a lot of readers, and DC followed the same mistake. Now the parents don't want to buy comics for their children because these aren't "kid friendly".

Marvel never had political neutrality, neither did DC. The complaints started when these companies started being more active with their diversity efforts because now the stories weren't all about or for their prior core audience - white males. And that's exactly the way it is in other media as well. And it's going to remain a problem until the people privileged enough to be represented in these media accept that the representation they had in the art and in the stories needs to be shared.

The truth of the matter is that representation and inclusion are intensely political topics and not just the push for inclusion. The resistance to inclusion is intensely political as is the incessant, tut-tutting, nit picking at how the push for inclusion is accomplished. There's a reason so many efforts at inclusion seem "forced" to certain observers - it HAS to be made visible for it to work. And for every group for which there has been progress, there's another group that needs that push next, and the next, etc. And some forms of making inclusion visible are more obvious than others. The ones that are less obvious need more frequent and active reinforcement.

 

[dave2008]

Is there political content in published adventures: I don't know - I don't run published adventures!

Should there be political content in published adventures: Yes, probably. If people want to play those types of games, there should be content for them.

Do I want to run or play RPG adventures with overtly political themes: No. I play D&D to escape such real world troubles as much as possible. I feel bombarded enough in everyday life that I don't want it in my game time.

 

[AnotherGuy]

The wire is from 2002 till 2008. The right wing pushback on media just started at this time (with Obama becoming president). If the wire would be made today, the "No politics" Crowd would push back against it, too.

I think you're 100% off on this because The Wire only became a phenomenon with the public after it had finished airing.
Many more people discovered it much later.

During its original run, the series received only average ratings and never won any major television awards, but is now often cited as one of the greatest television series of all time.

At the close of the third season, The Wire was still struggling to maintain its ratings and the show faced possible cancellation.

EDIT: This is my issue, there are currently many terrible writers right now in Hollywood and they for some reason seem to be doing all the work in these big budget series and shows where diversity should be playing a role. Instead with their atrocious writing skills they are alienating the fan bases and creating this perceived dislike for diversity. And the media amplifies this ugly message.

 

[M_Natas]

I think you're 100% off on this because The Wire only became a phenomenon with the public after it had finished airing.
Many more people discovered it much later.

So? First of all, one outlier doesn't disprove the rest. Second if all, by whom does it become a cult classic? Probably not by people who say "I don't want politics in my media! Buh to the Liberal agenda!".

 

[humble minion]

Marvel never had political neutrality, neither did DC.

Yep, Marvel had Captain America punching Hitler when Hitler was still alive and the head of state of a nation with which America was (nominally) at peace, and who had a lot of support among Americans. Honestly you can't get can't more overtly, deliberately political than that.

But to repeat the blindingly obvious - there's no such thing as a completely politics-free story, or campaign, or narrative. We all bring our own politics to the table, conscious or unconscious. Who are the heroes of the story? Who are the villains? Why are the villains doing villainous things, and what makes the things the villains are doing, villainous? Do the heroes crack down on the seditionist cults and terrorists in the name of the rightful king, or do they help the resistance against the tyrant? Two sides of the same coin.

Though it's got me thinking - has anyone here ever played, in good faith and not in an 'evil PC' game, a PC with political convictions and ideals completely opposite to theirs? How did it go?

 

[Laurefindel]

There is a huge difference between a social commentary or depicted inequality in RPG material and a political stance or clear editorial message in a specific adventure.

[edit] got interrupted. There more to this simple evidence but I think it should be mentioned

 

[billd91]

When I was planning the ZEITGEIST adventure path, I intentionally built the core conflict of the campaign around questions of 'what would be the best world, and whose idea of best?'

In a similar vein, the background campaign for MegaTraveller also built some of the factions of the Fractured Imperium civil war with different ideas of the role of the Imperial government. Archduke Dulinor was a reformer who wanted the Imperium to make more efforts to benefit poor worlds. Duchess Margaret represents a very conservative view of the Imperium as benefiting commerce and just ruling the space between the worlds but not investing locally in resources to improve lives (except by commerce). Other factions represent local separatism and alien perspectives. The Rebellion Sourcebook offered a review of each of the factions and their ideologies.

 

[ad_hoc]

All art is political.