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I don't know, have they? 'Been described' by whom? Not in classic D&D, at any rate, and certainly not in a way that hit you over the head with matriarchy being all about dominating and subjugating men, cue extremely subtle spider themes.

My father-in-law lived through those years. He was born in Germany and came to America with his family, as a toddler, between the World Wars. He enlisted in WWII to serve his country, but was only permitted to serve in the Merchant Marine because of concerns that he would be an 'enemy alien'...

He doesn't need permission to do a parody song. But besides it being a nice thing to do, it avoids expensive proceedings where somebody decides to pick an expensive fight over whether a song falls under the legal definition of 'parody'.

Rob, I have no idea what 'agenda' you're talking about, and your assumptions that nobody with the necessary background could possibly disagree with you are both patronizing and unfortunate. Since you've indicated you have no further wish to discuss this, I'll leave it at that. "Myth" is...

Weird Al spends a great deal of effort on getting permission from the people whose music and videos he parodies precisely because "It's parody/satire!" is not a magic defense against intellectual property lawsuits, and the test for whether something is fair use involves weighing of factors - in...

One could argue that, but one would look pretty silly doing so. Similarly, that there have been individual evil women in myth and legend (and for that matter in history) is a bit beside the point. This isn't about mapping Elizabeth Bathory or Ishtar onto some baddie elves; it's the trope of a...

I missed your earlier discussion, so apologies if this was already discussed, but the D&D version also came with a distinctly ahistorical Evil Matriarchy gloss, of a type very much in line with 20th century SFF tropes.

Sure. Conversely, many people alive today have memories of being on the receiving end of that bigotry, and of pushing back against bigotry - which of course is why mainstream views have changed from The Past.

Sure, and it's reasonable to point out what prevailing social attitudes there may have been at different times, how attitudes change over time, and so forth, but there seems to be a broad-brush narrative around these things that erases controversy and disagreement that actually existed In The...

Yes, I'm familiar with both the quote and the fact that it's a metaphor; I'm disagreeing with its accuracy. That it's pithy or a quotation doesn't make it correct. You keep talking about the 1980s and 'they' and 'modern ears' as though it was a misty Beforetime that we can only recall through...

Ehhhhh...... the past is the past, not a foreign country, especially since many of us lived through it; it's lived experience, not a place. Certainly it's true that mainstream social consensus changes - meaning that what we, as participants in that social consensus see and think - change. But...

No. It is, however, sufficiently unusual that people will see the word and immediately think of the Potterverse, so best to avoid. (Cf.: ansible)

Many SFF fans were upset when The Iron Dream came out because it was insulting! and they! would! never! dress up as or lionize evil characters like that.

Happily, nobody but you has actually presented this idea, or even suggested that gaming is "inherently dangerous" in a manner than other social interaction isn't. I'm still not following the comparison to football at all, regardless of where it's played.

I'm puzzled at this repetition of 'inherently dangerous' and 'inherently unsafe', as well as the comparison of any negative effects from, say, a GM dropping a rape scene on a player to the anti-D&D hysteria of the 1990s. Also, given the NFL's long history of covering up and minimizing the...

I'm a little puzzled because the thread's author seems to be asking not 'what, for you, is too expensive?' or 'does Invisible Sun live up to its cost' or 'is there a market for these things', but the ultimately unanswerable and flame-baity 'which approach should the industry as a whole take -...

Someone has already linked to a blog post by one of the con organizers, who explained exactly what they did, who they talked to, and why they took the actions (banning him from the con) that they did. And he did not name the person or encourage anyone to shame or shun him. Where on earth are...

It's not true rehabilitation when it comes with a sense of entitlement. Sometimes the price of crummy behavior is that there are consequences for bad behavior - like having to earn back trust over time. Or even people choosing to decide they don't want to risk being on the receiving end of...

Why 'relatively quietly' (which is somewhat of a contradiction to 'openly')? Nothing is served by shutting up and agreeing never to speak of it again. For one thing, the convention's quick and decisive response is a good model for other groups to follow. For another, it's great PR for gaming to...

I've run "Under My Skin" a couple of times and it went very well - and this was running it at a convention with people who mostly didn't know each other and didn't pair off or seem awkward about it after the game. Everyone was very clear on the fact that it was a game, not 'let's use a game as...