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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5779749" data-attributes="member: 92305">This is something I constantly have to watch out for in my Conan game.  The Conan RPG doesn't have alignments, but I do find myself using my 21st century morality among barbarians that have to fight for survival every day. Racism, especially, is something that I struggle with.  My own heart tells me that all people are created equal while, in Conan's Hyborian Age, there is strong evidence of racism.  (In Howard's story "Red Nails", for example, Conan clearly states that he will not sleep with black women--but it is implied that women from all other races are fair game.) I remember seeing a scene in that excellent HBO series called ROME, where the main character went down to the market to check on his slaves--the spoils he had obtained during his tour with the Legion. He gets there and finds all of them dead from sickness, all except for one young boy, who was dying, clinging to his dead mother.  And, the main character was disgusted--not that all these people died a horrible death, but that he'd lost his entire inventory! We're used to seeing that type of sentiment (or non-sentiment) from the bad guy, but this is the good guy we're watching! It shows you that people thought a different way back then.  Culture affects one's world view. Conan is no different.  Many think of him as a good guy, but he's not.  Not really.  He lead pirate bands that sacked cities along the western coast.  He was a cutthroat in charge of a band of criminals and bandits when he led the Zuagir and the Kozaks.  He made his living as a thief in Zamora.  And, as a mercenary captain in charge of his own Free Company, he allowed his men to pillage the spoils of war from conquered cities. If Conan walks into a city and sees a beautiful woman trussed up as a slave, he's not automatically going to try to save her.  In fact, he probably doesn't even see her.  Slaves are slaves.  It's a fact of life in his universe--a universe where life is very tough. From my comfy American gaming table in 2012, it's sometimes hard to change my moral outlook to fit what is appropriate during the Hyborian Age.</blockquote>

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