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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Prince of Happiness" data-source="post: 3519183" data-attributes="member: 19819">Looking over the recent issue of Dungeon, I noticed a theme of adventures and the setting material that seems to make the assumption that governments in the Flanaess, amongst other settings, has a drug policy akin to what you see in place in most countries nowadays. It seems to be the most incongruous anachronism that I've seen in a long time that would assume that a) ancient governments/municipalities would even formulate a drug policy or b) even bother to enforce it.A cursory glance of narcotic/stimulant/intoxicant (herein "drugs") use in medieval/ancient societies seems to fall along two schools of policy:1. You take what you can handle, though extensive use can bring one social ostracism or censure such as  alcohol, coffee, coca leaves, tobacco, and snuff. There might even be a cultural embrace of the taking of these substances that is enshrined in social ritual.2. Prohibition brought about by religion: Islam & alcohol (though use of hashish, marijuana, opiates, caffine and qaf are common and not necessarily prohibited at all) or the Calvinists and coffee (or even the LDS).3. Religious use: Such as alcohol, opiates, and hallucinogens.Now, outside of the obvious reluctance for any sane gaming company to not want to promote drug-use, why would the use of drugs really come up that much when clearly most ancient societies tended to produce their foreign substances either locally and small-scale, or imported them and created a thriving trade? Where would the Tony Montana-esque drug lords of Scuttlecove even manage to acquire the wealth that they do and why would they have to live in some (literally) gods-forsaken, humid s***-hole, when logically there wouldn't be that much of a demand, ostracism, or government enforcement of any potential legislation (who cares about someone getting stoned when you have IUZ next door?).Also, how do you approach drugs in your campaigns? This includes substances such as alcohol, caffine, and tobacco.</blockquote>

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