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<blockquote data-quote="J.Quondam" data-source="post: 8466129" data-attributes="member: 7030100">I used to feel that a historical setting should be played straight, warts and all; and that players should try to stick to that. I thought that was an avenue to some sort of deep insight into... stuff and things. Or something.Eventually, though, I asked myself &quot;Why?&quot; and I couldn't really figure out what exactly I hoped to gain by playing out racism or human sacrifice or whatever. And the fact that those topics are so distasteful to me means that even pretending to be legitimately &quot;learning&quot; about them in the game ends up being a chore for the soul, not entertainment. But I game for enjoyment, not self-flagellation, so again that question: &quot;Why?&quot;So now I aim to keep those things in the background. And if/when they do come up, they're presented as the evils that they are, societal diseases to be actively fought and fixed, not simply acknowledged as &quot;that's just how the history was.&quot;If I really want to explore those topics, imo, it's much more effective and honest to just read the history or historical fiction by a qualified author. Someone with a lived experience or other genuine insight is a far better teacher for me on those topics than a table of random D&amp;D gamers.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="J.Quondam, post: 8466129, member: 7030100"] I used to feel that a historical setting should be played straight, warts and all; and that players should try to stick to that. I thought that was an avenue to some sort of deep insight into... stuff and things. Or something. Eventually, though, I asked myself [I]"Why?"[/I] and I couldn't really figure out what exactly I hoped to gain by playing out racism or human sacrifice or whatever. And the fact that those topics are so distasteful to me means that even pretending to be legitimately "learning" about them in the game ends up being a [I]chore[/I] for the soul, not entertainment. But I game for enjoyment, not self-flagellation, so again that question: "[I]Why?"[/I] So now I aim to keep those things in the background. And if/when they do come up, they're presented as the evils that they are, societal diseases to be actively fought and fixed, not simply acknowledged as "that's just how the history was." If I really want to explore those topics, imo, it's much more effective and honest to just read the history or historical fiction by a qualified author. Someone with a lived experience or other genuine insight is a far better teacher for me on those topics than a table of random D&D gamers. [/QUOTE]

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