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<blockquote data-quote="J.Quondam" data-source="post: 8471767" data-attributes="member: 7030100">Sure, I can't argue that. Removing the Depression and Prohibition from a 1930s CoC game fundamentally changes the atmosphere and nature of the conflicts available. No speakeasies or tommyguns or Packards or breadlines. But obviously there's a wide spectrum of other aspects of the era that arguably can be dropped without impacting a game setting. What if we drop the racism? &quot;Interesting, complicated social interactions&quot; are well and good, but there are plenty of other pits in the human soul to mine for conflict. What 1930s scenarios need racism to work, rather than deriving just from conflicts of corruption, gang violence, or impoverishment of the times? I mean, I can think of some (Lovecraft certainly could!), but why would I run or play that, in either a fantasy game or in a straight historical setting?Unless the purpose of game is to educate or confront,* it just seems like these exclusionary sorts of issues end up as mostly ignored background material, dice penalties, and/or an occasional dubiously &quot;realistic&quot; RP encounter. And if that's the case, why bother?* e.g., I understand that the Harlem Unbound campaign setting for CoC explicitly aims to subvert Lovecraft's racism in the genre. </blockquote>

[QUOTE="J.Quondam, post: 8471767, member: 7030100"] Sure, I can't argue that. Removing the Depression and Prohibition from a 1930s CoC game fundamentally changes the atmosphere and nature of the conflicts available. No speakeasies or tommyguns or Packards or breadlines. But obviously there's a wide spectrum of other aspects of the era that arguably can be dropped without impacting a game setting. What if we drop the racism? "Interesting, complicated social interactions" are well and good, but there are plenty of other pits in the human soul to mine for conflict. What 1930s scenarios [I]need[/I] racism to work, rather than deriving just from conflicts of corruption, gang violence, or impoverishment of the times? I mean, I can think of some (Lovecraft certainly could!), but why would I run or play that, in either a fantasy game [I]or[/I] in a straight historical setting? Unless the purpose of game is to educate or confront,* it just seems like these exclusionary sorts of issues end up as mostly ignored background material, dice penalties, and/or an occasional dubiously "realistic" RP encounter. And if that's the case, why bother? [SIZE=4]* e.g., I understand that the [I]Harlem Unbound[/I] campaign setting for CoC explicitly aims to subvert Lovecraft's racism in the genre. [/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

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