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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fenris-77" data-source="post: 7976055" data-attributes="member: 6993955">The moral relativism thing can be taken too far. Sure, what a given culture may have thought was evil or not can be very different. As modern people we are all possessed of a sense of morality that sees things like slavery and murder as bad things (mostly). We can't escape that just because we want to play a game. That's why D&D doesn't have a truly Medieval or Dark Age moral framework, because it would alienate a lot of players. So we suspend a little disbelief and smear some Vaseline on the lens we use to view our historical exemplars. The game provides examples of slavery, mistreatment of common folk, and all manner of supernatural threats precisely to give our modern sensibilities something to struggle against. They are in game to give players a thoroughly safe set of targets for their fantasy gaming. We don't even shrug about the casual violence in D&D because the targets are so obviously bad, so obviously wrongs in need of righting. That's why we have CE Orcs, demons from the abyss, and undead sorcerers.Trying to describe the contents of the fantasy world according to modern ethical sensibilities is foolish (past a very general level) IMO. These are not actual cultures that evolved with actual traditions, these are fictional entities written, in very broad strokes most often, to play roles in the fiction. They are only detailed and realistic to the extent that they need to be to play that role. There's no underlying pattern of development over time through which some sense can be made of the current state of affairs.Obviously, some fantasy takes the above and turns it on its head. Nothing but shades of grey for everyone and a moral conundrum or anti-hero under every rock. That's a different menu item. I'm speaking generally here, fully realizing that there are individual examples that work differently.</blockquote>

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