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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 8803394" data-attributes="member: 85555">This is an interesting question. Does commentary need to be explicit in this case? And can being explicit in the commentary weaken it? As an example, I used to read a lot of Roman Murder Mysteries. And Rome was powered by human slavery. Some books emphasized this more than others. Personally the ones I found most impactful were ones where it was just depicted as the norm, and the characters didn't react to it (it is just a little more horrifying to think of something like that as the normal every day part of life: how they powered their society). Whereas one of my favorite series, the Roma Sub Rosa, which I highly recommend because its great overall, highlighted the use of slavery and had the character react to it strongly. He wasn't in a position of enough power to change anything, but as a reader you understood the author's position through the character. However I felt this was less impactful on me than stories where it's just the norm. I'm not sure there is a best way to do things as people probably will have very different reactions, and some of this might be my history background where just showing how something functions and leaving me to form my own conclusions is enough (and the fact that it is being presented as a normal, everyday, way of life, is itself commentary I think, even if it doesn't spell out the message for the reader). If I were in a game where oligarchies are just the norm, to the extent that we are immersing in living in an oligarchy. I don't think I need the GM to have us waging war against it, for me to get the commentary on it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 8803394, member: 85555"] This is an interesting question. Does commentary need to be explicit in this case? And can being explicit in the commentary weaken it? As an example, I used to read a lot of Roman Murder Mysteries. And Rome was powered by human slavery. Some books emphasized this more than others. Personally the ones I found most impactful were ones where it was just depicted as the norm, and the characters didn't react to it (it is just a little more horrifying to think of something like that as the normal every day part of life: how they powered their society). Whereas one of my favorite series, the Roma Sub Rosa, which I highly recommend because its great overall, highlighted the use of slavery and had the character react to it strongly. He wasn't in a position of enough power to change anything, but as a reader you understood the author's position through the character. However I felt this was less impactful on me than stories where it's just the norm. I'm not sure there is a best way to do things as people probably will have very different reactions, and some of this might be my history background where just showing how something functions and leaving me to form my own conclusions is enough (and the fact that it is being presented as a normal, everyday, way of life, is itself commentary I think, even if it doesn't spell out the message for the reader). If I were in a game where oligarchies are just the norm, to the extent that we are immersing in living in an oligarchy. I don't think I need the GM to have us waging war against it, for me to get the commentary on it. [/QUOTE]

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