D&D 5E Justin Alexander's review of Shattered Obelisk is pretty scathing

[Vaalingrade]

Fantasy doesn't really need to lock down tech. Look at Shadowrun.

 

[Hussar]

Fantasy doesn't really need to lock down tech. Look at Shadowrun.

DnD fantasy though. Shadow run is a fairly distinct genre from what we typically consider DnD fantasy.

Again, it’s all about the history of the genre. And DnD fantasy is inherently conservative. It’s a romanticized version of history where we ignore all the horrific elements in order to tell elf stories.

IOW, it’s Return of the King not, Return of the Democratically Elected Representational Government Ruled by Law and Constitutionally Guaranteed Civil Rights.

Just doesn’t quite trip off the tongue.

 

[Vaalingrade]

D&D has never known what genre is was. What with the random inappropriate lurches into cosmic horror, its sword and sandal inspirations, it's love affair with 50's sci fi, and the 1.35% Medieval (via the Renaissance though a Victorian lens) Fantasy it slaps on the label.

 

[pemerton]

DnD fantasy is inherently conservative. It’s a romanticized version of history where we ignore all the horrific elements in order to tell elf stories.

IOW, it’s Return of the King not, Return of the Democratically Elected Representational Government Ruled by Law and Constitutionally Guaranteed Civil Rights.

I think this is definitely true of the Tolkienesque approach.

REH's Conan is more like an 18th century enlightened despot than an Arthurian king (except in Hour of the Dragon, where Conan more-or-less is an Arthurian King of Aquilonia).

The only D&D setting I can think of that opens the door to non-conservative political ideals is Dark Sun. Are there others I'm missing?

 

[M_Natas]

There's a difference between having a preference, and actively disrespecting a playstyle, in a public way intended to get people to agree with you and put pressure on its adherents, that you don't like.

Has anyone ever forbidden you from using slavery in your homegames?

Like in my current campaign and the campaign before that I have evil creatures enslaving others and nobody is censoring me.
The only time I saw WotC reacting to slavery related critique was with the whole Hadozee Incident, where the made the flying monkey race greatful to their slave masters for enlighting them.

At the same time, nobody is complaining that the new goblinoid lore is, that they were enslaved by Maglubyiet? Hard name to write.

Like, it is 100% about how you present a "problematic" topic.
Nobody is complaining when WotC makes a product in which slavery is bad.

But if you present Lore!, not the opinion of a villain, but the official lore of a race as "they were dumb monkeys, that got enslaved and made intelligent by their slave masters and they are greatful for it!" than that is something worth criticising.

Nobody complains about the Neogi Enslave Ability.

In a more general sense:

Fiction/Entertainment is a mirror of society but also informs society. TV, Games and so on reproduce what they are showing.

For example, because of TVs shows like 24 a big majority of US citizens is pro torture. Because torture is presented in a lot of TV shows (especially Copshows) as something that 1. is working reliable and 2. done foe the right reasons which makes torture seen as something gray. Something bad that needs to be done in order to do something good.

But in reality even the CIA is admitting, that torture does not work. Torture doesn't produce reliable information. Therefore it can't be used to do something good (like stop a terrorist attack).
But people think it works and it is excusable and it needs to called out when represented like something good.

And now we have D&D where torture actually works, because we have truth spells ...

Now, that also works in the other direction. Having Uhura and Geordi la Forge in Star Trek, showing black people as something else than servants and slaves in TV inspired a lot of black people to go into STEM fields. It gave black people hope and showed them other possibilities.

That why right wing nazis fight representation in all forms of media. Because they now that Media is a powerful tool that can shape the mind of a society. That's why they fight and review bomb and try to cancel shows like She Hulk or Ms. Marvel or even the new Gina Carano Movie (made by another right wing guy), because shockingly, she plays a strong woman in that movie, even though she became a right wing spokes person.

It is the right who is actively banning books from libraries, because they find the topic of gender and homosexuality offensive.

The left "cancel culture" were some people on twitter who called out offensive or criminal behaviour. The right is literally burning books and murdering people.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Which of these is the real Micah Sweet?

Mod Note:

How is this not making it personal?

You’re a veteran ENWorlder. Do better, please.

 

[Umbran]

The left "cancel culture" were some people on twitter who called out offensive or criminal behaviour. The right is literally burning books and murdering people.

Mod Note:
This thread is generating a string of reported posts, and now we get politics.

Folks, collectively - your attachment to your point is not an excuse to bypass rules that support mere basic respect and civility.

Thread closed.