Paizo Pathfinder to remove slavery

[Bagpuss]

From a Freelancer: An Open Letter to Erik Mona

Editorial Note from Owen: As someone established in the industry, one of the things I have done before and expect I will do again is to post messages written by other people who, for whatever reaso…

owenkcstephens.com

after the open letter (see link above) by an unnamed freelancer asking about slavery in the game, Erik Mona has responded (also in the link above) saying going forward slavery won’t appear in pathfinder removed without any in game explanation.

Not sure if slavery appears in Starfinder but I imagine it will be going from there as well if it is.

 

[Yora]

I hope they remove murder and robbery soon.

 

[Bagpuss]

They had already made it illegal in the setting and freed the the majority of the slaves. Seems even fictional bad guys can’t do fictional bad things if it upsets some people.

 

[Bagpuss]

I hope they remove murder and robbery soon.

And spiders

 

[John R Davis]

And the utterly ridiculous looking goblins

 

[payn]

Love those Gobos!

 

[Blue Orange]

I kind of agree. I mean, you could at least make it an evil act (though I guess alignment change isn't really an issue anymore?)

I sort of feel like this is a redo of the satanic panic of the 1980s, except from the left instead of the right. I mean, reading the linked article it was presented as option for player characters to buy a slave, with prices and everything--I'm cool with getting rid of that. But it really seems like this is turning into a bowdlerized version of the world. First it was demons and devils and half-orcs and assassins, now it's slavery and racial attribute modifiers. I guess there really is nothing new under the sun. Maybe in 10 years they'll bring them all back and we'll be complaining about fossil fuel burning and meat eating in 30.

From the end of Stephen King's The Stand:
'Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again.'

 

[CleverNickName]

I hope they remove murder and robbery soon.

 

[Garthanos]

Love those Gobos!

they are cute.

 

[Bagpuss]

I mean, reading the linked article it was presented as option for player characters to buy a slave, with prices and everything--I'm cool with getting rid of that.

Which they did. They made slavery illegal in the Absalom, from the open letter...

"But it happened. Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom. An in-game event, requested by players, that led to the abolition of slavery. In one city. By conscripting the enslaved people to fight in a war and then giving freedom to the survivors."

Seems that wasn't enough.

 

[Retreater]

You know, if you're going to create an entire new edition of your game, just have all the rules be different, have the world function in a new reality with new laws of physics, and given that's it's all just a GAME - you know, don't have prices for slaves in your rulebook. You don't need an in-game event. Just change the darned game.

 

[John R Davis]

Does this mean fiends and such will no longer try to enslave anybody? Guess they will just murder them instead.

 

[Morrus]

Well, it's clear where this thread is oh-so-predictably going.

 

[Galandris]

My experience with Golarion is limited to CRPG. I regret, in Kingmaker, going after Maestro Janush for enslaving Octavia... He was just obviously employing her (albeit at unsatisfying wages). I also regret showing compassion to Nurah in Wrath of the Righteous. She wasn't a victim of slavery, she was just obviously having an unsatisfying labour negociation... Not something that would make one turn to the demon's side. Drat, how gullible I was! I should have her executed without trial instead as the game prompted me to!

 

[Alzrius]

They had already made it illegal in the setting and freed the the majority of the slaves.

Forgive my nitpicking your grammar, but the word "slave" is no longer a noun. So it's more correct to say "...and freed the majority of the enslaved persons."

 

[Bagpuss]

Forgive my nitpicking your grammar, but the word "slave" is no longer a noun. So it's more correct to say "...and freed the majority of the enslaved persons."

Perhaps on Dictionary.com... but in common usage and several more established dictionaries it is a noun.o

Google
noun
(especially in the past) a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.
"they kidnapped entire towns and turned them into slaves"

Merriam-Webster's
slave noun
a person held in forced servitude

Cambridge
slave
noun
a person who is legally owned by someone else and has to work for that person.

Oh but hey look... seems even dictionary.com realised how stupid it was to change definitions of words when still in common usage.

Definition of slave | Dictionary.com

Slave definition, a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another and forced to provide unpaid labor. See more.

www.dictionary.com

slave noun​

1. a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another and forced to provide unpaid labor.

 

[GMMichael]

In other news, a copy of Pathfinder 3rd edition has leaked!

As you can see, pixies, aristocracy, and rugrats will be in the next edition.

 

[Morrus]

OK, that's enough. Well done, folks. Mocking a company for deciding slavery is a bad thing to put in their game makes you the best edgelords. I don't want to be host to that. I thought my warning was clear, but it seems it wasn't clear enough. Thread closed.