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<blockquote data-quote="Nisarg" data-source="post: 1669765" data-attributes="member: 19893">I find it to be one of the curiosities of RPGs that most fantasy settings are pseudo-medieval in aesthetic, but entirely middle-class American in their values. That is to say, its &quot;medieval&quot; because it has castles, but it definitely doesn't have any sexism, racism or religious genocide (three pretty common features of that culture).&nbsp; Instead, the fantasy realm tends to feel more like the &quot;American dream&quot; where a female character is just as likely to be king, hundreds of religions co-exist peacefully (except the &quot;evil&quot; ones, but everyone knows they're REALLY evil, not like in the real world where every religion calls every other religion &quot;evil&quot;), and humans and non-humans interact peacefully in cities, never mind humans of different colours (there are of course, certain races that are &quot;evil&quot;; but again, here the &quot;Orcs&quot; are REALLY evil).&nbsp; Its a very black and white world.&nbsp; It allows us to have all the real villains (the &quot;evil&quot; religions and the &quot;evil&quot; races) that religious and racial prejudice enjoy in the real world, but with a kind of moral certitude that makes it &quot;ok&quot; to hate them.There's even a handful of non-fantasy examples of this.&nbsp; Deadlands would be the worst criminal of the lot in this case.&nbsp; Its an alternate history america where the Confederacy never fell, and yet, they conveniently abolish slavery, blacks and whites are treated completely equally in the setting, women can be sheriffs or anything else without prejudice... everyone in that setting &quot;gets off&quot; (except masons, for some insane reason).&nbsp; Its a politically correct wet dream that totally whitewashes american history.Generally, when I run an Rpg I try to find some kind of balance between playability (ie. players being able to have a good time) and realism; but I do try to have realistic prejudices and a lack of these black-and-white villain scenarios (except in cases where its essential to the setting, ie. ravenloft.. though in ravenloft you ironically get a more black-and-white motivation for most of the villains, you know the dread lords are evil, but they have good reasons for why they became that way.. unlike some of the other D&amp;D settings where the bad guys are just mustache-twirling EEEVIL guys).In general, if one of my players chooses to play a female or minority character (including, in certain settings, a demi-human), I will make it clear to them that it might have some serious consequences as to their opportunities and some pitfalls they might face.&nbsp; Usually the player finds that to be fair and interesting, as its fuel for role-playing and will become part of what makes their character interesting.Nisarg</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nisarg, post: 1669765, member: 19893"] I find it to be one of the curiosities of RPGs that most fantasy settings are pseudo-medieval in aesthetic, but entirely middle-class American in their values. That is to say, its "medieval" because it has castles, but it definitely doesn't have any sexism, racism or religious genocide (three pretty common features of that culture). Instead, the fantasy realm tends to feel more like the "American dream" where a female character is just as likely to be king, hundreds of religions co-exist peacefully (except the "evil" ones, but everyone knows they're REALLY evil, not like in the real world where every religion calls every other religion "evil"), and humans and non-humans interact peacefully in cities, never mind humans of different colours (there are of course, certain races that are "evil"; but again, here the "Orcs" are REALLY evil). Its a very black and white world. It allows us to have all the real villains (the "evil" religions and the "evil" races) that religious and racial prejudice enjoy in the real world, but with a kind of moral certitude that makes it "ok" to hate them. There's even a handful of non-fantasy examples of this. Deadlands would be the worst criminal of the lot in this case. Its an alternate history america where the Confederacy never fell, and yet, they conveniently abolish slavery, blacks and whites are treated completely equally in the setting, women can be sheriffs or anything else without prejudice... everyone in that setting "gets off" (except masons, for some insane reason). Its a politically correct wet dream that totally whitewashes american history. Generally, when I run an Rpg I try to find some kind of balance between playability (ie. players being able to have a good time) and realism; but I do try to have realistic prejudices and a lack of these black-and-white villain scenarios (except in cases where its essential to the setting, ie. ravenloft.. though in ravenloft you ironically get a more black-and-white motivation for most of the villains, you know the dread lords are evil, but they have good reasons for why they became that way.. unlike some of the other D&D settings where the bad guys are just mustache-twirling EEEVIL guys). In general, if one of my players chooses to play a female or minority character (including, in certain settings, a demi-human), I will make it clear to them that it might have some serious consequences as to their opportunities and some pitfalls they might face. Usually the player finds that to be fair and interesting, as its fuel for role-playing and will become part of what makes their character interesting. Nisarg [/QUOTE]

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