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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Argyle King" data-source="post: 8323127" data-attributes="member: 58416">[USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] I find a lot of what you say to be reasonable and thoughtful. Most of my "struggles" come from when conversations about real-world bias intersectwith fantasy (especially fantasy built upon very different assumptions about what is "real") in a way which puts most of the topic into extremely binary terms of assumed offense on the part of the creator(s) of a narrative. In terms of conflict, morality has (I believe) areas of gray. Hypothetically, this is why many legal systems includes a human component in the form of a judge (and/or jury) rather than strictly adherence to written law. (Related: On the other end of things, it's why I believe extremely lawful antagonists can sometimes be scarier than evil; there's a complete absence of empathy or emotional motivation for such a being. The cosmic horror of being so far beneath a being's view of "right" that nothing about you matters is like being a bug headed toward an inevitable windshield.)Which, in and of itself is somewhat contradictory I guess because there are settings in which alignment (good/evil) is defined as tangibly binary.In the past, I've taken the position that the "reality" of a fictional world would (to some extent) need to be considered to determine if something like "always evil" orcs is badwrongfun. But that position has been said to be bad because of a fallacy which I don't even personally agree is a fallacy from the perspective of either logic or ethics. In world where they're literally bred and biologically programmed to contain "evil" -which is an actual tangible and objective thing, I don't see it as wrong for a PC to have the general attitude of "yeah, f' those guys."In world where some higher level of sentience is ascribed and the conflicts are more nuanced than programmed bad guys, I think it's different.In either case, I think it's a problem if all of the bad guys are made to look and act like a marginalized real-world group. So, I acknowledge that as why some depictions of D&D races are not acceptable. Though, I am also find it worthwhile to ask what level of (if any) real-world inspiration is allowed to be used when creating a fantasy culture. When writing a story, can an author borrow aspects of a culture or religion upon which to base an idea? Is it expected that every aspect of a story is somehow wholly original? I would guess that the answer is somewhere between, but even asking those questions or trying to explore them often leads to assumed offense or assumed bigotry in contemporary culture. None of which is meant to imply that the various -isms do not exist in fantasy. In many cases, they very clearly do. This took a very different turn from how I thought I would respond. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do not think the societal rules for what's okay and what isn't are always very clear, and I think there are times that it's even less clear when things such as art, narrative, and story are explored. If violent conflict is also in the mix, I think it's even less clear.What are the generally acceptable rules of engagement concerning whether or not a PC stabbing a foe is okay?As screwed up as it may sound, IME there have been times when it seemed reasonable to choose my own survival over something (or someone) else -even without wizards or demons being involved. Years afterwards, I did struggle with whether or not that made me a bad person, but it seemed to make sense at the time. I can't say with certainty that my own individual decisions would be different or better in a D&D world.</blockquote>

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