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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5045816" data-attributes="member: 4937">Then, if you aren't going to read, I wish you wouldn't respond to that which you didn't read.  I'd rather you responded to that which you had informed yourself about, than responding reflexively to something you might not fully understand.Seeing as you by your own admission didn't read it, it would seem to me to be a bad idea to draw conclusions about it.I don't think that means what you think it means.  I agree that it is rare to think about such things.Rarely did I read Conan where he wasn't in direct conflict with the local inhabitants.  Rarely did I read Fafrd and the Grey Mouser where they weren't in direct conflict with the local inhabitants.  In point of fact, the characters you site were often as not treated as criminals and rogues.  Conan in particular is often in direct cultural conflict with 'civilized' people who find his barbarian sword swinging behavior uncouth and intimidating.   More to the point though, none of the characters you mention are frequently found in the stories wearing mail shirts and carrying cocked crossbows around with them.  When Conan is found wearing mail and carrying more weapons than a single sword, typically it is in a story where Conan is actually on the battlefield (or leaving it).  When Conan is 'in town' and not The King, he's generally carrying minimal warmaking gear.Likewise, Aragorn is not at all opposed to the wearing of mail and carrying a shield and in fact wears mail for pretty much the second half of the book, but he goes around the original 'The North' carrying little more than a sword and departs on his great quest carrying little more than the same.  The fact that the dwarf is wearing mail openly is unusual enough to be remarked on.I very much disagree.  In context, whenever I start talking about 'the real world', I mean 'the world of the past as informed by my reading of history'.  Broadly, that usually refers to Europe between 500 and 1700 AD (often depending on how much magic=technology plays a role in the specific  culture of the locale), and with a particular focus on the period from 1100 to 1500 AD (usually sans firearms) which is the default cultural setting of D&D historically, with occasional dips into Africa, Arabia, Persia, and other 'exotic' cultures.  If I make analogies with the real world of some other period, including the present, it's purely with the intention of communicating with the reader or player something which might be more familiar to them.  Hense, if I say something like, "Showing up to dinner wearing platemail and carrying a two-handed sword and a longbow strapped to your back, is like showing up to dinner wearing full battle-dress uniform, kevlar body armor, and an assault rifle with attached grenade launcher.", I don't mean that there is a direct correspondence between the culture of the game and the modern world.  I merely trying to highlight to the reader/player the incongruity of the situation and getting them to try to feel what the NPC is probably feeling seeing you garbed thusly.This would turn into an argument over who knows modern global culture the best, and it really isn't even relevant.  As I said, when I refer to 'the real world', modernity isn't really even in my thoughts. I'm afraid I don't see what that has to do with anything.Or clerics.  Or Paladins.  Possibly even Barbarians. I seriously doubt that Clerics in town all go around dressed for battle all the time.  A clergy that walks around like a bunch of toughs ready to pounce on people it doesn't agree with is probably going to wear out its welcome.  However, the very fact that you think that the purpose of this is 'screw you' I think demonstrates my point.  You seem to think the purpose of 'town' is primarily to provide another environment to ambush the players with combat.  I think I made clear that I didn't find that to be its primary point.  Besides which, if you start getting worried about cultural 'screw you' being class specific, then its very easy to consider that the staff wielding, robed, guy with the arcane symbols on his big fat books probably has some equivalent (or worse) cultural 'screw you' to overcome as well.  If the Bard or Rogue finds themselves relatively advantaged in urban environments for cultural reasons, what exactly is surprising or undesirable about that?</blockquote>

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