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Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction
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<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 8187522"><p>You know, when I was 35ish years younger I held some (many?) strongly held opinions that are very different from those I have now. (My very liberal freshman roommate once screamed in my face, "If that's your thinking THEN YOUR THINKING HAS TO BE CHANGED!!!!" Not very effective persuasion.). At the time, some of the things that I believed were so painfully obvious, so clearly the "truth", that I could only conclude that those who didn't agree with me had to be stupid, evil, or both.</p><p></p><p>It's not that I now hold the <em>opposite</em> opinions. Rather, it's that I'm kind of in the middle because I realize that these things are actually really complicated and messy. And I would warn anybody, on either side of the spectrum (or from any N-dimensional corner of that spectrum) that if you think your version of the truth is so simple and clear and obvious that anybody who disagrees with you <em>must</em> be wrong...then your version of the truth is dangerously simplistic.</p><p></p><p>Likewise, this stuff about racial tropes in RPGs is really messy and <em>not</em> simple. You will find edge cases that aren't clear cut. You can design, if you so desire, an imaginary race that makes it really, really hard to determine which side of the line it's on. Not least because everybody will disagree about exactly where that line is. </p><p></p><p>I have two observations about that:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The existence of edge cases, and the difficulty of deciding them, does not invalidate that premise. "The existence of twilight does not disprove the difference between day and night."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">If members of disadvantaged groups want some aspects of my favorite game to change because they believe that it might make some tiny little dent in one of the biggest problems civilization faces...or, heck, even if they just want it to change because they'll feel more welcome...I'm going to err on the side of saying, "Yeah, sure." It's the least I can do. Maybe quite literally the very least I can do, short of doing absolutely nothing.</li> </ol></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Guest 6801328, post: 8187522"] You know, when I was 35ish years younger I held some (many?) strongly held opinions that are very different from those I have now. (My very liberal freshman roommate once screamed in my face, "If that's your thinking THEN YOUR THINKING HAS TO BE CHANGED!!!!" Not very effective persuasion.). At the time, some of the things that I believed were so painfully obvious, so clearly the "truth", that I could only conclude that those who didn't agree with me had to be stupid, evil, or both. It's not that I now hold the [I]opposite[/I] opinions. Rather, it's that I'm kind of in the middle because I realize that these things are actually really complicated and messy. And I would warn anybody, on either side of the spectrum (or from any N-dimensional corner of that spectrum) that if you think your version of the truth is so simple and clear and obvious that anybody who disagrees with you [I]must[/I] be wrong...then your version of the truth is dangerously simplistic. Likewise, this stuff about racial tropes in RPGs is really messy and [I]not[/I] simple. You will find edge cases that aren't clear cut. You can design, if you so desire, an imaginary race that makes it really, really hard to determine which side of the line it's on. Not least because everybody will disagree about exactly where that line is. I have two observations about that: [LIST=1] [*]The existence of edge cases, and the difficulty of deciding them, does not invalidate that premise. "The existence of twilight does not disprove the difference between day and night." [*]If members of disadvantaged groups want some aspects of my favorite game to change because they believe that it might make some tiny little dent in one of the biggest problems civilization faces...or, heck, even if they just want it to change because they'll feel more welcome...I'm going to err on the side of saying, "Yeah, sure." It's the least I can do. Maybe quite literally the very least I can do, short of doing absolutely nothing. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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