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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9837017" data-attributes="member: 42582">I remember, in the mid-90s when the internet was still a new thing for grad students in Arts faculties, discovering and enjoying a "Pissed of X-Fan FAQ", which was an extensively documented lament about the state of X-Men comics post-Claremont. My enjoyment came from the fact that I was largely in agreement with the FAQ's author.I think one aspect of this is that, once something has been made salient to you, it can be hard to get it out of your mind even if you want to: eg, suppose you're read a terrible retcon of something-or-other, then when you read the original that you really liked you might (in spite of yourself) be reminded of the terrible retcon. (Eg rereading the Dark Phoenix saga, but knowing how the death of Jean Grey was later rewritten for the original X-Factor.)I think it takes a bit of practice, and effort, to be able to enjoy the original thing without having the reminders of the bad subsequent thing intrude and have a spoiling effect. And I actually think RPGing is relevant to this practice and effort.I'm certainly not perturbed by WotC no longer publishing books of 4e lore. I have nearly all the 4e material, and that's ample!The main D&D lore that I use is Greyhawk, to varying degrees of fidelity to the published material. I've run lots of GH games, each drawing on the published material in different ways and each establishing its own "continuity". This is one way in which RPGing has given me the opportunity to practice "separating" different but similar fictions in my mind.The other way that RPGing has helped with this is by conscientious GMing. This often requires thinking about possible ways the fiction of the game might "go on" - eg what consequence to impose, or what scene to frame next. So the idea of contradictory versions of a given fiction is really inherent in any non-railroading GMing, and becoming good at GMing involves learning how to work through these possibilities, and bring some to the fore while setting others aside. As I said above, I think this helps do the same in non-RPG contexts, like serial fiction franchises where one doesn't like how the line has been developed.This is true, independently of any of the above!My main anxiety about this is that it may make it harder to talk about AW as an uncompromising example of narrativist RPG design. But in any event, I think the prospect of me buying the new version is pretty low. Not out of any sort of "hate", but just because of my available time and inclination.</blockquote>

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