What We Lose When We Eliminate Controversial Content

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Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
Mostly, keep it in mind and give an equitable shot to what is missing when filling open positions or creating new ones.
This. Some professions attract one gender more than the other, but it should be kept in mind so that you don't unconsciously slide into hiring one gender over another. When I worked it a law firm that helped people get disability, women outnumbered men 4 to 1 even though everyone was given a fair shake. As long as hiring is fair, it's okay for the genders to be lopsided one way or the other.
 

Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
And I don't think that McGibster feared or hated gay people back then or now. I think they were following societal trends that made that sort of joke--you can't trust gay men around you because they will have sex with you no matter what--"acceptable".
Is the bolded part a joke you heard from back then, or something you think was said? I never heard that in either form.
Since that sort of joke isn't OK now (either as a gay joke or as a rape joke), it's considered to be bad, or at least in poor taste, for writers to include the lead-ups for those sort of jokes. If people want to make those jokes on their own, you can't stop them, but it doesn't mean it's OK for other people to do the set-up (dog whistles) for those jokes.
Dark Sun sets up no jokes whatsoever. Just like the base game being designed around murder, robbery and assault doesn't set up jokes based around those things.
But you can claim my argument failed because you disagreed with it?
"That's like asking why the force is so fundamental to Star Wars. It's fundamental to Dark Sun because that's how it was made. If they remove it now, they are gutting a significant part of what makes the setting Dark Sun in the same way that removing the force from Star Wars guts a significant part of what that setting Star Wars.

There can be many important things to a setting."

Please point to where I said your argument failed. You asked why slavery was fundamental to Dark Sun and I answered. 🤷‍♂️
So you're saying that one could very easily make a Dark Sun game without any sort of slavery in it and it would still be Dark Sun?
No. I said they could make the same kind of story but that it WOULD NOT be Dark Sun, just like you make the same kind of story that we see in Star Wars without the force existing, but it WOULD NOT be Star Wars.

Just because you can make a similar story without fundamental elements to a setting, does not mean that you can remove a fundamental element like Slavery or the Force and have the settings remain that setting.
 


gamerprinter

Mapper/Publisher
Here's a thought. I've designed (long ago) a post apocalypse themed map once, I even sell it from DrivethruRPG, that has an implied story built into it. Like a Mad Max movie, there are marauders in their armored war vehicles that ravage refugees and survivalists out in the broken lands on the old high ways. Where the marauders are attempting to capture said refugees/survivalists to be used as fighting slaves in some kind of gladiatorial combat arena, where the local crowds bet for ultimate winners. I created a motocross track that ran through the ruins of an industrial complex that was subject to missile strikes or some other destruction with a toxic water feature, and an area that is the stands for the audience - all inside ruined walls, lines of cargo containers, with a couple defended 'gates' that exist along the track. There are even watch towers within the track area that are ballista mounted keeping riders on their toes, and participating in the game rather than trying to escape. The arena participants ride dirt bikes, while being possibly helmeted and bearing some armor and melee weapon, such as barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat, a spear, a maul, and riders following a technical track try to knock other riders or kill them off their bikes to win the event. Potentially winners gain their freedom, and 'wealth' as per the local standards of that and fame - yet most will be slaves or killed.

That entire common hero story might not be able to be told if it were subject to Controversial Content Rules... am I wrong?

View attachment mad-max-moto-cross-48.jpg
 
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Thourne

Hero
Here's a thought. I've designed (long ago) a post apocalypse themed map once, I even sell it from DrivethruRPG, that has an implied story built into it. Like a Mad Max movie, there are marauders in their armored war vehicles that ravage refugees and survivalists out in the broken lands on the old high ways. Where the marauders are attempting to capture said refugees/survivalists to be used as fighting slaves in some kind of gladiatorial combat arena, where the local crowds bet for ultimate winners. I created a motocross track that ran through the ruins of an industrial complex that was subject to missile strikes or some other destruction with a toxic water feature, and an area that is the stands for the audience - all inside ruined walls, lines of cargo containers, with a couple defended 'gates' that exist along the track. There are even watch towers within the track area that are ballista mounted keeping riders on their toes, and participating in the game rather than trying to escape. The arena participants ride dirt bikes, while being possibly helmeted and bearing some armor and melee weapon, such as barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat, a spear, a maul, and riders following a technical track try to knock other riders or kill them off their bikes to win the event. Potentially winners gain their freedom, and 'wealth' as per the local standards of that and fame - yet most will be slaves or killed.

That entire common hero story might not be able to be told if it were subject to Controversial Content Rules... am I wrong?

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The subject in this discussion seems to apply to officially published product by wotc overall.
In fact I seem to remember some posters saying this sort of thing is better handled by 3pp.
That said if the guidelines did apply to you (not sure how they could :) ), no you wouldn't be wrong.
 

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