CapnZapp
Legend
Remember, what I was replying to was:So, there's a major point here - "we should be allowed." What constitutes "allowing"?
That you can use it at you table at home? Well, nobody knows what you do at your table other than your own players, and those you tell. So, that's not in danger.
That you can publish such material without criticism? Work you put out to the public is never (and should never be) immune from criticism. So, that's a non-starter.
So, the job then is, if you want to publish such stuff, you need to do a really good job of it, so that the value of its inclusion clearly outweighs the issues.
I am not saying we need to wallow in the horrors of slavery, colonialism, terrorism, fascism, etc... But I do think that we do not want to erase those things from our game worlds, because they give us the opportunity to create heroes that feel more real -- because in the popular imagination at least, it is rising above injustice (in all its forms) that makes heroes.
Do you scrub your world of slavery and other historical crimes? If so, how do you encourage heroism? If not, what do you do to mitigate the real potential discomfort such subjects can cause? Do you make different decisions based on the specific game or setting? Do you run historical games, and if so do you "soften" history to make it palatable?
In this context, I think "we should be allowed" is a fairly reasonable phrasing. (I am not talking about what MAGA heads scream about when they claim they're getting canceled.) Basically, I expressed agreement with the thread starter. At least, that was my intention.
You, however, changed the subject. You said "if you want to publish such stuff, you need to do a really good job of it, so that the value of its inclusion clearly outweighs the issues"
To which my reply is: no, I obviously don't. Art isn't only allowed to be published if it is "valuable" to some external evaluation agency. Every single time that path was taken it ended very badly indeed, as even a cursory glance in any history book will tell you...
A much better approach would be to say: if you Umbran feel a particular piece of artistic expression, such as a novel, or a movie, or a roleplaying adventure, is nasty, horrific, denigratory or just plain uninteresting, then don't buy it or play it. Simple as that.
Please tell me you don't mean it when you effectively tell me a publisher must meet a certain threshold for some "value" or they shouldn't publish works containing any bad stuff.
Best Regards,
Zapp