You Don't Talk Shop at the Dinner Table

[Dykstrav]

I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned the blatant political overtones in Eberron yet, which is one of the reasons that I don't like the setting.

Terrorists destroying a tower in Sharn during the last war? Karrnath being accused of stockpiling necromantic arsenals?

I'd guess that WotC doesn't avoid politics?

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned the blatant political overtones in Eberron yet, which is one of the reasons that I don't like the setting.

Terrorists destroying a tower in Sharn during the last war? Karrnath being accused of stockpiling necromantic arsenals?

I'd guess that WotC doesn't avoid politics?

For God's sake, it's a postwar setting. These are things that happened during the First and Second World Wars, and the period in between which Eberron is very clearly inspired by - the pulp genre originated in the 1920s!

I'm of the opinion that people who get too sensitive about these sorts of elements in game settings might need to step back and gain a little perspective.

 

[S'mon]

But you're in London and so am I. Send me a pm. Let's game or get ratted or both and maybe solve the world's problems to boot. You can lay any opinion you like about any subject on the table. If you're up for a discussion about that, fantastic.

Hm, system won't let me email or PM you. You can email me at simontmn@postmaster.co.uk
I'm not currently running a game, planning to restart a high-level C&C campaign in April.

 

[S'mon]

Do they seriously still have classes in England? Weird. Here in N. America, when we say "class" we mean "paycheque magnitude." Or is that what you meant?

Yeah, we still have class, and so do you. Albeit in the US everyone claims to be 'middle class', and status determination varies a lot by State - eg my Tennessee wife is amazed how her Texan friends determine social status almost exclusively by wealth. Can't comment more about class in the USA without going into political territory, but I found (now Senator) James Webb's book 'Born Fighting' on my Scots-Irish kinfolk in the US, and how class dynamics affect their fortunes, very interesting.

 

[S'mon]

I will say that of course I do discuss politics etc freely with my old friends from back in Ulster, but my game groups in London are random London people with a diverse range of political & religious views. Three of us did discuss fox-hunting at a dinner one evening, which is how I know our political views are very diverse.

 

[dpmcalister]

I've never come across anyone talking about class in all the time I've been gaming (almost 25 years). That could be because I've always seemed to game with people of the same class as myself (not consciously, we just happened to be in the same class).

Even at conventions, where you meet gamers of, almost, every class, I've never heard it discussed (at least not to my face).

FWIW, I'm working class (although I aim for lower middle class )

 

[Mark Hope]

Our current group is generally too starved of gaming by the time that we meet up that we rarely delve into weighty matters of any depth. Less talk, more play!

That said, my personal take on these things is that if you don't want your beliefs and opinions held up to scrutiny, don't open your mouth about them. Otherwise, everything is fair game.

 

[D.Shaffer]

The group I'm in doesnt have rules against NOT discussing it, but as I'm really the only conservative in the group, they dont bring it up as they feel like they're ganging up on me when they do.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Yeah, we still have class, and so do you. Albeit in the US everyone claims to be 'middle class', and status determination varies a lot by State - eg my Tennessee wife is amazed how her Texan friends determine social status almost exclusively by wealth. Can't comment more about class in the USA without going into political territory, but I found (now Senator) James Webb's book 'Born Fighting' on my Scots-Irish kinfolk in the US, and how class dynamics affect their fortunes, very interesting.

I'm not in the U.S.

 

[Davelozzi]

We have no such restrictions. In my regular group, most of us are already friends anyway. A couple of them tend to rile up some of the others (some on purpose, some not) but not in a particularly harmful way, and not about any political/social/religious issue.

Similarly, when I play with other groups (mostly EN World connections) we don't tend to get into such issues, though we are not particularly avoiding them on purpose. I think it's more a matter of people using the same common sense and courtesy as they would in any other social situation.