Evening all, first time posting here, I figure why dip your toe to see how the water is when you can just jump in and freeze/scald or get eaten by the sharks :lol:.
 

Quote from: Jackalope;242756All that were saying is that games like these don't match the definition of fun that most people have: light in tone, escapist, mirthful. Look at the definition of fun:
   fun –n
1. something that provides mirth or amusement: A picnic would be fun.
2. enjoyment or playfulness: She's full of fun.
–verb (used without object), verb (used with object)
That's what we're talking about.

I'll absolutely agress that looking at the implications of slavery is not my cup of tea for an RPG. But when I'm looking at light in tone and mirthful, I'm coming up with a handful of rather popular games over the years that aren't exactly light-in-tone or mirthful in their content such as Shadowrun, CoC, Amber, Cyberpunk 2020, anything from the general Horror genre...
 
I went from RPG's as a kid to acting in high school and college, which brought me right back to RPG's again. There are times I want to grab the dice, slay the monster and sit at the bar with a "wench" in my lap and count my gold and XP and figure out what cool new power I can add to my magical weapon. There are other days I enjoy "so the drama" where by the end of the session we all sit around mentally exhausted with our jaws dropping because we can't believe the story we just told and I'm sitting in some kind of high from the revelation or carthasis (sp?) that just hit all of us.
 
So maybe "fun" isn't the word to be looked for. Maybe something more along the lines of "enjoyment" or "fulfillment" or "gratification". There are a lot of times I banged my head against the wall in frustration at planning a run in SR, but when the night was over I had a great feeling of accomplishment. So in that sense it was fun, though by no means light or mirthful.
 
Maybe that is a little closer to a definition that could be worked with, for those that get their "fun" from something that isn't so lighthearted? ... still, I can't see a lot of people finding the use of a slavery-RPG for "fun", though certainly possible to perhaps be educational.
 
:: prepares for the razor-blades and and gnashy teeth::

Quote from: David R;242807The objections here seem to be with the subject matter itself.

And the objections, as you know, are rather dumb.

Quote from: droog;242811And the objections, as you know, are rather dumb.

Well what I think is dumb are the assumptions made about the people who don't have a problem with the subject matter.

Regards,
David R

Dumb squared.

Personally, I've never read Morrison's books. Have you?

Quote from: droog;242813Personally, I've never read Morrison's books. Have you?

Most of them. She is one of America's greatest living authors.... I think. Sure this sounds rather dramatic but her writing is problematic in the best possible way.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: himsati;242808Evening all, first time posting here, I figure why dip your toe to see how the water is when you can just jump in and freeze/scald or get eaten by the sharks :lol:.
 

 
I'll absolutely agress that looking at the implications of slavery is not my cup of tea for an RPG. But when I'm looking at light in tone and mirthful, I'm coming up with a handful of rather popular games over the years that aren't exactly light-in-tone or mirthful in their content such as Shadowrun, CoC, Amber, Cyberpunk 2020, anything from the general Horror genre...
 
I went from RPG's as a kid to acting in high school and college, which brought me right back to RPG's again. There are times I want to grab the dice, slay the monster and sit at the bar with a "wench" in my lap and count my gold and XP and figure out what cool new power I can add to my magical weapon. There are other days I enjoy "so the drama" where by the end of the session we all sit around mentally exhausted with our jaws dropping because we can't believe the story we just told and I'm sitting in some kind of high from the revelation or carthasis (sp?) that just hit all of us.
 
So maybe "fun" isn't the word to be looked for. Maybe something more along the lines of "enjoyment" or "fulfillment" or "gratification". There are a lot of times I banged my head against the wall in frustration at planning a run in SR, but when the night was over I had a great feeling of accomplishment. So in that sense it was fun, though by no means light or mirthful.
 
Maybe that is a little closer to a definition that could be worked with, for those that get their "fun" from something that isn't so lighthearted? ... still, I can't see a lot of people finding the use of a slavery-RPG for "fun", though certainly possible to perhaps be educational.
 
:: prepares for the razor-blades and and gnashy teeth::

Yawn.  Typical pretentious claptrap.  Note the jumping to terms like "lighthearted" and the neat dualism.  The underlying implication being "I'm better than you because I like 'serious games', instead of those childish 'lighthearted games'.  You aren't capable of appreciating my game, woe is you."

Pathetic, and really, pretty much a total re-run.

Go shill your crap somewhere else that isn't so wise to the real purpose of these little "slumming it" outbursts.

Quote from: J Arcane;242821Yawn.  Typical pretentious claptrap.  Note the jumping to terms like "lighthearted" and the neat dualism.

Pathetic, and really, pretty much a total re-run.

Yep, and "Oh, yawn.  I've seen all this before.  It's not even worthy of a response" is somehow atypical, innovative, and something other than pathetic.

-O

Quote from: J Arcane;242821Yawn.  Typical pretentious claptrap.  Note the jumping to terms like "lighthearted" and the neat dualism.  The underlying implication being "I'm better than you because I like 'serious games', instead of those childish 'lighthearted games' you aren't capable of appreciating."

Pathetic, and really, pretty much a total re-run.

Go shill your crap somewhere else that isn't so wise to the real purpose of these little "slumming it" outbursts.

I think somebody needs to get laid.

Quote from: himsati;242808I'll absolutely agress that looking at the implications of slavery is not my cup of tea for an RPG. But when I'm looking at light in tone and mirthful, I'm coming up with a handful of rather popular games over the years that aren't exactly light-in-tone or mirthful in their content such as Shadowrun, CoC, Amber, Cyberpunk 2020, anything from the general Horror genre...

It's not so much an issue of content, as where that content takes you.

Yes, Shadowrun is dark, gritty and grimey full of sinister secrets and corrupt corporations and strange transhumanist themes.  But it's still ultimately D&D with cyberware.  It's got Elves and Trolls and people throwing spells around.  You can go to a really serious dark place with Shadowrun...but you can do that with any game.  You can also play Shadowrun as a straight-up crime action thriller, which is how the vast majority of people I've met play it.

I've played a lot of Cyberpunk 2020, and for all it's grittiness, it's still a game where you play heroes.  I played "Smilin' Jack", a nomad outrider whose face was scrapped off when bandits dragged him down the blacktop, for a couple of years, and I assure you the game was way more about power fantasy and high octane thrills than any serious introspection of socio-political issues.  This was a game where you could play a rock star and change the world with a microphone and a casiotone.

Call of Cthulhu?  Insanity as a joke.

Horror?  Being scared silly is an entirely different

Seriously, you could make Auschwitz the Role-Playing Game, where you take turns describing your characters slow collapse before being sent to the furnace, but it's not going to be fun the way that losing your mind to Things Man Was Not Meant To Know is fun.  It's just sad.

There's a very huge difference between gritty and realistic as an aesthetic gloss over what is still heroic adventure fiction, and making a game out of Toni Morrison's work.

Okay, so we should all read nothing ever except for comics.

Quote from: droog;242834Okay, so we should all read nothing ever except for comics.

Who are you even addressing that at?  Do you honestly think anyone in this thread is espousing a point remotely resembling that comment?

Explain to me again how this isn't telling other people they're having fun wrong?

Quote from: Jackalope;242836Who are you even addressing that at?  Do you honestly think anyone in this thread is espousing a point remotely resembling that comment?

Yes--you. Among others.

Quote from: Will;242844Explain to me again how this isn't telling other people they're having fun wrong?

Because it's ALSO telling people that they're responsible for the Liberatarian Party's lack of electoral success.

Age of Fable's online gamebook is fun. I would enjoy roleplaying in that world, the multiple choice bit just whet my appetite

I'm not really interested in exploring the pathos of suffering of this or that group or anything like that. If I had to play a slave I would be most interested in starting a slave rebellion. If I had to play a Jew in Nazi Europe I would be most interested in starting a rising. And so on.

It's okay if we're very likely to ultimately fail, so long as we get to have a go If I want a predetermined outcome where all I get to do is explore the sad daily details then I can read a book.