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Author Topic: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies  (Read 620427 times)

I

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3075 on: June 18, 2022, 09:28:48 AM »
Should probably include 9th Level Games in the red zone.  They identify their space opera game Rebel Scum as The Anti-fascist Space Opera Zine.  Here's some of what they noted on the Kickstarter:

Quote
Over the last few years, there has been a startling rise in the number of people that are willing to SPEW HATE.  These people believe in white power, and fill the internet with nativist, racist, fascist crap.  Quite a few of these evildoers are deeply entrenched in the various FANDOMS that us nerds adore.  Very specifically the fandom of a certain space opera franchise that we love with our whole hearts has too many sad bad guys.


We are making REBEL SCUM as a way to re-discover the roots of the original message - how some scrappy, anti-fascist heroes can fight back against a government with unlimited power (including giant lasers and space magic). There is something refreshing and healing about getting to punch space nazis in their faces in a game, while we are living in a time when we have once again been called on to fight ACTUAL fascism in the real world (not just in our space operas).
Emphasis added.

They also made a point of naming the bad guys The Republik, and note in the game that this was an intentional choice so people can talk about punching Republikans during the game.

Pity - it looked like a fun little game I was about to drop some cash on this afternoon.

I must say this has given me an excellent idea for a new fantasy RPG.  Characters will play as rebels against a zealous, evil new pseudo-religious cult whose members call themselves "the Awakened."  They worship no gods other than their own self-perceived righteousness, but they consider their mission a holy one, nonetheless -- to be on The Right Side of History.  Their rituals range from the mass-sacrifice of infants to having men dressed as women read stories to little boys, then buttfuck them before they are surgically altered into little girls.  The cult leader is a doddering, senile old man whose adoring followers lead little girls to him, so that he may fondle and sniff them before the adoring crowds of his worshipers.

Tait Ransom

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3076 on: June 18, 2022, 09:14:07 PM »
Should probably include 9th Level Games in the red zone.  They identify their space opera game Rebel Scum as The Anti-fascist Space Opera Zine.  Here's some of what they noted on the Kickstarter:

Quote
Over the last few years, there has been a startling rise in the number of people that are willing to SPEW HATE.  These people believe in white power, and fill the internet with nativist, racist, fascist crap.  Quite a few of these evildoers are deeply entrenched in the various FANDOMS that us nerds adore.  Very specifically the fandom of a certain space opera franchise that we love with our whole hearts has too many sad bad guys.


We are making REBEL SCUM as a way to re-discover the roots of the original message - how some scrappy, anti-fascist heroes can fight back against a government with unlimited power (including giant lasers and space magic). There is something refreshing and healing about getting to punch space nazis in their faces in a game, while we are living in a time when we have once again been called on to fight ACTUAL fascism in the real world (not just in our space operas).
Emphasis added.

They also made a point of naming the bad guys The Republik, and note in the game that this was an intentional choice so people can talk about punching Republikans during the game.

Pity - it looked like a fun little game I was about to drop some cash on this afternoon.

I must say this has given me an excellent idea for a new fantasy RPG.  Characters will play as rebels against a zealous, evil new pseudo-religious cult whose members call themselves "the Awakened."  They worship no gods other than their own self-perceived righteousness, but they consider their mission a holy one, nonetheless -- to be on The Right Side of History.  Their rituals range from the mass-sacrifice of infants to having men dressed as women read stories to little boys, then buttfuck them before they are surgically altered into little girls.  The cult leader is a doddering, senile old man whose adoring followers lead little girls to him, so that he may fondle and sniff them before the adoring crowds of his worshipers.

I’d play that!

THE_Leopold

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3077 on: June 20, 2022, 12:19:19 PM »
If there's a KS or a paid for version on DTRPG then I'd like to see people on the List Good/Bad/Other regardless if they are some major player or not.

The More You Know
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Timothe

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3078 on: June 23, 2022, 12:00:31 PM »
I'm a bit surprised that Vincent Florio and his Wild Games Productions are not on the green list. These are the guys who made Mazes & Perils. Vince has been pretty outspokenly against SJWs and you can look at the disclaimer at the bottom of his website to see where he stands:

http://www.wildgamesproductions.com/

I’ve bought a couple of Vince’s low-level modules that he has on Drive-Thru. He had a cool tag on one of his social media IDs (Discord?): “No chance in hell. Zero tolerance policy.”

Timothe

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3079 on: June 23, 2022, 12:01:56 PM »
Reading this thread is discouraging. I just want to run a grim dark hack and slash RPG and every VTT and system seems to hate me specifically.

Have someone update the actual list and delete the other 205 pages of comments.  :o

Continental

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3080 on: June 24, 2022, 04:34:37 PM »
You mention with regards to Ulisses Spiele, 'don’t be surprised if they go full crazy in the near future'.

Well, that just happened with the release of their new Kickstarter books. I actually have a fairly broad tolerance for 'progressiveness' in realistic doses, but the new Pan Pacifica stuff is absolutely bizarre.

Every single character has their sexual identify and gender noted in their stats, and wouldn't you know, 99% of them are genderspecials. Their recent output has been saturated with identity politics, but they must have been emboldened recently because this one makes WotC's 5E output look like Kortthalis Publishing.

Seriously, someone take a look and move them to RED if possible. I mean, we were playing gay and trans characters back in the early 80's and yet this was waaay too much for us.

The entire sourcebook and adventure books have identity politics on every page, it's front and central in every facet of these products.  It's a shame. Torg was a decent enough game once.


« Last Edit: June 24, 2022, 04:42:10 PM by Continental »

THE_Leopold

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3081 on: June 24, 2022, 05:06:20 PM »
You mention with regards to Ulisses Spiele, 'don’t be surprised if they go full crazy in the near future'.

Well, that just happened with the release of their new Kickstarter books. I actually have a fairly broad tolerance for 'progressiveness' in realistic doses, but the new Pan Pacifica stuff is absolutely bizarre.

Every single character has their sexual identify and gender noted in their stats, and wouldn't you know, 99% of them are genderspecials. Their recent output has been saturated with identity politics, but they must have been emboldened recently because this one makes WotC's 5E output look like Kortthalis Publishing.

Seriously, someone take a look and move them to RED if possible. I mean, we were playing gay and trans characters back in the early 80's and yet this was waaay too much for us.

The entire sourcebook and adventure books have identity politics on every page, it's front and central in every facet of these products.  It's a shame. Torg was a decent enough game once.

I will never buy a book from a company that puts he/her , they/them pronouns in any NPC stat sheet as such next to said person's name.

Never know why they are forcing the DM to use a make these kind of decisions for them.  It's as if they don't want a DM to have freedom of thought.

NKL4Lyfe

KindaMeh

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3082 on: June 24, 2022, 05:10:23 PM »
I kinda wish I had known about and read this list before becoming so invested in Roll20 as a platform for our gaming group, and a place to purchase digital campaigns complete with maps and cetera. I kinda suspected it would be on here, though, given some of the tokenism and woke virtue signaling I saw in the (anemic and low quality) DFRPG Accelerated city guide they hosted there. (I liked the original DFRPG because I liked the Dresden Files as fiction, for the most part, thought it might be of the same quality as some of DFRPG's supplements, and didn't really know Evil Hat's true nature or reputation. I caught some woke messaging in the original DFRPG, but it wasn't nearly as in your face and the like.)

Incidentally, in terms of a site with easy (especially grid-based) map-making tech and both optional digital maps and game content like campaigns or the like that can be purchased, what good alternatives are there to Roll20 that I could suggest to my group and potentially use to break our chains so to speak? I know Fantasy Grounds exists, but it seems a bit modular and pricey, as well as less adaptable. Has anyone here tried Astral Tabletop or the like? If so, how do those services compare, and/or were you satisfied with them? Any good selling points or advantages of which you think I could convince my group?

Also, congrats on your first post, Continental. I also made an account for posting recently and thus far have not at all regretted that decision.  ;)

KindaMeh

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3083 on: June 24, 2022, 05:23:12 PM »
Also, I think White Wolf Publishing, much though I like the Storytelling System's mechanics, by virtue of being behind the woke pro-anarch tokenist setting that is VTM 5e in addition to most of its predecessors which lean pretty far left when not creatively interpreted by a good ST, is probably red. Or at least the new overlord Paradox Interactive is. Take a glance at their interactive fiction based on the setting and occasionally mechanics, and at the development of Bloodlines 2 (not a TTRPG, but still illustrative) if you don't believe me. Onyx Path is not alone in the whole WOD setting usage, and the newer stuff especially from White Wolf and Paradox is arguably more woke even than nWOD or oWOD.

Continental

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3084 on: June 25, 2022, 09:19:59 AM »
Thanks KindaMeh.

Thing is, my group is pretty varied anyway and we have broad tastes. We've played and enjoyed both Blue Rose and Cha'alt, because sometimes we're in the mood for fluffy same-sex romance and sometimes we're in the mood for bawdy adult grindhouse demon orgies. Both of these products are very open and clear about what they are, so if that's not to someone's tastes, they can stay away. 

I can even grudgingly respect something like Racial Holy War (which never existed in reality I know) or Thirsty Sword Lesbians, because they're open about their hate, they're all about dehumanising and destroying the things the author despises.  Neither is my jam, but they are clear about what they are.

Whereas something like Pan Pacifica feels so dishonest. It's supposed to be about a futuristic Asian capitalist biopunk dystopia where you cannot trust anyone, but in fact it's just a long screed about how technology will produce a genderfluid, non-binary master race. The authors are forcing their own identity politics on an audience who were expecting something else. If they just wanted their trans game, they should market it like that and be honest about it. 

Same thing with D&D 5th really, where the Ravenloft book had every legacy character race, gender and sexuality swapped. Woke companies can't even be honest about what they're doing. 

HappyDaze

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3085 on: June 25, 2022, 11:14:22 AM »
It's supposed to be about a futuristic Asian capitalist biopunk dystopia where you cannot trust anyone, but in fact it's just a long screed about how technology will produce a genderfluid, non-binary master race.
Maybe that isn't as much of a contradiction as you suggest? If taken that way, it's actually pretty aggressively anti-Woke...

Continental

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3086 on: June 25, 2022, 01:22:08 PM »
Yeah, but it's made out to be a good thing though.

But yeah, in the hands of a good GM it could be very effective horror that this is actually what many SJW's want.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2022, 03:28:46 PM by Continental »

arctic_fox

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3087 on: June 25, 2022, 02:40:00 PM »
Had anyone here played Symbaroum or Vaesen? Both games presentation looks amazing but i want to know about the content itself and couldn't find it on the list. Has any form of wokeness injected on it? Or it is safe to buy?

I ran a one-off of Symbaroum a few years ago.  I don't recall anything overtly woke in the book but it depends on how sensitive you are.  Does the fact that the kingdom is run by a Queen bother you?  If not then the game should be fine, but I know some that would see that as a warning sign. 

That's the downside to all these years of wokeness.  Things that wouldn't have been seen as problems before, such as female leads, have now become suspect.

Sorry for the late reply... I don't think that anyone would see as woke a queen rulling since it happened before and it's perfectly plausible. Woke happens when you have obvious distortions that aims at pushing an political agenda. Like an medieval european setting with an indian queen rulling. Of course you're free to run your game the way you want, but if you aim for something believable then things like that should be considered. Even fiction has to follow rules, specially if you want a immersive experience.

Cathode Ray

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3088 on: June 25, 2022, 08:57:52 PM »
I will never buy a book from a company that puts he/her , they/them pronouns in any NPC stat sheet as such next to said person's name.

Never know why they are forcing the DM to use a make these kind of decisions for them.  It's as if they don't want a DM to have freedom of thought.

I, too, would NEVER buy such a game, and pushing people to choose pronouns was the reason that I left the DriveThru Discord server.  It made me feel uncomfortable.

I'd never make such a game and impose it on people.  MY game RADICAL HIGH is set in the 1980s, a time when no one questioned the biological reality of two distinct genders.
Creator of Radical High, a 1980s RPG.
DM/PM me if you're interested.

Dropbear

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Re: [List] TTRPG Guide to Woke Companies
« Reply #3089 on: June 25, 2022, 09:09:13 PM »
You mention with regards to Ulisses Spiele, 'don’t be surprised if they go full crazy in the near future'.

Well, that just happened with the release of their new Kickstarter books. I actually have a fairly broad tolerance for 'progressiveness' in realistic doses, but the new Pan Pacifica stuff is absolutely bizarre.

Every single character has their sexual identify and gender noted in their stats, and wouldn't you know, 99% of them are genderspecials. Their recent output has been saturated with identity politics, but they must have been emboldened recently because this one makes WotC's 5E output look like Kortthalis Publishing.

Seriously, someone take a look and move them to RED if possible. I mean, we were playing gay and trans characters back in the early 80's and yet this was waaay too much for us.

The entire sourcebook and adventure books have identity politics on every page, it's front and central in every facet of these products.  It's a shame. Torg was a decent enough game once.

Looks like they may be following that same route with the latest Fading Suns books as well. The new Charioteer Dossier (released only to backers thus far) has no pronouns listed for the Rogue’s Gallery section but of the two characters presented, one is illustrated as an effeminate male and described as “they/them”, and noted as having a superb fashion sense that mingles both the feminine and masculine. And the character has nothing to do with House Decados.

I’m still going to get those books, as Fading Suns has long been a favorite and I have already backed them. But I mean yeah, if you’re categorizing such as red then probably so. I think I have enough of an imagination in my head to ignore that stuff and downplay it, not use it, and deemphasis its presence in the material during any potential upcoming game sessions because it’s not vital information that distorts the setting as I’m going to present it but yeah, it’s there.