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Author Topic: No racist characters allowed  (Read 9594 times)

kidkaos2

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #60 on: October 22, 2021, 06:45:05 PM »
So I *think* that it's trying to straddle the line here, telling you that's not how the game is intended to be played by sticking to historical norms rather than telling you outright that you may not do it, but I could be giving it an incredibly charitable reading. It's certainly dangerously close to a complete forbiddance of playing characters we would consider to be distasteful or abhorrent based on today's norms. Characters that do have value in exploring in terms of a roleplaying game set during that period.
My post went off of a discussion on Drivethrurpg that has since been removed along with most other discussions.  In it, the person said here are things the game says, and then gave an itemized list of things such as it's against the rules to play a racist character, your characters should not all be of the same religion, you cannot buy indentured servant contracts, etc.  The game designer replied to this post agreeing to all the items on the list and saying this is how the game is done right.

So yes, the game's designer did say that using nonbinary pronouns are an important facet of life for Revolutionary War soldiers and all the rest.  I have RPG rules that say no fascists are allowed to play this game and that say people should respect diversity at the game and things like that and I just move past them.  It was largely this discussion where someone specifically itemized a half a dozen or so things and the game's designer personally answered to say that disallowing racism in the game was 100% his intention and he affirmed it, which was what got me thinking about how ethical it was for a designer to expect people who play his game to do so with his personal moral system in place.  The designer's comments on the thread indicated that he absolutely did intend it to be a forbiddance for people to play the game how they wanted, he intended them to only play the game how he wanted them to play.  The rulebook could be read charitably or uncharitably, but the designer's commends indicated that he intended the uncharitable interpretation to be the correct interpretation.

PencilBoy99

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #61 on: October 22, 2021, 06:47:37 PM »
So since these things are cropping up more and more in rulebooks what's the next step? How do they enforce them?

GeekyBugle

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #62 on: October 22, 2021, 07:16:28 PM »
So since these things are cropping up more and more in rulebooks what's the next step? How do they enforce them?

If you were dumb enough to buy their shit when they clearly don't want your money and then wanted to run the game in any public space, you can bet the thought police will be all over you. Probably by pretending to be just a player and acusing you of witchcraft the moment you deviated from the holly writ of the game designer.

This is all part of a greater push to drive out the creative people so the ones left have to buy the next Adventure Path in order to keep playing.
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Shrieking Banshee

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #63 on: October 22, 2021, 09:06:13 PM »
Its pretty funny we can all play thieves and murderers, but don't you dare be racist or even worse - SEXIST!

Habitual Gamer

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #64 on: October 25, 2021, 03:29:15 PM »
Its pretty funny we can all play thieves and murderers, but don't you dare be racist or even worse - SEXIST!

"Sexism is a real problem people struggle with daily.  You only have to handle being murdered once usually."

Reminds me of people complaining about rape being a theme in games and wanting it removed, but getting very upset if you talked about taking out violence in general.  It's kind of weird.

rytrasmi

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #65 on: October 25, 2021, 05:39:03 PM »
So since these things are cropping up more and more in rulebooks what's the next step? How do they enforce them?
I suspect their goal is to have the community enforce their "rules." The largest online group of RPG gamers in my area requires you to affirm that you will use all of the "safety" tools at your table, as a condition of advertising your game with to their group. (Hence, I don't belong to this group.) It's slow normalization. Rule books including this junk is another step to normalization.
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Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling down your snout
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Kyle Aaron

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #66 on: October 26, 2021, 12:01:40 AM »
The largest online group of RPG gamers in my area requires you to -
That's the thing: people online insist on all sorts of stupid shit they never would in person, whether it be racist nonsense, or nonbinary pronouns in 1776 nonsense. The bravery of being behind a keyboard brings them to all sorts of retardation.

Where possible, play in person.
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PsyXypher

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #67 on: October 26, 2021, 12:41:00 AM »
The largest online group of RPG gamers in my area requires you to -
That's the thing: people online insist on all sorts of stupid shit they never would in person, whether it be racist nonsense, or nonbinary pronouns in 1776 nonsense. The bravery of being behind a keyboard brings them to all sorts of retardation.

Where possible, play in person.

This is absolutely true. This is a pretty old concept, actually, called the "Giant Internet Fuckwad Theory".
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rytrasmi

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #68 on: October 26, 2021, 09:12:48 AM »
The largest online group of RPG gamers in my area requires you to -
That's the thing: people online insist on all sorts of stupid shit they never would in person, whether it be racist nonsense, or nonbinary pronouns in 1776 nonsense. The bravery of being behind a keyboard brings them to all sorts of retardation.

Where possible, play in person.
The nonsense was for in-person play. They have a form to fill out the specifics of your in-person game to advertise it online with them, and you must check a box affirming that you will provide several safety tools.

It makes it harder to find players or games, but the ones you can find using other means are thankfully free of that crap.
The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that crawl in are lean and thin
The ones that crawl out are fat and stout
Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling down your snout
Be merry my friends
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Zalman

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #69 on: October 26, 2021, 10:27:58 AM »
If we want to be fair to Daniel Fox, maybe he meant that there are no differences in the game regarding attributes and character classes the character is allowed to play as.

That's how I read it as well, but ...

They have a form to fill out the specifics of your in-person game to advertise it online with them, and you must check a box affirming that you will provide several safety tools.

I didn't see mention of "safety tools" in the quote provided here, that's a whole separate "ew". I've played with folks that needed safety tools before -- each one one time. RPGs just aren't the right activity for those people, at least not as entertainment. Therapy perhaps.

Plus, orcs and drow don't have to be evil anymore, so the problem of black representation in D&D is being worked on.

Oh, snap!
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rytrasmi

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Re: No racist characters allowed
« Reply #70 on: October 26, 2021, 11:09:32 AM »
I didn't see mention of "safety tools" in the quote provided here, that's a whole separate "ew". I've played with folks that needed safety tools before -- each one one time. RPGs just aren't the right activity for those people, at least not as entertainment. Therapy perhaps.
Exactly. I'm your GM not your therapist. I suppose the tools are a good way of identifying people who should not be invited to my table.
The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that crawl in are lean and thin
The ones that crawl out are fat and stout
Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling down your snout
Be merry my friends
Be merry