This is just the logical conclusion to the idea that "representation matters". You need to see people of your own race in game. If you are disabled, you need to see people who are also disabled in game. If you are a loser millennial who has trouble adulting, you need to see loser millennials who have trouble adulting in the game as well. The whole thing has turned into an exercise in self validation.

Add this to the fact that for most D&D writers, their idea of "fantasy" is Harry Potter which, ultimately, had more to do with relationships than actual magical adventuring.

Ain't that the gawds own truth. That representation bs. This has been on my mind, especially lurking TBP (I know, I know, mental torturing myself lol). But what I realized are, exactly what you said hedge, they're loser millennials who can't adult. It's like they're technically "adult" (as in above 18 or whatever your countries age of adulthood it) but they are, and will ever be children. Because they know no adversity. And when real life kicks them when they're down, as it will, they reeee and complain and get like minded individuals to reeee and complain.

It's just astounding.

As a publisher I can say this, "If you were to ask if you can write in world with our settings, we would ask for a royalty (small) if you were selling."

Many other publishers I know feel the same way.  A letter of intent, or query to write can move mountains, and keep you out of copywrite court.  I have asked and been turned down very politely before, and at other times I was given the greenlight, as long as I made sure to reference the company/IP owner and give proper attribution.  Many company sites have these terms listed in the FAQ or designated webpage. 

It can get a bit dicey if you try and write for published fiction, computer games, and the like.

***Shameless plug*** We are generally easy going when it comes to rights and fan fiction/games/settings.

Interesting bit of info.

Do we censor Charlie Hebdo? Because it offends Muslims? I think not...

Sigh. As a matter of fact, Charlie Hebdo got censored by direct violence.

I think that if anyone ever wants to do Star Trek- most realistically for an RPG campaign- they'll have to sit down and decide what elements of it are canon and which elements are not. This doesn't even have to be due to politics (though it will be if dealing with anything from the last 10-15 years) but simply the inevitable drift and sprawl a decades-old franchise that's been through the hands of multiple writers who didn't consult or research with one another to keep things straight. Everything made by Star Trek from the end of the Kirk era has been mostly written by people who don't know the minutiae of the lore like a hardcore Trekkie does and and canon that's been added to enough begins to contradict itself.


One of my main points to re-work in any Trek canon I'd control would be hand phasers and the nerfing thereof.  Back in TOS, a hand phaser was a horribly deadly weapon. Phaser combat usually consisted on one person pulling a trigger and the fight being over- buildings could be blown up and crowds rendered unconscious by a single shot from a phaser.

Then TNG arrives- and more importantly, Star Wars happened between it and the end of TOS.

With later shows when a phaser fight did happen the directors seemed to want to make things more exciting by having the battles be like Star Wars- people duck and dive around cover while throwing sparkly light at one another. Which worked with blasters in Star Wars, but in Trek- why don't they set the phaser to high-intensity disruption and blow up the cover and whoever's behind it? They keep missing- what happened to the wide angle settings, or why not use sustained beam and walk the shot onto the enemy?

It's one of my pet peeves, and players in the ST game I ran were sometimes shocked to find what hand phasers were capable of and how short and deadly phaser combat was. It's a good thing the Modiphius game has metacurrency because the way I ran things it was "whoever doesn't shoot first, spend metacurrency to not be removed from the fight".