RPGnet's decay (TBP madness)

[RPGPundit]

Troubadour is probably the most accurate term for what D&D bards actually look like and do.

[BoxCrayonTales]

The accuracy/etymology argument is one of the few that makes sense IMO. "Why are we using this terms from specific cultures in such wildly unrelated contexts? Isn't that just pointlessly confusing?"

Then there's the translation argument. "How do we translate all these terms into other languages without being confusing?"

Then there's the provincial argument. "What words do we use when the game is e.g. Scandinavian fantasy written by Scandinavians in their native language?"

Maybe we shouldn't keep trying to reduce complex concepts like professions and religious roles down to single words?

I prefer to use succinct phrases: e.g. ecoterrorist magic-user instead of druid, sexy female magic-user instead of witch, elderly male magic-user instead of wizard, demon-worshiping magic-user instead of warlock, religious healer magic-user instead of cleric, etc. But YMMV.

But I feel this is trying to treat symptoms, not the deeper problem of D&D fantasy being self-iterative to the point of becoming nonsensical. Although you can quibble on the accuracy of real religious, there was a limit on how convoluted they could become. No real religion or mythology makes so many distinctions between magic-users as D&D fantasy does. Indeed, Roman syncretism outright stated there is just one pantheon that all religions see differently.

Even fantasy novels, with their absurd obsessions with inventing magic systems that aren't based on any real belief, don't make so many distinctions. It's only fiction inspired directly by D&D that does so: e.g. Warcraft's absurd nonsense cosmology and caster distinctions.

But I digress

[Armchair Gamer]

But I feel this is trying to treat symptoms, not the deeper problem of D&D fantasy being self-iterative to the point of becoming nonsensical. Although you can quibble on the accuracy of real religious, there was a limit on how convoluted they could become. No real religion or mythology makes so many distinctions between magic-users as D&D fantasy does. Indeed, Roman syncretism outright stated there is just one pantheon that all religions see differently.

     You can either use D&D as a toolkit from which you choose elements to reflect a specific fantasy feel, or you can go lighthearted gonzo and throw the whole mess in. WotC has been trying to chart a middle path of "include everything in D&D, but be 'realistic' about its implications" that has turned into an ouroboros ...

[Ghostmaker]

But I feel this is trying to treat symptoms, not the deeper problem of D&D fantasy being self-iterative to the point of becoming nonsensical. Although you can quibble on the accuracy of real religious, there was a limit on how convoluted they could become. No real religion or mythology makes so many distinctions between magic-users as D&D fantasy does. Indeed, Roman syncretism outright stated there is just one pantheon that all religions see differently.

     You can either use D&D as a toolkit from which you choose elements to reflect a specific fantasy feel, or you can go lighthearted gonzo and throw the whole mess in. WotC has been trying to chart a middle path of "include everything in D&D, but be 'realistic' about its implications" that has turned into an ouroboros ...

Good summation, IMO. And both options work. Sometimes you want to run something with a specific theme, and sometimes you just wanna go the fantasy equivalent of Pink Mohawk Cyberpunk/Shadowrun.

[Trond]

I prefer to use succinct phrases: e.g. ecoterrorist magic-user instead of druid...

Uh...really?

[Trond]

Moderator Text:
You sent a belligerent message haranguing the moderating team after receiving a one-day ban for complaining to the moderators in a "cute" fashion that your 128-character-long password made of nonstandard dingbats was rejected for being too long, including a rant about how "lazy" the system was and a repeated misgendering reference to the moderator you were addressing as "Sir". Along with the all-caps multiple-exclamation-point cussing indignation, you doubled down that "Sir" has no gender, referred to women as "females" (using the word as a noun, which is frowned on here), and suggested we have everyone identify their gender in their member details on their posts to save you the trouble of not presuming default maleness.

We've decided you aren't a good fit for the forums and are issuing a permanent ban. Appeals should be directed to the admins at admin.rpgnet@gmail.com.

Oh no! Someone used that terrible noun "females" about certain people (who knows what kind of people, could be anyone).

[Valatar]

Feminists and gender specials have decided they have a bee in their bonnet about "female", because apparently the word sounds disrespectful to them, specifically because of Star Trek ferengi of all things. These same people will have zero issue with "male", and I've seen no proposal of a replacement word for females when someone wishes to use a phrase like "males and females".

[Trond]

Feminists and gender specials have decided they have a bee in their bonnet about "female", because apparently the word sounds disrespectful to them, specifically because of Star Trek ferengi of all things. These same people will have zero issue with "male", and I've seen no proposal of a replacement word for females when someone wishes to use a phrase like "males and females".

Wut?

[Valatar]

Not joking. They've said that any man saying "female" is basically the same as how a ferengi would snarl out "feeee-male" on the show.

[Brad]

Not joking. They've said that any man saying "female" is basically the same as how a ferengi would snarl out "feeee-male" on the show.

Does anyone actually care what mentally ill people think at this point?

[wmarshal]

Not joking. They've said that any man saying "female" is basically the same as how a ferengi would snarl out "feeee-male" on the show.

Does anyone actually care what mentally ill people think at this point?

I don't know that it's really about how the ferengi say female. I think that if you're trans-supporting the word has become a problem for some. One line of argument has been that gender and sex are different, as in completely different. It doesn't matter any hypocrisy this view may have had, such as demanding birth certificates update the description from male to female, which shouldn't matter if the categories of gender and sex are that different. The recent emphasis on the counter argument that a woman being an adult human female, contrasted to 'transwomen are women' may be creating a desire for the words such as female or male to be avoided by the Woke. If the categories for gender and sex are truly and completely different, a Woke tactic may be to push for the abandonment of the terms more associated with biological sex than gender. I don't make the rules for the Woke, I just try to understand what angles and tactics they adopt.

[Ratman_tf]

Not joking. They've said that any man saying "female" is basically the same as how a ferengi would snarl out "feeee-male" on the show.

Does anyone actually care what mentally ill people think at this point?

I don't know that it's really about how the ferengi say female. I think that if you're trans-supporting the word has become a problem for some. One line of argument has been that gender and sex are different, as in completely different. It doesn't matter any hypocrisy this view may have had, such as demanding birth certificates update the description from male to female, which shouldn't matter if the categories of gender and sex are that different. The recent emphasis on the counter argument that a woman being an adult human female, contrasted to 'transwomen are women' may be creating a desire for the words such as female or male to be avoided by the Woke. If the categories for gender and sex are truly and completely different, a Woke tactic may be to push for the abandonment of the terms more associated with biological sex than gender. I don't make the rules for the Woke, I just try to understand what angles and tactics they adopt.

I'd say Matt Walsh's documentary "What is a woman?" had a lot to do with that. He cuts right through a lot of the bullshit that's been thrown up to confuse the issue.

[Brad]

I don't know that it's really about how the ferengi say female. I think that if you're trans-supporting the word has become a problem for some. One line of argument has been that gender and sex are different, as in completely different. It doesn't matter any hypocrisy this view may have had, such as demanding birth certificates update the description from male to female, which shouldn't matter if the categories of gender and sex are that different. The recent emphasis on the counter argument that a woman being an adult human female, contrasted to 'transwomen are women' may be creating a desire for the words such as female or male to be avoided by the Woke. If the categories for gender and sex are truly and completely different, a Woke tactic may be to push for the abandonment of the terms more associated with biological sex than gender. I don't make the rules for the Woke, I just try to understand what angles and tactics they adopt.

Some people like to understand serial killers, too. I prefer they just roast in Hell.

[Crawford Tillinghast]

Does anyone actually care what mentally ill people think at this point?

Isn't "care[ing] what mentally ill people think" what this particular thread is devoted to?

[Thornhammer]

"What is a woman?"

A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk. Have at you!

Sorry, I could NOT resist. Every fucking time, I can hear Dracula saying it. Ahh, the classics.