Re: (TFT) Difficult topics in Game World

[Jay Carlisle <maou.tsaou@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 8:25 AM, Gem wrote:

I "charge" bravely in with you in covering 'historical' religious stuff
under a thick layer of "fantasy" trying to keep the "politics" or "intrigue"
while not offending a players real-world beliefs with a game-world.
I can barely describe how a Figure should move so I'll keep a 20 foot pike
distance from "spiritual" posistions thank you very much.
But you can't please everybody, all the time.
These days I tend to view the world through game-mechanics terms (sometimes
through beer goggles) and I suppose that some folks are as focused on
theology.
Both require some measure of "faith", it's just how one uses it I suspose
(assuming one allows the loose antithesis of "faith" as an entertainment
term like 'suspension of disbelief')...
I think one gains a larger synthesis audience in an entertainment medium if
your not jamming stuff down their throats politically, religiously, or just
soap-boxing rather than entertaining.
Most of my "tricks" involve trying to get players to describe what they
"see" to me frequently so I can guard against miscomunications.
A lot about the whole square-hex bit is that a games scale is something like
an "imaginative cammera" when it comes to "story-telling" considerations.



> "I don't even touch the "religion" bit with a 10 foot pole but rather leave
> that dynamic under the more obscure heading of "the Wizards Guild". Very
> little room for fun play if arguing theology the whole time... at least for
> me. Ergo I valiantly skip it altogether."
>
> One thing to consider: a complete absence of religion is very unrealistic.
> It's a universal human pastime, and there are no human cultures that have
> ever existed or been "discovered" on planet Earth without it (whether shrub
> priests or highly complex sacrificial ones like in the Americas).
>
> If your world is based on Europe high middle ages / Renaissance, then after
> food, clothing & shelter, it is the single most important occupation and
> cultural shaper.  A nice book, albeit a novel that could certainly
> accommodate some juicy dragons and magicians, is The Cornerstone by Zoe
> Oldenbourg and Edward Hyams.  Also, consider that the tension between magic
> and church can make for lots of interesting events.  You can certainly make
> up your own "anti-magic" religion (numerous Greek philosophers and
> authorities condemned magic as they knew it and its practice) and have that
> tension be a brake on the work of magicians simply taking over. (warning;
> Cornerstone has some pretty graphic scenes, that are also historically
> accurate).
>
> Certainly there are difficult topics that any GM has to consider.  A good
> example: GURPS Greece has a section on homosexuality.  (No jokes please,
> we've already sworn off sheep jokes, and besides my Greek friends have
> probably already told me your favorite one).  It gives several different
> suggestions for approaching it in the game world.  However, it is a common
> cultural phenomena so the author chose not to avoid it.  Far as I'm
> concerned, that makes the book a more useful resource.  The role of women /
> female characters is also one that is consistently an issue.  Most GMs work
> around it by making their female one of those Eleanor of Acquitaine types,
> but let's consider that a dynasty doesn't allow it's most precious resources
> to wander around having dangerous adventures.  How does one "free females
> up"?  The only way is to not tie wealth to heredity.
>
> Just a few thoughts that I think are important to world creation.
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