Unpopular #RPG opinion: "a product of its time" is a bullshit excuse, and dissecting the racism, sexism, homophobia and colonial mindsets of a text isn't "attention seeking," it's trying to weed out elements of our industry that never should have been there from jump.
first of all, D&D is a whopping 45 years old, shit wasn't written in ye olden days of yore. there was no excuse for bullshit colonizer mentalities in 1974 and there's none now.
y'all thinskins will spend hours and hours on deep dives of lore and arcana for fictional worlds and never spare a SECOND on examining the intensely problematic elements written into them, because they don't affect you.
and then you turn around and tell the people that ARE affected to get over it? get over deez nuts.
if taking the racism, sexism, homophobia and colonial aspects out of your fav game ruins it for you, you were never in it for the game in the first place, you were in it for the racism, sexism, homophobia and colonization.
It was during the WSCA jam that I was really blown away, though. Not only is Acid Fantasy dope, but for my money this is where Micah's design chops REALLY started to shine.
A TIMELINE OF THE [fantasy world]
- The Founding
- war
- war
- war
- something happened with magic?
- war
- The Event (you know the one)
- post-Event war
THE KINGDOM OF [too many vowels]
everyone is WHITE and BRITISH. primary exports are GRUEL and WAR. literature, music and other art are nonexistent. a religious order called the TEMPLARS...
THE EMPIRE OF ORIENTALIST TROPES
the are from the EAST, even though this world is like, oblong or some shit. they wear FUNNY HATS. we just mashed together a bunch of SEA/MENA tropes together. it is an EMPIRE. we know they're the BAD GUY because SLAVES.
Oh, look, we're playing THIS game again, where TTRPG luminaries descend from the heavens to offer myopic and *wrong* information with an authoritative voice. These people think they have all the answers and they absolutely do not. #RealGameIndustry.
There are literal billions of dollars spent on RPGs every year. Anyone who says otherwise either doesn't know any better or is willfully ignorant because they have a stake in maintaining status quo.
Modiphius' entire business model is on licensed RPGs. Free League has both the One Ring and the Aliens RPG. Magpie is currently running the largest RPG Kickstarter of all time. These products ship in bulk, and the cost of goods on bulk products is literal pennies.
I said I'd print it after I hit $1k, and we hit $1k, so here we are!
KANABO is a d100-based rules-lite adventure game set loosely in Tokugawa-era Japan (1600–1868) and based on iconic sword-fighting movies. James Mendez Hodes (@LulaVampiro) did the cultural consulting on it!
in the 17-page Player's Handbook:
-Tools for safe play
-A lightweight, easy-to-run d100 system with four stats
-A randomized character system that provides compelling starting points for your adventurer
-Hirelings, tools, clothes, provisions, and weaponsp
I've been cooking all my life, and professionally so about two decades. One of the things you'll see inexperienced cooks do when they're working on a dish is add as many high-end ingredients as possible to the dish. Surely that makes it good, right?
But when you throw lobster, truffles, foie gras, jamon iberico and saffron all together, you're gonna get something that tastes like none of it. The flavors don't compliment, they clash.
Same with game mechanics.
I'm a big fan of two things: brevity, and purposeful design. You could make a solid argument to say those things are the same thing, but not always.
First off: ALL OF US could write shorter, and should. Everyone. Even you.