tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post4931107237519789924..comments2024-03-25T18:05:17.767-05:00Comments on Amateur Hour: Dwarves Don't Worship Beeriemattiashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01381883306896753352noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post-799753265120590282014-01-27T11:43:41.788-06:002014-01-27T11:43:41.788-06:00Indeed. The important thing, I think, is that we c...Indeed. The important thing, I think, is that we carefully consider how we design our settings and scenarios. Fantasy is fraught with racism, but sometimes it seems like it is handled in a facile way (for instance, portraying orcs as infestations does avoid the sticky problem of motivating and depicting a more complicated struggle with a fringe culture). <br /><br />It doesn't bother me so much that these subjects are taken up, it just bothers me that these days they are the default position. It is far too easy to assume, without bothering to think, that this is what fantasy <i>has</i> to be. (it isn't, obviously) <br /><br />Yet practically every game, from (modern day) Warhammer to Song of Blades and Heroes, seems to take it for granted that their players only want to play race v. race battles. (As opposed to early editions of Warhammer, in which you could build an army of any number of creatures... alignment was the only consideration.)<br /><br />Which is cool. They are our games after all, regardless of what the rules say. We can do what we want.<br /><br />Thanks again for your comment, Sean. It really helps me to flesh out my ideas when I can guage peoples responses! <br />iemattiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01381883306896753352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post-23821947827074134232014-01-26T19:38:50.722-06:002014-01-26T19:38:50.722-06:00Fantasy is fraught with racism. Dwarves and Elves ...Fantasy is fraught with racism. Dwarves and Elves were pals but now hate each other. Everybody hates Orcs and Goblins. The Numenoreans (or whoever your golden age uber mensch are) subjugate everyone. When we play we need to look at our actions within the construct of the greater world. I remember my parents being horrified by my depiction of what was essentially orc genocide in the Bone March. But role playing a mass murderer doesn't make me one. In the context of Greyhawk I was reclaiming a human kingdom from an orc infestation, and of course personally profiting while doing so.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15428727065347379281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post-45156620326917753882014-01-26T11:36:49.572-06:002014-01-26T11:36:49.572-06:00That's a very good point. The Bugman's Bre...That's a very good point. The Bugman's Brewery scenario is actually a pretty fun usage of beer because it takes away the even more embedded portrayal of dwarven avarice. I hadn't thought of that. <br /><br />I guess when I wrote this, my head was in a place of creating a setting for scenarios and how troubling the idea of races can be in that context. (Because so much of fantasy scenario design essentially depicts race war.) Whether it should or not, this makes me a little uncomfortable. (I mean, regular war isn't all that great either). I guess the root problem that I'm getting toward now is properly motivating my scenarios. But the example of Bugman's Brewery is a nice counter to that line of thinking...it brings us back to the tongue in cheeck, gonzo approach to scenario design. Maybe I should just loosen up and get some sleep...iemattiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01381883306896753352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post-12978506422484445052014-01-26T08:01:56.156-06:002014-01-26T08:01:56.156-06:00Correct me if I'm wrong, but the first time I ...Correct me if I'm wrong, but the first time I ever encountered the beer on the shield thing was Bugman's brewery. I seem to recall a scenario where they were defending the beer in much the same way that they defend gold in other scenarios. I think that if other manufacturers put the beer stein on they are channeling this. And yes it's lazy. Personally my lazy convention for dwarves is to include some kind of Anvil and/or hammer.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15428727065347379281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post-59773611206593793702014-01-23T14:03:55.510-06:002014-01-23T14:03:55.510-06:00Cool, I appreciate the backstory of the hunchymen....Cool, I appreciate the backstory of the hunchymen. I dig the fluff!Patrick W. Rollenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12832604648690667589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post-73848515837820921302014-01-23T05:41:02.374-06:002014-01-23T05:41:02.374-06:00It's a good point you raise. Lazy fluff is a h...It's a good point you raise. Lazy fluff is a hobby-wide standard these days.Warlord Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06477146670213381976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5382421522806183021.post-48279851142837763152014-01-23T02:01:26.935-06:002014-01-23T02:01:26.935-06:00Hum, funny thing. I guess it's not a question ...Hum, funny thing. I guess it's not a question of worship, they don't "worship" boars, axes and stone either, it's just the principle of coats of arms. Rich medieval families didn't worship dolphins, lions or anything, it's just these are sypbols to represent the family. A dwarf carrying a beer mug on his shield is just showing he comes from a family of brewers of something. A dwarf with a boar on the shield just shows he is from a family of hunters or that an ancestor of his killed a giant boar or something.<br /><br />Well at least it's the way I see to make it less silly. ^^Asslessmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09475252828835332056noreply@blogger.com