Being in the Main the Mouth of Olde House Rules

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

On Gaming's Polar Trolls...

Some weeks ago I posted this oldie in an AD&D community on Facebook (call it a love letter to my favorite era of our beloved hobby); and while I got lots of interesting and thoughtful commentary, especially from those who disagreed on some point, I got two responses from the polar opposites of our fractious scene that highlight its basic divisions: 

On the left (I'm convinced), there was the person who thought I shouldn't have made any distinction between disparate backgrounds at all, as doing so forms ruinous hierarchies and sets the needs of some above others. In short, analysis is oppression. All approaches are worthwhile, and we should ignore any differences. I agree about acceptance; but the answer isn't pretending there aren't clear distinctions worthy of debate...

We simply must be able to talk about the history of our hobby; and we can't do that by constructing an imagined steady state. D&D could only grow beyond a quaint local wargame by reaching past its base, a matter of marketing to bona fide others. Their heart was in the right place, never rising above motherly scolding; but the internet's full of misguided utopians who think we'll only be free when we're all the same, which is, uh...problematic. 


On the right (certainly) was the guy who thought non-wargamer meant no combat of any kind allowed. A bunch of douchebag 5th edition pansies making friends with orcs and chanting Kumbaya from their safe spaces. Setting aside the absurdity; my point was that fantasy fans who never played anything by Avalon Hill flocked to D&D because it promised them the adventures they read in Howard and Tolkien, heroic combats included...

Non-wargamer doesn't mean no fighting; and we might have had that conversation if he hadn't called me a douchebag and personally blamed me for ruining our hobby with activities I don't even engage in. No 5th edition, no friendly orcs. But even if I did, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be any of his business. Let people be themselves. The internet's full of self-styled libertarians turned thought police when faced with some hated thing or another.

This isn't left vs. right. I've made many conservative friends who avoid wargames and enthusiastically embrace the roleplaying elements present in D&D from the start, just as I know liberals aplenty who demand nuance. Left, right, and center, these rational actors peacefully inhabit gaming's ranks. The ugly extremes demand outsize attention; and they want the same thing: control through a caricature of their preferred ideology... 

It's possible to go so far left that you become right and vice versa; so maybe the best way to keep our identities intact is a solid center with robust right and left leanings willing to act responsibly and practical enough to realize they need to. I'm happy to report that the majority of our scene, doing great things despite the outrage, upholds this balance. The trolls are wandering monsters rolled on a 00 and easily overcome when we don't feed them. 

10 comments:

  1. I just read the original essay, and I'm puzzled why one should think it a bad thing to examine the currents of interest and influence that shaped the game during its formative period, and even more puzzled how anyone could conclude the essay advocated for no combat and singing Kumbaya to orcs. People genuinely confuse me.

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  2. I just want to say I appreciate your voice in our hobby. It's nice to hear amidst the general clamor.

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    1. I subscribe this person's opinion. Against fanatism, the best are sincere opinions into the hobby made with love and heart. I love your blog because even if we dont share many opinions, you always write sincerelly without trying to appease the OSR conventions or the current ideologic trends, but to say what you do, what you gamed, what you like and what works for you without needing to convince anyone of anything. That is very cool and everyday is scarcer.

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  3. I don't care what a person's political affiliation is, but if they tell me that the enjoyment I get from anything I do during the game (from role-playing a character, to leveling up, or even acquiring sweet loot) is "not real gaming" then I will stop playing with them forever.

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  4. left and right framesets are for retards dancing to the illuminati flute

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    1. It's certainly limiting; and it subverts truth to tribe...

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  5. I get what the 2nd person was saying, because I had to do a double listen when someone said there is a cafe adventure in 5e that was official. I also understand that it doesn't negate what I find fun.

    I get frustrated now because I'm seeing the curse of the OGL again. Or as my old Fa/tg/up days would say. "Can I run metal gear in 3.5 pathfinder?" It really doesn't end well for the hobby when you try to run something in a system not meant for it. (A stealth game in a heavy combat game for example.) And I have had my share of arguments based on it.

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