Quote from: fixable;1055782I'm a what you would call a  SJW...  if being a SJW means that I want EVERY human being on this planet to be treated with respect. I Will fight for that. That's my definition of a SJW.

That's our definition of Classical Liberal, which most of us are at least to a large extent. As is Milo fwiw.

I own ACKS but have not run an ACKS game. I would not expect it to raise any issues, and would be happy to expel anyone who objected. There is no politics in the game and you would have to be a hardcore SJW/RPGnet reader to think of objecting to it. Anyone thinking of conflating it with actual-horrible-games like FATAL or RAHOWA gets bumped.

I disagree with Pundit on a lot of things, being very left of centre on domestic economic policy but I still like Lion & Dragon and I totally agree that ACKS is one of the best incarnations of D&D period.

There is nothing objectionable about the game within the rules themselves, so why would anybody give you weirdness about playing it.

If they should do, ask them if they consume Nestle products or shop at Walmart or Amazon.

You could even ask if they had bought clothes from Gap and if they say yes, then ask them to justify facilitating child labour.

If they give you shit about ACKS' authors' Libertarian politics ask them to inform themselves about the politics of the CEO of Wholefoods, John Mackey.

And while they are at it, tell them that they are under investigation for 45 violations of federal labor law, including physically threatening immigrant workers in California who were trying to form a union.

Quote from: fixable;1055782Maybe you all want to call me crazy. I'm a what you would call a  SJW...  if being a SJW means that I want EVERY human being on this planet to be treated with respect. I Will fight for that. That's my definition of a SJW.

Quote from: S'mon;1055793That's our definition of Classical Liberal, which most of us are at least to a large extent.

Yeah, that sounds more like a Classic Liberal to me also.

I'm more of a Heinlein Libertarian and honestly do not care how you sort yourself, as long as you do not act like an asshole about it.

(Yes, yes I know. The Gall of Me saying that. Yet have you noticed that I'm only an asshole to those that are an asshole to me first?)

Not even twelve hours later after hitting the hay and there's already MORE mentions of SJW/OSR politics.... ah fuck it, it's TheRPGSite, of course that would happen.

Quote from: jeff37923;1055812(Yes, yes I know. The Gall of Me saying that. Yet have you noticed that I'm only an asshole to those that are an asshole to me first?)

One of the beautiful I've started to appreciate while I'm here in LA (and CA as a whole -- maybe it's different in other states?) is how polite people are here. And other than simple manners (which compared to the UK are in abundance!), as far as I can tell its because there's the very real chance if you act an ass or decide to lose your mind on someone, there's a very real possibility that you'll just get a slug put through your head. It's a pretty effective antidote to human nature, I think.

Ah, and for you Jeff, I'm sure you'll appreciate the message of this video, your being a self-confessed asshole to other assholes. I remember seeing this back in uni years ago. I like to think of it as the "Concealed Carry Philosophy". (Now, I am sharing with you and this site some Black Culture, so just making sure that's clear and respect is maintained)

[video=youtube;_Fzq2YXhuLk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fzq2YXhuLk[/youtube]

Quote from: fixable;1055782I'm a what you would call a  SJW...  if being a SJW means that I want EVERY human being on this planet to be treated with respect. I Will fight for that. That's my definition of a SJW.

If you believe that every human being deserves to treated with respect just because they are an individual human being, that's not what I'd call a SJW (and not what I've heard any other self-proclaimed SJW's believe). Rather, other SJWs appear to believe that some human groups on this planet should be treated with respect (groups based on arbitrary lines drawn between different skin colors , genders, etc.) and that others should not.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1055850One of the beautiful I've started to appreciate while I'm here in LA (and CA as a whole -- maybe it's different in other states?) is how polite people are here. And other than simple manners (which compared to the UK are in abundance!), as far as I can tell its because there's the very real chance if you act an ass or decide to lose your mind on someone, there's a very real possibility that you'll just get a slug put through your head. It's a pretty effective antidote to human nature, I think.

Robert E. Howard agrees!

Quote from: REHCivilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.

Let's be sure to keep this on the subject of the RPG hobby!

Quote from: RPGPundit;1054480What's the gaming scene like where you live? Vibrant? Dead? Somewhere in between?  Full of 5e newbies? Lots of Old School? What?

Quite vibrant, from what I've seen.

In Birmingham, UK, we have a couple of Games Stores (Wayland's Forge, Forbidden Planet), a twice-yearly convention (Spaghetti Conjunction), a gamers' cafe (Geek Retreat), a few RPG clubs and a smoking RQ Group. I know of probably 20 people who play RPGs in the Birmingham area, that doesn't sound much, but I probably only know a handful of people in the area outside work and RPGing.

Quote from: jeff37923;1055772So the state of the hobby in your neck of the woods is that you are experiencing schedenfreude over something posted by a guy who isn't even here any more? That axe must be razor sharp after being ground for so long.

I already answered that part of the topic. I didn't want to start a brand new thread to engage in schedenfreude, so I thought this spot was fine. He's a poster here, and has said the same things here, and it was a prediction about what he thought the state of the hobby would be in a post-5e world that we've arrived at now and are discussing in this thread. Wasn't sure where to put it really. Sorry if it distracts from the topic. Happy to erase it if it bugs people. Then you (as in the collective you) can go back to discussing SJW and classic liberals...in a topic about the state of the hobby in your neck of the woods.

Quote from: Mistwell;1056131I already answered that part of the topic. I didn't want to start a brand new thread to engage in schedenfreude, so I thought this spot was fine. He's a poster here, and has said the same things here, and it was a prediction about what he thought the state of the hobby would be in a post-5e world that we've arrived at now and are discussing in this thread. Wasn't sure where to put it really. Sorry if it distracts from the topic. Happy to erase it if it bugs people. Then you (as in the collective you) can go back to discussing SJW and classic liberals...in a topic about the state of the hobby in your neck of the woods.

OK, you got your dig in on FrankTrollman and The Gaming Den, you proved them wrong. My question for you is, when has FrankTrollman and The Gaming Den ever been right?

Here in Columbus The Guardtower opened second location in the suburbs, bringing the number of game stores to a dozen or so. From what I have noticed about other cities, Columbus is some sort of mecca for game shops. 5th Edition is by far the most popular RPG, Warhammer 40k is very popular, Magic is everywhere, there are a couple DCC RPG weekly's at game stores. Lots of people playing RPGs that don't fit the stereotype, which is nice. I keep getting invited to play in groups from people I have passing acquaintances with after they find out I game, which sucks because I always have a scheduling conflict. Although it is nice to know that once I quit my job, I'll have lots of gaming options!

Quote from: jeff37923;1056169OK, you got your dig in on FrankTrollman and The Gaming Den, you proved them wrong. My question for you is, when has FrankTrollman and The Gaming Den ever been right?

LOL touche.

This is all interesting to me in the sense that I think in North America (and maybe England) the vibrancy of local gaming communities seems very dependent on the condition of Local Gaming Stores.

Whereas in places where the hobby emerged without the availability of Local Gaming Stores, the gaming community doesn't depend on them.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1056444This is all interesting to me in the sense that I think in North America (and maybe England) the vibrancy of local gaming communities seems very dependent on the condition of Local Gaming Stores.

Not in London, no. We typically play in pubs, & the two real gaming stores in all of London are not particularly important. They're not gathering or social spaces. At most they're places where newbies can be told what D&D books to buy.

Maybe in the North where land is cheaper and the bar culture is less conducive to playing games than in southern English pubs, the FLGS may be more important. There is a bit of that in Edinburgh. I might run a D&D game in a Sheffield pub, but any further north (Newcastle/north-east England, Scotland, Northern Ireland) I don't think the culture would be conducive, it's closer to US bar culture.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1056444This is all interesting to me in the sense that I think in North America (and maybe England) the vibrancy of local gaming communities seems very dependent on the condition of Local Gaming Stores.

Where I live, which has quite a few retail game stores, there is also a new phenomena of Game Cafes. Which are businesses that provide food and beverages and tables, and some of them rent games, but they don't sell games. While there are several of these cafes here, I've only been to one and it was nice; much nicer than playing in a game store. And it was packed with people of all ages and backgrounds playing RPGs, boardgames, and CCGs. And there were some (not many) people who were just there to hang out with their friends and talk over coffee and empanadas (this particular store makes and sells empanadas), but they may have just been waiting on more people to show up before playing a game.

In my lifetime, right now is the best time period for playing RPGs. Not only is it easier than ever to find people to play games with, but it's a lot easier to find decent people to play games with. Socially terrible body odor dorks are out, regularly showering normies are in.

However! People don't seem to play a range of games here. 5th Edition, Pathfinder, and Fate seem to be the go-to RPGs. Warhammer is by far the main army game (not surprising). Back in the day, Vampire and Rifts were really popular, but no one plays either of them anymore. While Magic used to be the moneymaker for game stores, boardgames seem to have eclipsed CCGs. In my last post on this thread, I mentioned that one of the game stores here opened a second location; the second location sells mainly boardgames, Warhammer, and various minis and paint. But the boardgames fill the most shelves. RPGs were only on one shelf that I remember, and that was mostly 5th edition and Pathfinder. I asked if they could get DCC RPG dice sets and was told that their distributor doesn't carry them. I was deeply saddened by that news.  

So I guess while the tabletop gaming hobby is active and healthy, it is also changing.