Greeting from Sweden yet again!

I don't know how popular KULT: Divinity Lost is outside Sweden, and if American KULT fans have discovered this "subtle" scenario:

https://webshop.helmgast.se/kult/and-the-rockets-red-glare-digital-pdf.html

Now, I'm not all that insightful when it comes to American politics, apart from some stuff I read and hear on alternative media channels, but I vote for the Sweden Democrats (SD), a party that is often maligned in the press and called nazis even though roughly a million Swedes have voted for the party. My point is, that if Helmgast who produces the new KULT, had written a scenario where Jimmie Åkesson, the party leader of the Sweden Democrats, had been portrayed in the same way I would have been pretty pissed off.

Here is an actual play in English of the scenario:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzkX1WQ3W9c

What do you think of all this? A sign of the times?

Edit: an update. I found this review who claims that the scenario is not basic Trump-bashing in any way:

https://kultrpg428229752.wordpress.com/2019/05/21/and-the-rockets-red-glare-scenario-review/

"First of all: This is not a Trump-bashing scenario. This scenario is not that banal or simple. This scenario does not take sides it instead reveals the dark and depressing insight in the KULT-universe that there are no “good” powers looking out for us. It is all a charade that is part of our prison. And Clinton wants to keep us Imprisoned just as much as Trump."

But then I started checking out the author behind the scenario. Jaqueline Bryk. It didn't sound like a Swedish person and after some google-fu it turns out she is from Delaware. She's written quite a bit of tabletop rpg stuff it seems. Then I found her Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RuffleJax

Now, she has suffered from anxiety and other stuff like I have, so I don't want to attack her, really. But her Twitter-account is rather telling about her very strong personal and political viewpoints.

Final edit: I noticed that she's following ANTIFA Philadelphia. Here in Sweden they are regarded as quite violent and to many viewed as a threat to democray, including being mentioned in reports about the violent left from Säpo (The Swedish Security Service). Maybe it's not the same in the US?

I did notice Divinity Lost has some writing that suggests the writers lean a certain way politically but it wasn't extreme enough for me to consider it propaganda.

Quote from: myleftnut;1092085I did notice Divinity Lost has some writing that suggests the writers lean a certain way politically but it wasn't extreme enough for me to consider it propaganda.

Alright, are we talking the core book, other scenarios or the scenario above now?

Funny I just ran into this myself today.  I am also reading another scenario by the same author where they state that mass immigration from Cuba was because of an embargo induced famine as opposed to people fleeing from Castro's shit policies and the likelihood of death under the Communist regime.   I am sure it will not be too long before we get this sort of thing from New Chaosium or a proxy such as Gold Goblin Press.

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1092093Alright, are we talking the core book, other scenarios or the scenario above now?

I'm referring to the core book. I haven't read this new adventure.  Is Clinton a lictor too?

Quote from: myleftnut;1092102I'm referring to the core book. I haven't read this new adventure.  Is Clinton a lictor too?

I think she is, but she plays no part in the scenario as far as I can recall. I just wonder if the same author would have written about lictor Clinton as the central figure instead of Trump, or written about Antifa ledd by razids or lictors? Or the whole woke-movement led by creatures from beyond the illusion? I somehow doubt that, but maybe I'm just being a bit negative.

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1092063Sweden Democrats (SD), a party that is often maligned in the press and called nazis

Wikipedia paints that picture.  SD is nationalist, and populist, and alt-right, and all kinds of other weasel-words.

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1092063Then I found her Twitter:

Good rule of thumb - if a Twitter bio/profile contains someone's pronouns, they're going to be a trash person who subscribe to trash beliefs.

Quote from: KultFirst of all: This is not a Trump-bashing scenario. This scenario is not that banal or simple.

It really is.

There seems to be a common theme among many new/rebooted rpgs, their production companies and their selection of writers. If you really want to get published by them you have to be political, you have to take a stand against something in your written material, you have to fight the good fight or at least be queer, polyamorous or gender-fluid. How can a more conservate scenario/adventure writer even get published today by these companies?

Speaking of Kult, the first Swedish version was free of any virtue signaling. It was made in less sensitive times. The people that got upset where the same people that got upset by heavy metal. The game itself was just body horror, some sex, occultism and gnosticism baked into a big, bloody Clive Barker-cake. Chains, guns, private hells, madness, the veiled Metropolis, abandoned warehouses where unspeakable acts took place and stuff like that.

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1092124How can a more conservate scenario/adventure writer even get published today by these companies?

Fuck 'em.  Self-publish.  There's Lulu, where you can sell .PDF and print-on-demand copies of your work.  DriveThruRPG does the same, but you do run the risk of them censoring or ultimately de-platforming you there if you don't toe the line.

Right now, the only items DTRPG has censored that I can think of are Grim's card game mocking GamerGate and "Tournament of Rapists" from Skortched Urf' Studios "Black Tokyo" line (but, the rest of their stuff appears unmolested).

That's not to say they won't do it again (I'm positive they will), but if you fly under the SJW radar (and, quite frankly, avoid blatantly racist/sexist stuff in your work), you should be relatively OK (both instances above, DTRPG caved to cry-bully demands).  The SJWs will still bitch and lie, but if your stuff is "clean" then, well?  What are they gonna do?  Bitch on Twatter some more?

Amazon also has it's print-on-demand feature (formerly CreateSpace, unsure what it's called now), and folks like Grim have setup their own storefront for selling PDFs, so there's that option, too.

The trad-publlishers still have more of a marketshare, and their economies of scale allow them to do traditional (offset?) print runs, but that's becoming increasingly unimportant as POD technology improves/gets cheaper.

I'm kind of a "it was better in the original, before the plebes knew about it" poseur. So I tend myself to be fond of the older rpg editions. What's the new Kult got that I need?

(As for using ersatz modern politics for modern setting rpg gaming fodder, I'm a fan, especially if it is well done and everyone gets shat upon. Kult, Delta Green, and the like seem perfectly fine places for such speculative adventures, in my opinion. Twisting the knife only makes the screams sweeter. )

Of course that "adventure" is an anti-Trump imbecile screed! LOL.

If Hilary had won (aka Grandma Nixon), that scenario would never have been written, let alone published.

Fuck'em in their pronouns.

Quote from: GIMME SOME SUGAR;1092063Final edit: I noticed that she's following ANTIFA Philadelphia. Here in Sweden they are regarded as quite violent and to many viewed as a threat to democray, including being mentioned in reports about the violent left from Säpo (The Swedish Security Service). Maybe it's not the same in the US?

ANTIFArt and all groups which use violence to promote their political views are terrorists.

Unfortunately, the Left in the USA have been increasingly embracing political violence and I expect this trend to continue.

Quote from: Opaopajr;1092164I'm kind of a "it was better in the original, before the plebes knew about it" poseur. So I tend myself to be fond of the older rpg editions. What's the new Kult got that I need?

Original editions of RPGs are usually the best editions. Later editions may have "cleaned up" rules and perhaps "better art", but invariably they are lacking or devoid of the initial energy that led the original author to create the game from scratch. Rarely do the later editions have fire in their bellies. They mostly feel sterile and committee approved, versus games designed by one nutter with a typewriter who only hoped their idea would find an audience.

I saw no reason to buy the new Kult. It looked like a nostalgic cash grab.

Quote from: Opaopajr;1092164(As for using ersatz modern politics for modern setting rpg gaming fodder, I'm a fan, especially if it is well done and everyone gets shat upon. Kult, Delta Green, and the like seem perfectly fine places for such speculative adventures, in my opinion. Twisting the knife only makes the screams sweeter. )

I don't like mixing politics and gaming. Invariably, one or more players will get offended and then I have to flay their skin off.

I kinda knew this thing would get written sooner or later.  I personally think it's funny.  The disappointment comes from the fact that it was only written because Trump bashing is "soooo hot right now" and no one would have dared publish a Hillary or Obama equivalent.  Are any Trump supporters here actually offended?

Quote from: Opaopajr;1092164What's the new Kult got that I need?  

The consensus is that, besides having very good art, the new edition has better rules than the original.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1092173Original editions of RPGs are usually the best editions. Later editions may have "cleaned up" rules and perhaps "better art", but invariably they are lacking or devoid of the initial energy that led the original author to create the game from scratch. Rarely do the later editions have fire in their bellies. They mostly feel sterile and committee approved, versus games designed by one nutter with a typewriter who only hoped their idea would find an audience.

The Kult : Divinty Lost does not use the original mechanics. It uses  Powered by the Apocalypse.

Quote from: Gagarth;1092206The Kult : Divinty Lost does not use the original mechanics. It uses  Powered by the Apocalypse.

Yup, and considering PbtA is usually great at emulating specific themes, it actually turns Spinachcat theory around it's head.