My desires and tastes influence my games. I believe in heroism, pure and simple, that doesn't mean I expect everygame to be about that, but it is a reason why I run "hero only" oriented games. I don't mind falls, and redemption, but the goal has to be heroism in the end. I rather like and enjoy the concept of people taking fate in their own hands and making a difference in the world. On the other hand--how much can that be done in real life?  

There are themes and topics I won't address because they're not appropriate to address in a past time--for fun. They might be discussed, considered, or otherwise examined, but not in a game context.

My god, Sett's getting a heart attack reading this thread.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David R;295115My god, Sett's getting a heart attack reading this thread.

Regards,
David R

With any luck...



I keed! I keed!


TGA

Beware TGA, if you refer to Sett, three times in a row....he appears.

As to the OP, droog asked something similar some place else.

Here's what I said.

QuoteBrother, I'm sure you are aware that my um preoccupations , find their way into my games. But it's always in the form of questions. I don't run games to teach or educate or inform, for that matter. The most interesting "entertainments" ask questions, I don't see why rpgs should be exempt....IMO etc.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David R;295115My god, Sett's getting a heart attack reading this thread.

Regards,
David R

David,

 Refresh my memory here: why woud Sett being have a K'niption fit with this thread?

 He doesn't post as often as he used to.


- Ed C.

Ed, Sett believes that in rpgs themes and adventures are mutually exclusive.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: RPGPundit;295049So, are you an optimist? A pessimist?

A: An optimist who many times turns into a pessimiust when I let things get me down.
 I TRY to be an optimist.

QuoteDo you think everything that can go wrong will?

A: Sometimes, but not always. Sometimes all the surprises are GOOD ones - but even that can throw you for a loop and make you say 'What the FuQ ?!?!'


 

QuoteDo you believe in humanity?

A: Kind of, yes. In general humanity has the capacity and potential to be REALLY good.  (That has to be encoyraged and helped at times)

QuoteDoes humanity suck in your eyes?

A: NO, see the above answer. Humanity itself does not 'suck, indivual humans can be sucky people. (its really an effort resisting a natural pun with this question...)

QuoteAnd in all these cases, how does your personal view of the world end up affecting how your games work?

A: My campaign settings tend to be places where herpic deeds are possible but they're mostly inhabited by what might be considewred average folk. If there are really BRIGht, capable individuals in them - sometimes those characters don't know until others help them see it ...or circumstances let them shine or rise to the occassion.

 

QuoteDoes it affect their themes?

Yes, but many of 'campaign themnes' wound up being accidental or were stumbled upon me around the 3rd or 5th session of the campaign. Except maybne my BANESTORM campaign - bettween the 1st session and the 2nd I knew what thew zubtle theme was going to be. Or at least the undercurrent of what I was hoping to lay in there. It mostly worked out too. My player who usually HATES fantasy settings and magic liked what went on.


 

QuoteOr their very universal laws?

A: Universal Laws? Niot sure where you going withg that question , Pundit. I do have universal laws in my settings - like slavery is assumed to be bad, everyone should have freedom and rights(even clones, cyborgs, androids and sentinent robots)

QuoteAlternately, did you have encounters with other GMs who's personal philosophies clearly affected their games?

A: Oh hell yes. There are some GMs I've met who I KNOW I could never be a player in their campaigns. I honestly feel sorry for their players when I meet them. If I'm at the store I sometimes have to bite my tongue about that. Although, If I see a player that wants to GM and they seemn to have a good attituide or the right attituide - I'll helkp them out as much as I can.

QuoteAnd did it suck?

A: See the above answer.

Its very difficult for me to trust other GMs/ DMs if I am going to be a player.


- Ed C.

Quote from: RPGPundit;295049So, are you an optimist? A pessimist? Do you think everything that can go wrong will? Do you believe in humanity? Does humanity suck in your eyes?

And in all these cases, how does your personal view of the world end up affecting how your games work? Does it affect their themes? Or their very universal laws?

Alternately, did you have encounters with other GMs who's personal philosophies clearly affected their games? And did it suck?

RPGPundit

Not sure what the first paragraph has to do with the topic, but the answer to the topic question is yes. This i think is a good thing.

Sure.

I believe that there aren't really "forces of history" or any nonsense like that. I think that it's all about what humans choose to do, and that small groups of annoying people create most significant change in the world, both good and bad.

Luckily, this is one of the themes of most heroic fiction that players have in mind when they sit down to play. I mean, if you want a long boring story where all your actions are futile and don't affect the world as a whole, you have your own life, you don't need to roleplay. You want your character to be remembered, to have made a difference - good or bad.

I think the "force of history" is the weight of circumstances plus the choices made by people with motivations. This is pretty freaking essential stuff to consider and understand if you're going to have any kind of RPG campaign with a "timeline".

RPGPundit

Quote from: David R;295122Ed, Sett believes that in rpgs themes and adventures are mutually exclusive.

Regards,
David R

My answer in droog's thread on the other site was as a game designer, not as a GM. I think that themes are something that belongs on a group level, not a design level. That's a common occurance with me, though...

-clash

Quote from: RPGPundit;295049[H]ow does your personal view of the world end up affecting how your games work? Does it affect their themes? Or their very universal laws?

I seem to differ from most other posters in this thread.  My fantasy settings and campaigns invariably differ pretty radically from my actual beliefs, values, and principles.

I'm a thoroughgoing social liberal.  Politically, I'm firmly committed to universal human rights, individual liberty, and democratic systems of government (despite their frequent dysfunctional quirks, I agree with Churchill that "democracy is the worst system of government yet invented -- except for all the others".).  In contrast, most of my fantasy settings are ones in which tyranny is the norm, and even the 'good' realms are rigidly hierarchical and, by contemporary standards, quite oppressive (e.g., no 'religious liberty').  I find fantasy settings in which liberal social and political norms can be found (e.g., Forgotten Realms) either obnoxious or silly.

I'm also a 'rationalist' (in the common sense of that word -- i.e., I think that reason is the only reliable guide to knowledge -- not the more specific epistemological/philosophical sense) and an atheist. I don't think that we have any plausible reasons for believing in any supernatural entities or forces (whether God, magic, astrology, pixies, or whatever), and many good reasons for not believing in such supernatural entities or forces.  Yet my fantasy settings -- as the word 'fantasy' indicates! -- are filled with magic, mystery, active gods, destiny, and so forth.  

Fantasy gaming, for me, is an escape from reality.  I'm happy to leave my actual beliefs and commitments "in the office," so to speak, when I crack out the dice for a session of old school D&D.

Akrasia : one doesn't have to portray an ideal governement/religious organization/social order to fit the "does your perspective of life affect your game worlds?" proposition. If you create a setting where monarchies are prevalent while being opposed to monarchism it doesn't necessarily mean you're muting your beliefs. You could use this setting for a very opinionated satire. It's a bit like the sci-fi genre which has been used as much as an anticipation medium as a social comment one.

Quote from: boulet;295276... If you create a setting where monarchies are prevalent while being opposed to monarchism it doesn't necessarily mean you're muting your beliefs. You could use this setting for a very opinionated satire....

Yeah, I understand that.  Even though, in my settings 'good' monarchies really are legitimate, given the metaphysical assumptions of the settings in question (which, obviously, differ very much from my metaphysical beliefs about the real universe).

I'm simply too ham-fisted in my DM'ing to try to convey any kind of satire.  (Maybe in WFRP, where the hard work already has been done for me.)

Quote from: boulet;295276Akrasia : one doesn't have to portray an ideal governement/religious organization/social order to fit the "does your perspective of life affect your game worlds?" proposition. If you create a setting where monarchies are prevalent while being opposed to monarchism it doesn't necessarily mean you're muting your beliefs. You could use this setting for a very opinionated satire. It's a bit like the sci-fi genre which has been used as much as an anticipation medium as a social comment one.

Another possibility is that you design the fantasy setting to cohere with your notions about how the world works without making it simply a utopian version of your desired form of government. For example: I am not a monarchist but my settings do feature monarchies. However, those monarchies function in manner that I find plausible based on my understanding of how the world works.

Another example:

I have a friend who believes in some variant of the "Great Man" theory of history. He genuinely believes that strong-willed individuals dominate the world around them regardless of social forces that they may encounter. So in the games he runs, the socio-political elements and customs of the setting are really just trappings and stage decoration because the strong-willed individualistic NPCs are not going to be constrained by them in any particular way. For example, none of them will be genuinely religious or adhere to the religious morality of the setting, even if ordinary people do so unquestioningly.

Now, these strong-willed individuals might be in a democracy or republic or monarchy or whatever, but it doesn't really matter, even though he himself is mildly in favour of democratic-republican forms of government IRL. The reason it doesn't matter is because he thinks the Great Man idea is more fundamental  to how the world works than his preference for democracy.