I'll make a fantasy setting where all the fantasy ancestries are pacifist vegetarians who resolve cultural disputes through a UN Olympics of Arts and Crafts and Sex Orgies. Whoever is voted by committee as the most pleasing wins the titular title 'greater share of granola' -- on expectation that they are gratious enough to redistribute it back as the virtuous beings they are. The system's resolution mechanics will be based on construction paper crafts and slash fan fiction purple prose.

Who wants to Patreon my Kickstarter on the Tindr/Grindr webs?

Quote from: Kiero;1036219Except that Alexander and Xerxes weren't aided by a massive die-off of their opposition, caused by disease which ran well ahead of their armies.

Half a million Persian soldiers died of an unspecified plague during the invasion of Greece, and we know of a variety of diseases endemic to central Asia that may have been killing people off when Alexander invaded. We don't have a lot of records of Achaemenid Persia, though. But Arab conquests were certainly aided by the Plague of Justinian, and the bubonic plague gave the Mongols a leg up. The Spanish Empire was hardly the first to be aided by fortuitous weakening of the people they conquered (whether by disease or warfare)...this is the norm, not the exception, in history.

Quote from: fearsomepirate;1036229Half a million Persian soldiers died of an unspecified plague during the invasion of Greece, and we know of a variety of diseases endemic to central Asia that may have been killing people off when Alexander invaded. We don't have a lot of records of Achaemenid Persia, though. But Arab conquests were certainly aided by the Plague of Justinian, and the bubonic plague gave the Mongols a leg up. The Spanish Empire was hardly the first to be aided by fortuitous weakening of the people they conquered (whether by disease or warfare)...this is the norm, not the exception, in history.

True, but there's a subtle distinction between disease weakening armies, and wiping out native populations. The death rate in the Americas has been estimated at 90-95% of the native population. That's post-apocalyptic, where in Europe/Asia plagues were rarely so deadly.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1036161Gosh, is it "Bullshit O'Clock" again?

This subject was not interesting 40 years ago.  It has not improved with age.

Well, half the respondents here seem to have bitten right at that lure, swallowed hook line and sinker and are nibbling up the line like they are desperate to swallow the whole line, rod, and fisherman as well, so it is apparently still attractive.

Quote from: Omega;1036186Orcs in O and BX D&D were never allways evil. Moreso because there was no "evil" alignment. In OD&D they could also be neutral as per rules listing. And in BX they just tended to the bad behavior.

Yes, alignment as in team good v team bad, and y'know, being 'alignment' not 'genuine (proscriptive) moral attribute.'

Quote from: Dimitrios;1036135I've noticed a number of front page posts over there that are basically trolling. As the year long gap in my posting here suggests, I haven't been paying attention to online rpg forums for a while. Is this a recent trend?

Talien's posts are probably the worst in this respect but, frankly, ever since Morrus decided to dog whistle for "inclusiveness" the place has taken on a bit of a stench - changing the colour scheme to include purple will, of course, signify the end.

But Talien's posts are remarkable for deceptive headlines, a complete lack of understanding of the topic ("my ignorance is just as important as your expertise!"), and for dog whistling to his fellow travellers on the lunatic left. Of course, he generates traffic so Morrus keeps providing this self-described "communicator" with an online soapbox.

Quote from: Kiero;1036237True, but there's a subtle distinction between disease weakening armies, and wiping out native populations.

Athenian plague. Bubonic plague. Plague of Justinian. It's completely irrelevant to the comparison, though, so I don't know why you brought it up in the first place.

We also know so little about about epidemics prior to about the 3rd century AD that insisting we know they weren't a factor in conquests of 600 BC to 300 BC seems awfully pretentious.

I propose a rule:

First person to say orcs1 represent black people2 is a racist.

1. drow, Klingons, Kree, Ferengi, etcetera
2. Native Americans, Asians, Muslims, Jews etcetera

Quote from: fearsomepirate;1036252Athenian plague. Bubonic plague. Plague of Justinian. It's completely irrelevant to the comparison, though, so I don't know why you brought it up in the first place.

We also know so little about about epidemics prior to about the 3rd century AD that insisting we know they weren't a factor in conquests of 600 BC to 300 BC seems awfully pretentious.

The Athenian plague only affected one city. The bubonic plague (which includes the Plague of Justinian, it was just another wave of the same thing) wiped out about a third of the population. Not over 90%.

Losing a third of your population is damaging (and can spark revolutions and major societal change), but is survivable. Losing 90%+ is crippling, that's civilisation-collapse level of loss, which is what was experienced by the civilisations in the Americas.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1036243Well, half the respondents here seem to have bitten right at that lure, swallowed hook line and sinker and are nibbling up the line like they are desperate to swallow the whole line, rod, and fisherman as well, so it is apparently still attractive.

People still argue on the internet about Star Wars versus Star Trek.  *shrug*

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1036281People still argue on the internet about Star Wars versus Star Trek.  *shrug*

You should see the look on their faces when you tell them you haven't seen the latest movies nor have any intention of watching them.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1036281People still argue on the internet about Star Wars versus Star Trek.  *shrug*

Star Wars fans are allowed to be wrong.

Quote from: Kiero;1036279The Athenian plague only affected one city. The bubonic plague (which includes the Plague of Justinian, it was just another wave of the same thing) wiped out about a third of the population. Not over 90%.

 Losing 90%+ is crippling, that's civilisation-collapse level of loss, which is what was experienced by the civilisations in the Americas.

None of this is relevant to the point of comparison. Obsessing over a point of dissimilarity when somebody compares two things that have a point of similarity doesn't really add anything to the discussion.

Quote from: Mistwell;1036132From the Killing in the name of Advancement thread on EnWorld, which in itself has some whopper statements even in the opening post, we get this lovely sentiment from Shidaku;

"I hate to suggest that there may indeed be forms of badwrongfun, but I raise some serious eyebrows and some of the ways people talk about games of "kill the orc". I find it strange that people can "have fun" in games that are about little more than killing as many other humanoids (of the wrong color of course) as possible. The fact that many fantasy races stem from stereotypes, exaggerations or mockeries of real people makes me raise eyebrows even further. Whether these people realize it or not, they are "having fun" essentially killing real people who are wearing a funny rubber mask, a rubber mask, I might add, placed on that real person by someone with a decidedly poor or warped view of those real people."

The thread raises the larger questions about the ethics of just killing evil things rather than trying to stop humanoids in non-murderous ways.

Thoughts on that theme in RPGs?

Probably right.

If all you do in a game is kill a certain type of creature, then your PC is probably racist, as the PC discriminates against that creature, acts differently around that creature and probably ticks all the racist boxes, when racism is broadened to inlcude different creatures. Even if you have a religious or social duty to so it, that would still count.

It probably doesn't make the player racist but the PC, sure.

Now, the question perhaps shouldn't be "Does this make the PC racist?" but "Does it matter?" If I play a racist, is that particularly wrong? If an actor plays a racist character, is the actor wrong? To me, it is the same thing. Now, if I played a racist PC in every game I played, then I would have a problem as a player/person, but playing the occasional racist is not an issue, in the same way that playing a mass murderer, thief, hooligan or whatever is a problem.

Quote from: fearsomepirate;1036229Half a million Persian soldiers died of an unspecified plague during the invasion of Greece, and we know of a variety of diseases endemic to central Asia that may have been killing people off when Alexander invaded.

That's what happens when you piss off Apollo, the same thing happened in the seige of Troy.

Rangers are so racist in 1E AD&D that they get damage bonuses for their racism.

Dwarves are ALL racist. Every last one. Hence their combat bonuses.

Hang on. Is it racist to call an entire race racist?

Is this just silly?

Shall we just play Scrabble or is that ableist and non-inclusive to the dyslexics?