Quote from: Eirikrautha on July 08, 2022, 02:44:36 PM

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on July 08, 2022, 01:46:25 PM
I can support the art as separate from the artist until the artist rubs my nose in it.  Then I can't anymore.  Because when I try, instead of enjoying the art, all I can think about is, "This was made by that SOB that rubbed my nose in it." 

Separating the art from the artist is a two way street, and I don't see much work being done going down the opposite lane.

^ This right here.  Well said!

Yep, this is where I land as well.  Well said.  I got along better with everyone when I didn't have to know what they thought about everything.  I'd be happy to go back to that, as well, but some folks just can't keep their mouth shut.

Also, I'm one of those "big ol' Christians" as well. Been to seminary and was in the pastoral ordination process in case any of you have questions about the Bible, how I reconcile the Old and New Testaments, or if you just want a local punching bag for all the ills that the Church is responsible for.

Between this and Biden's EO, it's shaping up to be a great week for freedom. Love Steve Jackson games, and now, I'll love them even more.

Hey, cheer up, dudes, at least you'll notch a win when Elon buys Twitt... oh.Never mind.

Quote from: RPGPundit on July 08, 2022, 03:58:03 PM

Quote from: Battlemaster on July 08, 2022, 07:35:03 AM
Damn! I always had evil Stevie pegged as a solid conservative.

He was always Libertarian. And always had a big hate-on for the religious right.

Definitely NOT libertarian.  I thought that he was all this time.  Steve Jackson was a law major before joining the game industry.  With his poor grasp of the Constitution, I'm glad that he went into gaming.

The forum here covered on his words on abortion and his friend, Lillith, but he really went weird and crazy, like an anti-Trump Alex Jones or something.  It was pretty short, but  he  presented a lot of irrational conspiracy theories.  For instance: A national tithe?  He heard people in high positions of power talking about it and taking serious measures toward it?  Only if you're hearing little voices in your head. 

Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser on July 08, 2022, 04:13:09 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 08, 2022, 04:05:28 PM
Lev Grossman's The Magicians is much worse. Pullman wanted to oppose Christian themes, but he still had a sense of wonder and imagination. Pullman's worlds are fascinating, wondrous, and terrifying. Grossman just took a big shit on the whole concept of wonder and imagination. His worlds are bland, boring, and poorly thought out. The whole message is that "magic sucks and won't make you happy." What a joyless idiot.

Agreed. The Magicians was the first book I finished in a long time after Pullman or Brown that made me want to hurl it against the wall, and put its author into the "people I will have a very hard time refraining from spitting on if I meet them in person" box.

(Full disclosure requires admitting that a fair bit of my reaction may have come from realizing how much of myself at that age I saw in Quentin Coldwater, both positive and negative. Myself I would have rephrased the theme as "Unlimited wish-fulfillment doesn't facilitate maturity, it retards it," which I think is a point worth making. But Grossman could have made that point with a much less bitter and cynical story.)

The original The Neverending Story novel did that. In the 1970s. It answered the question "what if an unstable child actually got god-like power in a fantasy world?" in the second half. Since it was a children's book Michael Ende could only go so far, but it was the first dark isekai before that became a cliché in Japanese web novels. It's still the best dark isekai ever written anyway. Adding gratuitous sex and torture scenes to make it more "adult" would be pointless.

Quote from: Cathode Ray on July 08, 2022, 06:04:09 AM
Today's announcement from Steve Jackson Games is full-steam partisan/activist/pro-abortion.  I don't care what side you fall on: pro-abortion, or the side that's on the right side of history.  Right to privacy?  Keep your extremism private.

Official word from Steve Jackson, alienating the majority of people.
http://www.sjgames.com/ill/archive/July_08_2022/Roe_v_Wade

They states that they'll donate profits to help murder children.  (Link to the "charity" http://www.lilithfund.org )

I blame Loren Wiseman. The most woke individual working there before woke was ever a thing. He forever poisoned the GURPS well.

I don't have any inside information regarding SJG's politics, but I recall this thread from three years ago.

https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/the-woke-morons-are-going-after-steve-jackson-games/150/

Back then, SJG was in the spotlight for continuing to work with Frog God Games after FGG principal Bill Webb was accused of harassment at PaizoCon.

Quote from: RPGPundit on July 08, 2022, 04:39:39 PM

Quote from: Pat on July 08, 2022, 04:24:44 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit on July 08, 2022, 03:58:03 PM
He was always Libertarian. And always had a big hate-on for the religious right.

People forget that the raid on SJG was instrumental to the creation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, being their first big case. SJG took a hard stance against the government intruding on civil rights.

Here's SJG's summary of the infamous Secret Service raid:
https://www.sjgames.com/SS/

Which makes it especially weird that he's taking a stance in favor of unelected big-government federal bureaucrats getting to have control over abortion rules for everyone in the country.

Many libertarians favor individual rights rather than state-level restrictions. Under Roe v. Wade, the government had less control over the individual citizen. Citizens can choose their own individual abortion rules, rather than have it be imposed by the state.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on July 08, 2022, 07:58:22 PMIt's still the best dark isekai ever written anyway.

Out of curiosity, as a total non-fan of anime, what's a "dark isekai"?

Quote from: Tubesock Army on July 08, 2022, 06:15:02 PM
Between this and Biden's EO, it's shaping up to be a great week for freedom. Love Steve Jackson games, and now, I'll love them even more.

Hey, cheer up, dudes, at least you'll notch a win when Elon buys Twitt... oh.Never mind.

  It you really want to pretend the SCOTUS rulings on guns and roe v wade were not wins, go right ahead.

Quote from: jhkim on July 08, 2022, 09:04:45 PM
I don't have any inside information regarding SJG's politics, but I recall this thread from three years ago.

https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/the-woke-morons-are-going-after-steve-jackson-games/150/

Back then, SJG was in the spotlight for continuing to work with Frog God Games after FGG principal Bill Webb was accused of harassment at PaizoCon.

Quote from: RPGPundit on July 08, 2022, 04:39:39 PM

Quote from: Pat on July 08, 2022, 04:24:44 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit on July 08, 2022, 03:58:03 PM
He was always Libertarian. And always had a big hate-on for the religious right.

People forget that the raid on SJG was instrumental to the creation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, being their first big case. SJG took a hard stance against the government intruding on civil rights.

Here's SJG's summary of the infamous Secret Service raid:
https://www.sjgames.com/SS/

Which makes it especially weird that he's taking a stance in favor of unelected big-government federal bureaucrats getting to have control over abortion rules for everyone in the country.

Many libertarians favor individual rights rather than state-level restrictions. Under Roe v. Wade, the government had less control over the individual citizen. Citizens can choose their own individual abortion rules, rather than have it be imposed by the state.

  Yep,  all the way to 9 months.  Let freedom ring!!!  But thanks for telling us what some libertarians think.

I recall a pro-gay Pyramid article from the early nineties, I may even have the issue in a box in my basement.   SJG was never right wing.  They've never been vocal about their politics but I've always thought they were on the left.  Maybe it was the androgynous character in the AADA California Road Atlas or some material in GURPS Cyberpunk.  There was certainly more than TSR would ever have allowed.

But you know what?

Good on him.  He took a stand on an issue he cared about and used the platform he has to do so.  It's his platform, it's free speech, and while I don't agree with him I will defend his right to take his stand and lose sales be damned if he so chooses.

I don't think it's virtue signaling, he's sincere, angry, and willing to alienate customers to speak his piece.  I respect that.

  So angry he is going to stay put in the state with such offensive positions and super low taxes. 

He's got the right to live wherever he likes and think and say whatever he likes.  But yes, if he wanted to pay more taxes he could spend a fortune and move his operations to California.

Does it belong on a game company's front page?  I've read the Daily Illuminator daily for around 20 years.  Sometimes he posts about non-gaming stuff.  Does Lego belong on a game company's page?  I dunno, it's his page, it matters enough to him to put it there.  Will it impact his sales?  I don't know, we're talking about it here but it's not being discussed on tbp at all, I expect if they did it would quickly devolve into a GURPS hating thread.

Quote from: VisionStorm on July 08, 2022, 09:54:16 AM
Seriously, when I saw that I was like "Jesus, fuck! Could you be a little less on the nose about it than naming your fund after a demon who steals and kills babies?"

I respect Steve's right to support whatever cause he wants, but holy fucking shit this right here.

NOPE. I'm not even 100% anti-abortion, but there's a line, and this is over it.

Quote from: David Johansen on July 08, 2022, 10:16:48 PM
I don't think it's virtue signaling, he's sincere, angry, and willing to alienate customers to speak his piece.  I respect that.

I think it also alienates any employee who thinks independently of the company.  His ideology is all screwed up, too.  I know he's sincere about it, I  not thought for a second he was "virtue signaling" for points, but also, read the piece in the entirety.  SJ's post is mired in the SJW worldview.  He is threatened, as a "white, privileged" person?  Really?  Fearful that the radical court may declare there are two genders (binary)... affirming biological science is radical now.  "Theo-fascist", talking about the right to life like it is only a religious issue and not a human rights issue shared by non-believers as well.  Expressing stereotypical animus for people who hold mainstream religious beliefs.  I champion his right to say this.  Long live free speech.  It lets people show their true colors, and in this case, they are dark.

Quote from: Cathode Ray on July 08, 2022, 11:30:56 PM
I think it also alienates any employee who thinks independently of the company.  His ideology is all screwed up, too.  I know he's sincere about it, I  not thought for a second he was "virtue signaling" for points, but also, read the piece in the entirety.  SJ's post is mired in the SJW worldview.  He is threatened, as a "white, privileged" person?  Really?  Fearful that the radical court may declare there are two genders (binary)... affirming biological science is radical now.  "Theo-fascist", talking about the right to life like it is only a religious issue and not a human rights issue shared by non-believers as well.  Expressing stereotypical animus for people who hold mainstream religious beliefs.  I champion his right to say this.  Long live free speech.  It lets people show their true colors, and in this case, they are dark.

Like many liberals he doesn't really have any clue of what is going on, which makes it worse.

I was never big into GURPS. It's like Savage Worlds, takes too much damned work to flavor it right.