Fabletop: Failure Is An Option

The board is set.

The pieces are moving.

You go forth to determine the fate of the world.

…You trip and fall to your death in the chasm below.

Also, you pee your pants. That’s not related to anything you were doing, but why not lose even MORE dignity?

Fabletop: You’re Out Of Alignment

So apparently, Orcs are trending on the internet because some people think they’re racist.

Now, I COULD jump on the bandwagon of outrage in one camp or the other in a vainglorious attempt to get more clicks.

But y’know what? It’s not worth it. Instead, have this summary and my take on it because I think knowing SOME of it is educational:

1. The premise: Orcs are presented as inherently violent, brutal, simpleminded and even evil.
   The descriptions here were based on what early colonisers used to describe Africans and other people of colour.
   Therefore, people on the internet decided to get outraged and accused D&D of making the orcs a racist analogy of people of colour. Or, at the very least, accused them of still using racist language “when they should know better”.
2. Yes, old writing for Orcs INADVERTENTLY borrowed from a mostly-white and somewhat-xenophobic time. Gygax got it from Tolkien, Tolkien got it from colonisers.
   Using that language, however, doesn’t automatically make you racist unless you mean it in that way. Just like having a racist grandparent doesn’t automatically make you racist.
   But even if YOU don’t mean it that way, try and be sensitive to others who see it that way. If it IS hurtful to them, then what YOU mean is immaterial, like how if someone accidentally shoots you, it doesn’t matter that they didn’t MEAN to shoot you.
   To take the illustration further: You don’t pick up racist grandpa’s worldview of how “funny looking folk are bad”. However, you accidentally pick up some of the bad words he uses, and THOSE can definitely hurt people. A toddler might pick up the F-word without knowing what it means, but they still shouldn’t be saying it in polite company, after all.
3. Should it be changed to accommodate others? Yes, no, and maybe.
   “Yes” if you want your orcs to have actual depth and motives beyond being fodder to kill guilt-free. That’s not even being politically correct, that’s just writing.
   “No” if your gaming group is fine with them being guilt-free minions to fight (something even modern, critically acclaimed series make use of).
   And “maybe” depending on whether your players are comfortable with it or not.
4. My take? As the Bible says and I sum up: Do not cause others to stumble “just because of my freedoms”. (Romans 14: 13-23)

There. THAT’S done. Now to get to the actual content! I may not be talking about how inherently racist orcs are or are not, but I AM talking about something related: Alignment.

Nature? Nurture? Deeds or motives? What makes something Good, Evil, Lawful, Chaotic, or Neutral?

For that matter, does it actually affect characters in any way?

Fabletop: The Death Tax

Doesn’t matter how tough or swift you made your character. Doesn’t matter what sort of broken, overpowered, totally legal character builds you’ve prepared.

Eventually, bad rolls are going to catch up to you. Eventually, you will bite off more than you can chew (alright, that one is more like “immediately” for most players). Or perhaps, and this is a BIG perhaps, you might be roleplaying character development and having your character give their life for a higher cause.

But mostly you die because of failed dice rolls and overwhelming force and/or numbers.

An Aasimar paladin-druid delivers a divine smite in beast form.

So, what happens when we die? Theologians and scientists will give you all sorts of answers and criteria for considering that question, but thankfully for gamers, games have had more solid rules. Let’s look at them, shall we?

Final Week Fables: Where The Road Leads

Welcome to this month’s story!

So for the past month or so, I’ve been playing in an online D&D group with a friend, finally fulfilling my dream of being a paladin. With that in mind, this month’s story will be based on that. Made more for the players of the game, but hopefully it’ll be good enough for anybody who happens across this!

So, what, pray tell, is the image I am using to frame my character’s story? What IS my character’s story?

‘TIS HAMMER TIME.

Fabletop: Dungeon Day Jobs

A bunch of genocidal kleptomaniacs have just come back from a killing spree after breaking into private property, butchering the inhabitants and stealing their possessions.

They are praised and rewarded further for wiping out the hobgoblin menace.

But what if…the hobgoblins…had lives?