Re: [HOE] Father Ramos site

["Kai Tave" <kaitave@harborside.com>]

(Necromancer Games seems to have reinstated
>that particular tradition, though, with their Demons and Devils module...)


Well, even WotC calls them Demons and Devils again, which is basically my
point; nothing really stuck.  The Assassin is back as a prestige class, and
as for T&A artwork, well, Avalanche Games seems to be picking up the slack
there.  So after all that, what were the long-term changes?  I'm not seeing
many.  It's not like it was with, say, EC's horror comics and the Comics
Code Authority.  There was some serious cracking down of content going on
there for years and years.  Authors and illustrators were basically
threatened to follow the code "or else".  Nothing dealing with RPGs has even
come close.

>WotC did the same thing with M:tG. Heck, what's a 3rd Ed. Unholy Strength
go
>for nowadays?


A buck-fifty?  They aren't exactly hard to find.

Yeah yeah, flaming pentagram, yadda-yadda.  Of course, I heard that this
self-professed "expert in the field of magic and occult studies" (with a
degree from Berkley, no less) claimed to have found satanic imagery in the
HOLY Strength card.  So what're ya' gonna do, huh?

>But yeah, a small number of nutbags *does* have an effect on the RPG
>industry, sad to say.

But a lasting one?  One that folks are gonna care about five years down the
line?  I doubt it.  There are bigger fish to fry for even most of the truly
whacked-out to waste a lot of time on Demon.

 I'd hate to see what'd happen if a more mainstream
>audience decided to scrutinize our hobby more closely.


They'd find out that it's really a bunch of folks sitting around a table
eating junkfood and telling stories?

What would happen if a more mainstream audience decided to scrutinize video
games more closely (like they haven't already)?  If they well and truly
SCRUTINIZED, they'd find that it's a pretty harmless diversion.  A great
many of them would probably think it stupid or silly, but I don't get
fantasy sports myself and I've got no problem letting folks field imaginary
baseball teams for fun.

The thing you'd need to get some sort of serious anti-RPG push going on
today is momentum.  There'd need to be a big, serious effort to get it
started, and one thing you can count on with people is apathy.  To convince
a rational (or at least apathetic), mainstream audience that gaming is Bad
and needs to be stopped would take quite a bit of time, effort, and money.
Right now, there are bigger things that folks can use as scapegoats that
don't take as much time or effort to pin the blame on (terrorists, video
games, raves, The Matrix, whatever).

--Kai Tave