Gothic Earth lives again! Here's a new Ravenloft setting!

[Sorti]

Eastern Europe is BAAAADDD. Russia is even worse.... Lenin started it all in my opinion.

I would softly advise against meddling too much modern politics in the setting. Of course being the real world in 2012 a big part of it can't be avoided, but it would be better to keep it as neutral as possible. For instance, I suppose the President of Russia would be Vladimir Putin, but writing him up as a criminal darklord and/or pawn of the Red Death would be quite offensive.

(btw, the quote is not particularly guilty on this, it's just what started my mental associations chain )

[HuManBing]

Seconded. The general feeling in games seems to be waiting until a safe period of time has passed since the controversial historical figure.

Rise of Nations, an otherwise realistic nation-building simulation game, specifically directed the cut-off date to be 1900 or so. Thus, even leaders who were undeniably powerful (like Mao, Stalin, Lenin, etc.) but whose 20th-Century legacies were still seriously controversial to the living memory, were omitted in favor of Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, Qin Shi Huang, and Wu Di.

A similar rule for Gothic Earth Eternal could work well - the people from history are drawn from 1890s or earlier in their prime (putting them safely beyond the controversy of living memories). The setting's twist is to place them in the modern day and see how they fare and what they're up to.

[Joël of the FoS]

Fom what I saw, it is indeed the case. It wouldn't be fun anyway to involve current politics (and religion) in the mix, too controversial, since people get weirdly emotional over these issues and lack a sense of humor, or a "it's justs a game" feel.

Reminds me when someone came to the Kargatane a while ago to complain how vistani were badly portraying real life romanis...

Back to Caligula

Joël

[HuManBing]

It wouldn't be fun anyway to involve current politics (and religion) in the mix, too controversial, since people get weirdly emotional over these issues and lack a sense of humor, or a "it's justs a game" feel.

Reminds me when someone came to the Kargatane a while ago to complain how vistani were badly portraying real life romanis...

Specific to that issue, I think it's a good idea to avoid controversy not because the opposition may be unfounded, but specifically because there may be some cases where they have a point.

Again, this hold differently for personal gaming groups. If you can handle issues like racial tensions, ethnic strife, and other historically sensitive treatments, then by all means do that for your own group. The problem comes when it's broadcast over a wider public audience in a product that has some greater element of official sanction to it.


Political correctness and sensitivity to cultural differences is a way to prevent offense in the public sphere - and a semi-official fan-made web product arguably falls into that category. It should not limit what you do or say in the private sphere - and a gaming group is an example of that.

[MadStepDad]

Love it. Still think it’s very similar to Urban Arcana, just with some “Ravenloft” vernacular thrown in, but I love it and support it 2 the death. Certainly an ambitious project, one I even tried to pull off myself. I applaud the effort and would love to contribute in anyway. Here’s an idea I had to remix all the old RL modules into “Urban Arcana – Gothic earth eternal – or, as I called it, “Masque of the Red Death Millenium version”…

Ravenloft (I6) / House of Strahd / Castle Ravenloft : something to do with Vlad Dracul & Transylvania obviously… the storyline could even be imported, just substituting “choking smog” for choking fog.

Touch of Death – Egypt, maybe even something to do with the first leak of the Red Death – as spoken of in the original MotRD 2E Box… I believe they said it originated with some dark magic in Egypt – maybe this adventure brings the characters full circle to that point.

Night of the Walking Dead – Undead LA gangbangers come back from the grave to wreak havoc under the direction of a mysterious force… adventure is also a metaphorical exploration of inner-city Black gang culture infiltrating white suburbia…

Thoughts of Darkness – this one would be really hard to transfer (for my little brain anyways)… needs some high-powered Russian or German scientists or terrorists or something… and the illithid/god brain/Ctuhulhu revelation at the end would definitely require a madness check or something… but this is an international nuclear arms race (North Korea? Iran?) in which players must beat the bad guys to the punch and find the secret missile building bunker first…

The Evil Eye – Mardi Gras! And all kinds of cool stuff like the serial killings, dog fights and even gambling river cruise scene can be kept intact… and the idea of Nathan Timothy being from the “Old South” days of cotton fields, tobacco and legalized lynching’s has some real *BITE * to it! Mwahahahaha!

Castles Forlorn , Neither Man Nor Beast, Hour of the Knife, Shadow of the Knife, Howls in the Night and my own The Strange Story of Darkangnon Estates (2004) (see http://www.FraternityofShadows.com) can easily be adapted into situational or setting-specific adventures (London, Island of Dr Moreau, somewhere in isolated Scotland… etc) with little work.

That's all I remember off the top of my head...

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Get those entries in, only 2 days left! You don't want to disappoint Caligula!

[Le Noir Faineant]

Even though it's "only" a fanbook, I am excited about this one, more than about any other recent RPG-related release.

Ya rawk, guys!

[Abbot Suger]

"Sigh"

This has been bothering me since the other night, when I read the comments. I did not want to cause a scene or offend someone.... I apologize... for now on, I will only talk about werewolves ripping heads off, alchemists who dabble in the art of putting body parts together then reanimating them and Liches who command legions of zombies that leave a trail of carrion in their wake....

Guys I understand how sensitive some people might be.... Then I also have visited blogs on other sites and the inhabitants of those sites are relentless in their insults of one another....

How can we a play a game and avoid whats happening now or or in the last 60-70 years (too late for that with Joseph Mangele) and justify it by saying that "lets push the references back to the 1890's"... I know of some family history of my own from that time period, (native American Land dealings) that while it doesnt offend me could offend others in my situation... but at the same time make for great story telling thesis... all I am saying is, is that we all are/ should be adults on this site..... with that said if I get out of hand feel free to let me know... On the boards or by PM.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Comrade, I am not at all sure what you mean, and, though there are no ways "to play a RPG right or wrong",
I think you're missing the point.

Historical roleplaying, by its nature, is based on historical truths, or, at least truthiness,
and depends on the decency of the gamers to not become a farce.
However, there is a certain degree of leverage that one has to give to history in fiction, overall.

- Or, do you see the Germans protest every time a new Call of Duty comes out?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Fear not, Abbot Suger, if you'd been out of line, you would have been alerted. Generally speaking, we're a pretty easy-going lot.


But as mentioned, using real-world politics and events in a personal game is different than doing so in a published work. Even though this is a fan-made netbook, we try to hold our netbooks up to the standards of a published book in that regard. Yes, by nature of this book, which is set in the present day on a world very much like our own, we can't 100% avoid the state of our present world. But we can try to handle it with as much tact and restraint as possible. It's a fine line to be sure, and time makes everything less impactful. So I don't think we're going to offend Mengele or his devotees here (and if we do, so be it. I think we can almost universally agree that history has judged him as a bad guy at this point.) It would be quite a different thing if we chose a living and active political leader as one of these darklords, even if we, as a group, disagreed with their policies.

Everyone's got their hot-button topics, and we may never succeed at not offending everyone. And offending someone is sometimes necessary in the world at large, to effect change, etc. But this is a game setting, not a manifesto. Personally, I can think of many odious people out there in the public eye that I think deserve to be darklords, for real. But I'm not going to propose them for this book, because it's not the place for it.

Anyway, entries for Caligula are in. The deliberation is ongoing. We should have a winner and a next darklord announced shortly, I hope.

[Abbot Suger]

Le Noir Faineant,

"Comrade" That was clever... LOL.

"Historical roleplaying, by its nature, is based on historical truths, or, at least truthiness, and depends on the decency of the gamers to not become a farce." The way I see it is that The Red Death and Jade Horror might just exsist however until it is proven that it does then it would be, tough to call what the good folks on this site are doing "Historical Role Playing" motivated... I concede that there is without question there are some factual details about the material... If there were not some measure of supernatural associated with Ravenloft then it would just be another stroll through th country side.

"However, there is a certain degree of leverage that one has to give to history in fiction, overall"... or how else would it be relevant, I agree!?

"do you see the Germans protest every time a new Call of Duty comes out?" Actually I will PM you about this one... I lived there for 10 years and perhaps I have a different take on things...


Ron,

"Everyone's got their hot-button topics, and we may never succeed at not offending everyone. And offending someone is sometimes necessary in the world at large, to affect change, etc" This is exactly what I am basically trying to say thank you for helping by saying this... I was just for roleplaying sake a little worked up over it... I can tend to blab, blab, and be long winded, especially when I feel passionate about something. Isnt ironic about how a phrase (which I did not see garnering the reaction it did) can just ruin a whole weekend?

[Le Noir Faineant]

Good morning,

First off, please use proper forum layout and orthography.
Your posts are a mess to read because of that alone.

Second, so what exactly is your point? In one or two sentences, please?
Because, really, it comes off to me as simple random ranting, to which I would reply, with all kindness,
post less, and lurk more. If you care to read what people write here, you should see that people here
have a way more sophisticated approach to those topics than you seem to have. High-concept roleplaying
is really like driving a motorbike: Just because you cannot do it, that doesn't mean there aren't people out there who can.

Third, you have lived in Germany, and I am German. And we don't bitch about Call of Duty.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Le Noir, this is an official moderator warning: Be nice to the new guy. You're a long time poster here, and well respected, but that doesn't make you the posting police. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but your last post comes off as extremely condescending and rude. (and after I'd just said "we're an easy-going lot.")

Abbot Suger, I encourage you to continue posting, though let's leave this thread for discussion of Gothic Earth Eternal, and specifically the contest. If we want to continue discussing the pitfalls of historical roleplaying in general, open up a new thread.

[Abbot Suger]

Ron,

Thank you. I did not feel insulted. I actually expected this kind of a reception being the "noob". I guess I should have looked before I lept or simply PM'ed one of guys, my thoughts. Buzzing through the other threads I have noticed a lot of 100 and 101 FAQ type stuff to reference. I do tend to get rambunctious at times. Sorry.

[Five]

Anyway, entries for Caligula are in. The deliberation is ongoing.

Pharmaceutical mega-giant who creates diseases and sells "treatments"!

heh

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