The Human Heart Demands An Adventure

 

I was watching Ben Shapiro's Sunday Special last week.  He had Jordan Peterson on, and the discussion was both fascinating and enlightening.

For gamers especially, the call to adventure is recognizable.  We continually seek adventure through our characters, if not in everyday life.  The mythic struggle that's in all of us, yearning for expression!  It seldom gets talked about, except in games, art, and religion... but it's a vitally important aspect of the human condition.

As I've talked about multiple times, the reason for roleplaying at all is immersion - to feel as though you are there, on some level, taking part in what's happening.  To experience another world and everything that goes with it.  Like the movie Total Recall, you get to vacation from yourself.

There's more than that, of course.  After addressing the ridiculous comparison of Peterson to Red Skull, their discussion veers from psychology to politics to philosophy.  Blogger hides the video if you're on a mobile device, so I'll include a link to the YouTube video right over here.

 BTW, the title of this blog post is a direct quote from the video, around the 8:30 mark.

Please, feel free to post your thoughts below...

VS

p.s. If you haven't joined us on Facebook yet, there's a relatively new place to hang out and discuss what's going on in gaming culture - Conservative OSR & RPG Group.  See you there!

Why OSR Leans Conservative (part 2)

 

Here is part 1 (posted awhile ago).  

Another reason why the OSR feels more conservative is that OSR games assume that GMs, players, and their characters have inalienable rights bestowed upon them by their creator (outside of the Player's Handbook).  These rights are self-evident.  The idea that it's a roleplaying game - you can do pretty much anything!

That's the way the Constitution was framed, how the USA was forged.  We're born free, now let's come up with a few ground rules to make living together easier.

Democrats, and this is more pronounced the farther left one goes, believe or like to pretend that all the rights and liberties a person has is granted to them by the government.  

The rules allow your PC to swing his sword; maybe it's a called-shot or move then strike or just an ordinary attack.  But there's something in the rulebook that makes it possible, rather than it being possible because it's a roleplaying game and everyone should have those rights independent of the rulebook or government authority.

Lucky you, I have another Ben Shapiro video that gave me the idea for this blog post...

I'd love to hear your feedback!  If you have an opinion on this subject, let me know with a comment below...

VS

p.s. I've got about 20 luxurious Cha'alt hardcover books left.  Ordering details here!  Also, keep reviewing Cha'alt and the new one Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise.

Dems Will Burn

  

It's over.  The election, I mean.  Specifically, it's over for Joe Biden.  Old Sleepy Joe probably didn't have it in him anyway, but the last days have put the nail in his presidential campaign.

The line has just been crossed when two unsuspecting police officers were assassinated in their cars yesterday.  Unconscionable evil that continues to plummet down the abyss.

In the minds of ordinary Americans, Black Lives Matter is considered a terrorist group almost to the extent of Antifa.  The Democrats have been backing the wrong horses for awhile now.  And in my opinion, they just tied themselves to utter lawlessness - which is something citizens in a free society can't abide.  

I remember when Democrats thought climate change was going to be the #1 issue in America a year ago.  Ha!  Law and order will probably even beat out the economy, which is usually what people care about as they cast their vote.  

Trump has become the law and order candidate while Biden and Harris have been continuing to fan the flames of racial angst and civil unrest.  Going as far as to intimate that if Biden/Harris didn't win big in November, we'll probably see more protests, more riots, more anarchy in the streets.

Want more information?  Watch the video below...

If you've got something to say, feel free to comment below.  And good luck out there... you'll need it!

VS

Why OSR Leans Conservative

Now, this is, of course, a generalization.  Old school D&D play-styles tend towards a more conservative perspective. 

But why, some of you are asking?  Well, I've had trouble putting my finger on it... always dancing around the issue and never quite getting to the core, the essence.  That is, until today when I watched Ben Shapiro's Sunday Special with George Will. 

It's around the 6:45 mark that things became clear to me: either the exhilaration of an open world or planning things from above.  Those are the two options, or perhaps a mix of both.

Those who prefer old school D&D (and other games) like the inherent uncontrolled chaos, spontaneity, and vast opportunity available with a sandbox style campaign.  It's exciting because anything could happen.  You could get killed in the first encounter... or eventually wind up as King!

Those preferring newer RPGs and play-styles want everything decided ahead of time, equitable, balanced, fair, and more or less predictable.  It's safe, but everyone should get more or less what they expect. 

As in games, so in life.  No wonder there's a culture war going on within the RPG hobby, industry, and community. 

Later, Mr. Will talks about some of the founding fathers of America and framers of he U.S. Constitution, describing them as deists.  I haven't thought about deism for some time, but have always seen the wisdom in that concept. 

"The Deist God is like a rich aunt in Australia... benevolent, but rarely heard from."

Who thinks that GMing is a bit like Deism?  He sets the scene and then just floats away until maybe towards the end, adjudicating from afar.

It's The Dungeon Master style of GMing that I talked about here.

Anyway, I found the entire discussion to be worth listening to.  Perhaps you will, too.

VS

p.s. I still have Cha'alt hardcovers.  Click this link for details!

Game of Thrones finale

Well, I finally got to watch the very last episode of the Game of Thrones tv series... [spoilers ahead!]

If there's one thing we hate, it's this - the subverting of our expectations. 

We expect Luke Skywalker to be hopeful.  Instead, he's a bitter misanthropic hermit who's given up on the jedi.

We expect protagonist Jon Snow to have some kind of agency and the courage of his convictions, but instead he broods about how Dani did some unjustifiable things and Tyrion has to talk our bro into doing what must be done.

And then the dragon melts the iron throne and Snow is kept a prisoner for weeks until he's eventually banished.  Oh, and then Bran the broken (god, that's a horrible name) becomes King of Westeros?  WTF?

I actually like Ben Shapiro's speculative take that Bran is actually like a deep-cover sith lord who knew what was going to happen and just let things take their course so he could be the one to rule over it all.

Anyway, this finale was mildly satisfying - Daenerys got what she deserved.  If you're going to go all genocidal tyrannical dictator, then bitches gots to go down.

Of course, the writers could have stayed the course, allowing Daenerys to be a benevolent and merciful ruler, but the seeds were sown long ago and I'm sure George Martin knew where he wanted things to end.

The whole thing with a Targaryen being born and the Gods flip a coin as the world holds its breath, waiting to see how it will land - that's just fucking awesome!  You really can't have a line as poetic as that in a story as dark, gritty, and betrayal-happy as Game of Thrones without Daenerys eventually going psycho.

There's this dumb twitter handle called "Daenerys deserved better."  Nope.  She deserved worse, actually.  In fact, the show robbed us of catharsis by not telling her to her face exactly why she should be murdered, instead of being allowed to carry out her "liberation" - (read: indiscriminately slaughtering innocent men, women, and children).

Maybe it's because the writers, like most of the Hollywood elites, don't actually believe that a social justice tyrant would be a bad thing.  Perhaps they think that would be beneficial to humanity, being ruled over by a person who thinks that anything - including the mass murder of innocents - is perfectly fine if it means that everyone will be equally squashed under the leader's heel. Yay, egalitarianism, socialism, and communism!

Back when the series began, my wife and I had thought about naming one of our daughters Daenerys (actually, she preferred Khaleesi).  Wow, I'm glad that didn't happen!

I'm hoping the character of Kylo Ren stays villainous and doesn't become some kind of myopic SJW crybaby that feels his own conception of "good" is the only possible objective good for everybody.

Anyways, just wanted to get some stuff off my chest.  End of rant...

VS

p.s. That picture is Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) dressed as Morticia Addams for Halloween a couple years ago.  Wow!