So, after my Obergefell decision rant, David Ross did what I hoped someone would do and asked the next question, "Okay, if you're unhappy with how Obergefell was decided, how should it have been decided? What would you have done differently?" And, although I answered him in the comment thread, about 7 paragraphs in I realized that there was enough content in my response for a full post...so I reprinted it here! There are a few slight changes moving from the comment space to the posting space, but overall content is the same.
Sexual Orientation as a Protected Class
Sexual orientation as a protected class would have been the right way to resolve the issue. Sexual orientation hits all of the issues that make a protected class make sense: immutable characteristic, characteristic is unrelated to issue in question, etc. I understand that Kennedy didn't want to open the floodgates to all of the other protections that would come along with protected class status (workplace discrimination, housing discrimination, adoption/child custody rights, etc.), but that's the whole reason I found the decision to be intellectually vacuous. If "dignity" is the reason that I should be allowed to marry my same-sex partner (should he ever appear), it pretty necessarily follows that "dignity" should also underpin my rights in all of those other arenas as well.
Of course, at that point you are moving away from substantive due process towards an equal protection argument. Creating new protected classes judicially is frowned upon (and I believe that a legislative solution would have been best and was, in fact, inevitable absent the ruling), but there's a good argument for doing so here. My challenge to Kennedy regarding the ruling is to explain the discrepancy. Why does my dignity compel granting marriage recognition but none of the others? It just doesn't make sense!
Gender Discrimination
I'm 50/50 on a gender discrimination perspective. On the one hand, it isn't obviously a gender discrimination issue. On the other, not recognizing it as a gender discrimination issue throws you into the Pace v. Alabama mindset, and that obviously wasn't good for anyone. Ultimately, I prefer the granting of protected class status for just these reasons.
But, the gender discrimination issue also circles back to where I felt the ruling had its shortcomings. When considering gender discrimination from a trans- perspective, it's so much easier to win because the standards for violating gender norms are so much easier to prove. When it's from a sexual orientation as opposed to gender identity perspective, things get a little muddier. All in all, we should be out there advocating for true equal rights and ONLY non-discrimination legislation is going to move that ball across the goal line from a political/legal perspective.
Yet Again, Rich, White Males Were the Real Winners
And, ultimately, that's my other big headache with the ruling. Look, marriage was the signature issue. We played an ace early in the game and now the rest of our hand isn't looking too hot. Because marriage was a great signature issue for the GLBT movement in a few ways that other salient issues aren't. Everybody at least considers the possibility of marriage. It's something that everyone can relate to. Number one, that means that straight people were natural allies because they could identify with the issue. That's huge and that's why there were so many straight people out there supporting the GLBT community on this issue.
But, when you consider the GLBT discrimination issues from a socio-economic perspective, marriage was also the issue that was important to everyone in the GLBT community. You know WHY Kennedy cares about gay marriage rights but not about sexual orientation discrimination? It's because he can see (and, if some rumors are true, actually did experience) the discrimination. But, guess what, employment discrimination isn't something that happens to educated and affluent homosexual men--especially white homosexual men. To quote a senior staffer from the Human Rights Campaign on the issue of GLBT rights, "Twenty years after we get sexual orientation equality, there will be a mass exodus of white, gay men from the Democratic Party." And she's right. So what happened WAS a huge victory is you're "lucky" enough to be the part of the minority that's well-educated and affluent and not going to suffer the other types of discrimination. If you're not? Well, the people who essentially only faced the marriage discrimination issue took their win and left you holding the bag on all of the other issues.
We probably could have gotten a general non-discrimination act related to sexual orientation passed in the next 5-10 years before this ruling. That would have covered marriage AND everything else. With the ruling we got today, I'll push my estimate on when we could see something like blanket non-discrimination protections closer to 25 years.
To summarize: Protected class would have been the way to go and then use equal protection analysis. Marriage is a pyrric victory though because it leaves behind the other discrimination issues that affluent members of the GLBT community are unlikely to face (and therefore care about) and that most non-minorities don't face (and therefore can't empathize with), leaving those who do face workplace, adoption/child custody/etc. discrimination waiting for even longer. I'd hold off on my ability to get married to protect them across the board.
Showing posts with label glbt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glbt. Show all posts
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Friday, June 26, 2015
Obergefell v. Hodges in Gaming Terms
Since this blog focuses on GLBT gaming issues, it's probably a good idea to note larger GLBT issues. And today the big issue is the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. I have mixed feelings about the ruling, so this is a really difficult post to write. Obviously, as a homosexual I am incredibly pleased with the result. Gay marriage is a huge win for the GLBT community and I couldn't be happier that we won. But, from a legal perspective, I think that the case was wrongly decided. Most people that want to talk about dissents in today's ruling will focus on the perennially snarky Justice Scalia. And he did live up to his reputation, saying that the Justice in the majority "see what lesser legal minds--minds like Thomas Cooley, John Marshall Harlan, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Learned Hand, Louis Brandeis, William Howard Taft, Benjamin Cardozo, Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, Robert Jackson, and Henry Friendly--could not" and "The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie." But, more so than even the majority opinion, I believe that Chief Justice Roberts' dissent captures the correct constitutional analysis.
Like Lawrence and Windsor, Justice Kennedy authored the majority opinion in Obergefell. And, like both of those decisions, Kennedy places a lot of emphasis on dignity as a driving factor. 14th Amendment challenges and decisions generally come in three types: due process, equal protection, and substantive due process. Due process means that the laws cannot be arbitrary and that there is space to review them. Basically, everyone gets their day in court. Equal protection means that the laws have to be applied to everyone the same way. Of course, most laws make distinctions between groups of people (prisoners cannot own guns, for example). But the usual standard for making distinctions based on sexual orientation is rational basis meaning that as long as there was any rational basis for the law and it was not motivated solely to punish the class of people targeted, it stands.
Finally, there is substantive due process, which, despite what the opinion says claims, is the real meat of the holding. Substantive due process is actually a really simple idea. Many of our rights are explicitly enumerated in the Constitution and those are easier to deal with. But, there are some rights that aren't but are so fundamental to the ordered function of society that we cannot function as a society without them. Marriage is one of those rights. The right to send your children to the school of your choice is another. To be eligible for substantive due process protection, the rights have to be fundamental, well-recognized, and essential to the functioning of a liberal society. Ultimately, Justice Kennedy found that even as marriage is a protected fundamental right, the right to choose who you entered into a marriage with is also fundamental.
It seems like a good decision and the opinion reads really well. But, substantive due process is one of the most hated legal doctrines out there. And it is, as the Chief Justice rightly noted, rightfully reviled. Today we generally think of those that hate judicial activism (generally code for using substantive due process) as being on the right. But, the most reviled substantive due process case (and arguably the most reviled U.S. Supreme Court opinion) struck down a maximum hours law passed by the state of New York to protect bakery workers' health. It was called Lochner v. New York and in legal circles it's as radioactive as The Dread Scot Case (black people can never be citizens of the U.S.) or Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal is okay). Dread Scot and Plessy are reviled for their outcomes, Lochner is reviled for its methods AND its outcome. In Lochner, the Supreme Court basically just said, "This law is dumb. We don't like it and therefore it must not have a rational basis. So, we'll overturn it."
When you pull off all of the gloss, that's basically what happened today in Obergefell. Do we have a long-standing history of extending the right to marriage to same-sex couples? No. Is there a rational basis for treating same-sex couples differently than opposite sex couples in extending marital benefits? Arguably yes, which means deference to the legislature is appropriate. Now mind you, Justice Kennedy's result is fine. I'm thrilled that I will be able to get married in any state I choose. But, if we're going to make changes to the country's basic playbook based solely on the whims of Justice Kennedy, let's just cast him a crown and be done with it. Chief Justice Roberts has the right of it.
U.S. Constitution = Rulebook
To explain why I find Roberts' position so compelling, let's use an analogy. And, because this is a blog about gaming, that analogy will be to playing a roleplaying game. For the vast sweep of American history, the U.S. Constitution has functioned not as law itself, but as meta-law. Unlike most State constitutions, there's very little actual legislation in the U.S. Constitution. Rather, it's full of rules about how we govern ourselves. The Constitution is silent on what the appropriate level of welfare payments is or what city America should recognize as the capital of Israel. But, it speaks very clearly about how the United States government should resolve those questions. Appropriate welfare payment levels are determined through legislation, which requires the concurrence of both houses of Congress and either the President's signature or a congressional override of a presidential veto. Because the Constitution vests foreign policy in the President's hands, the President gets to decide whether or not Jerusalem is the capital of Israel (at least in the eyes of the United States).
In gaming terms, the U.S. Constitution is like the an RPG rulebook. The rulebook contains all of the mechanics necessary for resolving actions at the table. It also contains rules that deal with optional situations. For instance, the rulebook might give mechanics for dealing with avalanches. The rulebook doesn't say that your adventure has to have an avalanche in it. But, if you do have an avalanche, you adjudicate its effects using the system on page X. Similarly, it has options for dealing with player choice--you don't have to take a particular feat, but if you do it must be implemented in a specific way.
Of course, one of the core ideas in RPGs is that if the rules don't work, the GM can (and should!) throw them out. We don't do that with the U.S. Constitution, but this does bring up an interesting next step in the analogy... Of course, sometimes the rules do need refining and we have legislators (or game designers, if you will) for that. Additionally, if enough fans want to change something in the game, it likely gets changed, much like adopting a Constitutional amendment.
Supreme Court = GM
Then we get to everybody in the country: the PCs. The PCs are going to interact with, well, everything. And sometimes the rules are going to conflict. Sometimes the subsystem that the designers adopted in Splat Book B are going to conflict with the ones adopted in Splat Book A. Sometimes, portions of the core rules themselves will come into conflict. For instance, we have a strong constitutional principle that the federal government has a paramount role in interstate commerce. But, the 21st Amendment provides that, as part of relegalizing alcohol sales in the US, States have inordinate control over regulating alcohol within their borders. What does that mean for direct shipments from wineries in one state to consumers in another state? (This was a real case.) It's not that different than resolving areas where the rules in an RPG conflict with each other. The GM makes a decision. The GM should be making that decision in concert with everyone else at the table that has a good understanding of the rules, but might not.
(I have some ideas here about expanding this analogy out with things like case law = house rules and that GMs = District courts and games' FAQ/errata processes = Supreme Court, but that would make this post way too long).
Legislative Process = Player Agency
And this is where things get interesting. Sometimes GM rulings are good interpretations of the rules. Sometimes they are just GM fiat. Fiat is necessary to keep the game going sometimes, but it can destroy the fun and immersion that are inherent to enjoying a good RPG. This is one reason that there are systems out there that have no GM. The GM that is doing it right aids the game by keeping it moving. The GM that's doing it wrong robs the players of their agency (in the game sense, not in the legal sense). In many ways, that's what happened here.
The majority opinion interprets the rules of the game and makes a policy choice that should go to the players. Is expanding marriage to same-couples a good idea? (Yes) Well, that's not what we have judges for. We have judges to answer a different question: Do the rules of the game as set up require that marriage be expanded to same-sex couples? This is the distinction between speeding the game along and destroying player agency. The court was actually looking at two questions in Obergefell. The first question was whether or not the 14th Amendment required all states to allow same-sex marriages. The opinion answers this in the affirmative, so it's largely able to gloss over the second question. That question was "Do states have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states even if the recognizing state doesn't allow same-sex marriages itself?" But, you say, requiring recognition means that effectively the states have to allow same-sex marriage. And that's true. But we functioned that way with straight marriage for many years and still do today--there's debate between states about how distantly related someone has to be from you in order to marry them and civilization hasn't crashed.
But, there's a fine distinction between these two and it's important. Saying that all states must allow same-sex marriages robs the people of their agency to make decisions through the democratic process. Requiring recognition would probably have been workable. But, not requiring recognition could have been solved as well--most likely with legislation and constitutional amendments to allow gay marriage in the states. Chief Justice Roberts did get one thing right today when he said:
Or, in RPG terms, the ruling destroyed the players' agency.
If you are among the many Americans--of whatever sexual orientation--who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today's decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. but do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it. - Chief Justice John RobertsA Bunch of Legal Gobbledeegook Probably Not Interesting to Non-Legal Types
Like Lawrence and Windsor, Justice Kennedy authored the majority opinion in Obergefell. And, like both of those decisions, Kennedy places a lot of emphasis on dignity as a driving factor. 14th Amendment challenges and decisions generally come in three types: due process, equal protection, and substantive due process. Due process means that the laws cannot be arbitrary and that there is space to review them. Basically, everyone gets their day in court. Equal protection means that the laws have to be applied to everyone the same way. Of course, most laws make distinctions between groups of people (prisoners cannot own guns, for example). But the usual standard for making distinctions based on sexual orientation is rational basis meaning that as long as there was any rational basis for the law and it was not motivated solely to punish the class of people targeted, it stands.
Finally, there is substantive due process, which, despite what the opinion says claims, is the real meat of the holding. Substantive due process is actually a really simple idea. Many of our rights are explicitly enumerated in the Constitution and those are easier to deal with. But, there are some rights that aren't but are so fundamental to the ordered function of society that we cannot function as a society without them. Marriage is one of those rights. The right to send your children to the school of your choice is another. To be eligible for substantive due process protection, the rights have to be fundamental, well-recognized, and essential to the functioning of a liberal society. Ultimately, Justice Kennedy found that even as marriage is a protected fundamental right, the right to choose who you entered into a marriage with is also fundamental.
It seems like a good decision and the opinion reads really well. But, substantive due process is one of the most hated legal doctrines out there. And it is, as the Chief Justice rightly noted, rightfully reviled. Today we generally think of those that hate judicial activism (generally code for using substantive due process) as being on the right. But, the most reviled substantive due process case (and arguably the most reviled U.S. Supreme Court opinion) struck down a maximum hours law passed by the state of New York to protect bakery workers' health. It was called Lochner v. New York and in legal circles it's as radioactive as The Dread Scot Case (black people can never be citizens of the U.S.) or Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal is okay). Dread Scot and Plessy are reviled for their outcomes, Lochner is reviled for its methods AND its outcome. In Lochner, the Supreme Court basically just said, "This law is dumb. We don't like it and therefore it must not have a rational basis. So, we'll overturn it."
When you pull off all of the gloss, that's basically what happened today in Obergefell. Do we have a long-standing history of extending the right to marriage to same-sex couples? No. Is there a rational basis for treating same-sex couples differently than opposite sex couples in extending marital benefits? Arguably yes, which means deference to the legislature is appropriate. Now mind you, Justice Kennedy's result is fine. I'm thrilled that I will be able to get married in any state I choose. But, if we're going to make changes to the country's basic playbook based solely on the whims of Justice Kennedy, let's just cast him a crown and be done with it. Chief Justice Roberts has the right of it.
U.S. Constitution = Rulebook
To explain why I find Roberts' position so compelling, let's use an analogy. And, because this is a blog about gaming, that analogy will be to playing a roleplaying game. For the vast sweep of American history, the U.S. Constitution has functioned not as law itself, but as meta-law. Unlike most State constitutions, there's very little actual legislation in the U.S. Constitution. Rather, it's full of rules about how we govern ourselves. The Constitution is silent on what the appropriate level of welfare payments is or what city America should recognize as the capital of Israel. But, it speaks very clearly about how the United States government should resolve those questions. Appropriate welfare payment levels are determined through legislation, which requires the concurrence of both houses of Congress and either the President's signature or a congressional override of a presidential veto. Because the Constitution vests foreign policy in the President's hands, the President gets to decide whether or not Jerusalem is the capital of Israel (at least in the eyes of the United States).
In gaming terms, the U.S. Constitution is like the an RPG rulebook. The rulebook contains all of the mechanics necessary for resolving actions at the table. It also contains rules that deal with optional situations. For instance, the rulebook might give mechanics for dealing with avalanches. The rulebook doesn't say that your adventure has to have an avalanche in it. But, if you do have an avalanche, you adjudicate its effects using the system on page X. Similarly, it has options for dealing with player choice--you don't have to take a particular feat, but if you do it must be implemented in a specific way.
Of course, one of the core ideas in RPGs is that if the rules don't work, the GM can (and should!) throw them out. We don't do that with the U.S. Constitution, but this does bring up an interesting next step in the analogy... Of course, sometimes the rules do need refining and we have legislators (or game designers, if you will) for that. Additionally, if enough fans want to change something in the game, it likely gets changed, much like adopting a Constitutional amendment.
Supreme Court = GM
Then we get to everybody in the country: the PCs. The PCs are going to interact with, well, everything. And sometimes the rules are going to conflict. Sometimes the subsystem that the designers adopted in Splat Book B are going to conflict with the ones adopted in Splat Book A. Sometimes, portions of the core rules themselves will come into conflict. For instance, we have a strong constitutional principle that the federal government has a paramount role in interstate commerce. But, the 21st Amendment provides that, as part of relegalizing alcohol sales in the US, States have inordinate control over regulating alcohol within their borders. What does that mean for direct shipments from wineries in one state to consumers in another state? (This was a real case.) It's not that different than resolving areas where the rules in an RPG conflict with each other. The GM makes a decision. The GM should be making that decision in concert with everyone else at the table that has a good understanding of the rules, but might not.
(I have some ideas here about expanding this analogy out with things like case law = house rules and that GMs = District courts and games' FAQ/errata processes = Supreme Court, but that would make this post way too long).
Legislative Process = Player Agency
And this is where things get interesting. Sometimes GM rulings are good interpretations of the rules. Sometimes they are just GM fiat. Fiat is necessary to keep the game going sometimes, but it can destroy the fun and immersion that are inherent to enjoying a good RPG. This is one reason that there are systems out there that have no GM. The GM that is doing it right aids the game by keeping it moving. The GM that's doing it wrong robs the players of their agency (in the game sense, not in the legal sense). In many ways, that's what happened here.
The majority opinion interprets the rules of the game and makes a policy choice that should go to the players. Is expanding marriage to same-couples a good idea? (Yes) Well, that's not what we have judges for. We have judges to answer a different question: Do the rules of the game as set up require that marriage be expanded to same-sex couples? This is the distinction between speeding the game along and destroying player agency. The court was actually looking at two questions in Obergefell. The first question was whether or not the 14th Amendment required all states to allow same-sex marriages. The opinion answers this in the affirmative, so it's largely able to gloss over the second question. That question was "Do states have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states even if the recognizing state doesn't allow same-sex marriages itself?" But, you say, requiring recognition means that effectively the states have to allow same-sex marriage. And that's true. But we functioned that way with straight marriage for many years and still do today--there's debate between states about how distantly related someone has to be from you in order to marry them and civilization hasn't crashed.
But, there's a fine distinction between these two and it's important. Saying that all states must allow same-sex marriages robs the people of their agency to make decisions through the democratic process. Requiring recognition would probably have been workable. But, not requiring recognition could have been solved as well--most likely with legislation and constitutional amendments to allow gay marriage in the states. Chief Justice Roberts did get one thing right today when he said:
[H]owever heartened the proponents of same-sex marriage might be on this day, it is worth acknowledging what they have lost, and lost forever: the opportunity to win the true acceptance that comes from persuading their fellow citizens of the justice of their cause.
Or, in RPG terms, the ruling destroyed the players' agency.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Blue Rose Kickstarter Launches
Green Ronin's Blue Rose Kickstarter has launched. First launched in 2005, Blue Rose has always focused more on romantic fantasy and has always been GLBT-friendly--which has had some mixed reception. The Kickstarted launched earlier this week. Green Ronin will be using its Adventure Game Engine (AGE) system for mechanics.
I haven't made a decision about whether to back or not yet. On the one hand, I want to back something inclusive. On the other, I've got a lot of setting books and already have dropped significant funds on Kickstarters this year. I will likely star this one and make a game-time decision with 48 hours left. It's already funded, so I don't feel like I'm holding them back. Anybody have thoughts on this thing?
In addition to the setting and mechanics themselves, there are some cool stretch goals. Here are a few of my favorites:
Green Ronin is also promoting the return of Blue Rose with a T-shirt design contest. Those want to help design artwork that demonstrates "Blue Rose RPG’s world & theme of diversity and inclusion" and invited to do so before July 18. (Actually, the official rules say the contest runs from June 18-July 18 but that entries must be submitted before June 18, but this seems like a typo). Winner gets a copy of their shirt and a free copy of the RPG book. Second and third places get their choice of a free shirt (winner's design, not theirs) or the RPG book.
EDIT: I'm told that winner of the t-shirt design contest also gets a cash prize of $300!
I haven't made a decision about whether to back or not yet. On the one hand, I want to back something inclusive. On the other, I've got a lot of setting books and already have dropped significant funds on Kickstarters this year. I will likely star this one and make a game-time decision with 48 hours left. It's already funded, so I don't feel like I'm holding them back. Anybody have thoughts on this thing?
In addition to the setting and mechanics themselves, there are some cool stretch goals. Here are a few of my favorites:
- $22,500: Designer Crystal Frasier will detail the laeyvel, embodied souls beyond the more common expressions of male and female in Aldea.
- $27,500: Designer Jeb Boyt will write a series framework called A Game of Thorns and detail the Pirate Isles.
- $33,000: Designer F. Wesley Schneider will write the Orchard of Tears micro setting.
- $50,000: The setting book goes hardcover.
Crystal Frasier and F. Wesley Schneider are two of my favorite Paizo staffers and have good perspective on making products GLBT-friendly, being GLBT themselves. I don't know much about Jeb Boyt, but I love all things involving pirates. And a hardcover is obvious why it's good!
Green Ronin is also promoting the return of Blue Rose with a T-shirt design contest. Those want to help design artwork that demonstrates "Blue Rose RPG’s world & theme of diversity and inclusion" and invited to do so before July 18. (Actually, the official rules say the contest runs from June 18-July 18 but that entries must be submitted before June 18, but this seems like a typo). Winner gets a copy of their shirt and a free copy of the RPG book. Second and third places get their choice of a free shirt (winner's design, not theirs) or the RPG book.
EDIT: I'm told that winner of the t-shirt design contest also gets a cash prize of $300!
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
One more GenCon GLBT Event
I've missed a GLBT event for the GenCon schedule. Greg's, and Indy gay bar, is hosting a GenCon Appreciation BBQ & Gay Gaymer Meetup. Unconfirmed rumors also say that a GenCon badge gets you in to Greg's cover-free on Friday evening.
When: Saturday, August 1, 6:00p.m.
Where: Greg's Indy, 231 E 16th St
Why: Because they love us and are giving us free things!
All the details (from Greg's):
During the RFRA debacle earlier this year, we were proud to see GEN CON take a stand supporting the GAY COMMUNITY.
As a way to say THANK YOU Gen Con - and encourage any GAYMERS and all our FRIENDS at GENCON to be united once more for FREE BURGERS, HOTDOGS, COLESLAW, COOKIES, VEGGIES, and CHIPS at our first annual GEN CON APPRECIATION BBQ & GAY GAYMER MEETUP.
As our door now states after the passage of RFRA: "WE PROUDLY SERVE EVERYONE" and welcome any, and all GAMERS visiting our fine city this weekend to come enjoy our grilled tastiness,affordable cocktails, and other people who have a flare for dressing up in costume when its not Halloween.
Food to be served from 6:00PM to 7:30PM, or until its gone.
GREGS is located on 16th street (1.6 miles north of Monument Circle) and Alabama (3 blocks east of MERIDIAN). We encourage GAMERS to ride together and use UBER ($5 each way)
When: Saturday, August 1, 6:00p.m.
Where: Greg's Indy, 231 E 16th St
Why: Because they love us and are giving us free things!
All the details (from Greg's):
During the RFRA debacle earlier this year, we were proud to see GEN CON take a stand supporting the GAY COMMUNITY.
As a way to say THANK YOU Gen Con - and encourage any GAYMERS and all our FRIENDS at GENCON to be united once more for FREE BURGERS, HOTDOGS, COLESLAW, COOKIES, VEGGIES, and CHIPS at our first annual GEN CON APPRECIATION BBQ & GAY GAYMER MEETUP.
As our door now states after the passage of RFRA: "WE PROUDLY SERVE EVERYONE" and welcome any, and all GAMERS visiting our fine city this weekend to come enjoy our grilled tastiness,affordable cocktails, and other people who have a flare for dressing up in costume when its not Halloween.
Food to be served from 6:00PM to 7:30PM, or until its gone.
GREGS is located on 16th street (1.6 miles north of Monument Circle) and Alabama (3 blocks east of MERIDIAN). We encourage GAMERS to ride together and use UBER ($5 each way)
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Gay in Gaming Cons
For now, I want to talk about the gaymer movement in conventions. The most visible of these is the group that operates the Tabletop Gaymers website. They're the ones responsible for all of the rainbow Gaymer and Ally ribbons you see at GenCon every year. This year they're doing it again, but with a twist. At first they planned to fund the ribbons through a GoFundMe (disclaimer: I donated), but later the makers of Cards Against Humanity agreed to spring for paying for all of them (or here, for those without group access), leaving more funds to go to other conventions and to be pledged to help end LGBT youth homelessness. For those of you that don't know, LGBTs make up a hugely disproportionate share of America's homeless youth.
The Tabletop Gaymers have put together a bevy of awesome events this year and I want to make sure that you know about them! There are social events for meeting up on Thursday evening and Friday lunchtime and evening. There are several seminars including Diversity in Gaming Culture, Gaymers, Diversity in Gaming panels by GenCon and by Paizo, the ever-popular Queer as a 3-sided die (sold out), and How to Make Gaming More Inclusive. Of course, don't forget the Saturday night party event at Talbot Street. This thing starts at 9PM and is definitely NOT sold out. So pick up some tickets for only $22 (includes entrance and shuttle to/from downtown).
I also want to talk about another seminar that's already happened. At PaizoCon back in May, Paizo's staff presented a seminar about diversity in Pathfinder. There are some really good points here and I like the candor with which Paizo's staff deals with this issue. To whit:
1) They admit that diversity is something that everyone needs to constantly strive for;
2) They admit that there are some areas where they feel like they have made strides (GLBT, gender) but there are others where they face real challenges (primarily racial diversity);
3) They admit that they need to improve on all fronts, even the ones where they have made progress; and
4) An audience member asks about diversity and incorporating characters with physical disabilities such as blindness. This was among the best discussions about how the company could bring discussion of this topic into the game--both as an accessibility issue for reading sourcebooks but also as presenting characters like that in their materials. Great job!
I was going to round this post out with a reference to FlameCon, which just concluded in Brooklyn. But, I've used up a lot of space already so check out pictures on io9.com.
I also want to talk about another seminar that's already happened. At PaizoCon back in May, Paizo's staff presented a seminar about diversity in Pathfinder. There are some really good points here and I like the candor with which Paizo's staff deals with this issue. To whit:
1) They admit that diversity is something that everyone needs to constantly strive for;
2) They admit that there are some areas where they feel like they have made strides (GLBT, gender) but there are others where they face real challenges (primarily racial diversity);
3) They admit that they need to improve on all fronts, even the ones where they have made progress; and
4) An audience member asks about diversity and incorporating characters with physical disabilities such as blindness. This was among the best discussions about how the company could bring discussion of this topic into the game--both as an accessibility issue for reading sourcebooks but also as presenting characters like that in their materials. Great job!
I was going to round this post out with a reference to FlameCon, which just concluded in Brooklyn. But, I've used up a lot of space already so check out pictures on io9.com.
Friday, March 27, 2015
RFRA Update: Send your thoughts to GenCon
GenCon has published another letter, this time to its attendees. They are asking out our experiences with the local community as vendors and in general. You can respond to them by using the following:
Email: customerservice@gencon.com
Phone: 800-529-3976 (x3806)
Twitter: @Gen_Con
I'll draft my response and post it as an update to this later. I loved my only GenCon experience and I can't wait to be going back!
Update: The Game Manufacturer's Association has also come out with a statement supporting GenCon's position.
Whole letter:
Email: customerservice@gencon.com
Phone: 800-529-3976 (x3806)
Twitter: @Gen_Con
I'll draft my response and post it as an update to this later. I loved my only GenCon experience and I can't wait to be going back!
Update: The Game Manufacturer's Association has also come out with a statement supporting GenCon's position.
Whole letter:
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
GenCon Fights Back Against GLBT Discrimination in Indiana
There's a bill circulating through the Indiana General Assembly that would enshrine discrimination against homosexuals. While the fighter in me says that maybe it's time to find out whether or not sexual orientation is a protected class deserving of intermediate or (dream on) strict scrutiny), those results are a long way down the road. The IN Senate has already passed a version and the IN House has passed a nearly identical bill. The Senator sponsoring the original legislation has indicated that he's okay with the House's changes, so the bill will likely head to Governor Pence late this week or early next.
According to SB 101's own digest, it's purpose is:
The full bill is available online (SB 101--still looking for House version) and you can read it here. I'll do some analysis on what it does in a following post. The HRC doesn't have anything up yet, but click on the link soon and I'm sure they'll have methods for you to reach out to Governor Pence as well.
EDIT: This is getting big. Both Ars Technica and ICv2 have stories covering the GenCon letter.
According to SB 101's own digest, it's purpose is:
Religious freedom restoration. Prohibits a governmental entity from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless the governmental entity can demonstrate that the burden: (1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling governmental interest. Provides a procedure for remedying a violation. Specifies that the religious freedom law applies to the implementation or application of a law regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity or official is a party to a proceeding implementing or applying the law. Prohibits an applicant, employee, or former employee from pursuing certain causes of action against a private employer.The lawyer in me notes that this is pretty weak and basically already follows a standard for interpreting 14th Amendment law. I'm going to shy away from discussing that--at least today. But, on a positive note, GenCon has written to Indiana's governor, urging him not to sign the bill. GenCon's letter notes that:
- It hosts more than 56,000 attendees every year;
- Many of these attendees are of a diverse group--the group targeted by SB 101;
- GenCon has been in Indy more than 10 years now;
- GenCon annually brings more than $50 million to the local economy; and
- Legislation that allows discrimination based on these matters will be taken into account when GenCon makes decisions about where to locate in future years.
The full bill is available online (SB 101--still looking for House version) and you can read it here. I'll do some analysis on what it does in a following post. The HRC doesn't have anything up yet, but click on the link soon and I'm sure they'll have methods for you to reach out to Governor Pence as well.
EDIT: This is getting big. Both Ars Technica and ICv2 have stories covering the GenCon letter.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Diversity-inclusive Blue Rose relaunching
I'm unfamiliar with Blue Rose, but will be keeping an eye out for it when it drops on Kickstarter next month.
In other diversity related news:
Venice appears to be the source of the only successful conversion therapy in the history of GLBT-kind. They basically put a bunch of female prostitutes on a bridge and had them bawl at homosexual men. Doubtful this worked, but as the original article notes, "at least we got a bridge out of it." (h/t io9).
And, to remind everyone that diversity isn't just about race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, and gender identity issues, here are some GMing tips that one man learned while running a game in prison. In general, what does he advocate? Well,
- Use a point buy rather than rolling - let the PCs power levels be pretty evenly matched
- Use appropriate CRs for encounters
- Notes, notes, notes
- Don't throw magic items around willy-nilly - holding back even non-magical gear gives the PCs something to work towards. I really like this idea to control the smorgasbord of alchemical items that exist in Pathfinder. In 13th Age, it's a non-issue.
- Don't be afraid to create long quests (treasure hunts) without having decided what the treasure will be
- Make custom prestige classes (my favorite on the list!)
- Giving tiny boons can help a player feel his character is unique. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY,
- Don't let needing to peruse the books get in the way of good fun!
Monday, March 16, 2015
GLBT in tabletop and video games
So, I'm a little bit behind the times (a year it looks like), but I just read this article about why the gaming industry will ignore the GLBT demographic for the foreseeable future. Per usual video gaming journalism, it's the "gaming" industry as if games can only occur on a screen. It must be fantastic to simultaneously be so needy of your time in the limelight while using phraseology that's exclusionary in your own complaint about marginalization. This is not the only time I've seen this--Gaming in Color comes to mind. But at least it's director had the balls to stand up at GenCon after his screening and point out that he was now aware of what he'd done in excluding tabletop and CCG folks.
So, maybe this post is a complaint about underinclusivity. Maybe it's satire about identity politics. Hell, it could be both. What I do know is that the tabletop RPG industry does not have this problem. 5E rules famously include statements about how your character's orientation is up to you--and it's even on the character sheet! Paizo's given us GLBT characters since their first Adventure Path. Wrath of the Righteous even has the potential for you to end up adventuring with two gay men in a relationship and two women one of whom is an MTF transexual. Oh! And they are all well-developed characters and don't exhibit any tokenism.
And now, Shanna Germain of Monte Cook Games is writing a Numenera novel with "a fierce, one-handed, bisexual woman." I haven't read any of Shanna's work before, but I'm hopeful that we will see more GLBT characters that do all the cool fantasy/sci-fi things and also get to be fully themselves in print. You can check out some of her writing and other projects on her website.
On this note, I feel I should also raise the issue of the change.org petition related to Monte Cook Games. I'm not going to comment on whether or not their proposed setting is somehow racist or bigoted. Having a diverse staff before this sort of thing raises its head goes a long way towards getting them the benefit of the doubt. Beyond that, I am going to note that they've responded to the criticism in a very mature way. They've opened a discussion thread on the issue on Facebook and they've even linked directly to the petition.
Full disclosure: I haven't read through all of the comments. But, to me this goes a long way to say, "We didn't think what we were doing was offensive. We understand that it's impossible to do anything in the creative world without offending someone. Now, we want an opportunity to find out whether or not we've offended a fringe minority or if we have some larger cultural sensitivity issues to consider." Well, Monte Cook Games took a lot of the right steps on creativity even before this issue raised it's head, so I say we give them a little bit of slack before going to the mattresses of identity politics. Who knows? If they have offended a large swath of the population, they might even be responsible about it. And if not, well, we'll have seen some people embarrass themselves on a target far less appealing than the Washington Redskins.
So, maybe this post is a complaint about underinclusivity. Maybe it's satire about identity politics. Hell, it could be both. What I do know is that the tabletop RPG industry does not have this problem. 5E rules famously include statements about how your character's orientation is up to you--and it's even on the character sheet! Paizo's given us GLBT characters since their first Adventure Path. Wrath of the Righteous even has the potential for you to end up adventuring with two gay men in a relationship and two women one of whom is an MTF transexual. Oh! And they are all well-developed characters and don't exhibit any tokenism.
And now, Shanna Germain of Monte Cook Games is writing a Numenera novel with "a fierce, one-handed, bisexual woman." I haven't read any of Shanna's work before, but I'm hopeful that we will see more GLBT characters that do all the cool fantasy/sci-fi things and also get to be fully themselves in print. You can check out some of her writing and other projects on her website.
On this note, I feel I should also raise the issue of the change.org petition related to Monte Cook Games. I'm not going to comment on whether or not their proposed setting is somehow racist or bigoted. Having a diverse staff before this sort of thing raises its head goes a long way towards getting them the benefit of the doubt. Beyond that, I am going to note that they've responded to the criticism in a very mature way. They've opened a discussion thread on the issue on Facebook and they've even linked directly to the petition.
Full disclosure: I haven't read through all of the comments. But, to me this goes a long way to say, "We didn't think what we were doing was offensive. We understand that it's impossible to do anything in the creative world without offending someone. Now, we want an opportunity to find out whether or not we've offended a fringe minority or if we have some larger cultural sensitivity issues to consider." Well, Monte Cook Games took a lot of the right steps on creativity even before this issue raised it's head, so I say we give them a little bit of slack before going to the mattresses of identity politics. Who knows? If they have offended a large swath of the population, they might even be responsible about it. And if not, well, we'll have seen some people embarrass themselves on a target far less appealing than the Washington Redskins.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Fake it Till You Make It Diversity in RPGs
Improved Initiative has a great post up about how real attempts to roleplay a character that's not like you, the player, can have some amazing effects on you (the player's) ability to empathize with others. What started as a straight white man playing a pretty stereotyped barbarian from an Africanesque background turned into a huge learning experience for the player. Sounds like it didn't start that way, but by the end a fully fledged new personality was created.
As a gay gamer at the RPG table, I relish in being able to take on the role of straight males. But, I must admit that I have a tendency to play up their sexuality as well. This street works multiple ways. My characters' sexuality should be an important part of their background, but it shouldn't be the end all, be all of who that character is.
When I next play my lothario bard Rhyss, I'm going to do some thinking about good ways to bring in other portions of his personality. He's passionately dedicated to his music craft and to freeing his people from oppression. He misses his sister terribly and he's mortified that asking his teacher the wrong question at the wrong time is what sent his teacher off a mental cliff into madness. I think I need to spend some time thinking about how those aspects of Rhyss' life affected his personality. He'll still be after all the ladies, of course, because that's a form of combating discrimination he faces as a midget. But, he'll be doing it in a far more well-developed manner if I have anything to say about it.
EDIT: Aaaaand, there are some examples of people not doing that empathy particularly well. [h'/t Improved Initiative]
As a gay gamer at the RPG table, I relish in being able to take on the role of straight males. But, I must admit that I have a tendency to play up their sexuality as well. This street works multiple ways. My characters' sexuality should be an important part of their background, but it shouldn't be the end all, be all of who that character is.
When I next play my lothario bard Rhyss, I'm going to do some thinking about good ways to bring in other portions of his personality. He's passionately dedicated to his music craft and to freeing his people from oppression. He misses his sister terribly and he's mortified that asking his teacher the wrong question at the wrong time is what sent his teacher off a mental cliff into madness. I think I need to spend some time thinking about how those aspects of Rhyss' life affected his personality. He'll still be after all the ladies, of course, because that's a form of combating discrimination he faces as a midget. But, he'll be doing it in a far more well-developed manner if I have anything to say about it.
EDIT: Aaaaand, there are some examples of people not doing that empathy particularly well. [h'/t Improved Initiative]
Monday, February 23, 2015
Casual Homophobia in Gaming
My regular campaign group met today. I've written a few other posts about it. The world has been magic deprived for the last century or so, and it appears that the magic is slowly returning back (in metaplot terms, we have a new GM who has only recently returned to GMing and wants to incorporate the full ruleset slowly). The campaign has been running since August and today we had our first encounter with monstrous creatures--a phase spider and a land-based decapus.
t today. We've gotten into a regular groove for every other Sundays. I'm really enjoying being a player as well and our GM is doing a great job. I particularly enjoyed encountering the decapus--it was presented without a Bestiary-entry-based description and so it was like trying to figure out an entirely new threat! I loved it!
I'll skip over the plot points (though I'm happy to share game notes with anyone who's interested), but we had a moment where we were talking about getting the short end of the stick. And one of the other players made reference to "a dick up the ass."
He knows I'm gay. I don't believe that he has any problems with it either. In fact, I doubt that this person thinks of himself as homophobic at all. I tried to slough it off as a joke while still pointing it out, but it actually left some lingering resentment.
I'm conflicted about how to address this. Our GM is my college roommate, so I know that I can say anything to him. And, I know that he'll understand it. But, I'm not sure that I need to involve him. I struggle between wondering if I should pull him aside and say something or if I should try and casually hint that this behavior isn't okay. On the one hand, I think issues related to casual homophobia are best dealt with quickly and concisely. On the other, no one ever wants to rock the boat. So, maybe it would be best to try and just let things sort themselves out.
Dear readers, what do you think? What's the best way to address casual homophobia in gaming?
 |
| The dreaded decapus slithered our way. |
I'll skip over the plot points (though I'm happy to share game notes with anyone who's interested), but we had a moment where we were talking about getting the short end of the stick. And one of the other players made reference to "a dick up the ass."
He knows I'm gay. I don't believe that he has any problems with it either. In fact, I doubt that this person thinks of himself as homophobic at all. I tried to slough it off as a joke while still pointing it out, but it actually left some lingering resentment.
I'm conflicted about how to address this. Our GM is my college roommate, so I know that I can say anything to him. And, I know that he'll understand it. But, I'm not sure that I need to involve him. I struggle between wondering if I should pull him aside and say something or if I should try and casually hint that this behavior isn't okay. On the one hand, I think issues related to casual homophobia are best dealt with quickly and concisely. On the other, no one ever wants to rock the boat. So, maybe it would be best to try and just let things sort themselves out.
Dear readers, what do you think? What's the best way to address casual homophobia in gaming?
Thursday, October 2, 2014
DC Gameday XV
If you're local to the metro DC area, I highly encourage you to check out DC Gameday XV. DC Gameday happens twice a year in March and October and represents one of my favorite things to do in gaming: play random games that you can't really play without a huge gamer crew. Oh sure, there will be Pathfinder and D&D games, but you can find one of those anywhere. I want to use my Gameday to play random ass games.
Games are posted as GMs offer to run them and are listed on the site. Best of all, because almost all of the games are obscure, GMs tend to offer them as 'come as you are without any system knowledge' games. So, if you want to try something new, this is totally the place to do it!
It takes place over the weekend of October 25-26. There are morning and afternoon gaming slots. Each lasts for four hours. They also have a big social event on Saturday evening, if you're not being consumed by law school shenanigans like I normally am. Anyway, registration opens on Friday, October 10 at 8:00 p.m. And do register at 8:00 p.m.--slots in good games fill up fast. I was considering offering to GM a 13th Age game, but it looks like someone's already going to do that. So, I can PLAY 13th Age!!
When I went last spring, I only got to go on Saturday, but got a chance to check out Monsterhearts for the first time and to play a Numenera game in the afternoon. I'd never played Monsterhearts before--it has easy mechanics and can easily be exported to just about any system. The system is based on Apocalypse World, but was designed to better explore issues related to sex and different sexuality. In the classic Monsterhearts setting, you have a turn on mechanic that means that another character may be able to sexually excite your character--even if you don't want them to! The game we played was loosely based upon the movie Casablanca. I even got to play a fantastic piano player--who has supernatural powers derived from a deal he made with the devil.
Apocalypse World is a tremendously flexible system. In fact, there's a Kickstarter closing TODAY called the Spirit of '77 that's also based on it. What's the Spirit of '77 you ask? "Spirit of 77 is a role-playing game based on 70’s pop culture – glam music, grindhouse action films, kung-fu, weird science and revved up race-cars on lone highways, outracing Smokey and the Man!" So, basically it's awesome. And, the website has a preview adventure posted: The Cruise Ship of the Damned. They've also taken the time to create a soundtrack of rockin' 70s tunes on Spotify that are supposed to go well with the game. Perhaps I will offer to GM that one!
Games are posted as GMs offer to run them and are listed on the site. Best of all, because almost all of the games are obscure, GMs tend to offer them as 'come as you are without any system knowledge' games. So, if you want to try something new, this is totally the place to do it!
It takes place over the weekend of October 25-26. There are morning and afternoon gaming slots. Each lasts for four hours. They also have a big social event on Saturday evening, if you're not being consumed by law school shenanigans like I normally am. Anyway, registration opens on Friday, October 10 at 8:00 p.m. And do register at 8:00 p.m.--slots in good games fill up fast. I was considering offering to GM a 13th Age game, but it looks like someone's already going to do that. So, I can PLAY 13th Age!!
When I went last spring, I only got to go on Saturday, but got a chance to check out Monsterhearts for the first time and to play a Numenera game in the afternoon. I'd never played Monsterhearts before--it has easy mechanics and can easily be exported to just about any system. The system is based on Apocalypse World, but was designed to better explore issues related to sex and different sexuality. In the classic Monsterhearts setting, you have a turn on mechanic that means that another character may be able to sexually excite your character--even if you don't want them to! The game we played was loosely based upon the movie Casablanca. I even got to play a fantastic piano player--who has supernatural powers derived from a deal he made with the devil.
Apocalypse World is a tremendously flexible system. In fact, there's a Kickstarter closing TODAY called the Spirit of '77 that's also based on it. What's the Spirit of '77 you ask? "Spirit of 77 is a role-playing game based on 70’s pop culture – glam music, grindhouse action films, kung-fu, weird science and revved up race-cars on lone highways, outracing Smokey and the Man!" So, basically it's awesome. And, the website has a preview adventure posted: The Cruise Ship of the Damned. They've also taken the time to create a soundtrack of rockin' 70s tunes on Spotify that are supposed to go well with the game. Perhaps I will offer to GM that one!
Monday, September 8, 2014
GenCon Recap: Saturday, August 16
My GenCon Saturday started with sleeping in! Unlike the previous two days, I didn't have anywhere to be until 9:00a.m. for Kobold Press' seminar about trying to be a freelancer. I don't really have any desire time to be a freelancer, but I think these types of panels offer good advice on how to make good adventures. Also, I wanted to support Kobold Press, because they are one of the few established outfits in the industry that takes submissions from people without any publishing credits to their name. The session was interesting and I took a few nuggets away with me: you'll probably have to give your first piece away but try and start getting paid for your second, know multiple systems because you never know which systems will be in vogue over time, and whenever you do get rejected always ask for feedback on how you can improve your work for future publication.
I confess: I snuck out of the seminar early. After meeting the folks running all of Monte Cook's games the night before, I was hoping to catch a Numenera game on a generic ticket. The Kobold seminar was at the very back of the hotel to the southeast of the convention center. The Monte Cook Games room was at the very end of the hotel to the northwest of the convention center. So, I got to walk the entirety of GenCon! It is a long effing way.
It was longer when I arrived to find out that had I been one person earlier I could have gotten a seat at the table with my generic ticket. Poverty. My friend from the bar the night before did manage to get a generic ticket slot though, so that's good though. I hadn't been able to sign up for a Numenera event in pre-registration. I was shocked at how quickly these games filled up. I think that less well-known games are harder to get tickets to because it's a lot easier to find a game of Pathfinder or D&D when you aren't at a Con.
So, it was time to make the long walk back to the Convention Center proper. With a hole in my schedule, I decided it was time to do something unplanned. On a whim, I walked into the Dungeons & Dragons room. I'm inclined to dislike 5th Edition based on the game's management's history, but I figured I could at least check it out. All their events are set up in a castle and so I stepped inside.
Much of the castle is dedicated to people actually playing D&D, which is nice to see. They have a tiny retail section in the castle as well and I'm hoping to browse through the new Player's Handbook and edition launching adventure, Tyranny of Dragons. It's a two-part adevnture set in the Forgotten Realms, a setting that I really liked back in my 2nd Edition days. The first one is called Hoard of the Dragon Queen.
I come up to the retail area. It's basically a check out line without any browsing space. I ask if I can take a look at the game or if I have to get in line to purchase. The guy behind the counter tells me I have to get in line. This sales tactic is probably coercively effective on customers that feel less license to be a dick than I do. I get in line and start browsing the book. I'm going to have time for either the Player's Handbook or the adventure--and I go with the adventure. The artwork is top notch and the plot looks good from my five minute overview.
Unfortunately, I have to put it back once I'm at the front of the line. I'm a no go on purchasing--this was pretty much a classic customer service fail. Don't make me stand in the checkout line to browse your product. I am considering purchasing a book, which a lot of people put a lot of time into writing. I am not purchasing this, this, or this.
So, back to the Exhibit Hall. I finally make it through this time. I also make my first impulse buy of the Con: a copy of Iron & Ale. You can read my review of it here.
Everyone plays a different army attempting to be the first to capture the most gems. There are army movements, special resource cards, and a lot of divisions by three going on. If 13th Age is like Pathfinder with 1/3 of the rules, then Hyperborea is like Settlers of Catan with 3 times the rules. Seriously, if you like highly complex board games with tricky rules interactions, Hyperborea is for you.
I didn't mind playing it, but didn't love it either. The woman who explained the game was top notch and the family that I was playing with were big time board gamers. Super nice too! Apparently, he worked at TSR back when it was TSR, because they were talking about meeting up with Margaret Weiss and had the father seen Tracy? Mom from the family ultimately won the game. It was competitive too--this is not a family that minds going head to head. It infected me a little bit too, I had to remind myself that these people were TOTAL strangers.
The Strange takes place in modern day Earth, but with so much more going on. Have you heard of dark energy? Well, Monte Cook and Bruce Cordell have. And they've decided that it's actually a connection to something called the Strange, which is essentially this network that connects our universe to all sorts of other alternate realities. Some of these realities have alternate physics. For instance, another reality, Aredyn, functions a lot like a traditional fantasy game. There's another alternate reality, Ruk, that has a strong super-science cyberpunk feel. Oh, and there's the Strange itself, which is also home to planetovores. In fact, Ardeyn is actually a creation by the Earthling (Terran?) that first discovered the Strange. He created it as a sort of decoy to throw any planetovores off the trail of the real Earth. There are other worlds, or recursions, as well. All in all, this is a really interesting setting.
The system isn't that different though--the Strange RPG is based on the same cypher system that runs Numenera. One day I'll write a more in depth post talking about what I find interesting about the system, but here are a few interesting details.
- Players do all the dice rolling - Players have rolls to make for any skill check and have target numbers to hit to either hit an enemy in combat or to dodge an attack from an enemy. This frees up the GM to focus on the story--and it shows in how much more immersive the story can be when the GM doesn't have to fiddle with rolling her own dice.
- XP has value - You can use XP to level up, but I wouldn't recommend it. XP has so many other uses. Most importantly, XP is used to reroll whenever you feel like it. You also don't get XP for defeating monsters. Rather, you get XP for advancing the story's plot. When the GM wants to screw with you (known as a GM intrusion), she offers you 2 XP. You take one and give the other XP to another player at the table. If you don't want the terrible thing to happen, you can pay one XP to the GM to avoid it, though this is frowned upon.
- Your strength is also your hit points - Players have three stats in the cypher system: might, intellect, and reflex. You do extraordinary things by adding effort to your rolls, but adding effort also takes from your character's might, reflex, or intellect. So, applying effort on a might-based skill actually means that your character will be giving up hit points to perform an action. It's an interesting mechanic that really makes a player think about how doing something will affect your character's survival.
Usual rules apply: no details on the adventure. I will say that I got the chance to be a particle physics grad student by day and a go go boy by night. I also got an opportunity to pretend to be an interpretive dancer when infiltrating a cult. I went a little far on this one and ended up being "that guy" at the table. To my fellow players, I apologize. To Austin, thank you for cluing me in that I needed to rein it in a little. I'm glad that you got to be the hero on this one in the end! (Did I mention that we saved the world?)
Also, did I mention that the cosplay at GenCon is amazing? I have now decided that it's imperative that I create a cosplay vs. drag queens YouTube! compilation. I'm only shocked that someone else hasn't beaten me to this particular punch.
It's also time for dinner. I wander over to the food trucks and also get an opportunity to see the greatest board game of all time: The Cones of Dunshire. Yes, that game. Mayfair Games is holding a charity running of the game. I wasn't willing to pay the $100/head to get in on the game itself, taking pictures for free (well, and picking up a t-shirt) had to be enough for me.
 |
| Cosplay v. Drag Queens is going to be a thing! |
It's also time for dinner. I wander over to the food trucks and also get an opportunity to see the greatest board game of all time: The Cones of Dunshire. Yes, that game. Mayfair Games is holding a charity running of the game. I wasn't willing to pay the $100/head to get in on the game itself, taking pictures for free (well, and picking up a t-shirt) had to be enough for me.
Then, it was time to check out the Film Festival. I wanted to catch a couple of films. First, there was a showing of the entire season of Walking in Circles. It started late and I got a great chance to talk to a nice girl who was hiding out in the viewing room from a crowd of raving zombies. Someone had organized a giant zombie tag game. But, the game doesn't happen inside any of the event spaces or in the Exhibit Hall and she was getting some much needed rest from her undead tormentors. Walking in Circles was fun, but not particularly memorable.
What I've really come to the film festival to see is Gaming in Color, a documentary about homosexuality in gaming culture. As a Gaymer, I'm interested in seeing how we get portrayed. The two guys who made it (and who organized the Gaymer X Con in San Francisco) are also present to talk about it on a panel afterwards. I'm holding off on my review of it as well, because it will make for an entire post. For now, I'm going to say two things. First, I'm very glad that this documentary got made because it raises some questions that we should all be looking at for how homosexuals (and all minorities) fit into the gaming world. Second, I was shocked at how offended one part of it made me and a little bit angry about it. But more on that later.
Finally, the documentary and the panel are over. It's almost midnight and I'm a tired puppy. I hail a cab back to my apartment and fall asleep reading a 13th Age adventure module I picked up the day before. My Sunday schedule is light and the PFS games start at 9:00 instead of 8:00. Maybe I'll pick up one with some generic tickets in the morning?
Friday, September 5, 2014
GenCon Recap: Friday, August 15
Finally! I am awake at a decent hour! I make it from my apartment down to the convention center with time to spare. I quickly find a group and we sit down for our morning session. Although I had fun playing Kygar yesterday, today I'm playing my new Taldan rogue, Averitt. Named after a band I particularly like, Averitt is a hard core Taldan nationalist. He believes that the empire is destined to rise again. Unsurprisingly, he's joined the Taldor faction of the society. After last night, as a player I'm curious to see how the faction Taldor's being moved into, the Sovereign Court, will play out.
This morning's session is PFS Scenario 6-01: Trial by Machine. They've said that the new season of PFS won't be over the top on technology. But I'm excited to see how things play out with integrating Numerian superscience into the metaplot for the season. The scenario takes place on Absalom, but involves exploring a ruin that's been "redecorated" by a Pathfinder with ties to the Technic League. We're basically right at the line between upper tier and lower tier, so we decide to play up. Averitt's only played one scenario before, the opening scenario from Reign of Winter. Playing up was a great challenge but one piece of advice--THIS SCENARIO IS A KILLER, DON'T DO IT!
No spoilers on the scenario for you! But, I'd like to tell you how excited I am about the chronicle sheet I got. Averitt's got an e-pick now! Numerian ruins, beware! There's a thief that's going to open you up like an oyster!
Next, it's off to a one-shot session playing 13th Age. This is my first foray over to play in an independent session. Those are all over at the J.W. Marriott, which is actually blocks away. It took me past both the anime and collectable card games portions of the Con. This really marks how big the Con actually is. Although I was at a session at the Westin the day before, it's directly across the street from the Sagamore Ballroom, where the Pathfinder Society scenarios are played. The trip to the Marriott takes about fifteen minutes. This walk really makes something hit home. There is so much going on at GenCon that it would be completely impossible to experience all of it. (I did mean to make it into the card game rooms to check out some games, especially A Terrible Time, which I Kickstarted, but it just didn't happen).
I'm a big fan of 13th Age. Although also a fantasy-derived system, it has about 1/3 of the math that Pathfinder does. I played a dark elven sorcerer with connections to the city's underworld. The session took place in a city dominated by trade and that is therefore hospitable to monsters. We were employed by a lamia in love with a dwarf. Her medusa friend turned the lamia's fiance into stone. She wants him changed back, but on the sly. We have to procure some ingredients to fix his petrification.
Our GM was a guy named Graham Wills. I'm unsure if he was British or Australian but can 100% verify that he was awesome! He really set things up to make playing the game easy on us. He'd designed character sheets that had all the necessary background info and mechanics so that we needed very little explanation. That really freed us to focus our time on roleplaying. Graham was great about creating a story-driven game and he was the perfect type of GM--good at setting the scene and good about creating intrigue but also fantastic at saying, "Yes!"
Without going into details, we got to have an opportunity to put on a play! The scenario ended well and, honestly, I enjoyed it so much that I'm thinking about GMing a session for DC Game Day next month. After the session was over, two of the other players accosted me about my Arkansas hat--Pierce and Alyssa are from my home state! Pierce had come to GenCon solo on a lark the year before, which really helped validate my decision to do so this year.
After 13th Age, I decided it was time to brave the Exhibit Hall. The Paizo line was long, but I braved it! I picked up all the stuff. I had a great time talking with a lot of the Paizo staff. I also talked to the publisher of 13th Age, Pelgrane Press and picked up a few other things along the way. I've got a little bit of time, so I hail a cab back to my apartment and drop off my loot. He agrees to wait and bring me back to the Con. I have bought too much--this is going to be hell on my bag & on my checking fee!
And now it's time for the end of season scenario for Pathfinder Society. Khygar's back for this one. "Spoiler" alert! The Pathfinder Society has finally found the lost Sky Citadel, Jormundun and it's time to explore it before the demons of the Worldwound have a shot to overrun it.
This was hands down the best group I played with all weekend! Things were looking rough on finding a group, but slowly but surely things worked out. First, I met a great couple from Seattle, who were actually using GenCon as their honeymoon. We had another sweet couple, and another single. I made number 6.
Our GM was the Venture Captain of Chattanooga, Justin Peters. He hasn't gotten his official shirt yet. Note: He deserves it and more! I got in trouble early on for meta-gaming. Justin totally kept us on task. Never before had I noticed how much faster things go if you roll attacks and damage at the same time. Justin kept us on track and really helped us move through the Sky Citadel at a brisk pace. And, boy, was it necessary!
Things are going along and we are part of a major work. All the tables' results are tabulated together and individual sessions get interrupted from time to time to let us know how the overall session is going. Part-way through the session, we get stopped for an unrelated reason: Paizo has won all the Ennies! As a celebration, everyone gets a special mini--the Slaver Demon. James Jacobs himself delivered them to our table.
There's a twist in the scenario, but I'm not telling. But, our party finishes and nobody dies, which is a relief. Investigating ancient dwarven ruins is thirsty work, so I decide to head over to Scotty's Brewhouse again.
Yet again I'm drinking alone. But, then this hot guy sits down next to me. For the life of me, I have no idea if he's gay or straight or whether he's even hitting on me. But we chat a bit. He's from Chicago and he's her Numenera game the following day. I also meet another GM running a table (either Numenera or the Strange). His name is Brandon and he runs podcasts related to Numenera and the Strange. You should check out Transmissions from the Ninth World and Translating the Strange. Everybody finishes up their drinks and it's back to the apartment for the night!
e visiting from Chicago and he has a huge group. I met some nice people, including the girl who's supposed to GM my
Enjoy the tale? Hate it? Leave comments below!
This morning's session is PFS Scenario 6-01: Trial by Machine. They've said that the new season of PFS won't be over the top on technology. But I'm excited to see how things play out with integrating Numerian superscience into the metaplot for the season. The scenario takes place on Absalom, but involves exploring a ruin that's been "redecorated" by a Pathfinder with ties to the Technic League. We're basically right at the line between upper tier and lower tier, so we decide to play up. Averitt's only played one scenario before, the opening scenario from Reign of Winter. Playing up was a great challenge but one piece of advice--THIS SCENARIO IS A KILLER, DON'T DO IT!
No spoilers on the scenario for you! But, I'd like to tell you how excited I am about the chronicle sheet I got. Averitt's got an e-pick now! Numerian ruins, beware! There's a thief that's going to open you up like an oyster!
Next, it's off to a one-shot session playing 13th Age. This is my first foray over to play in an independent session. Those are all over at the J.W. Marriott, which is actually blocks away. It took me past both the anime and collectable card games portions of the Con. This really marks how big the Con actually is. Although I was at a session at the Westin the day before, it's directly across the street from the Sagamore Ballroom, where the Pathfinder Society scenarios are played. The trip to the Marriott takes about fifteen minutes. This walk really makes something hit home. There is so much going on at GenCon that it would be completely impossible to experience all of it. (I did mean to make it into the card game rooms to check out some games, especially A Terrible Time, which I Kickstarted, but it just didn't happen).
I'm a big fan of 13th Age. Although also a fantasy-derived system, it has about 1/3 of the math that Pathfinder does. I played a dark elven sorcerer with connections to the city's underworld. The session took place in a city dominated by trade and that is therefore hospitable to monsters. We were employed by a lamia in love with a dwarf. Her medusa friend turned the lamia's fiance into stone. She wants him changed back, but on the sly. We have to procure some ingredients to fix his petrification.
Our GM was a guy named Graham Wills. I'm unsure if he was British or Australian but can 100% verify that he was awesome! He really set things up to make playing the game easy on us. He'd designed character sheets that had all the necessary background info and mechanics so that we needed very little explanation. That really freed us to focus our time on roleplaying. Graham was great about creating a story-driven game and he was the perfect type of GM--good at setting the scene and good about creating intrigue but also fantastic at saying, "Yes!"
Without going into details, we got to have an opportunity to put on a play! The scenario ended well and, honestly, I enjoyed it so much that I'm thinking about GMing a session for DC Game Day next month. After the session was over, two of the other players accosted me about my Arkansas hat--Pierce and Alyssa are from my home state! Pierce had come to GenCon solo on a lark the year before, which really helped validate my decision to do so this year.
After 13th Age, I decided it was time to brave the Exhibit Hall. The Paizo line was long, but I braved it! I picked up all the stuff. I had a great time talking with a lot of the Paizo staff. I also talked to the publisher of 13th Age, Pelgrane Press and picked up a few other things along the way. I've got a little bit of time, so I hail a cab back to my apartment and drop off my loot. He agrees to wait and bring me back to the Con. I have bought too much--this is going to be hell on my bag & on my checking fee!And now it's time for the end of season scenario for Pathfinder Society. Khygar's back for this one. "Spoiler" alert! The Pathfinder Society has finally found the lost Sky Citadel, Jormundun and it's time to explore it before the demons of the Worldwound have a shot to overrun it.
This was hands down the best group I played with all weekend! Things were looking rough on finding a group, but slowly but surely things worked out. First, I met a great couple from Seattle, who were actually using GenCon as their honeymoon. We had another sweet couple, and another single. I made number 6. Our GM was the Venture Captain of Chattanooga, Justin Peters. He hasn't gotten his official shirt yet. Note: He deserves it and more! I got in trouble early on for meta-gaming. Justin totally kept us on task. Never before had I noticed how much faster things go if you roll attacks and damage at the same time. Justin kept us on track and really helped us move through the Sky Citadel at a brisk pace. And, boy, was it necessary!
There's a twist in the scenario, but I'm not telling. But, our party finishes and nobody dies, which is a relief. Investigating ancient dwarven ruins is thirsty work, so I decide to head over to Scotty's Brewhouse again.
Yet again I'm drinking alone. But, then this hot guy sits down next to me. For the life of me, I have no idea if he's gay or straight or whether he's even hitting on me. But we chat a bit. He's from Chicago and he's her Numenera game the following day. I also meet another GM running a table (either Numenera or the Strange). His name is Brandon and he runs podcasts related to Numenera and the Strange. You should check out Transmissions from the Ninth World and Translating the Strange. Everybody finishes up their drinks and it's back to the apartment for the night!
Enjoy the tale? Hate it? Leave comments below!
Friday, August 22, 2014
Pathfinder Tales Review: The Redemption Engine
Disclaimer: I have yet to read Death's
Heretic, so some of the overarching themes of Salim's story are lost on
me. I thought about reading it first, but after a conversation with James
Sutter at GenCon about seeing people like me (aka homosexuals) in fantasy
literature, he indicated that I'd probably be more interested in reading The Redemption Engine. I
had read Sutter's serialized stories Boar
and Rabbit on the Paizo blog.
Those were our first introduction to Bors and Roshad. Finally, this review is intended to be spoiler-free, but that's really impossible unless the review is a blank page or just says, "This is a good book." (It is, by the way). So, while I've left out the plot points, you are going to learn a thing or two about the book. It is, to quote Emperor Palpatine, inevitable.
The Redemption
Engine is at heart a
story about coming to terms with who you are. Salim Ghadafar, a former
officer in the Rahadoumi Pure Legion made a bargain with Pharasma, the Goddess
of Death. Salim got what he asked for and in exchange he gets to be
Pharasma’s immortal enforcer.[1] Salim’s worldview remains staunchly Rahadoumi
athiest[2]
despite finding himself as the servant of one of them. I’ll deal with the homosexuality issues later. For now, I’ll just say that it was refreshing
to read a novel with gay characters that focused on self-actualization that
wasn’t about the gay characters’ attempts to come to terms with living within
their own skin.[3] In this installation of Salim’s story, he’s
off on a new mission for the Lady of Graves in Kaer Maga.
Salim spends a good portion of the novel
trying to come to grips with his role as Pharasma’s enforcer. Pharasma’s power within him is colorfully
described as being highly unwelcome. But
when Salim can’t access it he feels barren and empty. Is he coming to terms with his choices? Regardless, he keeps his sense of humor. At one point while reading on a plane, I
laughed aloud, stunning the guy in the seat next to me.
Sutter also provides us with a perfect
Salim foil in the psychopomp Maedora. The Redemption Engine is a police drama
(for what is Salim, but an investigator, hot on the chase?). Maedora represents the feds in relation to our
plucky local cop, Salim. The rightness
of Pharasma’s divine mandate is slowly insinuating itself into Salim. At the same time, the psychopomp believes
unhaltingly in Pharasma’s will, but can she learn the perspective and humor
necessary to any investigator that would view the world through her quarry’s
eyes? Without giving away the ending, we
are left with the feeling that locking Salim and Maedora alone in a room would result
in either a fight to the death or them becoming the best of friends.
James Sutter also wrote City
of Strangers, the Campaign Setting supplement detailing Kaer Maga the
city where the story starts. Kaer Maga
has been around a very long time. It
predates even Azlant and Thassilon.
Hexagonal in shape, Kaer Maga sits at the top of a great cliff. It’s a home for those who are fleeing another
life, hence its other name, the Asylum Stone.
You can tell that Sutter wrote the campaign sourcebook, he delves into
all parts of the city and brings its anarchic, yet strangely ordered, politics
to life.
At one point in the story Salim travels
deep below the city. As a reader, I
found this journey riveting, but as a Pathfinder player I was somewhat
disappointed. In City of Strangers, James Sutter created not just a world beneath
Kaer Maga, but worlds buried beneath worlds buried beneath still other
worlds. His decision to take the reader
all the way to the bottom is riveting from a plot perspective, but undermines
so much of what makes the space between the two interesting in the
sourcebook. Despite this small quibble,
Sutter has brought the city and its subterranean environ to life in a way that
made me want to pull down my copy of City
of Strangers and design some urban intrigue.
But The
Redemption Engine isn’t just confined to Kaer Maga or even to the Material
Plane. Salim Ghadafar is a plane-hopper
extraordinaire, which gives Sutter an opportunity to explore the inherent
paradoxes behind the Outer Planes’ focus on alignment. We can see the disorder in Heaven and the
balance in the Maelstrom in the book.
Having started playing during Second Edition AD&D, at first I had
trouble suspending disbelief in this narrative.
But without some flexibility, there’s no narrative space in any of the
Outer Planes to tell any stories. Even order has to change over time, so even the lawful planes must have some level of dynamism. If the
planes are all exactly the same, what’s the point of them and without
difference how can there be any stories at all? And those stories should be the greatest of myths that come to be retold
on Golarion! Once I was able to jump
this mental roadblock, the book made for fascinating reading.
Finally, in Bors and Rochad Sutter has
given us two strong homosexual characters.
On the one hand, I really enjoyed the way that Sutter portrayed the two
of them as being comfortable within their own skin. These are not two naïve twinks, dedicated to
each other but unsure of themselves. The
two of them are steadfastly in love and unafraid to show that love to the
world. But no one cares that they are
homosexual.
Perhaps I’m lingering in Stockholm syndrome
of the real world, but isn’t one of the formative experiences of homosexuality (or
of any other minority) that you will experience prejudice and that your
reaction to it will be indicative of your character? When he first introduced Bors and Roshad in
his web fiction, “Boar and Rabbit,” Sutter did have them fighting against
oppression and on a very personal level.
Not so here. Their homosexuality
is accepted, but it’s accepted by everyone without comment. Certainly not all fiction featuring
homosexuals need focus on the difference, but pretending there’s no difference
at all comes close to whitewashing.
Sutter’s web fiction and background writing Kaer Maga as a place where
no one cares about another’s business shows isn’t what’s happening here, but it
makes the two characters a little difficult to relate to.
I compare Bors and Roshad with Richard K. Morgan’s
Ringil Eskiath from The
Steel Remains and The
Cold Commands. Ringil’s
constantly second-guessing his personal choices, but not his martial
skill. In fact, he’s a badass that could
go toe-to-toe with Salim Ghadafar.[4] More to the point are Morgan’s other
characters, Ringil’s friends that find themselves missing “that faggot.” This feels real. This is acceptance won through fire.
It’s also the heart of my concern with the
portrayal of Roshad and Bors in The
Redemption Engine. Sure, the Kaer
Magans don’t care about Roshad and Bors’ personal life. But Salim Ghadafar is not Kaer Magan. He’s simultaneously unconcerned about the two’s
homosexuality yet threatened by it when he believes they are inviting him for
an amorous three-way.[5]
Ultimately though, The Redemption Engine is a fun fantasy book and that’s what I’m
reading Pathfinder Tales novels for. As
this isn’t a queer theory or gender studies class but my own free time, I’m
free to say that on balance I really liked the book. Salim is a fascinating character that we get
to see grow internally over the novel’s 500+ pages. By foiling him with the psychopomp Maedora,
we can see that growth works on a two-way street. Sutter hitches us to Salim’s wagon and takes
us on a rollicking ride across the planes to solve a mystery. Who dunnit?
I’m not telling. Will local cop
Salim and federal agent Maedora learn to work together? You’ll have to find out for yourself. All I’ll say is that you should.
Four out of five stars.
Like review posts? Leave a comment below!
Like review posts? Leave a comment below!
[1] The exact terms aren't dealt with here. Presumably they were dealt with in Death’s Heretic. James Sutter, I am NOT complaining about this
AT ALL. When reading serial fiction, I
hate the inevitable summation of the previous installation’s plot over 1-5
pages. THANK YOU for not doing
this. Now, I can go back and read Death’s Heretic without feeling like I read
a book report on it.
[2]
Essentially, he believes that the gods exist, they just aren’t worth
worshipping.
[3]
Yes, for those of you that read it, that little twist was intentional.
[4] My
money’s on Salim in that fight, but then again, as Salim says, “It’s likely I
can’t die.”
[5] Points
to you there, Sutter. I’ve seen more
than one straight guy think he was in that situation (and a smaller pool that
actually were) and Salim’s reaction rings perfectly true—at least for the ones
that declined.
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