Yes, oh yes. Being a big proponent of "realistic" and thus historically based roleplaying., I'm a fan of Mr. Gauck
(glad to see you back Ken!) and Mr. Cooper. I play in the same sandbox as they do.

I was surprised by DKEvermore and Mr. G's go-round as was I by the Gary vs G stuff. I've had a few rounds with Mr. Gauck
myself in the misty past :) but always welcome his opinions and comments as they're intelligent in insightful.

Same goes for Darren, Dustin and Gary. You guys are among the principal contributors to the board. I've seen fantastic
ideas from all of you in the past. Let's work together to build a better Birthright- or at least agree to disagree.

OK. Now that the touchy feely stuff is over, look to the end of the snip.

- ----- Begin Included Message -----


> I've got news for you. The 14 th century was hard, it was violent, it was disease ridden, it was filled with slaughter of countless innocents. In short RL IS NOT PLEASANT! This is why we play in a fantasy setting.<

I've got news for you too, Dustin - take a look around you - the *21st*
century is exactly the same. So why would it be very much different for
a BR person? Sorry to shatter any of your illusions. And, while others
may use BR to forget about the world around them like others perform
substance abuse, I sure don't. I play BR as an excuse to learn more
about MY world by taking the opportunity to increase my knowledge of how
people thought, loved, governed themselves, killed one another, and so
on, so that I can make it a more satisfying experience for all of my
players - and to better understand myself. We kinda grew outta playing
superheroes and cops and robbers type of playing a long time ago. Now,
we ROLE-play.

And that means getting inside the head of people who would live in an
environment such as portrayed in BR. And since all we have to go on is
medieval thinking as a corelation (and, by the designer's own admission,
based on such), we try and pretend like we know what it was like back
then, not so long ago. That's very satisfying to my group, and it seems
to me, the way Mr. Gauck likes to play. Sorry, it really isn't my place
to say this, but since the moderator won't tell you, I will: everyone
has their own way of playing, and you shouldn't demand Mr. Gauck to play
your way anymore than what you accused him of doing. Now, you also
said:

< It seems to me that you need to stop reading books and seeing
history through eyes of romantics. I contend that Fantasy worlds in
general (Birthright included) are based on medievel legend and
mythology. Not the way it really was. Therefore, if you choose to
believe the fantastic drivel of the more famous authors of the
Renaissance, that's your business. But don't try to ram it down our
throats and say that other people's ideas aren't as good because they
aren't based upon your concept of what history was like.