- -----Original Message-----
From: Pieter Sleijpen
Date: Saturday, August 14, 1999 4:13 PM
>
>In fact they were generaly more educated then the Europeans, a lot more
>peaceful (at least until the crusades started, but who blames them if
>you read what was done during them) and for the rest just normal humans.
>
>So why can't we DM's do the same with goblins?
>
>I like it to make my game a little more gray, it tends to keep my
>players on their toes.

Sidhain's point, if I read him right, is that this kind of relativism need
not have any place in a fantasy campaign. I would suggest something allied,
but somewhat different. That classical literature provides a better model
for gray areas than modern multi-culturalism. It turns everything gray, and
that dovetails nicely with anti-heroic cinema. When out hero's lack courage
and our enemies lack evil, we have a morally complex situation that is
proven to sell at the Box Office.

But does it make good gaming? It can, and depending on what your players
like, it can be very exiting. Much of Star Trek, and the Star Trek RPG
recently put out by LUG (thanks to whoever on this list mentioned the game
in this forum) deals with these moral quandries. "Do we stick with our
values of non-interfearance, or combat the horrors of slavery?" But take
note... these are two competing goods, not to competing grays.

My suggestion is to put good against good more often. A little moral
ambiguity is a good thing, but too much becomes nihlism, which does not seem
to be good gaming--unless you're an angst ridden teenager.

Kenneth Gauck
c558382@earthlink.net


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