List of woke and non-woke role-playing games

[Roguey]

Roguey, you ******, you're nothing like Gygax. He ****** hot women!

He was sociable (you'd have to be to be a dungeon master and run RPG groups). I am not.

[Hauberk]

What a figure.

[DagothGeas5]

I heard it spoken of in passing, but what of the game with a cat called "Stray"? A guy I know wanted to play it, but I told him to wait just in case, it has been some time since then but aside from hearing there is some sort of message pushed in it I heard no other news. Is it infected as well? I know the studio is far as I recall (and I believe closed? Can't remember presently).

[Acrux]

I heard it spoken of in passing, but what of the game with a cat called "Stray"? A guy I know wanted to play it, but I told him to wait just in case, it has been some time since then but aside from hearing there is some sort of message pushed in it I heard no other news. Is it infected as well? I know the studio is far as I recall (and I believe closed? Can't remember presently).

It's literally just a cat.

[Xenich]

roguey, you are a liberal.

Back then, yes. Now I'm a mildly right-libertarian, somewhat-adjacent to Gygax who got the ball rolling on this cartoon from 1983 that used this particular cast:

Pretty sure the ****** chick was industry standard tokenism that was quite common at the time, not some sign of individual ideological stance.

[Xenich]

What a figure.

[Jordy]

I heard it spoken of in passing, but what of the game with a cat called "Stray"? A guy I know wanted to play it, but I told him to wait just in case, it has been some time since then but aside from hearing there is some sort of message pushed in it I heard no other news. Is it infected as well? I know the studio is far as I recall (and I believe closed? Can't remember presently).

Cat game made for crazy cat people. Reason enough to avoid.

[Acrux]

Looks like D&D became **** long time ago, how interesting.

There was this jewish plot against Gary Gygax in 1985...



The rest is History.

This is a very detailed review of how the Blumes (and Lorraine Williams) pushed him out.
https://medium.com/@increment/the-ambus ... 29d07f6836

Wow, what a horrible way that site's link shows up.

[DagothGeas5]

I heard it spoken of in passing, but what of the game with a cat called "Stray"? A guy I know wanted to play it, but I told him to wait just in case, it has been some time since then but aside from hearing there is some sort of message pushed in it I heard no other news. Is it infected as well? I know the studio is far as I recall (and I believe closed? Can't remember presently).

Cat game made for crazy cat people. Reason enough to avoid.

I did notice there is some sort of obsession with paw cushions and cats these days, not sure why that is.
Will tell him that it's fine then, will also show him Acrux's post instead of speaking as I found it somewhat hilarious when compared to the amount of paranoia that this hunt for this hidden message instilled in both of us

Thank you both!

[Roguey]

Pretty sure the ****** chick was industry standard tokenism that was quite common at the time, not some sign of individual ideological stance.

That is 80s political correctness, yes.

[Tweed]

In the third edition book, they used the pronoun of whichever person they decided would represent that class, in the paladin's case https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/ba ... ladin.html

I'm aware. Behold, the 3.5e 'iconic' Paladin:



You can't tell me with a straight face this isn't subversion.

The Paladindu. Upholder of ever-shifting personal moral values and liberal ethics.

[rusty_shackleford]

In the third edition book, they used the pronoun of whichever person they decided would represent that class, in the paladin's case https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/ba ... ladin.html

I'm aware. Behold, the 3.5e 'iconic' Paladin:



You can't tell me with a straight face this isn't subversion.

The Paladindu. Upholder of ever-shifting personal moral values and liberal ethics.

In wrath of the righteous, the paladin of your party(a negress) loots from dead allies and it's a chaotic(? or evil?) act to chastise her for it

[Tweed]

In wrath of the righteous, the paladin of your party(a negress) loots from dead allies and it's a chaotic(? or evil?) act to chastise her for it

So, about that disgusting rating...

EDIT: As I recall Gygax didn't like the concept of the anti-paladin or evil paladin, but someone gave the go ahead for it in 1st edition anyway, but that's off the top of my head. It became a full blown kit-class in 2nd edition.

[Xenich]

In wrath of the righteous, the paladin of your party(a negress) loots from dead allies and it's a chaotic(? or evil?) act to chastise her for it

So, about that disgusting rating...

EDIT: As I recall Gygax didn't like the concept of the anti-paladin or evil paladin, but someone gave the go ahead for it in 1st edition anyway, but that's off the top of my head. It became a full blown kit-class in 2nd edition.

I don't remember the anti-Paladin being a part of the official first edition ruleset, I believe it was Dragon Magazine that released a kit ruleset for it at the time.

[rusty_shackleford]

EDIT: As I recall Gygax didn't like the concept of the anti-paladin or evil paladin, but someone gave the go ahead for it in 1st edition anyway, but that's off the top of my head. It became a full blown kit-class in 2nd edition.

Gygax hated the idea of an anti-paladin

The anti-paladin is as useful as a third leg. Paladins were designed to counter balance the weight of evil monsters in AD&D. If DMs must resort to such, to control their games, why not use a 16-ton block instead? It is at least as subtle and rational.

The evil "equivalent" of the paladin was the assassin.

What will not be covered in the expansion are the anti-paladin (perish the thought!) and the samurai. An assassin is about as close to an anti-paladin as is needed. Evil is strong and well represented. I by no means champion it. As I have said before, an anti-paladin is a third leg, and I have never yet seen any reasoned proposal which justifies the inclusion of such a sub-class. I believe that attempts to include the character type come from players who wish to have an “unbeatable” character for themselves. Furthermore, there is little mention of such a type in mythology or fantasy literature, so we do not have a solid role-model.

[edit]
To better understand Gygax's reasoning, remember that paladin used to have significant drawbacks in play. An "anti-paladin" would have no such drawbacks, and just be a munchkin class.

[rusty_shackleford]

I don't remember the anti-Paladin being a part of the official first edition ruleset, I believe it was Dragon Magazine that released a kit ruleset for it at the time.

And Gygax hated it, going as far to write about it two issues later(my first Gygax quote above)

[rusty_shackleford]

Wow, what a horrible way that site's link shows up.

removed the embed for medium

[Finarfin]

Man, Anti-Paladin must be the gayest thing ever invented. Who came up with that ****?

[Tweed]

Many years ago my brother DM'd for a game where someone had an anti-paladin once and dealt with it thusly. The guy was a jerk with an anti-magic shield and was basically untouchable until he came across an odd hall way full of pebbles tied to strings high above him. He couldn't figure why anyone would do such a thing and started down the hallway only to get crushed under a pile of boulders.

[Gregz]

Many years ago my brother DM'd for a game where someone had an anti-paladin once and dealt with it thusly. The guy was a jerk with an anti-magic shield and was basically untouchable until he came across an odd hall way full of pebbles tied to strings high above him. He couldn't figure why anyone would do such a thing and started down the hallway only to get crushed under a pile of boulders.

Reminds me of this:

[UltraFan123]

Man, Anti-Paladin must be the gayest thing ever invented. Who came up with that ****?

I imagine that an emo angsty edge lord who doesn't feel like playing a rogue/assassin and wants to be a tanky fighter instead. Or somethin like that.

[Brother Michael]

Evil paladins should be allowed so long as they have oaths that are challenging to keep.

Edit: Maybe an oath wouldn’t always make sense, but the point is that they have to be an evil ************ if they’re like this. I think evil characters can make interesting situations for the rest of the group.

[UltraFan123]

Now that I think about it for a bit, even if I think that the idea of "anti-paladin" to be lazy, the idea of the "blackguard" as presented in 3.5 edition - that of being a paladin who fell from grace - in the form of a prestige class could be a good story hook depending on how its used.

[Rand]

The fact that my Paladin fell because he sided with the homeowner in act 3 who wanted the refugees removed from squatting in his home killed it entirely for me.

Sounds like you broke your oath. BG3 doesn't have alignments so there's no point in being "lawful."

Of course, the problem is that the game decides, wrongly, what your oath is.
Any lawful aligned will not support the refugees squatting.
Most if not all good aligned will support it either. Definitely not for free.
It's ********.

[Rand]

If they encountered an actual paladin, they'd be lucky if they got off with less than execution.

Well, a Paladin would be a holy knight. Being a knight meant a significant position in that time, even if you were nominally a monk.
If we use something like the Templars (for a randomly selected example, there are many others), they are entirely comfortable with corporal punishment and with enforcing the social strata.
Refugees in this case are unlanded peasants, foreigners, and worst of all lawbreakers that are claiming land from a landed citizen.
I would expect them to rule for a public whipping, followed by at least a week in the stocks, followed by either indebtment slavery to the landowner or exile, as he prefers.

[Rand]

I was alive and playing D&D at the time of "the satanic panic" and can tell you that the older (Silent Generation and older Boomers) right wing christians of that era were absolutely unhinged about everything at that time.
It wasn't just D&D, music, movies, and TV. They were calling everything satanically influenced. McDonalds, the local daycare, skateboarding, it didn't matter because there was always some nutcase preacher condemning it.
While soliciting donations, of course.

[rusty_shackleford]

I was alive and playing D&D at the time of "the satanic panic" and can tell you that the older (Silent Generation and older Boomers) right wing christians of that era were absolutely unhinged about everything at that time.
It wasn't just D&D, music, movies, and TV. They were calling everything satanically influenced. McDonalds, the local daycare, skateboarding, it didn't matter because there was always some nutcase preacher condemning it.
While soliciting donations, of course.

Have you looked at society lately and considered they might have been right tho?

[rusty_shackleford]

I actually disagree with this, fwiw

there is little mention of such a type in mythology or fantasy literature, so we do not have a solid role-model.

An obvious example pops out at me: Mordred.


But this is closer to something akin to a fallen paladin, Mordred is a tragic figure of circumstances, not inherently evil. And I assume Gygax would have made a similar counterargument that he wasn't an "anti-paladin" but merely a fallen paladin.

[Nessa]

I heard it spoken of in passing, but what of the game with a cat called "Stray"? A guy I know wanted to play it, but I told him to wait just in case, it has been some time since then but aside from hearing there is some sort of message pushed in it I heard no other news. Is it infected as well? I know the studio is far as I recall (and I believe closed? Can't remember presently).

I played it. The cat isn't too attractive as cats go, but more importantly the game is a glorified casual game. Gameplay is all over the place. At one point you get a stupid gun. And the plot is, of course, the usual depressing Frenchie nonsense without any follow through. Not really anything woke that I can think of. But also not worth buying. Get it from... other sources if you're curious. Only good reason to check it out in my opinion is to see how not to make a game, AND to see some of the well done environments. (Their modellers pulled off some great looking stuff.) Otherwise avoid.

[Rand]

I was alive and playing D&D at the time of "the satanic panic" and can tell you that the older (Silent Generation and older Boomers) right wing christians of that era were absolutely unhinged about everything at that time.
It wasn't just D&D, music, movies, and TV. They were calling everything satanically influenced. McDonalds, the local daycare, skateboarding, it didn't matter because there was always some nutcase preacher condemning it.
While soliciting donations, of course.

Have you looked at society lately and considered they might have been right tho?

Oh, of course. They were wrong in every analysis, motivation, and detail, but the rise of non-supernaturally driven evil is plain to see.
That's the funny/ironic part. Their religion blinded them to the people (some of them, anyway) orchestrating their ruin.
Israeli **** were the one group I never heard them call satanic. And yet, it may have been the most appropriate of all.
"There is no cause so righteous that you will not find knaves and fools enthusiastically supporting it."