As I've been building a 1920s-era Pathfinder campaign with eldritch horror undertones, I have been debating for a while what to do with Lovecraft, specifically the multifaceted bigotry that's interwoven in a lot of his work. Several events in the past couple weeks have given me some ideas on how to handle it.
Regarding Lovecraft in particular, I recently finished reading N. K. Jemisin's The City We Became. Jemisin incorporates Lovecraftian elements in the book in a way that acknowledges his racism without absolving him of it. Indeed, the way she uses it to build a character that embodies this year's apparent theme of "disappointed but not surprised" was really well done. There may be layers of nuance that I'm missing as a white person or as a non-resident of New York City, but even without those lenses to read through, it's a great book.
So what I took from her treatment of Lovecraft is that you can draw on racist sources to reflect some of the tradition of a genre, but you need to acknowledge its problematic elements, as well, in a way that does not hand-wave away the harm those problematic elements create or reflect.
Having been thinking about this for a while has also been helpful for parsing some of the recent rounds of "these authors whose books you've enjoyed are, in some way, assholes." This issue has cropped up fairly often in the past several years as people who have been harmed have been emboldened or empowered to speak up. It's part of the theme of "disappointed but not surprised" that's been going on. Since I'm just a reader and not hooked into any active writing groups, I only hear about it when it hits the news or the social media circles I'm in, so I will continued to be disappointed but not surprised when I find out someone has been causing harm in some way.
As a reader, I have to decide how I want to engage (or not) with work by authors who are, in some way, problematic. One thing I am certain of is that I won't recommend an author's work once I find out they are causing harm. I don't recommend Lovecraft unless someone is doing background reading into the history of science fiction (which is basically why I read his work - to understand references to it in other works), and I do it with warnings about the blatant bigotry. I have read plenty of other great books that I can recommend instead.
If someone is actively causing harm or an unrepentant bigot, I'm not going to read their works once I find out. For example, I loved Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow, but then I found out about his homophobia and stopped reading the series. If someone stops causing harm (it generally seems to be some kind of bigotry or harassment that makes the news), atones, and actively works to not do harm in the future, I would consider reading their work again, but I don't know that that happens very often. Everyone has a personal comfort level regarding redemption and forgiveness, but redemption requires atonement, and I'm not optimistic that I'll be able to pick back up a lot of the authors I have recently been disappointed by as a reader.
Another recent topic I saw come across Twitter was writing POC main characters as a white author. (I'm pretty sure I only saw tangential pieces of what was a broader conversation because, again, I'm just a reader and not hooked into any writer networks.) A lot of my early writing is, frankly, naive when it comes to issues of race, because I grew up naive about issues of race. I'm not published, so my ignorance is not hanging out there for the world to see, but the discussion has made me think about my capabilities regarding writing diverse characters, what kind of work I need to do to include them in stories without doing so in a manner that would be offensive, and the best practices for writing outside one's own experiences.
This leads me back to The City We Became; I've become someone who reads the acknowledgements section at the end of books - I don't know how, but it's only been within the past year. Seeing the extensive list of sensitivity readers Jemisin consulted for her diverse cast of characters really drove home how important that kind of feedback is when working with characters whose experiences may be different than your own. Research can only get you so far, and sources can be biased. If I want to eventually put some of my work out there, I need to put in the effort to not be someone creating harm, even if it's through ignorance.
Showing posts with label pathfinder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pathfinder. Show all posts
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Europe, 718
So I'm running a D&D campaign again. Despite having (probably literally) dozens of fictional worlds to pull from thanks to twenty years of writing (crappy) fiction, I like running campaigns set on Earth. Past, future, either works. So the current one is set in the era of Charles Martel, 718, before the battles definitively keeping the Moors in Spain and not in France.
The twist, of course, is that a dragon wiped out Constantine and his opponent at the battle of Milvian Bridge, so Constantine never became sole emperor of Rome. The dragon has taken up residence in Rome, the eastern empire has split off as Byzantium, the Franks moved into western Europe, the Celts still have some small footholds, and Christianity didn't become the dominant religion in the region. Islam is still moving up through North Africa, but the cultures in Europe are still more varied.
There's also magic and elves and classical monsters and all of that, so it's not exactly your vanilla European backdrop. Teasing out which cities exist, what the plagues of Justinian did to the population, who's in charge where, which languages are extant, what the technological levels are, and things like, has a bridge been built here yet? have all taken some digging, guesstimating, or sometimes sheer fabrication. It's interesting for me finding textual gaps in the historical record, or areas of sparser research - in a hundred years it's Charlemagne Charlemagne Charlemagne and you can find tons of information on life and culture at the time, but back up to Charles Martel and you're doing a bit more guesswork.
So the party has arrived in Gundelfingen an der Donau, and I'm being reminded that I'm much more comfortable pronouncing German than French. I think they've decided to continue up the Danube to Regensburg, which means I get to switch encounter tables from what they were facing in the Black Forest. I think this one includes angry fish!
The twist, of course, is that a dragon wiped out Constantine and his opponent at the battle of Milvian Bridge, so Constantine never became sole emperor of Rome. The dragon has taken up residence in Rome, the eastern empire has split off as Byzantium, the Franks moved into western Europe, the Celts still have some small footholds, and Christianity didn't become the dominant religion in the region. Islam is still moving up through North Africa, but the cultures in Europe are still more varied.
There's also magic and elves and classical monsters and all of that, so it's not exactly your vanilla European backdrop. Teasing out which cities exist, what the plagues of Justinian did to the population, who's in charge where, which languages are extant, what the technological levels are, and things like, has a bridge been built here yet? have all taken some digging, guesstimating, or sometimes sheer fabrication. It's interesting for me finding textual gaps in the historical record, or areas of sparser research - in a hundred years it's Charlemagne Charlemagne Charlemagne and you can find tons of information on life and culture at the time, but back up to Charles Martel and you're doing a bit more guesswork.
So the party has arrived in Gundelfingen an der Donau, and I'm being reminded that I'm much more comfortable pronouncing German than French. I think they've decided to continue up the Danube to Regensburg, which means I get to switch encounter tables from what they were facing in the Black Forest. I think this one includes angry fish!
Saturday, June 25, 2016
RPG Shopping IRL
So the other day I found the NYPL's online store. This was both a great and terrible thing; I was previously unaware of how many tote bags I needed from them. And then I found the travel pen set, and I realized that I could totally be assembling my basic Dungeons & Dragons equipment kit (non-weapons and armor, although I could probably come pretty close to those just at Walmart).
So what's my standard kit entail? This list is based off the last character I played that had better than an 8 Strength (which is what my current sorcerer has, and it's severely pared down for her). Since D&D doesn't generally include utility knives, I usually substitute in a dagger. Overall this list runs 58g, 6s, 3c, and weighs 70.2 lb.
I frequently am the log-keeper for our group, so I tend to give my character the materials to do so (writing implements, etc.). This is true even when the character is a sword-and-board fighter, as was the one this one is based on.
For the real-life equivalents (or approximates), I looked at L.L. Bean, Walmart, Home Depot, Hannaford (the grocery we most frequently use), Jo-Ann, Michael's, and Staples. A few of those can probably be consolidated into Walmart depending how big it is. Amazon was helpful for weights when the other stores didn't list them.
I frequently am the log-keeper for our group, so I tend to give my character the materials to do so (writing implements, etc.). This is true even when the character is a sword-and-board fighter, as was the one this one is based on.
For the real-life equivalents (or approximates), I looked at L.L. Bean, Walmart, Home Depot, Hannaford (the grocery we most frequently use), Jo-Ann, Michael's, and Staples. A few of those can probably be consolidated into Walmart depending how big it is. Amazon was helpful for weights when the other stores didn't list them.
| Game Item | Real-Life Item | Cost | Store | |
| Backpack | White Mountain Pack | $199 | LL Bean | |
| Abacus | TI 36x solar calculator | $20 | Walmart | |
| Animal glue | Elmer's Glue-All | $3 | Walmart | |
| Canteen | Nalgene 16 oz bottle | $10 | LL Bean | |
| Coffee pot | Stainless Steel Percolator | $30 | LL Bean | |
| Crowbar | 24" ripping bar | $10 | Home Depot | |
| Fishing kit | First cast outfit | $40 | LL Bean | |
| Deluxe Fly Selection, Eastern | $49 | LL Bean | ||
| Grappling hook | Folding Grapnel | $11 | Walmart | |
| Honey (jar) | Honey | $4 | Hannaford | |
| Mess kit | Sea to Summit Camp Set | $30 | LL Bean | |
| Poncho | Coleman Adult EVA Poncho | $8 | Walmart | |
| Silk rope (50 ft.) | 3/8 inch braided poly rope (100 ft) | $9 | Home Depot | |
| Skillet | Lodge 8" skillet | $11 | Walmart | |
| String (50 ft) | #18 Twisted Mason Line (250 ft.) | $3 | Home Depot | |
| Thread (50 ft.) | All Purpose Thread (225 yd.) | $3 | Jo-Ann | |
| Waterskin | Osprey Hydraulics Reservoir | $34 | LL Bean | |
| Whetstone | Pocket Stone | $7 | Home Depot | |
| Pouch, belt | Utility belt pouch | $5 | Walmart | |
| Flint & steel | Single Flint Striker with Flints | $5 | Home Depot | |
| Hip flask | Stainless Steel Flask | $5 | Walmart | |
| Magnet | 3/4 in. Magnet Discs (3 pack) | $4 | Home Depot | |
| Sewing needle | Hand needles size 2 (12 pack) | $4 | Jo-Ann | |
| Waterproof bag | Ultra-Sil Compression Sack | $30 | LL Bean | |
| Candle, 5 | Citronella Tealights, 25 pack | $4 | Walmart | |
| Chalk (5) | Crayola white chalk, 12 pack | $1 | Home Depot | |
| Coffee, ground (5 lb) | Medium Roast Ground Coffee | $9 | Walmart | |
| Ink | Acrylic Calligraphy Ink | $6 | Michael's | |
| Inkpen | Manuscript Calligraphy Pen Set | $11 | Michael's | |
| Journal | Journal, Black Leather, 5-1/2" x 8" | $15 | Staples | |
| Powdered milk | Carnation Instant Dry Milk | $5 | Hannaford | |
| Scrivener's kit | 33 Piece Calligraphy Pen Set | $16 | Staples | |
| Soap | Ivory Simply Original Bar Soap | $3 | Hannaford | |
| Trail rations | Fruit & Nut Trail Mix | $12 | Hannaford | |
| Bedroll | Camp Sleeping Bag | $70 | LL Bean | |
| Shovel | Shovel | $10 | Home Depot | |
| Dagger | Folding Knife | $15 | Home Depot |
Real-life totals: $711 and about 43 lbs.
Weirdly enough, in real life, the hiking backpack becomes the most expensive piece. It could probably be downgraded to an $80 one, but not without losing the capacity needed to carry gear for multiple days. This gear set didn't even include a tent of some sort - probably desirable for most outdoor treks over multiple days. The basic two-person tent at L.L. Bean runs $170 and weighs 7 lbs. The game equivalent is 10g and 20 lb.
The tealights are probably the worst candle you can get as a light source; in-game candles only last an hour, so I went with the real-life equivalent. Basic ones seem to most frequently come in mass quantity. Since this character had darkvision, a light-source was extraneous; a lantern and lamp oil would normally be necessary for any extended travel in the dark. That runs 7g and 2 lb. for the standard hooded lantern, and lamp oil is 1s for a 1 lb. flask that burns for 6 hours. For the real-life equivalent, I'd probably go with a $7 floating waterproof LED flashlight that lasts 20 hours on 3 AA batteries from Walmart.
Another thing I'd probably look at for a standard kit is a hatchet; this is a basic item that RPG equipment lists frequently lack, but a 6g/3 lb. handaxe is probably close enough. A Fiskers 14" hatchet from Home Depot runs about $26 and weighs 1.3 lb.
Looking over the list, substituting equivalent items, I've got... pretty much everything but the percolator, whetstone, grappling hook, sleeping bag, tent, hatchet, and that much trail mix. So while I'm not set up for actual camping or survival, I'm pretty well set for RPG-style adventuring.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Sorcery!
Well, I got sorted into Slytherin again. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; I'm not cutthroat enough to be a Ravenclaw, not generous enough to be a Hufflepuff, and I'm definitely not brave, so that rules out Gryffindor.
Slytherin, but with a unicorn-core wand. Go figure.
We've just started a new game Monday nights, and I'm playing a sorcerer, possibly for the first time ever. I don't generally play high-charisma characters, so although I prefer spontaneous casters, when I do go that route, they've been wisdom-based. But then I found the Sage Wildblooded alternative, and, well.
She's got a ridiculous Knowledge (Arcana) check for a level 1 character, a bit of skill with alchemy, and an 8 strength, so hopefully I won't end up carrying all of the party's detritus again.
I got the impression as I was putting her together that she's a bit arrogant, a bit impatient with those who can't keep up with her, and inclined to be a bit petty.
The alchemy background means she's averse to fire spells bigger than what's necessary to light a Bunsen burner, so acid and force will likely be her main focuses. Her sorcerer bloodline (Sage is Wildblooded from Arcane) means she gets a lot of sort of "classic" spells as her bonus spells - things like invisibility and dimension door and wish - so she'll probably pick up some of the others, like knock and magic missile. And that petty streak? She'll probably pick up bestow curse, too.
I have an easy time getting in her head. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
Slytherin, but with a unicorn-core wand. Go figure.
We've just started a new game Monday nights, and I'm playing a sorcerer, possibly for the first time ever. I don't generally play high-charisma characters, so although I prefer spontaneous casters, when I do go that route, they've been wisdom-based. But then I found the Sage Wildblooded alternative, and, well.
She's got a ridiculous Knowledge (Arcana) check for a level 1 character, a bit of skill with alchemy, and an 8 strength, so hopefully I won't end up carrying all of the party's detritus again.
I got the impression as I was putting her together that she's a bit arrogant, a bit impatient with those who can't keep up with her, and inclined to be a bit petty.
The alchemy background means she's averse to fire spells bigger than what's necessary to light a Bunsen burner, so acid and force will likely be her main focuses. Her sorcerer bloodline (Sage is Wildblooded from Arcane) means she gets a lot of sort of "classic" spells as her bonus spells - things like invisibility and dimension door and wish - so she'll probably pick up some of the others, like knock and magic missile. And that petty streak? She'll probably pick up bestow curse, too.
I have an easy time getting in her head. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Putting points in Linguistics
Okay, right, so I'm the kind of nerd that wonders things like, if I were a character in a role-playing game, what kind of statistics would I have? Just how many points is that history master's worth?
I've spent way more time thinking about this than I probably should. Pathfinder uses the d20 OGL system for the most part, with some tweaks, and has around thirty skills that players can put points in for their characters. So I've been looking at that list and debating where I likely have points.
Anyway, adding Russian to the app means I can now practice four other languages every day! I really want to pick up Mandarin and Latin (and Hebrew and Arabic and Swahili), as well, but they're not in the app yet, so it would be more work to add them into the mix.
Based on my skill points and spread, I'm probably either an Expert (an NPC class) or a Bard of some sort.
I've spent way more time thinking about this than I probably should. Pathfinder uses the d20 OGL system for the most part, with some tweaks, and has around thirty skills that players can put points in for their characters. So I've been looking at that list and debating where I likely have points.
- Acrobatics: Probably 0
- Appraise: Definitely 0 - I'm pretty bad at knowing or guessing how much something is worth
- Artistry: For the Literature subskill, maybe 1 or 2 points
- Bluff: 0 - I'm not good at bluffing at all
- Climb: Probably 1 or 2 points; I spent a lot of time up trees as a kid
- Craft: This has multiple subskills, and is basically skills that make something; Cooking probably 3 points; Clothing 1 or 2 points; Alchemy (substituting for chemistry) maybe 1 point
- Diplomacy: Given my years working at a customer service point, I'm estimating about 3 points
- Disable Device: In game terms this is about traps and locks, so 0
- Disguise: 0 - I can't even really put on normal makeup
- Escape Artist: Probably 1 point
- Fly: Uh, we'll go with 0
- Handle Animal: Probably 1 point
- Heal: I don't really remember enough first aid or CPR to have points in this, so probably 0 (really, no one should be looking to me for help if they injure themselves)
- Intimidate: Probably 0
- Knowledge: This is a multi-part skill in game terms; Arcana - 0 (unless you apply it to tech instead of magic, then maybe 1); Dungeoneering (this is caves and such) - maybe 1; Engineering - maybe 1; Geography - probably 2; History - 6; Local - maybe 1; Nature (this includes life and earth science type stuff) - 2; Nobility (this includes legal and political stuff) - 1; Planes - 0; Religion: 2
- Linguistics: You get a language for every point you invest, but you also get bonus languages for your intelligence score, so this is either 1-2 or 3-4 points, based on the number of languages beyond English I've studied (German, Russian, French, and Spanish)
- Lore: this is a specialized knowledge area skill; I figure I've probably got 1 point in this for copyright issues
- Perception: I don't think my Wisdom score (the affiliated skill) is that great, so I probably have about 5 points in this, based on what I notice while driving at night versus what my husband notices
- Perform: This is another multi-part skill; I'm basing the points on years of lessons divided by two: Keyboards - 5, Trombone - 2, Singing - 3, Oratory - 1
- Profession: Another multi-part skill, similar to Craft but which doesn't produce physical goods; Librarian - about 7 points; Gardener - maybe 1 point; Scribe - maybe 1 point
- Ride: 0
- Sense Motive: probably 0
- Slight of Hand: probably 0
- Spellcraft: probably 0; if applied to tech rather than magic, maybe 1
- Stealth: maybe 1
- Survival: maybe 1
- Swim: maybe 1
- Use Magic Device: probably 0; if applied to tech rather than magic, maybe 1
Anyway, adding Russian to the app means I can now practice four other languages every day! I really want to pick up Mandarin and Latin (and Hebrew and Arabic and Swahili), as well, but they're not in the app yet, so it would be more work to add them into the mix.
Based on my skill points and spread, I'm probably either an Expert (an NPC class) or a Bard of some sort.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Prince of Wolves
Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross
Two books into the Pathfinder novels, they are proving to be quite good at fleshing out the campaign world while being entertaining. I had started with Winter Witch since the next person running the game after our current adventure is planning to run something in that area; Prince of Wolves is set in an entirely different area of the campaign world, Golarian.
Prince of Wolves follows a Pathfinder, Varian Jeggare, and his bodyguard, Radovan, into the country of Ustalav in search of a missing member of the Pathfinder Society. While the lands of Irrisen explored in Winter Witch were full of trolls and goblins, Ustalav's major threats are undead and werewolves. D20 RPGs generally have one or more pantheons of deities, and different ones have stronger followings in different areas of Golarian, so the way the inhabitants of Ustalav interact with their deities, and which, was also different from those in Winter Witch.
Pathfinder anthropology aside, the story itself is told in first person, switching back and forth between Radovan and Varian. This construction works fairly well for giving events from both's point of view, but it sometimes takes a paragraph or two to figure out whose perspective is behind each chapter. (I don't know if this is an element of the ebook format, or if the print version has some kind of distinguishing cue.) Radovan's storyline at the points the characters are separated is better structured; the segments where Varian is alone at a manor in Ustalav feel a bit rushed. The separate paths weave back together coherently, however.
Thus far the series shows promise, with both books having compelling characters and enough plot twists to make them hard to put down.
Two books into the Pathfinder novels, they are proving to be quite good at fleshing out the campaign world while being entertaining. I had started with Winter Witch since the next person running the game after our current adventure is planning to run something in that area; Prince of Wolves is set in an entirely different area of the campaign world, Golarian.
Prince of Wolves follows a Pathfinder, Varian Jeggare, and his bodyguard, Radovan, into the country of Ustalav in search of a missing member of the Pathfinder Society. While the lands of Irrisen explored in Winter Witch were full of trolls and goblins, Ustalav's major threats are undead and werewolves. D20 RPGs generally have one or more pantheons of deities, and different ones have stronger followings in different areas of Golarian, so the way the inhabitants of Ustalav interact with their deities, and which, was also different from those in Winter Witch.
Pathfinder anthropology aside, the story itself is told in first person, switching back and forth between Radovan and Varian. This construction works fairly well for giving events from both's point of view, but it sometimes takes a paragraph or two to figure out whose perspective is behind each chapter. (I don't know if this is an element of the ebook format, or if the print version has some kind of distinguishing cue.) Radovan's storyline at the points the characters are separated is better structured; the segments where Varian is alone at a manor in Ustalav feel a bit rushed. The separate paths weave back together coherently, however.
Thus far the series shows promise, with both books having compelling characters and enough plot twists to make them hard to put down.
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