Melan
Arcane
This is great stuff. I have read two of the adventures before release, and played in one at a German con (Slyth Hive); both excellent. The previous collections were also high-tier, and at the price of zero dollahs, not a bad deal.
That bit about Vishnu being cultural appropriation and "players were expected to fight Vishnu" is such idiotic nonsense just because they have stats does not mean they're meant to be fought and if you did good luck anyway you morons.But that game content also includes a virtual catalog of insensitive and derogatory language, words that are casually hurtful to anyone with a physical or mental disability, or who happens to be old, fat, non conventionally attractive, indigenous, Black, or a woman.
Some people have charitably ascribed this language to authors working from bad assumptions. In the 1970s, historical wargamers in America were predominately white, middle-class men; it isn't surprising that they would dub a class of soldiers the "fighting-man." But when, in the pages of Greyawhk, the description of the Queen of Chaotic Dragons includes a dig at "Women's Lib," the misogyny is revealed as a conscious choice. It's an unfortunate fact that women seldom appear in original D&D, and when they do, they're usually portrayed disrespectfully.
Slavery appears in original D&D not as a human tragedy that devastated generations over centuries, but as a simple commercial transaction. The cultural appropriation of original D&D rangers from the bewildering (like naming every 6th-level cleric a "lama") to the staggering: Gods, Demi-gods, and Heroes (not reprinted in this book) includes game statistics for sacred figures revered by more than a billion people around the world. Were players were expected to fight Vishnu, one of the principal deities of Hinduism, kill him, and loot his "plus 3 sword of demon slaying"?"
... how terrible?There is only one King of Lawful Dragons, just as there is only one Queen of Chaotic Dragons (Women's Lib may make whatever they wish from the foregoing).
Overall is this enough to ruin the book? I wouldn't say so as I can tell they loaded up this stuff in the preface and forward and the rest of the book is just the materials as is.Note that the "Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns" that make up original D&D were created by and sold to a wargaming community that was almost exclusively white, middle-class men. The rules compiled here offer little by way of roles for other players, nor indeed for any who wouldn't easily identify with a pulp sword-and-sorcery hero.
Especially before 1974, the rules made light of slavery. In addition to including other harmful content. To reiterate the disclaimer Wizards of the Coast includes on legacy D&D content, "these depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. The content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed."
And now for some bullshit here's a example of the preachy nonsense wotc spouting out in the preface in the making of OD&D book by Jason Tondro
That bit about Vishnu being cultural appropriation and "players were expected to fight Vishnu" is such idiotic nonsense just because they have stats does not mean they're meant to be fought and if you did good luck anyway you morons.But that game content also includes a virtual catalog of insensitive and derogatory language, words that are casually hurtful to anyone with a physical or mental disability, or who happens to be old, fat, non conventionally attractive, indigenous, Black, or a woman.
Some people have charitably ascribed this language to authors working from bad assumptions. In the 1970s, historical wargamers in America were predominately white, middle-class men; it isn't surprising that they would dub a class of soldiers the "fighting-man." But when, in the pages of Greyawhk, the description of the Queen of Chaotic Dragons includes a dig at "Women's Lib," the misogyny is revealed as a conscious choice. It's an unfortunate fact that women seldom appear in original D&D, and when they do, they're usually portrayed disrespectfully.
Slavery appears in original D&D not as a human tragedy that devastated generations over centuries, but as a simple commercial transaction. The cultural appropriation of original D&D rangers from the bewildering (like naming every 6th-level cleric a "lama") to the staggering: Gods, Demi-gods, and Heroes (not reprinted in this book) includes game statistics for sacred figures revered by more than a billion people around the world. Were players were expected to fight Vishnu, one of the principal deities of Hinduism, kill him, and loot his "plus 3 sword of demon slaying"?"
And they did all the deities they could get their hands on in that book. Am I a fan of it no but is it a big deal? God no, I mean that video game Smite even uses them too.
Also for that "dig" he mentions about being misogynistic here it is from the Greyhawk book
... how terrible?There is only one King of Lawful Dragons, just as there is only one Queen of Chaotic Dragons (Women's Lib may make whatever they wish from the foregoing).
As for Jon Peterson's forward he included this bit in the second to last paragraph:
Overall is this enough to ruin the book? I wouldn't say so as I can tell they loaded up this stuff in the preface and forward and the rest of the book is just the materials as is.Note that the "Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns" that make up original D&D were created by and sold to a wargaming community that was almost exclusively white, middle-class men. The rules compiled here offer little by way of roles for other players, nor indeed for any who wouldn't easily identify with a pulp sword-and-sorcery hero.
Especially before 1974, the rules made light of slavery. In addition to including other harmful content. To reiterate the disclaimer Wizards of the Coast includes on legacy D&D content, "these depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. The content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed."
But I do think I' just going to follow this videos advice on how to print the original OD&D booklets for yourself and treat myself to a better 50th anniversary gift that way.
It's quadruply stupid because Vishnu doesn't have a +3 sword of demon slaying. He wields a mace ffs.That bit about Vishnu being cultural appropriation and "players were expected to fight Vishnu" is such idiotic nonsense just because they have stats does not mean they're meant to be fought and if you did good luck anyway you morons.
It's mostly that they were stated so high as the intent was the PCs were not intended to be able to kill them though I think there was some opposition to stating them out in the first place."If you stat it, they will kill it." I thought every one knows this...
Despite being "just" a supplement, Gygax saw Deities & Demigods as integral to the AD&D line. This was because he thought that GMs were alternately either neglecting deities (by never mentioning them) or abusing them (by bringing them constantly on stage). He wanted to offer a middle-ground where deities could take their proper spot in D&D campaigns as the patrons of clerics and as the exemplars of alignment.
Sadly, despite Gygax's original intent, Deities & Demigods was very much a list of deities that could be killed
It' s enough to wait for a huuuuge discount, that's for sure. God bless OSR and it's luminaries for it to be a thing. I would have quit the hobby a long time ago if it not existed. In my young age I only had contact with 3e edition, so the game would be dead to me by now.Overall is this enough to ruin the book? I wouldn't say so as I can tell they loaded up this stuff in the preface and forward and the rest of the book is just the materials as is.
Ok, but what is it's bonus?It's quadruply stupid because Vishnu doesn't have a +3 sword of demon slaying. He wields a mace ffs.That bit about Vishnu being cultural appropriation and "players were expected to fight Vishnu" is such idiotic nonsense just because they have stats does not mean they're meant to be fought and if you did good luck anyway you morons.
Double digits conservativelyOk, but what is it's bonus?It's quadruply stupid because Vishnu doesn't have a +3 sword of demon slaying. He wields a mace ffs.That bit about Vishnu being cultural appropriation and "players were expected to fight Vishnu" is such idiotic nonsense just because they have stats does not mean they're meant to be fought and if you did good luck anyway you morons.