For those of you who don't know what "that paragraph" is:
"You don't
need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender. The elf god
Correllon Larethian is often seen as androgynous or hermaphroditic, for
example...You could also play a female character who presents herself as
a man, or a man who feels trapped in a female body, or a bearded female
dwarf who hates being mistaken for a male. Likewise, your character's
sexual orientation is for you to decide."
That's from the D&D Next rules. Its all the talk right now in RPG circles. I don't understand why. We are talking about a fantasy game, right?
Although I have never (knowingly) played with a gaymer before, its not from exclusion. All of my friends (and I have a lot of gay friends, at least for small-town-middle-America) are welcome at my home table, and all are welcome at my convention table. Period. D&D to me as a child was an escape from the bullying I faced as a poor kid in a rich, private, Catholic school. It is supposed to be a refuge from the senseless anger around us in our real world lives. Its a place where we, the outsiders, get to do the attacking, and feel comfortable about it. We get to be the heroes.
We play for different reasons. But, why we play doesn't matter. What we learn about ourselves as humans does. Maybe, that one paragraph will change one person's anger to tolerance. That would be worth the ink.
RPGs have since the beginning allowed us to explore who we may want to become. I am not sure it needed to be spelled out in black and white.Kudos, to WotC for doing it anyway. I hope that paragraph brings attention to the RPG world. And congrats on the whole lot of free publicity.
(written at 530 in the morning, so take any grammar, punctuation, flow or other mistakes with a grain of salt)
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Mord Mar has an official Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/MordMar
That seems too small of a blog. So, here's a quest from the bounty board for added pleasure:
Seeking stalwart adventurers to recover the Sphere of Pajan. Last known to be in the hands of the brown dragon, Caxior Parruth. 10,000 gold pieces will be paid upon delivery to the Mord Mar Adventurers' Guild.
Sponsored by Tinoth, high priest of Blain Oreweaver
Obviously a higher level quest.
That seems too small of a blog. So, here's a quest from the bounty board for added pleasure:
Seeking stalwart adventurers to recover the Sphere of Pajan. Last known to be in the hands of the brown dragon, Caxior Parruth. 10,000 gold pieces will be paid upon delivery to the Mord Mar Adventurers' Guild.
Sponsored by Tinoth, high priest of Blain Oreweaver
Obviously a higher level quest.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Recent Inspirations
The word "recent" in the title may be a bit of a misnomer. I'm thinking of the influences that led me to make Mord Mar. All of them are from the past two years, and all of them have contributed something. In no particular order:
Undermountain: This was my first mega dungeon experience, and still colors my view of Dungeons and Dragons (and other FRPGs) to this day. My cousin still occasionally runs Undermountain when I need a break, and my Dwarf Druid is stupid powerful. (Powerful meaning able to run away succesfully).
300: I really think this movie is why Mord Mar was overrun by a terrible army. The visuals and fight scenes amaze me still.
Gary Gygax: When there is an unresolved rules dispute at my table, we go to the 1st edition books and read what Gary had to say. That's generally the final word. He created the genre, and even the megadungeon itself. I hope 5E gets closer to his vision than the last few versions were. And I hope they have the OGL back.
Castle of the Mad Archmage: I now have 2 copies of this masterpiece, the OSRIC and the Pathfinder versions. It is great. I look to it for layout of the dungeon in particular. I hope to have a chance to play in it someday.
Frank Mentzer's Lich Dungeon: He has some great ideas, that I'm not going to give away. Check out his work. I hope to borrow some concepts from him.
Conan the Barbarian: Probably the quintessential sword and sorcery movie. I love it, and it colors how I see combat in Mord Mar.
The Wheel of Time: I know a lot of people that say R.J. is a hack,but his interpersonal relationships are top notch. His attention to detail can get a little long winded, and that's something I keep in mind when writing descriptions of my own.
True Dungeon: This event allows me the perspective of seeing inside the dungeon. I get to see what it looks like from a character's and a player's point of view. Plus, Jeff comes up with some fantastic puzzles and creatures.
Undermountain: This was my first mega dungeon experience, and still colors my view of Dungeons and Dragons (and other FRPGs) to this day. My cousin still occasionally runs Undermountain when I need a break, and my Dwarf Druid is stupid powerful. (Powerful meaning able to run away succesfully).
300: I really think this movie is why Mord Mar was overrun by a terrible army. The visuals and fight scenes amaze me still.
Gary Gygax: When there is an unresolved rules dispute at my table, we go to the 1st edition books and read what Gary had to say. That's generally the final word. He created the genre, and even the megadungeon itself. I hope 5E gets closer to his vision than the last few versions were. And I hope they have the OGL back.
Castle of the Mad Archmage: I now have 2 copies of this masterpiece, the OSRIC and the Pathfinder versions. It is great. I look to it for layout of the dungeon in particular. I hope to have a chance to play in it someday.
Frank Mentzer's Lich Dungeon: He has some great ideas, that I'm not going to give away. Check out his work. I hope to borrow some concepts from him.
Conan the Barbarian: Probably the quintessential sword and sorcery movie. I love it, and it colors how I see combat in Mord Mar.
The Wheel of Time: I know a lot of people that say R.J. is a hack,but his interpersonal relationships are top notch. His attention to detail can get a little long winded, and that's something I keep in mind when writing descriptions of my own.
True Dungeon: This event allows me the perspective of seeing inside the dungeon. I get to see what it looks like from a character's and a player's point of view. Plus, Jeff comes up with some fantastic puzzles and creatures.
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