tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post1764815648626521444..comments2024-03-28T15:30:09.903-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Creative AnachronismsJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-57676916917373576372008-05-11T18:31:00.000-04:002008-05-11T18:31:00.000-04:00Tobacco's only an anachronism at all if you assume...Tobacco's only an anachronism at all if you assume the setting <I>is</I> medieval Europe. If not, then there's no reason to say the stuff isn't grown in some warm area of the setting.Eric the Half-a-Beehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150352086337447295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-62530883982541530102008-05-11T10:21:00.000-04:002008-05-11T10:21:00.000-04:00Re: Old schoolTrue: many of the things I listed he...Re: Old school<BR/><BR/>True: many of the things I listed here aren't especially old school. However, one of the hallmarks for "old school," in my opinion, is the willingness to borrow liberally from other genres and times. Early <I>D&D</I>, for example, had a notable sci-fi component to it, with aliens, spaceships, and laser weapons aplenty. Blackmoor incorporated this stuff into the setting in a major way and the Wilderlands includes it too, albeit as part of its deep backstory.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-77353922083622722772008-05-10T12:16:00.000-04:002008-05-10T12:16:00.000-04:00Long-time reader, first-time poster. Let me just s...Long-time reader, first-time poster. Let me just say I love what you're doing here, and throw in my 2cp.<BR/><BR/>In my games, I've always used tobacco (pipes, not cigars, but thief guildmasters with cigars are a damn good idea!), as a luxury import from the Mysterious East or the Sunny Southern Continent.<BR/><BR/>Eyeglasses are another standby I've used; never used shades, though. Latter fantasy aesthetics with "steampunk" influences (such as Iron Kingdoms and World of Warcraft) seem quite fond of goggles, though, which arguably serve a similar role. But I don't see them as Old School.<BR/><BR/>I don't use powdered wigs and eating utensils because I still want to preserve a certain faux-Medieval atmosphere which is a big part of the Old School aesthetic to me. That, and eating knives are cool.<BR/><BR/>Gender equality. At the risk of irking people... I like the idea of female warriors being underestimated by male opponents, only to soundly beat them in combat, moments later. I suppose this is a recurring trope in D&D's source material, which does have its share of warrior-women, from the Amazons of Greek myth to Dying Earth's Tsain.Iglesiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08416128782481346800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-24039806227064269502008-05-08T13:11:00.000-04:002008-05-08T13:11:00.000-04:00I'm pretty sure pipe-weed did mean tobacco to Tolk...I'm pretty sure pipe-weed <I>did</I> mean tobacco to Tolkien, but its enthusiastic <I>mis</I>reading by British musicians in the 60's and 70's was, I think, a contributing factor in why LoTR became so popular with counter-culture folks at that time. In that spirit, I'm OK with it implicitly not meaning tobacco, especially for seers and shamans.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-86151368764328077302008-05-08T11:36:00.000-04:002008-05-08T11:36:00.000-04:00I wasn’t really taking issue with your choic...I wasn’t really taking issue with your choice of terms. I understood what you meant. I just thought it was kind of funny.<BR/><BR/>Have I come to terms with it? I don’t know.<BR/><BR/>I don’t <I>object</I> to it. I suppose I <I>try</I> to celebrate it. I can’t deny tendencies to pretend orcs don’t exist, swap goblins and hobgoblins, not using “pegasus” and “medusa” as species instead of individuals, and various other such things.<BR/><BR/>I think, though, that my tendencies are today more towards creating my own “melting pot” rather than so much trying to honor myth or history.<BR/><BR/>I’m really trying to suppress those tendencies, though. I think my effort is better spent building on top of whatever game I choose rather than futzing so much with what it gives me.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-46054796978853405792008-05-08T10:22:00.000-04:002008-05-08T10:22:00.000-04:00Re: "modern"Here's where my idiosyncratic jargon s...Re: "modern"<BR/><BR/>Here's where my idiosyncratic jargon sometimes get the worst of me. It's possible that you were in fact a "modern" gamer in the 1980s, since I usually use the word as an antonym to "old school." Concerns about verisimilitude or simulationism existed in the 1970s and 80s and I consider both of those concerns to be antithetical to old school gaming.<BR/><BR/>Do you still object to the "melting pot" of <I>D&D</I> or have you come to terms with it?James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-76112092644701621402008-05-08T10:08:00.000-04:002008-05-08T10:08:00.000-04:00I guess I was a “modern gamer” in the ...I guess I was a “modern gamer” in the 1980s then, ’cause that was when the “melting pot” nature of <I>D&D</I> drove me crazy. (^.^)Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-37877634388277483612008-05-08T09:08:00.000-04:002008-05-08T09:08:00.000-04:00Re: coinageI always felt that the pre-3e D&D monet...Re: coinage<BR/><BR/>I always felt that the pre-3e <I>D&D</I> monetary system did a nice job of appearing vaguely plausible while at the same time not being too unwieldy for everyday use. You're right, though, that barter was much more common than coinage in the Middle Ages and that's something that's never been represented in <I>D&D</I> in any edition that I recall.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-32274131591347168782008-05-08T08:36:00.001-04:002008-05-08T08:36:00.001-04:00that should be pseudo-medieval, not pseudo-fantasy...that should be pseudo-medieval, not pseudo-fantasy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-31956270487477750192008-05-08T08:36:00.000-04:002008-05-08T08:36:00.000-04:00A commonly used monetary system is a pretty standa...A commonly used monetary system is a pretty standard anachronism used across pseudo-fantasy rpgs I think. I'm not a professional scholar, but my understanding that barter was much more common than transactions with money. The exact opposite is true in rpgs, with even the lowly kobolds, goblins, and peasants having change in their pockets. Speaking of which- pockets are another anachronism!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-47081193096587265752008-05-08T08:21:00.000-04:002008-05-08T08:21:00.000-04:00In Middle-Earth, "pipe-weed" is in fact synonymous...In Middle-Earth, "pipe-weed" is in fact synonymous with tobacco. Tolkien couldn't imagine his creation without tobacco (or potatoes), so he found places for them nonetheless. <BR/><BR/>My beef isn't with Tolkien so much as it is with his imitators, many of whom have adopted "pipe-weed" as a generic term for a fantasy tobacco equivalent. The same goes for lots of other alternatives to real world things in fantasy settings. Mind you, nothing beats "smoke powder" for gunpowder in the Forgotten Realms when it comes to cheesiness.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-69605920229833673672008-05-08T07:46:00.000-04:002008-05-08T07:46:00.000-04:00In my campaigns pipeweed and tobacco are one and t...In my campaigns pipeweed and tobacco are one and the same. Isn't the term from Tolkien? I feel pretty confident that's how he used it.Jeff Rientshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17493878980535235896noreply@blogger.com