In article <1177845919.325051.267570@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
roguerouge <david.kociemba@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>So... do people regard paganism (in its various incarnations) as facts
>to be woven into the campaign, as established belief systems to be
>woven into the campaign, as shared stories to be woven into the
>campaign, as myths to be woven into the campaign, as window-dressing,
>or as something else?
Hm. I don't think I can meaningfully answer that without breaking
"paganism" up a lot.
World mythology is source material for everything my group does with
gaming, in all settings; we don't distinguish between Christian
and non-Christian mythology, and don't particularly distinguish
between real-world mythology and fictional mythology (e.g. Cthulhu).
The mythology is sometimes treated as factual in the gameworld
and sometimes as mythological in the gameworld--it depends on the
setting.
Modern paganism as a religion occasionally appears in the settings
where it's appropriate (modern and post-modern), but we shy away
from it a bit because we are practicioners, and it comes close to the
line on our general rule "Don't put elements into your game that
are big, im****tant, and potentially difficult in your life."
(Similarly, my household is struggling to adopt a child and we
avoid storylines that touch on this in any way. Gaming is supposed to
reduce stress, not add to it!)
There's also some element of window-dressing: if I need to know
what the high priest's weather-magic ritual looks like, certainly
one of the things I draw on is ritual I've participated in, even
though I wouldn't use any of it exactly. Neo-pagan art is
dripping with stuff that works well in fantasy games, and I'm just
as willing to steal that as to steal anything else.
I don't think I've ever borrowed content from Buffy directly;
Buffy mainly seems to recycle things that were already awfully
well-worn in pop culture. I may have stolen some plotting tricks:
I admire the pacing of some of the episodes a lot. Most of our
gaming-related Buffy discussions have been about how the show
balances characters of rather different power levels. (Can't
say I've figured that one out yet.)
I hope this helps.
Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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