Blue Rose makes no sense at all outside of American culture, and its political bullshit. It just happens to not be center-right Wisconsin fake-medieval American land; it's far-left Seattle Fake-medieval American Land.
There's NOTHING about this book that isn't about the USA and it's culture wars.
See, I get the feeling that if Blue Rose were inspired by something like Christianity instead, if it was one of these RPGs that sometimes come up, written by Christians, where they present all 'magic', 'supernatural' and any religion that isn't based on Faith in Jesus Christ as 'false' at best or 'evil' at worst; if the Magic Deer was Aslan/Jesus instead, and the Sovereign's Finest were crusading enforcers of Jesus' will, with the book being very clear that this is also what the authors think the ideal society would look like, all the people who are saying "what's the big deal?" would be OUTRAGED at it.
But that's EXACTLY what Blue Rose is. It's a religious tract masquerading as an RPG, presenting a setting that is about as meaningful as Narnia in terms of being little more than a vehicle for heavy-handed ideological propaganda delivery rather than any literary quality. It just happens to be the ideology that's trendy among left-leaning geeks, so it gets a pass for being a shit setting full of shit ideas with a really disgustingly obvious agenda. It's not an RPG setting, it's a manifesto. Quit trying to pretend its something more than that
RPGPundit
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Mongoose Traveller has a Darrian book that is mostly a leftist manifesto rather than an RPG setting.
ReplyDeleteIs that right? I never saw it, but then I never read much of Trav past the very early booklets.
DeleteI've since stopped buying RPG books that contain their writer's political views/ideologies. I prefer not to know that about a writer. I just want a legit setting to use for an RPG.
DeleteOh wow. When a friend told me that someone was calling the Darrians book a leftist manifesto I almost snorted up my beer with laughter.
DeleteDarrians was written as part of the Alien Module series, to portray an society shaped by ubiquitous high tech and social experimentation by the ancients - which forced a communal approach to society in order for them to survive the collapse of their civilisation. I fail to see how 8 pages of sociological background out of 167 pages of other material makes the book "mostly a leftist manifesto rather than an RPG setting".
That aside, by your own interpretation, as well as being 'leftist' (whatever that means) I must also be a staunch plutocratic capitalist for Dilettante, an anarchic-democrat for my Vikings book, and a steadfast republican for BRP Rome... and that's without the myriad of cultures I've covered and will cover in other RPG books.
I don't know what your problem is Shawn, but you really need to learn how to separate a body of work from whatever beliefs an author might hold personally. For example I like your Traveller CGI art and don't give a damn about whether or not you use swastikas in it. Nor do I jump to conclusions about your political beliefs when you do. See my point?
Thank you for writing, Pete. Keep in mind I have no stake myself in this; I haven't read your books. Except for BRP Rome, which I found acceptable.
DeleteNo problem Pundit. I was responding to Shawn's allegation, not your observations of Blue Rose.
DeleteThe subject itself is justified, as there are many literary authors who do use their work to promote political or cultural agendas. However, until recently, the RPG gaming industry was largely independent of this tendency; the main objective being to create fun and interesting games.
I have no issue with Shawn suffering overblown abhorrence at 'leftist' concepts. That is his problem, not mine. Perhaps he could use Darrians as a horror setting instead? I do draw the line at claims that it is a manifesto, which is not only factually incorrect, but also besmirches my reputation as a writer.
I don't know if Blue Rose is trying to sell some ideology or not as I mostly stayed away from it.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I think it sucks is because it doesn't do very well the genre it's claiming to emulate. The archetypical romantic fantasy story seems to be about a young girl raised is an oppressive, conservative society running away to find freedom and love among peace-loving, tree-hugging underdogs.
In Blue Rose, your character apparently isn't an underdog so much as one of the defenders of a kingdom under a peace-loving, tree-hugging regime. So, you're basically The Man. It could provide an interesting subversion but I don't think the people who wrote it were aware of the irony there.
But now I have to track that Darrian sourcebook. Space Communism sounds nice.
I agree with you about emulation of genre; I've often made that same point about it. It's a very important standard of romantic fantasy that the (usually young, usually female) protagonist is fighting against not just some magical evil but also against the hidebound traditions of a society that's in some way prejudiced against her.
DeleteI've put it this way: the only possible true "romantic fantasy heroine" in the Blue Rose setting would be a young Ayn Rand, and no one wants that!
"We The Living" does not sound like my RPG cup of tea. I wouldn't mind visiting such a place. But I wouldn't want my character living there.
DeleteHeralds of Valdemar. I think Blue Rose is spot on fro Heralds of Valdemar.
DeleteIt's maybe a bit closer, but in that series the protagonist starts out in an ultra-strict patriarchal society. She gets to the 'herald' school and gets teased and abused by other students. She's distrusted and doubted on a regular basis. Valdemar isn't the eco-feminist tolerant hippie paradise that Aldis is.
DeleteIf Blue Rose is to be measured against Narnia, it measures up poorly indeed. Aslan is, Jesus, an actual part of Christian beliefs. The Magic Deer which is required to make the setting work is what? SJW orthodoxy? The inevitable march of history? It's nothing but an arbitrary "it's magic, it just works" patch which makes it so they don't have to do the hard work of making the setting work as an allegory for an ideal they are advocating.
ReplyDelete