Yes, that's "Diversity Dungeons: World Building and Game Design in the Safe Space Age", written by JAMES FUCKING DESBOROUGH. The only guy who the Regressive Left Outrage Brigade, the type of people who worry about 'safe spaces', have tried to ban from RPGs more often than me!
This, then, is his revenge for the time they got his gamergate-themed game pulled from OBS. Or the other games of his they've tried to ban. Or for the time they tried to boycott Mongoose and force Mongoose's executive into issuing an apology for having ever hired Desborough. And for the times they went after his family. And for the time they tried to get him blacklisted and denounced by Wizards of the Coast... oh no wait, that one they did to me. But you get my point!
Anyhow, so here he is, writing a guide to 'diversity representation in gaming', including "how we might simulate the plight of minority groups" and "allow characters to affect social change within the game worlds".
Now, Desborough will totally deny that this is a massive troll designed as the ultimate, bold-faced, huge-testicled Fuck You to the Outrage Brigade; when I asked him about it on Twitter he insisted he was being totally super serious and really meant what he was writing. But then, LOOK AT THE FUCKING COVER. LOOK AT THAT COVER RIGHT THERE, MOCKING THE SHIT OUT OF THE KIND OF BULLSHIT THAT THE REGRESSIVE LEFT LOVES! It's fucking glorious.
Oh, and note his co-writers "Jia Mingzhi" and "Jina Bandia". Those wonderfully diverse-sounding names which would totally fit on some academic paper on 'intersectionality in identity politics' from the Oberlin College Feminist Cultural Studies Department? They mean "fake name" in Chinese and Swahili.
I tip my hat to you, sir.
This is a work of fucking beauty.
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Ben Wade Canadian + Image Latakia
I'm pretty sure Alpha Blue is Venger Satanis'.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, Desborough had to deal with a lot of bullshit. He already answered with a big "Fuck you" in the form of his successfull crowdfunding for a Chronicles of Gor rpg.
The more they try to bring him down...
Shit! Brainfart. Fixed it now. I was thinking of Machinations of the Space Princess, which is Desborough, and is very similar to Alpha Blue in theme from what I've seen.
DeleteFrom a review on RPGNow: "The author feigns conscientiousness in matters of race, gender, and the like, yet clearly has a divisive right-wing agenda. The content is not nearly as instructive as it pretends to be where it attempts to address inclusion and diversity. It reads more like a guidebook for racists and sexists on how to deal with uppity liberals in their gaming group."
ReplyDeleteAnd then Desborough, still not breaking his "I'm being super serious" style, points out how the comment proves everything he was arguing.
DeleteBWAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteBloody Brilliant!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth I added the PDF to the database at RPGGeek. Its entry was accepted so nobody can deny its existence if it gets booted from RPGNow for some reason.
ReplyDeletehttps://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/200958/diversity-dungeons-worldbuilding-game-design-safe
Even for satire that's an embarrassingly bad cover.
ReplyDeleteEven for satire that's an embarrassingly bad cover.
ReplyDeleteThat's on purpose, though.
Delete