Things that 'important' people say on the internet

[thebitterguy]

I was wandering through ghostwes backlog when I stumbled on this pair of blog postings about the aesthetics of fantasy.

My personal failings prevent me from enjoying it as much as I should (the failings being dat I is dum), but it's neat to read an article about fantasy done by a guy who really doesn't like the genre. The real point being this quote from a comment that Wes pointed out that I also enjoyed:

An interesting tangent to the idea of fantasy being about bling is the fantasy RPG which most definitely IS a crypto-Objectivist bare-knuckle capitalist fantasy in which the peasants spend their lives with their feet in shit while the "elite" go around collecting huge mountains of gold, killing anyone that stands in their way and covering themselves in magical bling.

Hee. I am inspired for my next D&D character. He will be an elf gangsta. What kind of ethnic slur can he be reclaiming? I suggest "woody". Or possibly pointy.

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

How about Selfishness?

[neosis.livejournal.com]

Only the Dragon pantheon has an explicit god of selfishness: Task, Lesser God of Greed and Selfishness.

Maybe it's time to introduce a new human demi-god, Nyranada, of greed and selfishness? If Nyranda is too subtle, there's always Dnarnya, but that sounds like it has something to do with C.S. Lewis.

Then again, I always run my Waukeenar NPCs as if they were objectivists anyway. They'll do practically anything that won't get them in trouble for money, and always require a guarantee of payment from the players for any service. They make reasonably shrewd bargains. Ironically that often makes them both the most and least liked religion among my players. Some players are just happy that the priests don't impose silly requirements on their "customers" like refusing to resurrection people who follow gods of different alignments or requiring good deeds be performed in recompense for miracles granted. Others are annoyed that they always charge money, for everything, and then there's the "I have to go check with the high priest, she's tough, though and I think she's not going to buy into this, but I'll go to bat for you" routine, that some of them really hate.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

"Dnarnya" sounds more like the goddess of mild curses to me. :-)