Farewells, Role Playing and Religion, Political characters

[tcpip]

Went to vasco_pyjama's farewell gathering on Saturday as she about to go to Afghanistan for a year. We like noble people like that. Also met bushwalker and kafechick in real life. Fine conversation, although I don't recommend Touk's for their food, wine or service.

In few days I've started up the design mailing list for the Mimesis RPS, the opening scene for the next chapter of Ten Thousand Islands and a draft Call for Papers for "Immersion: Journal of Role Playing Systems and Simulation Environments". On Sunday ran a few scenes for Outbreak of Heresy, with the intrepid adventurers getting on step towards taking on the Hapsburgs.

On a related note for Sunday....

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Role Playing and Religion


Promoting occultism, Satanism and witchcraft, suicide, perversity and violence. Lowering human value and dignity. "The catechism of the New Age". "The chief weapon in .. the spiritual raid on our children".

These are just some of the accusations leveled against players of role playing and simulation games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, by religious fundamentalists. Is there any basis to these claims? Why are such people and organisations so ardent in their denunciation of what appears to be a bookish, even slightly nerdy, hobby? Is there any educational value in role playing games or even the possibility for furthering understanding between those of different religious convictions?

These questions will be discussed at an address on Sunday August 21st at the Melbourne Unitarian Church, 110 Grey Street, East Melbourne at 11 am on the topic "Role Playing and Religion".

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Have spent the better part of the day working on the motor company website. I hope to finish this by the end of the week. Have also engaged in some interesting data recovery excerises (with success) for a Borderlands person. CCNA studies continue well; I'll be doing two module tests this week rather than the requisite one.

Vale to David Lange, who showed that you can and should have guts when you're running a small country. Bronwyn Bishop attempts to revive the old tradition of "special friendships" between sailors and young men. Meanwhile, Young Libs show their moral fibre by trashing a campus women's room.

reddragdiva gets a mention in The Guardian. Which reminds me, I do have a couple of hundred articles I should write for Wikipedia...

Excellent link from fryboy. Terry Pratchett tells J.K. Rowling to get a clue.

Comments

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

I love that quote from the student article : "The idea that Liberal students go around trashing women's rooms is ridiculous."

Yes, yes it is. No wonder the police have been called in.

Be interested to hear what happens at that conference about role-playing. Have you read the Jack T Chick website spiel on the subject?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Have you read the Jack T Chick website spiel on the subject?

Yep. Dark Dungeons. Jack Chick is usually pretty funny but in that episode he's hilarious.

Of course, the subsequen argument provides a wealth of material!

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Bronwyn Bishop?
Is this serious, or merely a call for some much-needed publicity.


(I thought she was voted out at the last election.)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Heck, it's Bronwyn Bishop it must be serious.

You can just imagine the news in ten years time

"In a further development, the Liberal Party has lowered the age of employment and conscription to 8, increased the age of consent to 30, and the age of retirement to 90".

"We need to protect our borders, have strong family values and a competitive economy", Fuhuer Bishop said to government-sanctioned media sources.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Remember when she was touted as Australia's first female PM?

[jahbulon.livejournal.com]

Oh dear god don't call on that memory demon, please.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Remember when she was touted as Australia's first female PM?

Yep. Guess she's planning a comeback.

She has Sophie P. to contend with now...

[maxxxie2.livejournal.com]

Far out, she's finally gone over the deep end. Maybe she watched "Master and Commander" once too many and figured if they had 13-year-old officers on that ship, maybe the RAN would benefit from it too???

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

That's a very frightening thought.

The revival of "rum, sodomy and the lash" was bad enough, but they idea of an officer class in the Australian military* and waif neophytes commanding troops in battle...

The mind boggles... That sort of approach is usually reserved for military regimes on the brink of defeat...

* I know enough about the Australian military that the idea of an "officer class" is not taken with much respect.

[zey.livejournal.com]

From that Womens Room link: Some Liberal MPs and party sources yesterday said they were not surprised by the claims. One MP said the Young Liberal Movement was being "infiltrated by far-right zealots". "If it's true, it doesn't surprise me in the least. So much for our future leaders," the MP said.

Bringing up Mr Hitler is meant to be the end point of all arguments, but, the Liberal Party really has turned fascist. No regard for human rights, the use of race in politics, the out of control youth movement... Very worrying for the future.

Where else do you go?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

If you're a far-right bully boy?

At least if you're on the lunar left you have options ;-)

[rogue-scholar.livejournal.com]

That BBC article (from fryboy) started life as a much more sensationalist piece and was scaled back after people noticed what a beat-up it was.

That is, according to Terry's mate Neil:

"The BBC article formerly entitled PRATCHETT ANGER AT ROWLING'S RISE has now transmuted into a much milder article entitled Pratchett takes swipe at Rowling."

The original opening lines:

"Author Terry Pratchett has complained that the status of Harry Potter author JK Rowling is being elevated 'at the expense of other writers'. Pratchett, one of the UK's most successful novelists with 40 million books sold, said the media ignores the achievements of other fantasy authors.
He also took a sideswipe at Rowling for saying she did not realise Harry Potter was fantasy until it was published."

The speech that kicked it all off is transcribed here , and it's an absolute corker.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Yup, AFAICT Pratchett's criticism was directed at sloppy journalism in an article about JKR rather than at JKR herself. But that would have been less newsworthy than a manufactured feud.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Further evidence that Pratchett really is the best thing that fantasy has going for it, whereas Rowling is good for... well, slash.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

'Slightly nerdy'? It doesn't *get* any nerdier, except maybe for Trek fanfiction ;-)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Hah! I remain master of the understatement ;-)

[dputiger.livejournal.com]

What about Trek / roleplaying *Crossover* fiction? With X-Men and Llamas!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

... and here I am trying to do a serious RPG.

Mind you, I have been invited this week to run a game at a Star Trek convention.

[elzia.livejournal.com]

re: JK Rowling. I think Diana Wynne Jones did her job better, and with no illusions. random comment.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Previously didn't know about this person and know I do. Thanks for the heads-up

[elzia.livejournal.com]

See "Witch Week." It is the best and talks about Guy Fawkes which is a bonus. It is part of the Crestomanci series. I was into that book when i was a kid and then i recently (past 2 years or so) made it my goal to read all th ethings she has written because i can read them quickly and they are still entertaining.. and obviously not as predictable (or not as the case may be- JK in my opinion is predictable because you can never identify the bad guy [no clues] and because of the text structure) as JK Rowling even though she aims for the same age range.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I've just discovered that caseopaya has a small mountain of her books. Mind you caseopaya is an expert in young adult fantasy, so I should have expected that.

She also reminds me that I was actually expressed interest in reading the book that you mention.

[elzia.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, i forgot, i just looked at the first two entries in her journal and she was talking about Howl's Moving Castle (the movie). Well, she probably already told you that Howl's Moving Castle was also written by Diane Wynne Jones- the art in the movie is fab but the book is better in terms of giving you all of the plot details... That's a pretty good series, too, all the ones with the wizard Howl.

[cardinal-sodom.livejournal.com]

Some fundamentalists become enraged at the concepts of resurrection and reincarnation being mixed within a game. This was the subject of a chapter in a book I read ten years ago.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

They were pretty pissed off that "Sticks to Snakes" was such a low level spell as well...

The more I'm composing this article the more however I'm agreeing with some of their basic concerns - yes, DnD was a major cultural weapon against fundamentalist Xianity. What a shame, eh?

also you inspired me

[elzia.livejournal.com]

to post some old pictures:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/elzia/123665.html#cutid1

but I can't find the best picture: my mom made me a costume of Vash in the Robin Hood episode and I rocked the kids' costume contests at the conventions with it. I won every time. They loved me. And, although I do not have the dress anymore, I have the headband, and it is signed by John de Lancie... Rockin the Nerdiness!!

Also I saw my favorite TNG episode today despite the fact that i haven't watched in literally years. "The Game." I loved me some wesley crusher when I was 12-13. That episode was hottt.