tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8845696765575423727.post8730205602146847307..comments2024-03-17T07:30:34.150-07:00Comments on It Came From The Bookshelf!: (M: tAs) Virtual AdeptsJohn Frazerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09530954140171528163noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8845696765575423727.post-46039565297456073082020-01-01T13:36:19.432-08:002020-01-01T13:36:19.432-08:00As an expansion, though, and this is an idea that ...As an expansion, though, and this is an idea that I might steal for a later post, the 90s was also the decade of the X-Files, pre-Oklahoma City bombing when right-wing and left-wing mistrust of the government sort of dovetailed into the conspiracy-theory fad, which I think is behind a lot of what is most distinctively misguided in Mage's interpretation of politics.John Frazerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09530954140171528163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8845696765575423727.post-39772208917843952432020-01-01T13:25:51.820-08:002020-01-01T13:25:51.820-08:00You're right that it's not specifically a ...You're right that it's not specifically a 90s problem, and it's entirely possible that I just think that time was more naive because I was more naive, but my main reasoning is that we do indeed live in a post-Trump era. I'm not sure how it's possible for any of us to have any illusions about the nature of power.<br /><br />That being said, I think the best illustration may indeed belong to one of the classics - 1984. I think there was a part of me that didn't realize that the minitru was supposed to be horror.John Frazerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09530954140171528163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8845696765575423727.post-72561341983964640252020-01-01T11:13:27.873-08:002020-01-01T11:13:27.873-08:00Important points all, but I'm a little struck ...Important points all, but I'm a little struck by how you think of this as a 90s problem.<br /><br />Could you recommend for me any RPGs - really, any works of fiction - where the authoritarian bad guys consistent breaking of their own rules is a big deal in the text? Every time I see yet another Faustus pastiche where the oppressor has their boot on your throat, then removes it because of a loophole you found in the rules they themselves provided, I want to scream. Like, why would a powerful and amoral actor even make up rules if they then had to follow them in good faith?<br /><br />But I still saw lots of that in 2019. Maybe 2020 is the year that stupid idea finally dies.The Ben Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12738431005232792878noreply@blogger.com