RPGnet Forums

Teal Deer was on to something in his rebuttal of Dan Olson's "Thermian Argument" video when he talked about the logical conclusion of half-orcs existing in a world where no human would willingly fuck an orc. If goblins are all male, do not reproduce asexually, and are hostile to all other species, there has to be some explanation for how they didn't die off within a generation. GS took the horrifying answer as part of its lore and used it to help justify the setting's scale on why we were focusing on a psycho table's grimdark goblin-hunting D&D game.

The thing about the theriman argument is it's a counter of a flawed defence from a dumb perspective. Were three layers into dogshit by the time we get here.

The correct answer to "[blank] occurring in setting is bad because it offends me" is: " I'm under no obligation to produce morally affirmative art that's absurd for a number of reasons: come back when you have a real criticism."
 
Last edited:
More or less. Though another thing is that Goblin Slayer isn't even particularly grimdark either. Just occasionally explicitly gruesome about the sort of bad ends that adventurers/soldiers/civilians can face. The initial scene with the heroine's rookie party getting destroyed is there to establish why goblins can be shown no mercy, and how Goblin Slayer being methodical, paying attention to deal, and thinking outside the box let him avoid getting defeated by bad luck like their party was. Basically setting the stage going forward for his and her characters.

After that it's mostly DnD inspired adventures killing goblins and occasionally other monsters, with lots of homages to DnD and Shadowrun, and character designs that are blatant homages to a host of other series. With only the occasional woman kidnapped/tortured/raped by goblins in need of rescue, slain adventurers or parties, or soldiers or civilians dead to remind that while the main cast and reoccurring supporting cast are okay, bad things still happen in their world. Which is more or less in line with the usual DnD settings according to various lore.

So all these people screaming about how horrible the series is, how it's dark and edgy, etc.; while the series itself is having fun and not taking itself overly seriously.
I know it may get me lynched by certain friends but I'd describe Goblin Slayer as very "pulp." (Though I admit I have very little experience with the pulps, it matches what little I have and the overall impression I get.)

If anything, like the old "blue on blue" point in writing, I find it to be more unnerving than grimdark stuff because of those lighter moments. Unrelenting nihilism, horror, and depression just ends up making you numb to it all.

Horror and darkness are scarier when there's actual goodness and light that can be lost to it.
 
Oh boy, here we go.

This is from a thread on Crusader Kings 3.

1.png
2.png


Law Orc isn't just the Fun Police, he's the Fun Inquisition.
 
If you're going to talk about games like that here, you need to take that into account. Like, if you're playing a wargame, and you realize that for some game-mechanical reason, fascism gives an in-game advantage... if you're going to talk about it, you still need to take into account that being a nazi is bad even if it gives you +2 to jackboots.
Guess this isn't a forum where I should talk about my Alpha Centauri game playing a Human Hive Police State with a Planned economy and a Thought Control future society... Either that, or the mods would cream their pants at the thought of being in charge of it.
 
Last edited:
Late, I'm sure, but I'm starting to believe these people have trouble differentiating between fiction and reality, and they assume that everyone else has that same issue, too.
In all fairness, that's a common trait of lolcows.

It's doubly funny because this inability to separate fantasy from reality is exactly what caused fundies to freak out over D&D 40 years ago.

EDIT: I think I'm on to something here. Let me try some Mad Libs:

So, this thing to use a video game to create something sinful and immoral? This is so very not an acceptable way to post. You're banned for a month.

Normally we'd leave it at that, but this is an issue that comes up enough that it's worth talking about what the problem is.

So, on the surface level, yes. This is about the game, in that it is a min-maxy way of maximizing a fictional benefit. But there are two problems.

One is that this game, more than most, deals with real-world issues. That means that when we're talking about it, we need to bear in mind that it parallels real situations faced by real people. If you're going to talk about games like that here, you need to take that into account. Like, if you're playing a wargame, and you realize that for some game-mechanical reason, Satanism gives an in-game advantage... if you're going to talk about it, you still need to take into account that being a Satanist is bad even if it gives you +2 to heavy metal music. If you're going to talk about games that deal with real-world stuff like that, you can't forget that. Even if you figure out a cool rules exploit based on child cannibalism, maybe... don't. Or if you're going to talk about it at all, be incredibly careful about it. This was very much not careful. I mean... sacrificing children to the devil, discussed with zero notion that maybe that is a messed up thing to be talking about? No.


The other problem is that the core game challenge is itself messed up. We aren't talking about "winning the game" or "have a few cheap laughs on graph paper", we're talking about "turn my entire empire into an orgy of demon summoning." Even from the starting point, that's messed up. "Oh, hey, let's try to figure out the most efficient way to turn the Holy Roman Empire into a massive system for summoning demons*" is... I mean, we don't need to talk about why that's bad, right? Some stuff just isn't something you should even get to the point of talking about the how. "Here's my route for the best way to go through all the spawn points to summon demons in Grand Theft Auto: The Game Where You Steal Cars." No.

There's also the fact that you have a fairly spotty history. Further, some of it, having to do with your enjoyment of rock and roll music, is relevant here.

So... you are banned for a month. If you post anything remotely like this again, it'll be permanent.

And for everyone else reading this thread... don't do this. Even if we're talking about a video game, when it's one dealing with stuff that mirrors real-world situations, you need to think about what you are saying in the context of that fact. Don't do this. It's skeevy.

_______

* If anyone reading this is about to say "Oh, you don't know the game, demon summoning is technically a distinct game mechanism! Lol!" then congratulations on missing the point.
 
Last edited:
They keep banning the actual posters for no reason at all.
Correction: for no GOOD OR SANE reason. I suppose if nothing else they do justify what they do. It's just that you need to be legitimately mentally ill to understand it.

I think we could honestly make a legitimate argument on how the "Lunacy" reaction should be renamed "RPGNet".
 
Last edited:
Oh boy, here we go.

This is from a thread on Crusader Kings 3.

View attachment 2533341
View attachment 2533342


Law Orc isn't just the Fun Police, he's the Fun Inquisition.
I love how he really tries to work his autistic screech around not basically admitting that fascism is the most efficient form of government. Would have been funny if he'd slipped up and got banned by a higher species of tranny janny.
 
I love how he really tries to work his autistic screech around not basically admitting that fascism is the most efficient form of government. Would have been funny if he'd slipped up and got banned by a higher species of tranny janny.
Fascism is great when your party is the one in control. Just one group of unelected people rigidly enforcing a totalitarian one-party state to maintain order. You know, like RPGNet.
 
This is just "video games will turn you into a mass murderer" but with fancier word games.

Oh and look at that, an infraction history is brought up to justify a lengthy ban.
Giel racked up seven prior infractions starting in 2019. He registered in 2007.

Which makes me think it's less 'he's a chronic ass' and more 'he's a target for mods'. Note that two of his infractions were literally for the same post.
 
Oh boy, here we go.

This is from a thread on Crusader Kings 3.

View attachment 2533341
View attachment 2533342


Law Orc isn't just the Fun Police, he's the Fun Inquisition.
You know, the real kicker is that you don't make much of an profit from killing GTA whores, it's the pimps that you want. That, and the protection racket from Liberty City Stories is more than enough to keep you afloat in bullets...But even then, if you know where most of the free weapon spawns are, the only thing that you should spending cash on is for the rocket launcher. Honestly, money is kind of useless, outside of buying guns and cars, plus the occasional bout of fun in 5; come to think of it.
 
Won’t someone please think of the poor, oppressed orcs? (Part 36)
View attachment 2533418
Are these assholes really this dense? Most of the people living in historic Wildlands were isolated tribes, most of whom were miles away from anyone else, and they were fighting and killing each other just as much as they were attacking settlers for setting foot anywhere they roamed. More than that, fantasy or reality, if some stone-age tribals attack people for living anywhere near them, they should be prepared to be destroyed by the technologically superior people they attacked. Vae Victis, RULES OF NATURE, yadda yadda.

This isn't even just about the Pre-Columbians, medieval bandit clans fall under the same umbrella of violent isolated wilderness societies that prove a threat to settlers and villages who get too close to places they have claimed as their own.
 
Last edited:
Oh boy, here we go.

This is from a thread on Crusader Kings 3.

Law Orc isn't just the Fun Police, he's the Fun Inquisition.
"One is that this game, more than most, deals with real-world issues. That means that when we're talking about it, we need to bear in mind that it parallels real situations faced by real people."

...so Law Orc thinks being an emperor's concubine is a Real-World Issue™ that people deal with on a daily basis, oooooookay then.

And from your other post, that Demon Summoning campaign sounds awesome!

being a Satanist gives you +2 to heavy metal music
DAMMIT!! Wish I knew that as a teenager, I could've used a bonus on my guitar skillz. *sigh*
 
...so Law Orc thinks being an emperor's concubine is a Real-World Issue™ that people deal with on a daily basis, oooooookay then.
They're actually treading on dangerous ground there. By their thinking it's got to veer dangerously close to the human trafficking issue at the Southern Border that they desperately want to pretend isn't that big of a problem. It'd be an admission that Drumpf might have been right.
 
Back