Role-playing Adapted Worlds

[GB Steve]

But that said I don't think this is a blanket proscription, in that in the lines of the Underbelly concept already discussed in regards existing works of canonical fiction, there are IMO ways to do something that is in accord with  Tolkien's Gondor.  I would be interested to see what MJH's view on gaming in Viriconium might be if he we exposed to such conceptual games as My Life With Master.  Thats a serious suggestion, Steve GB, if you are still reading.  Something like MLWM might be be very, um, sympathetic to the kind of things that MJH seems to want to do with his world, in that it is not just the concretisation of geography and local physics.

I am still reading. I think I might just send him a pdf copy of MLwM with some background as to the discussions going on here. He does know, of course, that I've already roleplayed Viriconium. I'm not sure whether that came before or after he wrote article but I suspect after.I didn't read it until after my game.

I think that's the essence of the thing. It was my Viriconium, although inspired by MJH's. None of my players had read his books and so there Viriconiums were inspired by mine. The game went pretty well and so I think that some of the players' Viriconiums were pretty close to mine, but that doesn't mean they were anything like MJHs.

I tend to think that saying people should not roleplay because of the questions of control, purpose, interpretation or whatever is not far from saying that they shouldn't read it. For the very same reasons. It's part of the burden of authorship that once in the public domain, people will do what they like with your work. I'm pretty sure MLwM was not designed for me to run something like MLw Santa but we went and did it anyway. Is Paul's game any less of a triumph because of it? I think not.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Am I to understand that we have hit three pages of discussion on a question which is essentially asking for value judgments? This is a rhetorical question.

John, in your initial post, "acceptable" is undefined. That's why this thread has sprawled.

Please provide a meaning for "acceptable" to be held as a gold standard for this discussion.

Everyone, restrain yourselves from typing until that happens.

Best,
Ron

[John Kim]

John, in your initial post, "acceptable" is undefined. That's why this thread has sprawled.

Please provide a meaning for "acceptable" to be held as a gold standard for this discussion.

Well, my initial post was an opinion poll, and I feel the answers have been pretty illuminating.  "Acceptable" was indeed undefined.  If you want, I'd specify it to "would you play in it?" -- assuming that all other conditions were sufficient for you to play (i.e. players, session times, system, genre, etc.).  Really, I'm fine with how the discussion has gone, but I'm not picky about it.  If you want the thread split or reformulated, that's fine.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Opinion polling isn't going to happen, or let's say, not going to happen further. "Would you play in it" is a little too close to an opinion poll as well.

I suggest we close this one, and all be happy with what it did produce, but if anyone (John, me, whoever) wants to raise a similar topic with a more concrete shared benchmark, that's cool too.

Best,
Ron