Your Game is Political

This post was originally about lighter things like the political statement your choices make.

But in light of the already horrific state of affairs in the world, and during these times when governments across the globe are turning towards Fascism at an alarming rate, I feel that now, more than ever, there is a need to be aware of what we do at the game table, what content we consume, and that we treat each other with grace, openness, and acceptance.

It is only through banning together against hate in all its forms, with the willingness to reach across all divides that we may perceive as separating us, that we can hope to push back the encroaching darkness.

With that, don't forget that...

Your game is political. 

It doesn't matter what themes you include -- maybe your party spends the entire campaign alone in the wilderness -- your game is still political.

We are beings of culture. We create culture everywhere we go, with everything we do, each and every one of us.  When you hang out with your friends, the way you joke around together -- that's culture.  When you're at home, by yourself, consuming memes and shorts on Tumblr or YouTube -- that's also culture.  What makes it political is that you choose to include one idea over another, that simple act of choice to like that video, or share that meme, or make that joke, or choose that phrase when responding to your friend -- that's culture and politics interacting.  Yes.  It is that pervasive.  Yes.  That's why everything is political.  You can't be apolitical -- being apolitical is a political choice.

We are influenced by the media we consume -- either positively or negatively.  And we then self-select and filter that media.  It shapes us as we in turn shape it.  That act is an act of culture and an act of politics.  And this applies to the games we choose to make and the games we choose to play.

So when it comes down to your games, the ideas you include, the tropes you lean into -- that's all culture.  And that's political.

Let's take slavery as an example.  Classic trope of fantasy roleplaying games, for better or worse.

There's nothing wrong with including slavery in your game's world -- it's okay for your world to include slavery.   How in-your-face it is in the plot depends upon the themes, lines, and veils your players want to play.  That's the basic courtesy that is the foundation for why the concepts of Session Zero and the Player Contract even exist.  But assuming they're okay with it (if it's a red line for your players, then of course, including slavery is NOT okay -- I shouldn't feel the need to have to state that), then everything else around how you include it is political.

Who is enslaved?  Who does the enslaving?   Who does the transporting, the selling, and the buying?  All those choices are political.  We said that it is okay (given appropriate caveat) for slavery to be in your game -- but what are the views around slavery?  Is it an evil?  Is it a necessity?  An unfortunate but normal part of life?  The attitudes you frame for how the practice of slavery is seen is entirely political.  And they matter.  Is it part of the culture the party members come from?  Is it an institution your party accepts, or is it the goal of the arc or campaign to dismantle it?  Is it a behavior done in a far-off land where the enemies of the land your party is in?  Why is that?  Why are the heroes not involved in ending that regime?  What is the attitude of the nation they are in towards the slaver nation?  Why does the practice persist?  Or why is it considered acceptable or tolerable?

If you're not willing to explore those ideas, don't include slavery.  Yes, it's history -- part of our history -- the history of most of the world at one point or another.  But just because it was present then doesn't mean it has to be in your world.  That's up to you.  Why are you including it in your world?  There are valid reasons to include it.  But be aware that you will need to defend those reasons.  And you need to understand that, in making the choice, you are selecting in and selecting out your players.  Some people will want to play that game.  Some will not.  And of those players who do want to play in that game -- why do they want to play that game?  You need to answer these questions.

Okay.  Maybe you think I'm being pedantic, making too big of such a small thing.  Sure.   Let's look at a traditional practitioner of slavery within the fantasy genre.  Orcs.  What's their origin?  Tolkein.  Twisted elves?  Beings made in imitation of the creation of the Elves and Dwarves?  Doesn't matter.  This is not an essay on Tolkien.  But already -- both of those origins are extremely political.  As is the D & D origin story of Correleon and Grummish.  What I love about that story is that there's a level of equality between the two.  I love that Grummish was actually cheated and legitimately wronged by the other gods -- but there are still problems with the dynamics, even if it is better than most other traditional origins.

Orcs.  Yeah.  You need a bad guy.  So Orcs -- they are a big enough threat to need a party of adventurers to deal with.  But why are they a threat?  What is their culture?  What are their motivations -- so many articles out there about making sure your monsters have meaning behind their actions -- so orcs have to have a reason for raiding and pillaging, right?  If they're too stupid to farm, how are they smart enough to make their own weapons?  Even if they don't make them, they do scavenge, repair, and modify them.  Surely they can hunt and gather and do rudimentary horticulture.  Then why raiding?  Are they bored?  Lazy?  Can't be too lazy -- raiding is hard work.  So why do they raid?  Hunting rights to the land?  Easy fix -- negotiate.  I don't need to get into it any deeper -- yes, when you boil it down, they are a people, with a culture, and that is politics.  How you choose to frame them, how you choose to motivate them in your world is a reflection of you, of your politics, like it or not.  Your choice to believe that it is just a game and that orcs are just fodder for your players to kill because you're playing a game for fun -- that's a political stance.  And it reflects on you.  If you're a GM, you are creating media.  As a player, you are consuming and aiding in the creation of that media.  Everyone at that table is involved.

Okay. So yeah, orcs are people.  (As an aside, the idea for WotC to leave them out of the Monster Manual but keep some of the other types of social creatures included is lazy and ham-fisted.  They should have been included.  And so should have humans.)

What about robots?  Droids in Star Wars.  Yeah, what about the Clone Wars and the Separatists' Droid Army?!  Surely that's okay to fight, right?  

Um.  Have you seen the articles and videos discussing the issue of Droid Slavery?  We're talking about sentient beings created for the express purpose of being the unwilling slaves of other sentient beings.  We're right back to the Slavery question.  Sure, you can overlook it, but for how long?  And the B1s and B2s from Clone Wars -- we see later in cannon material that they are sentient and aware.  That they are controlled into doing battle.  That they are aware of the slaughter the Jedi will bring to them.  They fear it.  How is that just (I never thought the Jedi were the good guys -- again, they allowed slavery in the republic, and there is an argument of the benevolence of the Empire -- at least they ended slavery)?

Choose your motivations.  Choose your enemies.  Let's talk about Star Wars.  Is it okay that the Jedi used a Clone army to destroy a Droid army?  Neither army is morally justified.  Both are slave armies.  The Empire was better than the Republic in that respect. 

At this point, who do you get to kill indiscriminately?  Ideally nobody.  And that's okay.  I give you Exhibit A: every article and video on the Interwebs complaining and asking how to curb your murder-hobo party.  If there are consequences in the world you play in, then no death is without consequence.  Killing that orc while defending the village against the raid should result in that orc's big brother coming after you -- consequences can and should bring emergent collaborative storytelling.  That said, your characters may feel justified in killing.

Let's talk Star Wars again.  Imperial Stormtroopers.  We're talking OG Stormtroopers -- not Clones.  They are soldiers.  They choose to be there.  They may not have had many other economic opportunities -- same as soldiers from the Western hemisphere in our world.  But they still choose to be there.  They believe in the mission enough to do the job.  And if you take into account media like the Solo movie, you're reminded that Stormtroopers aren't the average soldier -- they are the elite.  The Imperial Army are the grunts on the ground, the grunt in the foxhole, just trying to make a living.  The distinction between doing your tour to get the benefits and get out versus the career soldier is a critical distinction.  So feel free to kill Stormtroopers -- they signed up for it.

And cultists.  Cultists are gonna get you if you don't get them first.  Maybe.  If they're not also victims themselves.  Again, it depends on the motives.  There's that word again.  Motive.  It's critical.  Cultists of an evil god who know what they are doing and still do it -- fair game.  But even then, there's the question of motives.  If they do what they do for good reasons, then it's a question of methods, not motives.  And that's also a fertile playground for emergent play and conflict.

Let's return to the humble Orc.  Maybe there's an orc warlord who is gathering a horde to attack the surrounding villages.  That warlord is fair game -- because he's a warlord, not because he's an orc.  Maybe he hales from an orc settlement where there are plenty of people -- orcs -- who disagree with him.  That's reason enough to learn more, to find allies where you can, and overthrow the warlord and bring peace to the land, make allies of the orcs and the humans.

If you're thinking, well what does it matter if this is an orc -- it would work the same if it was another group of humans, or elves, or any other group -- you're right.  Because they're all people.  Don't do a bioessentialism.  It's lazy.  And it's not fun.  If you're making the warlord an orc because orcs are evil or have bad culture, you're being lazy, and reductive, and frankly, you're bringing in real-world racism into your fantasy game.

This subject touches on what you include and what you exclude -- lines and veils stuff (Session Zero is another article, yet to come).  Do you include slavery, do you include racism, sexism, ableism, child abuse, exploitation -- all are fine things to have in your game, especially if your party is expected to fight these things.  If you treat them appropriately, and if your players trust you and are willing to deal with such heavy shit on a Saturday afternoon, then yes, you can include just about anything in your game.

What's the bottom line here, you ask?  It's this: you choose to include the things you do in your game because you think it will be fun, and you think your players will enjoy it.  And that's fine.  Just remember -- you made those choices because of what you think and how you believe.  Your game is a statement and a reflection on you, whether you like it or not.  

Go out there, and have fun.  Just try to make a statement that would make your mother proud.