Comments on: Uncomfortable Games http://www.purplepawn.com/2008/03/uncomfortable-games/ Game News Across the Board Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:06:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: David http://www.purplepawn.com/2008/03/uncomfortable-games/comment-page-1/#comment-28 David Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:43:10 +0000 http://jergames.wordpress.com/?p=191#comment-28 Thank you Jason for the clarification and the recommendation. I was trying to point out that despite all the flash and hype about video games, tabletop games still have a lot to offer. I think that this is particularly true when it comes to difficult social and psychological issues, which a number of roleplaying games are managing to address in a serious fashion while remaining entertaining. Hopefully, the maturity with which the tabletop gaming community is able to deal with such subject matter can help demonstrate to a wider audience that board games, card games, and paper roleplaying games are more than just a quaint reflection of a bygone era. With that goal in mind, I still think that the success of your game, Grey Ranks, offers an interesting contrast to the controversy over Imagination is the Only Escape. Thank you Jason for the clarification and the recommendation. I was trying to point out that despite all the flash and hype about video games, tabletop games still have a lot to offer. I think that this is particularly true when it comes to difficult social and psychological issues, which a number of roleplaying games are managing to address in a serious fashion while remaining entertaining. Hopefully, the maturity with which the tabletop gaming community is able to deal with such subject matter can help demonstrate to a wider audience that board games, card games, and paper roleplaying games are more than just a quaint reflection of a bygone era. With that goal in mind, I still think that the success of your game, Grey Ranks, offers an interesting contrast to the controversy over Imagination is the Only Escape.

]]> By: Jason Morningstar http://www.purplepawn.com/2008/03/uncomfortable-games/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Jason Morningstar Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:26:42 +0000 http://jergames.wordpress.com/?p=191#comment-27 One big difference is that Grey Ranks, quite explicitly, is not about the Holocaust. Obviously anti-Semitism and the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto (an event a year in the past as play begins) are bound to enter play, but players have some control over how tightly they want to integrate and address this material. That said, I've never had a game in which the fate of Poland's Jews didn't play some role. A good tabletop game to contrast with Imagination is the Only Escape might be Matthijs Holter's We All Had Names: http://weallhadnames.wordpress.com/ One big difference is that Grey Ranks, quite explicitly, is not about the Holocaust. Obviously anti-Semitism and the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto (an event a year in the past as play begins) are bound to enter play, but players have some control over how tightly they want to integrate and address this material. That said, I’ve never had a game in which the fate of Poland’s Jews didn’t play some role. A good tabletop game to contrast with Imagination is the Only Escape might be Matthijs Holter’s We All Had Names:

http://weallhadnames.wordpress.com/

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