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Had this conversation with someone who chose to no longer be at my table after meeting a blind NPC
(files.catbox.moe)
Another player who was at the table during the incident sent me this meme after the problem player in question (they had a history) left the group chat.
Felt like sharing it here because I'm sure more people should keep this kind of thing in mind.
I don't have a problem with having disabled people in a TTRPG setting, but I hate the "it's fantasy, stop whining about realism" argument.
Versimilitude is one of the most valuable, and hard to maintain, things at the table.
You hate it but it's still true, it's a genre set entirely in fictional worlds.
Something being fiction is no reason to throw expectations and consistency out the window.
It’s not that there is a wheelchair in a fantasy setting. It’s that the setting is typical high fantasy that may have magic but is otherwise very low tech. But then you have this out of place modern wheelchair made from a steel tube frame.
It’s like if the bard and the paladin disagree any some fact, then the paladin put down his shield and mace just to pull out his fucking iPhone to show that he was right all along.
If they have steel swords all bets are off
I thought that too, but then I saw their weapons are literally sticks, lol. There’s a fancy one with a rock tied to the end.
The bald guy looks to have some armor though. But armor (or sword) hammered out by a blacksmith is still quite different than a welded tube frame with all straight lines and right angles.
Absolutely, but look at lord of the rings. the orcs while industrialized and definitively in the iron age are not as advanced as the dwarfs or the elves. Then you have the hobbits who still live in dirt holes.
"How dare someone's fantasy not meet my expectations of how fantasy should be"
“How dare somebody have a reaction to a piece of art”
Once you establish a baseline for how that fictional world functions, any deviation from it causes issues with the suspension of disbelief.
Your argument is the same one people have been using for years to deflect any and all criticisms when writers fail to keep up with their own world building or are just too damn lazy to care.
First of all not all parts of a fictional universe have to have the same level of technological advancements. Within that baseline you can do whatever you want it's fiction. Also the reader or audience doesn't know everything there is about the world and might have gaps of knowledge.
The argument you're defending is that a fantasy world doesn't need to have any realism, yet you're defending it by coming up with reasons why this fantasy world is actually realistic.
there are a lot of inconsistencies, why are people only focused on the ones that allow people with wheelchair to identify with the main character or whatever?
Who are you talking about? What the OP said was :
You came along, not to say anything about disabled people in RPGs, but to defend the claim "it's fantasy, stop whining about realism".
This isn't about disabilities, it's about dismissing any and all criticisms of fantasy simply because fantasy isn't the real world.
Fantasy, like any genre of fiction, is of course, made up, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have any rules. Each fantasy world establishes its own rules, and tries to follow it as best as it can, because that makes the worlds consistent, and more believable. Does that mean those rules can never be broken? No. But you need to come up with a reason why.
That's all this is about, coming up with reasons why things exist/happen, that's the core of fiction. If you have a reason why disabled people still exist in your games despite healing magic, that's awesome, keep at it. If you don't, i mean... You do you, but don't go complaining when people complain about it, they're not ableists (not necessarily at least), they just don't like bad writing.
You literally came up with a ton of reasons why disabled people can exist in a fantasy setting, so i don't understand why you're so against the idea.
I didn't mean for you to get upset. I just think that the writer for example of a script has a lot of power to mold things how they want and I feel the only limitation should be that it is entertaining and tells a great story. Of course within whatever system you choose for your univers that should be consistent but we both agree that other than that you can freely pick and choose what the rules of that system are. Again no offense meant 😇 😅
look, sorry if it came out that way, but i'm not upset. I just found it funny that you were basically like:
"We don't need explanations for things in fantasy, here are some explanations for this thing in fantasy"
I think we're ultimately in agreement here despite the nitpicking though, so have a good day.