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The Cougar
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What is your opinion of The Greater Good
Apr 17th, 2010 at 10:55am
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I am not creating a poll of what you thought of the module and how well it play.

I am rather interested in discussion of the idea of what The Greater Good represents?

I really don't like my villains to be directly symbollic of a political ideal or religious belief.

That is one of the problems the X-Men constantly run into.  The comic can't evolve fast enough to keep current with America's Racism issues.

I think X-Men is best when it a slight veiled reference.  Magneto has experienced Racism at its worse and represents the Jewish solution to that historical problem - A safe refuge.

But Xavier is NOT a representation of Martin L. King jr or any African American champion for peaceful equity.

I don't believe the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are to be an extension of the Black Panther movement.

So in the same light I have no desire to GM the Greater Good in a session.  There are characters I like and want to move to different teams or uses.

What do you think or feel about this?
« Last Edit: Apr 17th, 2010 at 2:22pm by The Cougar »  
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John
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Re: What is your opinion of The Greater Good
Reply #1 - Apr 17th, 2010 at 11:47am
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I thought it was about as subtle as a punch to the groin.
  
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Lord Inar
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Re: What is your opinion of The Greater Good
Reply #2 - Apr 17th, 2010 at 11:49am
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I'm with you.
I stay away from such stuff too.

That why I read comics and fantasy and run superhero/fantasy games. To escape.

I read the New York Times for news and opinion of current topics.

I don't mind putting real life events in my game, but I prefer them to be window dressing (unless it was something cool like a new planet or a new archaeological find) and I don't want them to be potentially inflammatory.

I don't know a lot of my players personal and religious beliefs and I don't want to tread on thin ice, either.
  
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Re: What is your opinion of The Greater Good
Reply #3 - Apr 18th, 2010 at 6:35pm
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I'm probably tip toe-ing into dangerous territory (as I like to stay out of sensitive subjects) by saying this but I rather liked it. Living in the Appalachians, I'm well aware of intolerance (try being a D&D gamer back in the 80's around here) and as a designer it was a real gem to get my hands on... as it taught me I didn't have to be so touch and go with topics (when I first started working for FGU I was afraid to use words like "prostitute", "dominatrix", "crossdresser", etc.... even though they had a good purpose game wise, until Scott told me it was okay... but I was still nervous until I finally got my hands on this puppy, after that I was pretty relaxed about the relation of boundaries in regards to my planned projects...
except that I'm not sure if doing a strip club or an "all night adult book and novelty store" would be okay, although both would offer a perfect front for sleazebag criminals... I may have to ask Scott about that one....
  
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Re: What is your opinion of The Greater Good
Reply #4 - Apr 19th, 2010 at 11:50pm
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After FORCE, I wasn't that interested in another evil organization using religon as a front. I didn't mind the politics of the module so much as the way most of the villains were almost allegorical characters, which makes them a little flat in my book.

The module made me think of some of the hateful things Jerry Falwell had said, and the things Michelle Bachman today. That makes me too upset to use it.

I didn't the "weight loss"-training won't succeed fat joke against Pro-Life, just like a didn't like the "Training: hearing" for the deaf villain Rocker in Most Wanted 3. It's dweeby to give a villain a disadvantage just to make fun of having that disadvantage.
  
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Majestic
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Re: What is your opinion of The Greater Good
Reply #5 - Apr 22nd, 2010 at 5:10pm
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It was certainly the most controversial, and for some strange reason - even though the Pacific Northwest is considered the most unchurched part of our nation - it was really tough to find in these parts.  I finally tracked a copy down, but by the time I did it was one of the only modules I never ran my original group through back in the 80's (for some reason I could never get a copy of Secret in the Swamp, either).

The villains were a bit over the top and - as some have said - not too subtle.  I don't think any of them have made reappearances in our campaign, either, after the first and only time I ran it.

I will say that - purely as a module - it had an alright story.  It was different, and had a different vibe.  I took two heroes through it (rather than the whole group), at least at the start, and when their car broke down in the middle of nowhere (they were on a road trip to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame) and the townsfolk started massing in the middle of the night, it was truly one of the spookiest/creepiest V&V moments I've ever GMd.

In general I'd agree that it's probably best to avoid getting too deep into such topics, as it's too easy to mischaracterize and misrepresent things.  If they had stuck with simply some of the elements (for instance the Ku Klux Klan burning down the home of the elderly black man -  which provides an 'easy to identify' group of baddies to tackle) it would have likely been infinitely better.
  
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Re: What is your opinion of The Greater Good
Reply #6 - Apr 22nd, 2010 at 7:12pm
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One thing I will say is that by using the term "Greater Good" in the title and as the name of the evil foes, the module reinforced a V&V precept that there are good actions and evil actions--and doing something "for the greater good" in V&V means that you are rationalizing an evil action. That's not necessarily true of other games, but it sure is of V&V. It's one of the few games that has a morality about it (within the worldview of the game).

So if I hear a player saying they're doing something remotely suspicious "for the greater good," we'll be hauling their &$*@ to jail.  Undecided
  
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