Chimera aftermath (2)

[mr_orgue]

Continuing from this post about a Requiem game played at Chimera 2009.

Reflection and analysis
There was a lot about this game that was laudable

Comments

As one of the authors...

[anonymous]

As a preface to this reply I ask that I be issued with the creative licence that is the right of all authors of fictional works. Especially the writers of the movies Troy and U-571...

Don't even start me on Frank Miller's 300...

First of all let me thank you for your thoroughly comprehensive, academic and honest review of our game. It's good to get feedback.

I meant to (and forgot to) address the rather glaringly obvious cultural insensitivity that was about to be portrayed by us painting our faces to 'simulate' Moko and apologise for it in advance. Mel Gibson should apologise to Scotland too.

We realised, quite early on, that most (read all) of our players were likely to be white (such an underused term nowadays), and after we got the list of players that were to be in our game we then realised that a large number of those white people were going to be women.

Meh. (It was a collective response from Porl and myself) We felt no particular need to address this as most roleplayers are comfortable genderbending (however I'm wondering how many Maori toes THAT would've stepped on) - but we DID fail to address the fact that one of our Chiefs was supposed to be female and the other two not. Our bad.

The other interesting aspect was that their was a sizeable contingent of non-Requiem players in our game which was both cool and unexpected. There were several names and events dotted throughout the character sheets that would've resonated with Requiem players as important to the Requiem timeline, but in no way essential to their existing game experience (indeed fair play would dictate that the information might be complete fluff - and maybe it is ).

We unashamedly abused the real timeline of NZ to bring together several inflammatory figures - indeed with a view to the World of Darkness in which Requiem is set Marsden and Te Rauparaha were perfect. Our game already has roots in Colonial history and it was a great learning experience to base this episode in that era. Some of the stories are AWESOME (Captain Stewart's predicament once he agrees to T.R's request especially so!!). I would actually encourage any Storyteller wanting to run a game to set one deeply rooted in history - possibly doing a touch more research than we did - but even without that I feel it was a great platform from which people could gain interest in the Maori culture and the history of NZ - something that is possibly lacking in todays society.

Anyway it sounds like you had fun - and we're glad we pushed the boundaries. I feel as responsible roleplayers it's our duty to portray things like bigotry, hatred and racism and get people to experience it - feel it and talk about it.

After all - who hasn't played a Dwarf?

Joel (and on behalf of Porl)

Re: As one of the authors...

[mr_orgue]

Hey, thanks Joel. It was a really engaging game and I massively respect the effort you put in and the risks you took to use real culture and real history. I think the serious way in which the players entered into their role speaks well of the whole enterprise. I hope this feedback I give is useful for future efforts along the same lines; I certainly hope other people do take up the challenges you issue in the final few paragraphs.

Might ask more later (there's certainly lots more to talk about) but right now off to sleep...