Obscuring my point Re: [UA] Thoughts

[Jason Schneiderman]

It looks like I've stated my positon badly - and I think here's where I
went wrong.

>At 10:00 AM 06/14/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>>
>>>In UA, as in most RPGs, there's a tendency to give everything a
>>>"supernatural" explanation.
>>
>>There's a very good reason for that.
>>
>>Because you *can*.

The 'everything' there wasn't meant to be 'all at once,' but 'any *given*
thing.' You can assign supernatural motives to things - or not - as you
choose.

See, I agree with most of the arguments that have been put forth. I agree
that one of the best elements of the setting is that not everything that
appears supernatural actually is so. And I agree that placing every
significant event under the hand of the Super Sekrit Societies can be
detrimental.

But when discussing the possible origins of a single event in a modern
fantasy universe - one that has a real-world analogue - I don't find it
useful to say, "What if it happened as it did in the real world?" That
option has probably already been explored and rejected by the questioner in
favor of something else. (If I ask you what color I might dye my hair, it's
not necessary to say that I could always not dye it.) Most times, it's a
request for a brainstorm session - and that answer tends to quell
discussion, not spark it.

>Well, the setting *is* one in which mundane things have much more of an
>impact than supernatural things...

True. But the mundane answer is the one that's apparent most of the time. I
can always say that Oswald shot JFK. It's the other answers that appeal to
me.

Jason

* * * * *
"I'm addicted to stress that's the way that I get things done if I'm not
underpressure then I sleep too long and I hang around like a bum and I
think I'm going nowhere and that makes me nervous..."

Jason Schneiderman
jadasc at ma.ultranet.com



_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua