The Evil Empire

[ffutures]

Will I alienate many players if on the third page I describe the Anglo-Saxon Empire of Cole's novel as a genocidal evil empire driven primarily by insane greed? It's more or less how Cole describes it, at about the same point in the novel, but it may be a little off-putting.

Comments

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Avatar?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's on my to-watch pile.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

It answers your question.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Do you care too much about the few players who might lack sufficient imagination to be able to cope with this concept?

I don't think there will be many. Roleplayers in my experience are a pretty open-minded bunch.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

True.

[soren-nyrond.livejournal.com]

Perhaps phrase it so's you're saying "Even Cole himself described his Empire as ... "

People should only then be alienated if the concept itself upsets them, in which case they should be Elsewhere, taking a restful Tonic and Thinking Good Thoughts.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Well, this bit will be on the same page as the bit of the book that describes how the empire works, so it ought to be pretty obvious I get it from Cole. As with the last couple of Forgotten Futures books, the first chapter will be the text of the book (in this case the introduction) with various bits of infodump by its side - about the author, the setting, Forgotten Futures etc.

[armb.livejournal.com]

If it's followed by "you will be required by the game system not merely to roleplay having grown up with its evil genocidal values but to promote and endorse them", that could be alienating. But I assume it isn't.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm going to suggest several possible roles e.g. idealistic officer oblivious to the empire's faults, idealistic young officer trying to subvert the system, oppressedd prole, secret police thug, etc. as well as non-imperial careers such as scientist - this is a technocracy where one character becomes ruler of several planets as a reward for a particular bit of mad science - explorer, pirate, etc.

The book doesn't have a Rebel Alliance but I've a feeling I might drop some hints in that direction.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd find that pretty funny.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'll be putting in character traits including a section "Attitude to the Empire" over a range from "War profiteer" to "Rebel" (not sure how I'll phrase this); "enthusiastic supporter" will certainly be one of the possibilities.