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Message no. 1
From: William Monroe Ashe <wma6617@****.TAMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Awakened Gumbo Anyone? Riposte
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 13:32:56 -0500
On Wed, 13 Aug 1997, Greg wrote:
> I have some real problems with that guide to New Orleans; specifically with
> the way the French Quarter, Organized crime and Voodoo are handled. For one
> thing; the population of New Orleans is overwhelmingly Catholic, and fairly
> strongly so. This does not prevent the occult bookstores from opening, or
> prevent the sham voodoo rituals put on for the tourists, but the concept of
> a large group of "devil-working" voodoo practitioners taking over and
> controlling the French Quarter (which is incidentaly a site of cultural and
> tourist importance so great that the chances of the government allowing the
> setup proposed in the "guide" to occur is non-existant) is completely
> ridiculous.

I would like to disagree; Now we're talking about game terms here so I
admit I took quite a bit of artistic license. But the whole SR world has
taken a lot of artistic license.

so point number 1;
I've been to New Orleans many times over the years (There is a really
cool fencing tournament held there every spring, I don't fence really
well but, who really cares, but I digress). The catholic religion is
strong, but so is baptist (in all of its sub forms), and Church of
Christ (especially among the african american population).
Also the practice of a "sanitized" version of voodoo has a firm foothold
in the city, and has since the 60's.

So in game terms (IMHO)
I saw the awakening as taking hold rather quickly. In 2011 these kinds
of rituals would be just the thing to "accidentally" access the astral
plane. For a real FASA viewpoint check out T-UCAS in the Salem section
where they discuss the Wiccan's accidentally calling the Wild Hunt. So,
once the practioners found that there rituals would actually work, they
had power.

> In addition, the chances that a ban on firearms, magical or
> not, as laid out in the article being allowed by the general public in a
> state where the concealed carry permit and the firearm permit are one and
> the same is sorta silly.

2) Now this part was pure artistic license on my part. I thought it
would be neat to have a portion of a city where tech would get a little
squirrely (aka the "Bordertown" series). It worked well in my game, but
then I had the gamers chased by a bunch of cyberzombies, and the magical
boundary was to be their ace in the hole. As regards to the legal part
of it. Who's going to argue with a group of zealots that can throw
around that much magic?

> Another issue is the treatment of the "king" and
> "Queen" of voodoo. Marie Laveau was a very influential figure in the
> twenties and her daughter contiinued the tradition, but the whole story was
> mainly a shill for the stupid Yank tourists anyway. Voodoo has a
> matriarchical structure so the concept of a "King" is rather strange too.

3) Actually if you go back and read the historical accounts of the real
Marie Laveau, there WAS a Voodoo King before her. She had him killed.
As for the story being a tourist thingy, back in the 1800's the WHITE
people believed in her power more than the slaves did. If they didn't she
would have killed for "being an uppity nigger".


> And where did the huge Yakusa influence come from? ever since the mass
> italian emigration, in the teens I believe, the city's organized crime has
> been tightly controlled by the Mafia. There are more Jewish people in New
> Orleans then there are Asians; and that's ALL asians- the Yaks would be like
> 20 people and the tongs and triads the other 5.

4) Once again this is license. I needed several large organized crime
groups to be at war. Actually there is a small, but strong oriental
community in N.O., but they are mostly vietnamese.


> I guess there is noting really "wrong" from a gameplay standpoint with the
> data presented in the Shadowtourist article; it's just completely
> unrealistic.

I disagree, but hey what do I know?
-Bill
Message no. 2
From: Greg <greg@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: Awakened Gumbo Anyone? Riposte
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 15:04:31 -0400
-----Original Message-----
From: William Monroe Ashe <wma6617@****.TAMU.EDU>

>I would like to disagree; Now we're talking about game terms here so I
>admit I took quite a bit of artistic license. But the whole SR world has
>taken a lot of artistic license.

Which is fine, but you stil hate to see it go overboard

>so point number 1;
>I've been to New Orleans many times over the years (There is a really
>cool fencing tournament held there every spring, I don't fence really
>well but, who really cares, but I digress).

My bloodline is eighty-percent direct cajun, I was born at Charity Hospital
and I spent the first twenty-years of my life in New Orleans.

>he catholic religion is
>strong, but so is baptist (in all of its sub forms), and Church of
>Christ (especially among the african american population).
>Also the practice of a "sanitized" version of voodoo has a firm foothold
>in the city, and has since the 60's.

A "sanitized" version of voodoo; where did you hear this?

>So in game terms (IMHO)
>I saw the awakening as taking hold rather quickly. In 2011 these kinds
>of rituals would be just the thing to "accidentally" access the astral
>plane. For a real FASA viewpoint check out T-UCAS in the Salem section
>where they discuss the Wiccan's accidentally calling the Wild Hunt. So,
>once the practioners found that there rituals would actually work, they
>had power.

Which is realistic, but eighty percent of voodoo is good luck charms, minor
hexes, and love potions. The only real part that steps out of this mold is
the "riding" of priests and priestesses by the Loa (Spirits) and that is
done as a communion thing not a as an invocation.

>2) Now this part was pure artistic license on my part. I thought it
>would be neat to have a portion of a city where tech would get a little
>squirrely (aka the "Bordertown" series). It worked well in my game, but
>then I had the gamers chased by a bunch of cyberzombies, and the magical
>boundary was to be their ace in the hole. As regards to the legal part
>of it. Who's going to argue with a group of zealots that can throw
>around that much magic?

My point is that the tradition of voodoo does not involve that much power on
a grand enough scale, remember houdoun was a slave religion. But like I
said, if it works for you fine- it's just not consistant with RL.

>3) Actually if you go back and read the historical accounts of the real
>Marie Laveau, there WAS a Voodoo King before her. She had him killed.
>As for the story being a tourist thingy, back in the 1800's the WHITE
>people believed in her power more than the slaves did. If they didn't she
>would have killed for "being an uppity nigger".

But the religion is matriarchical, the preistess is always ranked higher.
As for as having the historical Marie Leaveau killed, she was killed because
she felt, as many creoles of color felt, that her ancestry of french and
spanish colonists lent her a social standing above the upstart americans who
came in with their ridiculous claims of superiority. She was famous and
vocal about these common, but politically unpopular beliefs and so she was
killed. Simplifing complex socio-policical issues about race in the deep
south is something of a hobby for many north-easterners, but it is as silly
as claiming that all people from New York are uptight or that the pilgims
and the amerindians got on like wildfire.

>4) Once again this is license. I needed several large organized crime
>groups to be at war. Actually there is a small, but strong oriental
>community in N.O., but they are mostly vietnamese.

That is true, but my point still stands- where are the Japanese coming from?
This is why placebooks in general suck; because even when it is a
professional writer producing the work, the temptation is to simply use what
would be cool without explaining how it got there. All it takes is a little
research and asking around.

And as a side note, I apologize if I sound confrontational about this. I
don't mean to be an ass. I love and respect the city of my birth very much,
and it is often bastadized and mangled in the print and visual media. This
makes me a bit touchy. Try to bear with me as I will be trying to post from
a non-emotional standpoint- but it is difficult.

<greg>
walks on gilded splinters

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