From: | Chris Maxfield <cmaxfiel@****.ORG.AU> |
---|---|
Subject: | Re: Suspension of Disbelief [was- Re: The land of OZ?? |
Date: | Sun, 25 Oct 1998 18:31:02 +1100 |
>At 12:55 PM 10/23/98 +1000, Chris Maxfield wrote:
>>had read it. Too many things in Shadowrun future history "Just Happen".
>
>I really think you're being a little harsh considering the entire Shadowrun
>setting history takes less than 15 pages of the BABY. None of that is any
>less believable that cycles of magic.
A BABY edition? Lucky you. ;-)
No, I don't think I'm being too harsh and I'm not talking just about the
core book. In fact, I'm mostly referring to the location books such as
Germany and the London Sourcebook. Certainly, the cycles of magic are an
impossibility but they are a given, a defining aspect of the game system.
The believability of the magic is not an issue; it can't be an issue
because it can't be explained. It just is - and is accepted as such.
However, this is not a good excuse for authors who are too lazy to put some
effort and workmanship into creating a consistent and plausible history
within the context of the accepted Shadowrun impossibilities.
>If you are willing to believe that magic (exists, as well as) returns to
>the world, I really think the rest of the events are well within the bounds
>of reason.
We may be talking at cross-purposes here. I'm only referring to Shadowrun
future history and sociology excluding events like the Awakening, UGE, the
Crash and so on. Also, I'm not saying that things can't happen but rather
they are simply not justified enough. I consider Shadowrun to be,
otherwise, a reasonably good quality product.
For my friends and I, and I'm sure many other gamers as well, part of the
pleasure of the Shadowrun game is that we like to pretend, during a gaming
session, that it is truly the future of our own world. As you say, a
suspension of disbelief. This suspension is spoilt when a sourcebook author
specifies an event or background without sufficient effort to say why.
Sometimes just a few more words, a couple of sentences or a paragraph can
change an unjustified, bizarre event into a plausible historical
consequence of previous events. At the moment we have England under the
Protector, Germany and Italy fragmented, and China under the Warlords. Why?
It just makes no historical sense inspite of what is written. Disbelief
should be suspended, not hung from the neck until dead. :-)
>Besides, there are plenty of unreasonable things that "just happen" in RL.
>The difference is that we have more that 15 pages of context for them.
Mmm? You'll have to give me an example here because I'm pretty damned
certain that in RL everything that happens is a consequence of what has
happened before. Or do you mean that we don't always know the reasons?
That's certainly the case but there is no need for such mysteries in
fictional accounts - the author is god.
Chris Maxfield We are restless because of incessant
<cmaxfiel@****.org.au> change, but we would be frightened if
Canberra, Australia change were stopped.