Fra den engelske udgave af “The Slaver Trader from Ascalon”.

Se omskrivning i de sidste linjer ift. vores diskussion omkring hvorvidt Slavehandlern er racist.

If you google “Sword and Sorcery” you’ll discover that it was the american fantasy writer Fritz Lieber who invented the concept. Lieber is an amazing writer who’s stories about Fahrd and The Grey Mouser is some of the best fantasy literature ever written. Other Sword & Sorcery includes Michael Moorcocks epic about about the antihero Elric and not least Robert E. Howards stories about Conan the Barbarian. If you know any of these writers you already know where I’m going.

There is no shame in namedropping these writers when you try to establish the mood of the adventure, but if your players (or you) are not so well versed in classic fantasy (having spent your reading time more sensibly than me), Sword & Sorcery can be described without nerdy literary references. The primary aspect of Sword & Sorcery is that it makes violence an aesthetic object. It describes violence in a way that makes it not only grand and glorious, but beautiful. This doesn’t just happen in Sword & Sorcery literature. It is also seen in other genres like Hollywood movies and some political rhetoric, but within fantasy literature Sword & Sorcery is certainly the subgenre where it happens the most.

Another foundation of Sword & Sorcery is that unique and singular individuals (the main characters) are faced with a chaotic and grim world, that wants only to tear them down. Luckily these individuals have been shaped and hardened by this world themselves, so they have no moral filter stopping them from striking back at whatever the world sends at them. Stricking back hard. The world is not beautiful in itself – it is messy and dangerous. But the actions of our heroes makes it glorious (and violent).

This is the aesthetic you should nourish. When someone is wounded by a sword it isn’t enough that the bleed and it hurts. It needs to be described how bleeding and hurting is beautiful (and just as importantly awesome) the blood glistens like rubies in the sun, how the pain is exquisite agony. Pain and violence is beautiful (and awesome). The same goes for the world descriptions you make as you play. They should evoke an evil, dirty, revolting and yet beautiful grand world. A rough world with tough people (and where the player characters turn out to be the toughest).

Sword and Sorcery has, unfortunately, a racist and sexist heritage which is uncool. Be a nice person and do not repeat this hertage in your game. Thank you.

Da jeg læste denne tråd på Story-games gik det op for mig at mit scenarie Slavehandleren fra Ascalon både kan opfattes som racistisk og sexistisk. Det har jeg det dårligt med, især fordi jeg kommer fra et land ikke ligefrem opfører sig superantiracitisk for tiden.

En folk fantastisk mennesker og jeg var ved at oversætte scenariet til engelsk så det kunne ramme et internationalt publikum. På trods af pauser i arbejdert er vi kommet ret langt. Det mangler bare det sidste layout så ville det være klart til ramme nettet, men pga. scenen med heksen og klasserne, så er den engelske version nu sat on hold.

Det var aldrig meningen at jeg ville skrive et sexistisk eller racistisk scenarie. I min hverdag forsøger jeg at være det modsatte. Men jeg forsøgte at skrive et liberalitisk Sword and Sorcery-scenarie. Imens jeg skrev scenariet tænkte jeg over problematikken. Jeg forestillede mig at jeg kunne skrive det som et ironisk værk, der blotlage den volds(forherligende) -logik vi ser i actionfilm. Når jeg læser scenariet nu er jeg usikker på det lykkes tydeligt nok eller om det blot var dårlig undskyldning for at give los for de indspiste sider af vores nationale kultur. En næsten voldelig kulturel logik, der til tider strømmer igennem mig, ligesom den åbenbart strømmer igennem regeringen gang på gang og ligesom den rammer Lars von Trier på det helt forkerete pressemøde.

S&S ikke politisk korrekt. Den første blev opfundet af hvide tradionalister i midt i en racekonfliktfyldt USA. I den tråd jeg linker til, skriver en fyr der kalde sig JDCorley:

The relevant bit to me seems to be consciousness. A lot of games are based in pulp genres that used racial stereotypes horrendously. Sword & sorcery is often garbage, but c’mon, we also have a whole game based on H.P. Lovecraft’s work, in which fucking a black person was literally hastening the end of the world. That’s where our roots are, like all our racist grandparents saying bizarre things at family dinners. It doesn’t mean we can’t love them, it does mean we have to take steps to help fix things.

Problemet er at Slavehandleren ikke et bevidst (nok) værk. Spørgsmålet er om jeg kan bevidstgøre det fx vedhjælp af et nyt forord (og hvad skulle der i såfald stå i det?)?

Om jeg skal skamme mig over at ha’ skrevet det?

Eller om jeg skal acceptere at scenariet simpelthen ikke kan forstås i udlandet (hvilket vel om noget er en nationalistisk forestilling).

Jeg kunne godt bruge lidt hjælp her.