Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jackson
Thank you for a very useful thread topic and ground rules, Ty. Now everybody play nice. I will point out that the issue Ty is pointing out is real! ...Scary to think that I've been doing this long enough that my oldest work requires TRANSLATION. I shall try to keep evolving.
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Yes.
I may have assumed more familiarity with the 70s-80s than actually exists. We gamers from the late 70s remember the agonizing and arguing that went on in the hobby regarding the use of the male pronoun.
It really got comical, frankly. Great amounts of ink were expended as folks argued about it. Virtue signalling and self-righteousness were just as popular then as now.
Many - probably most - game books contained some version of this disclaimer - "Exclusive use of the male pronoun is used in this book. However, this shouldn't be read to exclude women, etc., etc."
THIS is what I was referencing; I'm glad SOMEONE got it. Much like the bell bottoms and (regrettable) Speedos, it was a feature of the times.
(And sad to say, these times are no more or no less moral than those times. The lines are merely drawn in different places. Humans don't change; they just get smug.)
If I'd really wanted to make fun of the period, I'd have demanded that female characters lose 1 point of ST but get the Sex Appeal talent free. Yes, youngsters, some early RPGs (but not TFT) actually gave female characters charisma bonuses. And in some cases, lower maximums for Strength.
And consider this little jewel from Eldritch Wizardry (1976): "There is only one King of Lawful Dragons, just as there is only one Queen of Chaotic Dragons (Women’s Lib may make whatever they wish from the foregoing)."
Different days indeed.