Gaming Meetings With Strange Cultures

jason taylor · 10-24-2022, 05:09 PM

I remember in 1632 that Gretchen's perceptions were actually quite acute. She assumed that the schooteacher was a noblewoman because of her demeanor (she was actually a Boston Brahmin which is as close as America gets). That Stearns was the captain of her guard (he was an UMWA enforcer and political fixer by profession so she is onto something and he had commanded in the battle anyway) but she reverses the authority if not the status of the two. She assumes Rebecca is a court Jew (effectively, yes) and and the mistress of Mike's (she can't conceive a Jewish fiancee of a gentile officer so that is good enough) and that Jeff and his friends are a headstrong but goodhearted clique of young well-born or at least rich swashbucklers (everything except the well-born part and even Americans think of them as the "four musketeers" so yeah). But Gretchen gets some of the most important parts about Americans goofed up.

All that is interesting and worth commenting itself. But it kind of shows how to game cultural contact. The point is that she translated the relationships of another culture into what would be familiar in her world. I was interested in the process but I would also like some things about cultural contact. Similar stories are welcome but so are ideas for how a GM can produce subtleties like that when managing contacts.

10-24-2022, 05:09 PM	#1
jason taylor Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Portland, Oregon	Gaming Meetings With Strange Cultures I remember in 1632 that Gretchen's perceptions were actually quite acute. She assumed that the schooteacher was a noblewoman because of her demeanor (she was actually a Boston Brahmin which is as close as America gets). That Stearns was the captain of her guard (he was an UMWA enforcer and political fixer by profession so she is onto something and he had commanded in the battle anyway) but she reverses the authority if not the status of the two. She assumes Rebecca is a court Jew (effectively, yes) and and the mistress of Mike's (she can't conceive a Jewish fiancee of a gentile officer so that is good enough) and that Jeff and his friends are a headstrong but goodhearted clique of young well-born or at least rich swashbucklers (everything except the well-born part and even Americans think of them as the "four musketeers" so yeah). But Gretchen gets some of the most important parts about Americans goofed up. All that is interesting and worth commenting itself. But it kind of shows how to game cultural contact. The point is that she translated the relationships of another culture into what would be familiar in her world. I was interested in the process but I would also like some things about cultural contact. Similar stories are welcome but so are ideas for how a GM can produce subtleties like that when managing contacts. __________________ "The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison Last edited by jason taylor; 10-24-2022 at 05:13 PM.