One objection I have with the Ethereal part....

[Azel]

Yeah, that IN SJG is not being sensitive enough is just not an argument that flies with me. Especially since I've seen, and have the PDFs of, the INS/MV original. The French original is deliberately blasphemous to Catholicism, "gloriously" so. In comparison SJ games went above and beyond the call of duty to make the setting more: a) palatable to American sensitivities, and b)theologically neutral for setting flexibility. They didn't have to do any of that, and in fact they've been pilloried in many an RPG forum for "wussing out" and trying to mimic WW clan proliferation and splatbook fatigue.

Further, when the game's explicitly about angels and demons using Levantine names for angels and demons, you really should have an idea that this game supposes *some* specific setting assumptions. That it then went out of its way to be deliberately inclusive, particularly in the DMG and Ethereal PG, makes me feel rather insulted when anyone says IN SJG wasn't "sensitive enough," (and I had nothing to do with this game's creation). I think I know what I'm playing. When I hear this criticism it strikes me as though one hasn't bothered to notice the effort that went in to making it so religiously neutral, particularly from the original.

In retrospect, it might have been a better thing to pick a singular setting perspective and run with it. Being inclusive was a huge 1990s thing, and many rpgs definitely made the effort. But if you still can't catch a break in your effort to please everyone because of casual assumptions, might as well pick a viewpoint and tack to it hard. I have no patience for the modern "activist gamer" trend, vilifying the past offhand and ignoring context.