Quote:
Originally Posted by Eddie
I've had more than my share of spats with people like Leg and others on here for slights or perceived slights to my country, and God knows I'm proud to be an American; but I absolutely despise our public education system. I was lucky and overcame the hurdle, but since my three kids got into school, I've been nothing but disappointed. I know Webstral is a teacher, and I hope he does his best to fight the system, but I firmly believe it's broken in this nation. I give kudos to nations that have broken the code and managed to actually educate their people.
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Eddie,
I wish to make clear, I can't speak for the Canadian educational system in general, and for all I know the players in my group may be a statistical blip!
As for the comparison between T2K and TMP, if I may quote Reagan, "there you go again!" (I don't mean that as a slam, but more in the sense that it's not often I can quote Ronald Reagan and I feel I must do so when relevant... I MUST!). I somewhat agree with your point about the fantastical elements, but as my campaign was based on Final Watch the Cold War-esque elements were in full force.
Hey, a "classic" T2K background isn't going to attract everyone. V2+ seemed to get around this problem of historicity (that is, how it's placed within the stream of history) by making it counterfactual. This maintains the existential horror of the Cold War by making the setting part of an alternative timeline. To some players, the knowledge that the Cold War is over might impair their suspension of disbelief, but then re-imagining a global conventional/nuclear war (a classic Cold War trope) is also difficult for some people to credit, not to mention introducing a generic nature to the background.
I'm reminded of a friend who could never get into Call of Cthulhu. Having read Lovecraft, his knowledge of the bigger picture (humanity was essentially doomed) meant he couldn't really enjoy any adventure because it was ultimately hopeless. While probably true within the context of the Cthulhu Mythos, the key to enjoyment would seem to be to "forget" the overall historical/global picture and concentrate on what your character can accomplish, within the bounds of the scenario.
I guess the elephant in the room in this discussion is there was an RPG that tried to update T2K to something more modern. While it succeeded on some levels I sincerely hope any additional kicks at that can (by Mongoose or anyone) will do a lot better.
Tony