Mark Adri-Soejoko
>If you don't see the Empire is bad in a Orlanthi based Dragon Pass
then what >have you got. I suppose the Pc could always wander the
country preaching the >good word of the moon handing out flowers.
Look, my point was that religious spread doesn't have to be
by the sword, and historically has not always been. That's all.
So far the Lunars have not engaged in en-masse forced
conversion. But for fun in my own campaigns (and, I suspect, most
folks), we require certain Sartarites to have joined the Lunar
cults, no?
If you don't see the Empire being Bad in an Orlanthi-based
Dragon Pass, then here's what you got ...
- potential for drama. Good lunar vs. bad lunar. More
subtle villains, Occasional alliances with the Lunars. Rather than a
lame Schwarzenegger-style "those guys are bad so I get to kill them
on sight".
- the ability to play characters and scenarios that are
sympathetic or neutral to the Lunars if you like, instead of just
hostile.
- More subtle scenarios. Example -- you uncover a plot in
which the Bad Lunar plans to assassinate the Lunar Governor, and has
done so by acting as an agent provocateur, tricking a bunch of
Storm Bull hotheads into this action. The result will be promotion
for the Bad Lunar and harsh reprisals against the Sartarites. You
must, therefore, try to save the Governor's life, and stop the Storm
Bulls from succeeding. Are you now pro-Lunar? Hmm. The players get
a cool moral dilemma, and get to see things from a different PoV.
- A range of bad guys. D&D divides its monsters into
"Evil" and "Good", and you get to kill all the Evil ones. I much
prefer having bad guys that it's okay to kill sometimes and not
other times, or who might not really be bad, or who can be talked
out of their badness. Not that I oppose all moral choices -- there's
plenty of Gloranthan foes that you have to kill on sight. Do we
need another?
Sandy P.