Shrine of the Nephilim

So, we've seen a lot of push back against the 2024 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. Whether it's the art, or the inclusion of a 'consent' form, or certain text, there's a huge cry against "woke culture" and "politics in gaming". Yeah. There has been a change in gaming. And yeah, it falls under "woke" and "politics". There's another way to look at it, though. It's accepting that there's people beyond what's normally seen in fantasy, and that there's a diversity of cultures, beliefs, and people. It's stepping outside of the old stereotype of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and accepting that the world is large and complicated, and that people are also complicated. And it's always been political. But we'll get to that in a minute. So. You're seeing orcs that aren't thuggish barbarians and shamans. That's good. Because societies can change, and it's a very tired stereot...

 Getting sick and tired of being called a 'groomer' or worse by the right, because we're pro-LGBT. Listen. It isn't about sex. Conservatives are the ones dragging sex into this. It was never about sex. It's about identity . A kid who's five years old decides they like girls. Is that about sex? No. It's about the idea that they like girls . That is all it is. When we were six? We had a crush on the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm. We saw her in a Spider-Man comic, and she seemed nice, and nurturing. She was shown to be a good and caring mother, and we decided at that point we "liked" her. We didn't have a fucking clue what sex was. Sex wasn't even in the picture. (By the by, before you start guessing our gender -- the answer is "yes". Our gender is "yes".) Being a lesbian doesn't have anything to do with sex when you're a kid. That isn't on the radar. It just means you "like" girls more than you "lik...

Perhaps the one thing that pisses us off about comic books is the whole 'back to zero' thing, and the most recent example is the 'fall of Krakoa' arc. Don't get us wrong - we hated it.  But it was good for the comics, and we acknowledged that. It was done too quickly, it was 'too perfect' at the start, but it was different , and where it was going was something we actually became interested in. That they crash and burned it after only a few years is a travesty.  Of course, this being comics, the people behind Marvel would want things to 'reset back to zero' - because, you know, there's no way they'd ever make anything with lasting impact. But with Krakoa, this is especially criminal, and here's why:  It would allow them to tell a story that would actually be at the very heart of the X-Men and what they stand for. "What if people of colour, minorities, and the LGBT+ community was given actual power and legitimacy, and how would peopl...