Wednesday, July 28, 2004

WraeththuWatch: an idle thought

It occurred to me today that the magical swordwielding hermaphrodites of the Wraeththu rpg might be more palatable to mainstream rpg players if it was first filtered through an anime lens.  After all, girlyman prettyboys of indeterminate orientation are so common in anime that there's a special term for them: bishounen or bishi's.  I kinda think that by using anime art one could sugarcoat the Wraeththu setting, if only just a little bit.  Bishi are perhaps more tolerable to the average occidental otaku because they are Japanese in origin (an therefore already part of the Other) and because of the unrealistic cartoon style of most anime (as opposed to the more realistic art being used in the Wraeththu rpg).  I imagine that if I were to try to run Wraeththu: From Enchantment to Fufillment at my local con I would likely end up with no sign-ups.  I think my chances would be much better if I were to run "Postapocalyptic Bishounen MageWarrior Attack!"

No comments:

Post a Comment