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Cassandra's Curse
Mar. 6th, 2003 03:46 pmSome years back, Steve Jackson Games called for budding writers to submit entries for an upcoming book, 'GURPS Villains'.
I wrote up one, a codependent sentient spaceyacht, and sent it in. Then as an afterthought, a second one: the Responsible Government Party.
The RGP were mostly intended as a joke. I wanted to see how many of the standard villainous conventions I could break, by writing a 'villain' who was not only law-abiding but honourable and well-intentioned. There are plenty of Lawful Evil villains in gaming; I wanted to write a Lawful Good one.
To my surprise, SJG rejected my first submission, and accepted the RGP instead. Not only do the RGP get two pages near the back of the book, they also make an appearance on the title page.
The RGP are honest, law-abiding, accountable, and committed to bringing about the end of the world "within the laws of the United States of America", because they believe the world must perish to bring about the Kingdom of God. They're efficient, and they actually practise the 'family values' we preach to others... of course, they also believe in building up a nuclear arsenal, and they have little time for environmental issues.
I wrote that piece in 1999. The idea of honest, law-abiding, accountable politicians remains as much of a fantasy now as it ever was, but the rest of it is much less amusing now than it was when I wrote it four years ago.
I wrote up one, a codependent sentient spaceyacht, and sent it in. Then as an afterthought, a second one: the Responsible Government Party.
The RGP were mostly intended as a joke. I wanted to see how many of the standard villainous conventions I could break, by writing a 'villain' who was not only law-abiding but honourable and well-intentioned. There are plenty of Lawful Evil villains in gaming; I wanted to write a Lawful Good one.
To my surprise, SJG rejected my first submission, and accepted the RGP instead. Not only do the RGP get two pages near the back of the book, they also make an appearance on the title page.
The RGP are honest, law-abiding, accountable, and committed to bringing about the end of the world "within the laws of the United States of America", because they believe the world must perish to bring about the Kingdom of God. They're efficient, and they actually practise the 'family values' we preach to others... of course, they also believe in building up a nuclear arsenal, and they have little time for environmental issues.
I wrote that piece in 1999. The idea of honest, law-abiding, accountable politicians remains as much of a fantasy now as it ever was, but the rest of it is much less amusing now than it was when I wrote it four years ago.
