Narrative Warfare: The Death Cult, RPGs, & The Long Game

Veteran author David Stewart talks about the practical limits of SJW Death Cult bullshit in tabletop RPGs, focusing on the juggernaut that is D&D.

The argument here is a familiar one. The claim, which is true, is that the Wokeness has practical limits because the user is in full control of the game. Users can, and do, change the rules of the game. They do this to the current edition. They do this with older editions. They do it with hybrids of editions. They do it with hybrids of one or more editions with another tabletop RPG entirely. Yes, this is a practical limit, and it is useful to act as a filter to keep out the Wokeness and the poseurs that push it.

The problem is that this argument relies on a category error. The error is the identification of what the problem is. The category is control over the narrative surrounding the game, not the category of how the game itself is played. What David correctly identifies as the undesirable influence of videogame thinking on tabletop RPGs is merely a means of achieving that narrative control.

Wizards of the Coast wants to turn D&D--and, by extension, all tabletop RPGs--into lifestyle brand extensions. To that end, they have to change how D&D is perceived, and that's what all the changes with 5th Edition is about. The rule changes correspond to changes in the game's brand narrative; Critical Role and other well-publicized Let's Play series such as every single one on the Official D&D Channel are as much a part of this scheme as the rules changes themselves.

They want D&D to be seen as a long-form party game that's all about storytelling and expression with all of the threat of a Nerf bat; they want it to be a theme park where the freak show is on full display all the time and victory is assured so long as you follow the rules--that's the videogame influence--so if something goes wrong it's because the GM is a crypto-Nazi that changed things.

That's right. The SJW Death Cult wants tabletop RPGs to be a reflection of r-selected psychology, with all the stupidity and degeneracy that entails, and manipulating how the normies see D&D is meant to change the narrative of D&D. Control of the narrative is control of the culture, and culture is downstream from politics. As Seattle, Washington is a Woke Capital center we see how what goes on in a seemingly inconsequential subsidiary of Hasbro has outsized influence when you realize that these people have friends that work in Microsoft and Boeing as well as in local and state government- in addition to many other gaming companies in multiple media.

It's also a play that works the long game. As gamers who aren't woke enough are attrited out of the visible scene, either by design on their part or otherwise, that influence wanes and their persistent presence grows accordingly. Once a critical mass is reached, and it is a low threshold, they gain that control and hold it with a white-knuckle grip. This is how SJW Convergence works, and why it is done. This is why Narrative Warfare is a thing and why it matters.

Yes, the future belongs to those that show up. If they show up believing their enemy's narrative, they will embrace the enemy's culture and enact the enemy's politics. The enemy knows this. THAT'S WHY THEY DO THIS! That's why they don't care about breeding their own replacements; they just steal yours.