My Personal Failings
Could someone who speaks Swedish translate this post for me? I'm afraid that my rudimentary knowledge of linguistic roots has failed me.
It doesn't have to be exact, I just want to get the gist of what they are saying about Sven and I.
Thanks!
It doesn't have to be exact, I just want to get the gist of what they are saying about Sven and I.
Thanks!
12 Comments:
That's danish, not swedish! I can help you. Who ever thought learning danish would come in handy...
He says something to the effect of:
"Game designer Ben tries to explain GNS to Sven, who was brought up mostly with freeform roleplaying."
The writer recommends reading the dialogue, and says something like "Sven poses many of the same questions we've had here on the forum," and is surprised about the broad applications of theory.
HE warns that the thread is insanely long and the word Edwards appears more than once, so if you're sensitive to that, you probably should not visit the thread.
I found I was beaten to it by Matt Wilson, but since I've translated it I'll post it anyway..
It's Danish and not Swedish, as you know now, but they're similar enough to give it a try. At least I hope it's Danish and not Norwegian, if I could hear him speak I could tell for sure. (^_^)
"On his blog, game designer Ben Lehman tries to explain GNS to Sven, who's raised on Nordic freeform and lajv.
It's recommended reading. Sven poses questions of the same type as we have had here on the forum, and also wonders what the theory can be used for, and Ben answers it once at a time. There's a good tone throughout it all.
The only caveat is that the dialogue is long and the word "Edwards" more than once, so if you're sensitive to that you probably shouldn't visit the blog."
Danish? Crazy.
Thanks, Matt and Sven!
yrs--
--Ben
" At least I hope it's Danish and not Norwegian, if I could hear him speak I could tell for sure. (^_^)"
It's Danish. Norwegian is easier.
The thread on the Danish forum has now copntinued in a quite bizarre manner by first asking if I at all exist and then continue with describing how I would be described in D&D rules. But the Danish are generally nicer people than Swedes, so I'm sure they don't mean anything bad.
Interesting that Matt Wilson know Danish. Why! Why? (and know I have to run away to a gaming convention - at my university)
Hi,
Danish is not crazy, not crazy at all.
I wrote the piece, after we've had long and heated discussions on our local forum about the usefullness of Big Model, Forge, Edwards.
I introduced the Forge mindset and indie games a year ago and have been accused of being Edwards' missionary, stupid, cool and other things.
I only wanted to discuss Big Model/GNS using our own experience and words, but people are generally very suspicious about theories from the US ;)
I wonder why the same reservations don't come into play when it comes to useless US mainstream games, but hey, that's me :)
Hi Per. Jonas Karlsson above in this thread is for my gaming group what you obviously are to people around you. He has talked about Forge and we have deemed him heretic.
But these days I only strive for wisdom, nirvana through understanding games. All that old BS.
Per --
My use of "crazy" does not carry the meaning "insane" but rather "wow." As in "People in Denmark are linking me now, too? Wow!" It's American slang, I think, which I should probably shy away from using now that this blog has an international audience.
Thanks a lot for the link, and I'm sorry to hear about the reactions that you had. You can tell them that I'm happy to explain GNS to them, to the best of my ability, if they like, but they will have to put up with me using English :-(
yrs--
--Ben
Hi Sven,
Sorry about the digression into D&D, it's a weird and wonderful way of darkish Danish humour, I suppose. I don't think it would even make sense to try and explain ;)
Anyway, I found your dialogue with Ben very useful, and I am amazed how differently roleplaying can be approached. Thanks, both of you.
"I only wanted to discuss Big Model/GNS using our own experience and words, but people are generally very suspicious about theories from the US ;)
I wonder why the same reservations don't come into play when it comes to useless US mainstream games, but hey, that's me :)"
Could it be that it is the theory itself that they are suspicious of, rather than the origin?
How many US rpg theories have you tried to introduce to them? :)
Jonas --
Theoretical didactic methods, while maybe interesting (I, for one, am very interested in why gamers are wildly suspicious of theory) are probably totally off-topic for this blog.
yrs--
--Ben
He, good point. I'm not sure. You would have to ask ;)
Sorry, that was my reply to Jonas.
Post a Comment
<< Home