Well, The allegory has come full-circle (SOD Spoilers)

[woweedd]

OK,s o, if you've read SOD, you'll remember The Gods were begin shown as a pretty explicit metaphor for game designers and DMs. Most notably, in the "making Goblins just to die" thing. That is why Goblins exist in D&D: Because, if your game is about murdering dudes, giving the player ready-made cannon fodder specifically made to be murdered without guilt to do it on makes sense. But, when you look at what it would be like to LIVE in a world like that, where you're part of a culture that can't advance too far because your population gets constantly thinned by an endless stream of ultra-powerful meatheads, and ESPECIALLY once you run that through the filter of real-world racism, it becomes horrifying, which is the point. Point is, the Gods were always used to represent game designers. Heck, even The Snarl is a metaphor. How many times has your gaming group bickering over setting details? Their Gods are writers, creators. Their worlds? Those are every story you can imagine. Every story ends, eventually, and so does its world, whether it's due to cancellation (Snarl) or the creator chooser to end it, so as to let it live on, complete, rather then be destroyed, like the Gods destroying their worlds. All stories must end. Every writer has around 20 or 30 ideas that never panned out, or that ended too quickly, because of executives, burnout, or creative differences. The Gods are creators. And all the dead worlds, are stories. Stories where the storyteller stopped talking.

[KorvinStarmast]

Hmm. Yes. (Another edit to break up the wall of text would be neat, but I think your major point fits in pretty well)

[Lacuna Caster]

Seems legit.

[Mastikator]

What is the dark one an allegory for? A fictional character becoming sentient and real?

[mjasghar]

What is the dark one an allegory for? A fictional character becoming sentient and real?

The change in fantasy fiction in general to make goblinoids a PC race or protagonists which was pushed more in 3 and 3.5

[Goblin_Priest]

What is the dark one an allegory for? A fictional character becoming sentient and real?

Intersectarian fourth wave feminism that's come to purify the world/media of all these racist and other -ists injustices plaguing it. ;)

[Elanasaurus]

So where's this circle you mentioned?
:elan:

[Worldsong]

What is the dark one an allegory for? A fictional character becoming sentient and real?

I'm guessing a new DM showing up who upsets the status quo with new ideas, who can help resolve the stagnancy the other DMs are suffering from but who first has to convince the other DMs to accept his new perspective (and admit that their old perspective is inherently flawed/limited).

Which would make Thor one of the old DMs who's willing to give the new guy a chance.

[KorvinStarmast]

So where's this circle you mentioned?
:elan: :mitd: "I think that it's right next to that gate people keep talking about." :smallsmile: