James Mendez Hodes

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Just dancing, officer.

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James Mendez Hodes

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Where to find me

Where to find. Lula. a.k.a. James Mendez Hodes. website · Mastodon. Twitter: twitter.com/@LulaVampiro. Discord: lula#3711. Facebook. © 2018-2019 Kit La Touche. Please get in touch if you have any problems or feedback. Terms of Service. About. Support us on Ko-fi.

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When I started this piece about racist tropes in Tolkien's orcs, I knew orcs were a racist stereotype. I didn't realize orcs were a stereotype OF ASIANS SPECIFICALLY.

Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built for Racial Terror

jamesmendezhodes.com

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Mike Pureka: Cool; So I lazily searched the text of LotR looking for a passage that directly references race (I also checked "blood" because there's a whole lot of "blood of Numenor" going on when Tolkien talks about Men) and I couldn't find anything that specifically used either of those terms with regard to Aragorn or Faramir being able to do anything or being protected from anything. It totally DOES, but those terms aren't used specifically for that.

I was wrong about one thing though -- Gandalf specifically calls out that Faramir DID basically win the "blood of Numenor" lottery compared to his brother, so it's definitely implied that Faramir had a better chance of resisting the ring than Boromir did based on this. On the other hand, Boromir traveled with the ring for two months (Fun fact: Apparently the Fellowship left Rivendell on Christmas?) whereas Faramir was exposed to it for like, 36 hours, which could be considered a mitigating circumstance. He also says "I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee." -- which sure reads like "I know I wouldn't be able to stand up to this long term" to me.

Robert Bohl: I'm guessing that the Faramir thing is what i was remembering in terms of protection. However, I believe you'll find "race" and "blood of" a lot in there, used to explain things. It's the idea that race is real and has power that's an issue I've noticed in my readings.

Mike Pureka: +Robert Bohl Oh, yeah, "race" and "blood" are all over the place (There are even different "breeds" of Hobbit, which are then referred as being part of the "blood" of existing hobbit settlements), and sometimes carry benefits like "power" and long life, and you can absolutely see how we ended up with "Races" in D&D as a result.

The only disagreement I had was with the idea that someone's race/blood was explicitly called out as giving them protection or "goodness", which does not appear to be a thing to my reading. Power yes, moral fibre, less so.

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12w

You have one hour left to back #ThousandArrows—or to increase your pledge to get the Spoils of War and/or +Ross Cowman's cloth map of Japan! We're within one thousand dollars of the final stretch goal, the cyberpunk "Street Samurai versus Code Ninja!"

Thousand Arrows: a Samurai Action & Drama TTRPG

kickstarter.com

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Crossover! 1 day left on both #ThousandArrows and Brie Sheldon's Turn, a RPG of small-town animal shapeshifters. Back both—even for a dollar—and I'll send you the Faerie Lands allegiance for Thousand Arrows and a Hengeyōkai playbook for Turn!

Update 12: Dawn of the Final Day: Turn x Thousand Arrows Crossover Playbooks! · Thousand Arrows: a Samurai Action & Drama TTRPG

kickstarter.com

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12w

Here's a link to today's AMA, the Kickstarter, all the interviews I've done recently, some past interviews, and my upcoming panels at PAX Unplugged.

48 hours left on #ThousandArrows!

Interview Roundup (and PAX Unplugged panels!)

jamesmendezhodes.com

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12w

My +Reddit AMA just went live! Please come ask me things about #ThousandArrows, RPGs, cultural consulting, martial arts, hip hop, my favorite spiders, and literally all other subjects which fall under the umbrella of "anything."

r/rpg - I'm a RPG developer and cultural consultant. AMA?

3 votes and 1 comment so far on Reddit

reddit.com

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12w

Ayyy there's an article about #ThousandArrows in +Geek & Sundry today! Someone said nice things about me and now I am bashful. #o_o# https:

Conquer the Warring States In THOUSAND ARROWS – An Apocalypse-Powered Samurai RPG | Geek and Sundry

geekandsundry.com

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AMAing intensifies. This coming Wednesday 28 November, from 1200hrs to 2000hrs EST, I'm holding a Reddit AMA about #ThousandArrows and my work as a game designer and cultural consultant. Please stop by!

r/rpg - I'm a RPG developer and cultural consultant. AMA this coming Wednesday?

reddit.com

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13w

probably the most on-brand thing that could possibly have happened to me tonight was that my game funded and I didn't notice because I was complaining about swords

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Fae Tyler's photos make me yearn to crawl dungeons again. I've had so many negative D&D experiences, but what if we remembered to imagine every empty room as potentially one of these?

Forgotten Places (Part 2) | Fashion | Fae Tyler

faetyler.com

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