I’m having a really difficult time processing a lot of this. Like… how do you avoid remixing the media you consume into the play you create? Especially playing games that call out their own influences?

Like, if you’re playing a pulp adventure game and someone just goes ahead and makes a Doc Brass analogue… how is that badwrongfun? How is it disruptive to anybody else’s fun? Or if you’re playing SWvM and someone straight up drifts the movie version of the Dune Guild Navigators into the game, is that really so distracting?

In my relatively-infrequent periods of play, a lot of how I build a character concept is through layering up characters from fiction. I’ll start with a base character (OK, I want to play The Man With No Name) and then change some details (but with more talking, and a little less grit, maybe a genuine smile once in a while) and then see what emerges from play.

Like, I wouldn’t allow a game to get totally derailed by just reciting quotes from movies or TV; not because it’s bad play, but because I think it’s boring. But if Thomas makes a highly-moral, charming, two-fisted brawler with shield proficiency and an Aspect called “I can do this all day,” I’m not sure what the problem is with that.