The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Chris W.:

I'm not sure this whole demystification process is necessarily any more integral to RPGs than superheroes are to comics. Some of my earliest and most fun experiences with things that I would identify as "RPGs" involved simply making up stories with my cousins, no rules or mechanics implied. Of course the advantage of going the rule-bound, stat-heavy route is that it can make it easier for people to latch onto the game and provide fodder for endless expansions, but this is more a matter of what is convenient and profitable than what is inherent in the form. Even so, I always admired the old AD&D Planescape setting, because it insisted on leaving so many fundamental truths about the world almost completely mysterious (e.g. the history of Sigil, the nature of the Lady of Pain, the genesis and ultimate end of the Blood War). The writers would even tease readers with obviously spurious explanation, for example suggesting that the Lady of Pain, the mysterious and near omnipotent ruler of Sigil, was in fact seven giant squirrels with a ring of levitation and an elaborate costume.

Mark DF-

For an examination of the types of questions you're asking, check out Robert Pape's "Dying to Win". It's a little technical, but it's a great examination of the strategic logic of suicide terrorism. He explodes a lot of myths:

1) That suicide terrorism is unique to islamist radicals (even most of the suicide terrorism in the middle east has historically been carried out by nationalist and marxist groups, who draw their attackers from a pretty representative cross-section of society. The single biggest user of suicide terrorism is the Tamil Tigers, a marxist/ethnic separatist movement in Sri Lanka)

2) That suicide terrorism is irrational. (It occurs generally in distinct campaigns, has a distinct punitive strategic logic, with distinct goals [almost always the removal of an occupying force from territory the terrorists value])

3) That suicide terrorism is ineffective. (Suicide campaigns work about as often as not, and are especially effective against democracies, for reasons that are not entirely clear)

Of course all this is specifically focused on suicide terrorism, and the logic of the organizations that use it as a strategy, not necessarily the individuals who carry it out.

[Disclaimer, I'm an undergraduate at the department where Pape teaches, and just finished taking a class from him, so I think he's dreamy.]

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