I just recently saw that there will be a 3rd Edition of 7th Sea on Kickstarter. I instantly thought “oh, cool!” and started to re-read the 1st and 2nd edition stuff I own … and oh boi! Don’t get me wrong here, this is not a rant… rant incoming!
RANT ON
Even though I see the appeal in this, I must say that the world of 7th Sea is one of the worst I have ever seen. The whole setting is an abomination of stereotypes to an extend of borderline-cringe. There was no effort shown in at least trying to be a little bit creative in borrowing bits and pieces from the real world. Up until 2nd Edition, it is a hot-glued fever dream.
You want examples? Take a seat and have milk and cookies!
Let’s start with Vodacce where you can pinpoint exactly that Bernoulli is the 1:1 copy of Venice… btw. Bernoulli: great guy, mathematician and physicist and he was not even Italian. But make a note for later: at least it “sounds” Italian for the untrained “author“-ears. Next up Montaigne which is so much Pseudo-France that it hurts. The lore introduces classic NPCs like Charles de Gaulle… oh wait… of course it’s François DeGaulle and not the former president of France.
I am fluent enough in both languages to spot spelling mistakes and the usual “I-just-don’t-care” injections of words that somehow resemble the languages at hand. But still there is something missing here that really drives me crazy.
EISEN! Oh, where do I start?! There is so much wrong with Eisen. First of all the name itself. Would an American name the analogy of the USA “Bubblegum” or “Pew Pew”? “Eisen” means “Iron” and yes, I am from the Ruhr-Area in Germany where we have a long history with iron. Second: “the author” just copy-pasta names from the German map like Freiburg (in the south of Germany) and Bielefeld (about 150km from my hometown). For Bielefeld I have to give some credit, because this is a joke in itself. In the mid 90’s there was a student party and one of the guys attending started the joke that Bielefeld doesn’t exist. This was spread on Usenet and became a world famous internet phenomenon known as the Bielefeld Conspiracy. That’s funny… even though I don’t believe that this was meant as a tip to the hat but just plain ignorance.
Last but not least, I want to direct your attention to the language-slaughtering-skills of “the author“. Let’s look at the name of one of the major streams in Eisen. “Der Baueren“… I’m lost for words! The “Bauer” is the “farmer” and the termination “en” is like you called the river “The Farmererers“. If you want to release a product that includes different cultures and languages (in which you are not that well trained), ffs… buy a dictionary or get yourself some help from native speakers.
Of course there are many other settings with borrowings from the real world and even German terms… I’m looking at you Traveller, with your 2300AD Bayern thingy going on. Or take Warhammer Fantasy, where the suspect is called “Herr Schuldig” (Mr. Guilty)… THAT is funny as hell.
All in all, 7th Sea is the equivalent of me cosplaying as a Nigerian prince of Swedish descent, smacking you my Baguette on the head and say “Oh là là! Sì sì, mon petit chou fleur! Pizza, pasta! ACHTUNG! PROST!” while smoking unfiltered Gauloises in my German sportscar. And yes, the German words are screamed here, because somehow everybody thinks that we are really talking like the Hollywood-Germans in WW2 movies.
BUT! I still have some hopes because the original author got replaced by Chaosium with Studio Agate, a french company I really admire for their “Les Ombres d’Esteren” ttrpg. I hope that they not only rework the system, but also get the old shit together and change some aspects of the setting at least a bit.
And this is just me, an old and grumpy man screaming at clouds. I might just be salty or a little to hypersensitive… that won’t hinder me to back this project nonetheless. 😀
RANT OFF
