# RPG a Day 2026 - 11: Tact tags: #thoughts #thoughts/RPGaDay/2026 ![[RPG a Day 2026 (illo).jpg]] It may be hard to believe, but I have been accused in the past of not being a paragon of tact. I may be, in fact, too free with my criticism, and the sides of my tongue have been sharpened to a razor's edge. Moreover, I like the taste of blood. Some have even suggested that a blade is the wrong metaphor to use, and that one should entirely upgrade any reference to crossing into my field of ire as "meeting the chainsaw." I am entirely unable to argue that these things are untrue. They are, in fact, extremely true. I am not shy about expressing my opinion. I tend to do so aggressively, and quite honestly, I like a good fight. Like anyone who likes a good fight, I don't always have to win, but also like anyone who likes a good fight, I tend to. I would be so bold as to suggest that, particularly in the indie scene, the tabletop RPG "community" (and we'll come back to this later) doesn't actually embrace a critical lack of tact. This needs to be in place in order to have actual discussion, conversation with productive friction. That is to say, they're too busy being polite to each other to get anything fucking done. Note that this is purely an inward-facing approach to anyone who dares express a heretical thought. Politeness is out the window, and they will accuse you of the most horrendous crimes, both against God and nature. If there is no available God, they'll make one up. Perhaps this is because, like academia, the stakes are so low. The fight can be as rampant as you like without worry about collateral damage, as long as it's outward-facing and reinforces the in-group. I don't have an in-group, as someone much funnier and more socially gifted than myself once said. I would never care to be a member of any organization that would have me. As such, I am free to be as vocal, as open, and as intense in my opinions and my presentation as impulse takes me, but more dangerously, as long consideration takes me. If you've been reading anything of mine for any period of time, none of this really catches you by surprise. There are entire banks of machines trained on my particular means of expression, generally to root it out and exterminate it wherever it may crop up. This is a satisfying state of affairs for me. I'm happy with it. Joyous even. Step one in making an impact in someone's life is to be able to create an emotional reaction in them that you yourself do not share. Storytellers spin tales in order to motivate, excite, pervert, energize, and degrade their audiences, sometimes by turns. Once you have them in an excited state, it's just a matter of guiding them from place to place until they get where you want to arrive. For a storyteller, that is. The climax of the story, and from there, the denouement as the impact of what the audience has been told works its way into their consciousness fully. For a polemicist, a descriptor I occasionally flatter myself with, the emotional journey is much the same, except that critical last step is not to emotional catharsis or revelation about some idea I had, but instead to force the horse to water and make him think. I want to make people think about what they're doing, what they're seeing, what they're hearing, and what they've been told. I want them to be critical of all of it. I want them to internalize the idea that that which is pretty need not be true and that which is ugly need not be false. That which is painful need not be bad, nor need that which is gratifying be entirely to the good. If I come across as tactless, know that it's intentional and it exists purely to perturb you. In your wobble, you may shake yourself out of local minima and find your way to a higher hill. You ascend to look down over the ideas that you and all those around you once had and see how you can make them better, stronger, faster, in every way superior, and all for less than $6 million. I can guarantee you that I am going to say something inflammatory that you are going to be upset by, if not in the course of this very entry, then sometime soon, and potentially hundreds of times already scattered among this digital garden. Rather than be offended, horrified, or taken aback — reaching immediately for the button to drop me into the pit of sharks beneath where I'm standing — consider, if only for a moment, if I might be right, and let your frustration, your anger, and your irritation illuminate your self-awareness. Consider, if only for a moment, that I only do these things because I think you can be better. I think you should be better, and given the chance, you will be better. It's not love, because there's a good chance I might not actually be capable of that emotional construct, but it does denote a certain kind of respect. I respect your potential to learn, to be challenged and rise to the occasion, to be exposed to new things in new places, in new ways that perhaps you've never ever heard someone express before. Make use of that experience. That use you make may simply be to realize that you dislike it, and you have good cause to. That's a perfectly valid learning. You may discover that everything that you thought was a lie is true, and everything that you thought was true is a lie, yet still decide to live your life the same way. This is also a valid learning, and because it is so consciously hypocritical, I would applaud. Needless to say, I don't think much of tact. Like any other tool, it has its application. Like any other tool, it has tasks for which it is entirely unsuited, but which, due to the folly of man, it is constantly applied to. You will not find that here. I respect you too much. [In the immortal words of **Glengarry Glen Ross**, *"go and do likewise."*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQmwNxtsv4M)