Regarding not eating our dogs, we don’t because of the following good reasons:
-They died of disease or failure of some sort so it’s likely they harbor unusually high levels of bacteria or toxins
-They weren’t killed in sanitary conditions or immediately prepped for consumption, so the lapse in time between death and consumption compunds the problem of bacteria
-It’s illegal where most of us live which, for the record, is completely untenable and based on emotional, not rational reasons

Those are the most coherant reasonable arguements I’ve seen or read. Frankly, as long as you don’t give me crap about enjoying the flesh of other animals, I won’t give you crap about enjoying the flesh of vegetables.

and I don’t see why not eating meat because it is the dead decaying body of an animal makes me a hypocrite.

I actually think meateaters are hypocrites for not eating their dog, cat, or other pet when I dies.

about the reskinning: I have played dozens of western ideas in other settings (star wars, d&d) just because I don’t seem to find a decent wild west game

Anyway, as has been said, reskinning is a long, valued tradition in gaming. One GM got a whole adventure from the song Lucy in the Sky (set in a fairy realm, naturally).

“Telas the Deliberately Obtuse”

I like it!

99% of vegetarians are not vegetarian because they don’t like meat. If you imply otherwise, you are being deliberately obtuse, because you know better.

That said, as an analogy for re-skinning games, it’s a little questionable too. Still, the underlying premise here is a strong one – and a valuable creative tool. Got an idea for a game in a system that’s not appropriate to the one you’re running? Odds are you can make it appropriate with far less work than you might think.

And while on vacation there is no such thing as a diet.

The funny thing is that while veggie bacon is a mere attempt at being bacon that fails miserably no matter how “good” it is, what Walt points out is something a little bit different in that the re-skinning often does create a new and worthy substitute. Yeah, Firefly is not a Western like Stagecoach is or sci-fi like Star Trek is, but damn if isn’t a unique and wonderful mix of the two that can stand on its own.

So veggie bacon is a mere tease that fails to deliver the goods when the chips are down, real bacon delivers the goods but will eventually break your heart (literally), and something like a good turkey bacon may not be exactly like bacon but if done well will satisfy your cravings without the drastic consequences.

Where the hell was I going with this one?

Anyway – re-skinning stories is a time honored tradition as Kurt points out. Kurosawa had a well-documented love of John Ford & his westerns which makes The Seven Samurai to Magnificent Seven evolution even more incestuous.

Movies, comics, television, books (and, yes, even some RPGs) all take the same basic stories & scenarios and re-skin them on a continually evolving basis. GMs should never hesitate to steal… er, pay homage to stories they love, no matter what they believe to be the origin (Homer was around before The Simpsons, really!) of the tale.

@Walt – True, true, but really, what could be?

Crap; a natural one.

How can you not like the smell of bacon? Heck, how can you not like bacon? It’s meat candy!

This is why vegetarians are hypocrites; do you ever see meat masquerading as vegetables? Me neither, but I see tofurkey (blarg), facon, and gardenburgers all the time. Secretly, vegetarians crave meaty goodness.

Whew; finally made my save against recurring ranting.

Yes, I reskin all the time. A Drow antogonist was based on Adolf Hitler with more megalomania (and made bigger strategic blunders). A running fight to save the Crown Prince was based almost entirely on “Road Warrior”, including the fake prince. My current 4E character (Elf Ranger-Archer) has many of the same attitudes that I had when I wore a uniform, even the not-so-admirable ones.

But then again, Hollywood reskins all the time, too. Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name (A Fistful of Dollars, etc) was originally based on Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. The Magnificent Seven is a direct remake of Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai. And Kurosawa’s Ran and Throne of Blood are based on Shakespeare’s King Lear and MacBeth respectively. (Can you tell I’m a fan of Kurosawa?)