tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post7184824105290850642..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: Bloody MarvelousAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-4084692250391605542010-11-13T15:49:20.203-07:002010-11-13T15:49:20.203-07:00Good post. When I was a teenager I played in a fe...Good post. When I was a teenager I played in a few games with such elements, most of it the sort of juvenile antisocial wish fulfillment you see a lot of gamers report. An imaginitive alternative to blowing up frogs with firecrackers. Mostly it was a couple of dumb kids, though there was one adult I briefly played with whose homebrewed variant of Runequest/Stormbringer included such useful entries on the character sheet as c*** depth/c*** length, and found uses for them in his game. <br /><br />As an adult the only games I've played which had sadism and serious player-driven brutality as significant features were World of Darkness. The context of it being a Horror game seemed to put it in a different light. We had the conceit that we were exploring dark themes as dramatic elements. When we've had evil characters in D&D, we've dealt with torture or other wickedness briefly; rather than lingering on the details. As adults no one's trying to gross out everyone else, and there's less boundary-pushing. <br /><br />If I wound up with a player who wanted to linger on those details, I think how I'd handle it would depend on the comfort level of the group. If it was done in such a way that was skeeving people out, it'd be an interpersonal issue and I'd discuss it with them as a person. If it was distracting from the game elements the rest of the group preferred, I'd limit the time spent on it. Nasty consequences ensuing would depend on the nature of the game and the character's precautions taken to avoid them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-42476621991925335442010-11-11T18:48:58.855-07:002010-11-11T18:48:58.855-07:00If you were checking to see whether gentle readers...If you were checking to see whether gentle readers scan further than the first and last ...<br /><br />well, yes, we do. when we read this blog.<br /><br />mizeri: oddly apt to the topic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-39848236057256542782010-11-11T15:55:45.906-07:002010-11-11T15:55:45.906-07:00"Is the game responsible for restraining idea..."Is the game responsible for restraining ideas like racism, sexism, child abuse, rape, cannibalism or other such activities consistent with the course of historical behaviors? Would you allow any of them, or others, in your game?"<br /><br />No the game is not. The environment created for play is the shared work of the players and the GM who provides a setting with numerous choices, those that were prepared and those that were unanticipated.<br /><br />"If a character decided that his particular interest was picking whores off the streets, fucking them, beating them within an inch of their lives and then paying them on the way out the door, would you make an express effort to A) hoist them out of your campaign; B) ensure very quickly that some game karma was turned around on the player; C) make streetwalkers extraordinarily hard to find; D) calmly look the other way with the recognition that, "Well, that was fairly common"; or E) would you calmly ensure there was a streetwalker visibly available for the character every time he drifted into town?" <br /> <br />F) An STD that makes AIDS seem like a pimple. In all seriousness, it would depend upon the makeup of the group in terms of players and also the particular setting they were playing. While I would prefer that they not, I would not necessarily try to curtail their actions. It would also depend on how well I knew the players. I can handle players engaging is what we would consider evil behavior today if I already know them to be a decent person outside of the game. However, if all Barney can talk about after playing is how he got another dead-whore notch on his belt, I doubt I'd invite him to play much longer. I am sure I have more to say, but I have babbled enough.Padrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05722958681098483324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-83598855656654130352010-11-11T13:53:34.595-07:002010-11-11T13:53:34.595-07:00To offer my opinion on the first part of your ques...To offer my opinion on the first part of your question, "Is the game responsible for restraining ideas like racism, sexism, child abuse, rape, cannibalism or other such activities consistent with the course of historical behaviors?"<br /><br />No, the game isn't. The game is only bound by the imaginations and interests of its players. The publishers? The industry? Absolutely.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-66430839311265367342010-11-11T13:43:45.954-07:002010-11-11T13:43:45.954-07:00F) I'd neither be immediately appalled nor pa...F) I'd neither be immediately appalled nor particularly interested. I'd be boooooored. <br /><br />I personally have as much interest in exploring a player's rape and murder fantasies as I do in exploring their shoe fetish or keen interest in always speaking elvish, in character. This is a game folks. A shared experience. Be interesting. Advance my enjoyment as well as your own or leave.<br /><br />A recent post on another blog discussed how, in group play, the author dealt with annoying or intolerable players, as a player. I have my own methods. I don't play with them. D&D is like a small dinner party of intimates or a dark, quiet corner at a pub to me. You share it with worthwhile people or it becomes less worthwhile itself. <br /><br />To quote the author: <br /><br />"... frankly I'd rather run a party interested in construction rather than destruction."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com