D&D 5E Content Warning Labels? Yeah or Nay?

[jerryrice4949]

Maybe have the paragraph in the beginning, but instead of "CONTENT WARNING" next to the name, there is a simple icon instead. That way it's less intrusive on every page, but still gets the point across.

I think that is a great idea.

 

[S'mon]

Once someone has bought into the premise of the material, I'm not sure an icon on each monster is necessary. I'd rather there be a little section at the front that is not only a content warning, but talks a bit about how to run potentially triggering material at the table. This could be anything from safety tools, to best practices, to critical reflections on what draws you to the original material and how you use it.

This seems like a good approach. Author discussion of what you're going for, what your sources were, and your thoughts on how to approach the material.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Something like that - yes, fine. That particular placement doesn't seem bold enough - I'd put the ! by the name or 'behavior' section.

But from what you've said, it seems like most if not all of the entries will need a warning, at which point it becomes less useful at the monster-entry level. Just put a short warning on the back cover and a thorough author's note in the introduction.

Because at some point it's like putting allergen warnings next to each product in a nut store.

So far, 21 out of 200 monster entries will have this warning

 

[S'mon]

Something like that - yes, fine. That particular placement doesn't seem bold enough - I'd put the ! by the name or 'behavior' section.

But from what you've said, it seems like most if not all of the entries will need a warning, at which point it becomes less useful at the monster-entry level. Just put a short warning on the back cover and a thorough author's note in the introduction.

Because at some point it's like putting allergen warnings next to each product in a nut store.

Yes, definitely this is good advice.

 

[Charlaquin]

Maybe have the paragraph in the beginning, but instead of "CONTENT WARNING" next to the name, there is a simple icon instead. That way it's less intrusive on every page, but still gets the point across.

I like the idea of an icon. Putting the CONTENT WARNING text next to every creature that has sensitive content seems like it would get annoying, but having a reminder next to individual creatures instead of just in the initial blurb seems like it could be useful.

 

[Alzrius]

Nay.

 

[Umbran]

It's debatable whether or not content warnings do any good, some people feel that they may do more harm than good.

The common criticism you see when googling is that content warnings do not lessen the impact of content. These criticisms seem to me to be from people who don't know the original purpose of such warnings, so they are basically criticizing spatulas for failing to be chef's knives.

Let us step back from "content warning" to the older "trigger warning". This actually comes from psychology and neurology - a "trigger" is a stimulus that could initiate an acute response associated with a health issue - like strobe lights can trigger an epileptic seizure, or the sound of gunshots might trigger a flashback or panic attack in a combat veteran with PTSD. These were warnings for real medical issues.

If you put a strobe light trigger warning on a presentation, the goal is NOT to make the epileptic seizure less severe! The goal is to inform the epileptic members of the audience, so they may choose their level of risk. It is a point for them to choose to opt out entirely, if they desire.

By analogy, the Content Warning should not be there to make the content less troubling when you do read it, but to allow you to opt out of reading it altogether if you find some forms of content distasteful.

If you choose to blow by the content warning, and you still find the content distressing... well, duh! They TOLD YOU it would be distressing!

 

[Sacrosanct]

no matter how this ends Sacrosanct, thank you for trying.

I certainly don't expect 100% agreement. But I can get a good feel from the general feeling on the matter, and make adjustments as necessary to satisfy the majority. So far, lots of good feedback in this thread.

 

[delericho]

So my question to the community is, is something like that worth it? Is it off-putting? Not needed? Do you appreciate it, or would it turn you away?

Yep, I'm all in favour of appropriate content warnings on questionable material. Because there is some material that is just not appropriate for some audiences, and I'd like to be able to make my own informed choices.

 

[billd91]

I think the author note at the beginning is a good idea - maybe consider sidebarring it since people seem to notice sidebars more than preface or foreword text.
I'm not sure I'm keen on a monster by monster flag, at least not without context being identified. Maybe have a table of the monsters that have the flag and a keyword or two about why the monster will be flagged later in the book.

I do like the cultural source of the folklore under the creature's name, but I also think it would be nice to include a reference to whatever textual sources you're drawing from - like a citation of the books consulted at the end of the monster's description. Maybe a "For further reading" header. It would be a nice addition for people who see the glashtyn and say "Manx folklore?!? Where can I learn more?"