On the matter of half-orcs

[AllisterH]

While this is commendable, it's hardly universal.

Edit: Eg there's a homosexual rape scene in Pulp Fiction that's played for laughs.

True, but it is much easier to joke about murder and torture around the game table than rape.

I mean, how many times have you been "killed"? There have been many a thread detailing, "what's your best/funniest death" and similarly, many a people will joke about the after-effects of torture ("hey Stumpy/one-eye" etc)

Have you EVER seen a post detailing, "how my character got raped?". I'm with ProfessorCirno on this one....

 

[arscott]

While this is commendable, it's hardly universal.

Edit: Eg there's a homosexual rape scene in Pulp Fiction that's played for laughs.

This homosexual didn't find that scene funny in the slightest.

And if a master filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino can't pull it off particularly well, how well do you think the average GM will do?

In theory, rape should be an appropriate subject for an R-rated D&D game. In practice though, it simply doesn't work. I've been in, and heard stories of, many D&D sessions that featured rape in some form or another. Every single one of them went badly. Either the players end up feeling queasy about the portrayal or they react in an inappropriately juvenile manner (usually some of each at the table).

I'm sure that a group of players somewhere are capable of dealing with rape in ways that don't devolve into queasiness and immaturity. But such cases are rare enough that rape should not be preserved as a major story element of a player race.

 

[Runestar]

5 pages and no one has mentioned how the half-dragon template can be applied to just about anything? Even plants, swarms and oozes? How's that for a mental picture?

 

[Nymrohd]

This homosexual didn't find that scene funny in the slightest.

And if a master filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino can't pull it off particularly well, how well do you think the average GM will do?

In theory, rape should be an appropriate subject for an R-rated D&D game. In practice though, it simply doesn't work. I've been in, and heard stories of, many D&D sessions that featured rape in some form or another. Every single one of them went badly. Either the players end up feeling queasy about the portrayal or they react in an inappropriately juvenile manner (usually some of each at the table).

I'm sure that a group of players somewhere are capable of dealing with rape in ways that don't devolve into queasiness and immaturity. But such cases are rare enough that rape should not be preserved as a major story element of a player race.

I'll agree on that fully. The game in general should be designed with the average gamer as a target audience as long as it is flexible enough to satisfy a decent number of gaming styles (it obviously cannot manage them all). The average D&D group cannot handle certain "Adult" issues any more than the average adult can, and the average adult cannot handle the issue of rape.

 

[Aeolius]

5 pages and no one has mentioned how the half-dragon template can be applied to just about anything? Even plants, swarms and oozes? How's that for a mental picture?

"Ooze your daddy?"

 

[Stoat]

5 pages and no one has mentioned how the half-dragon template can be applied to just about anything? Even plants, swarms and oozes? How's that for a mental picture?

I've never considered "half-dragon" to be the result of sexual reproduction. I've always assumed that half-draconic creatures/things are either (a) the result of magical phlebotinium, frex, creatures living near a dragon simply absorb some of its aura and spontaneously mutate or (b) the template is just a mechanical way to represent an interesting monster that may or may not have any connection to dragons on a flavor level.

Re: Half-Orcs. I wish they'd just ditched 'em and made Orc a PC race.

 

[Mournblade94]

Wrong edition. Elves have plenty of constitution now

Fortunately there are 3 other editions so one does not have to follow that rule.

 

[Drowbane]

Halforcbane?

I still don't understand why/how half orcs made a come back for 3e. I didn't like them in 1e, and they didn't see the light of day in any 2e I was apart of.

For the past 8yrs if someone came to me with a 1/2 orc they wanted to play I encouraged them to play an Orc (or other non-LA or low LA race) instead.

Over the years I used both the Tolkein and Warcraft styles of Orcs (Evil Monster full of hate and the Noble Savage), but never had reason to bring in a 1/2 orc (N)PC. I cringe whenever I see them in modules (I just describe them as Orcs or brutish humans if running).

I don't like 1/2 elves either (the last cool one was Tanis ).

edit: eventually my Homebrew will have "Halfbreed" as a Flaw or Feat. 1/2 Orcs and 1/2 Elves are more obscure in my games than... Gnomes. Gnomes may be extinct, but they left thier twisted mark on the world.

 

[Mournblade94]

"Ooze your daddy?"

That is gross on so many levels.

As for the origins issue. I have no problem with the 1/2 orc origin story initially being done by rape, but it really never comes up until someone asks.

After that plenty of 1/2 orcs have met mated and made half orc offspring. I would never run a rape scene in my game as I don't like them in movies, but hearing it as a background does not evoke any emotional response, in me at least.

However, WOTC should not condone it as a background. it is OK to learn of awful things cultures have done in the high school classroom, but that does not mean that it should extend into the world of hobby gaming.

 

[usdmw]

I teach a course in creative writing, and I find the idea that adults cannot or should not deal with the most unpleasant aspects of human evil to be deeply patronizing. D&D is a game, but it is a game that represents a SORT of reality, if not reality itself. A reality without abuse or violence is not the sort of reality I can find particularly realistic.

I'm curious what some of you might say about the White Wolf Vampire game. In it every character has been at some time physically overwhelmed and violated. The character has to deal with that violation, not for a lifetime, but for eternity. Many of those characters visit that violation on others. Some characters glory in their vampiric condition, while others loathe it and despise their sire. The Embrace is clearly a rape-proxy that serves as a central theme for a very successful rpg.