What subjects are taboo in your game?

[Nightchilde-2]

I tend to run a darker D&D game than some, so nothing is really *taboo* per se. Sex stuff (whether forced or consentual) takes place very much off-screen. It may be used as a plot device, quite possibly, but doesn't need to take up in-session time.

There's just no place for it in my sessions. Not only that, but it takes time away from killin' stuff.

Graphic violence, dark rites, human sacrifice, urinating on temples (long story, but one of the PCs managed to make an enemy of a really bad god that way) and so on..all fair game.

And, too, it tends to depend on the game. In D&D for example, I give brutal, vivid descriptions of combat and violence. For Vampire, the descriptions tend to be more gory and more "artful" than in D&D. For Adventure!, the most vile violence happens off-screen (if it comes up at all), with little gore or blood coming through in the session itself (rather befitting the genre, I think).

Since my wife's an EMT and works in a hospital emergency room, I can get some of those to be pretty danged realistic sounding.

 

[herald]

I would also have to say that I have nothing taboo in my games. And I think that I have an unusual gaming group. 4 married couples. And all of us have children. (Most more than one.)

Sex, and some of the darker stuff, has been brought up by players , but it's usually off the cuff humor and done to shock the others into giggles.

Rape, is always an off stage act that bad guys do. My wife plays a Half-Orc Monk. It's understood what happened to bring her into this world and what brought her to be left at the monstery, but it's not discussed. I don't think that it isn't brought up because it gets in the way of what the character's goals are, to make the world a better place.

Incest was a part of one of the stories we did. Right now, one of the players is the custodian of the child that was the offspring, since the parents where going to sacrifice the child to a dark god.

My game focuses on the players and the destiny the forge for their futures. It isn't focused as an opportunity for players to sit back and me to present a world to them like a TV news cast. If they want to go find depravity, they will find it. If they what to find oppresion, its there, if they want to explore mysteries, one will appear just as they turn the corner.

 

[Al]

Though I would be the first to decry rape as inhumane, barbarous and evil, I thought I may draw your attention to the following article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,799312,00.html

Now, ask yourselves: is murder allowed in your game? Er...presumably yes. But rape isn't?

 

[Mercule]

Hmmm... Off limits.... Probably child molestation.

Otherwise, I consider most things fair game, I only describe what needs to be described to indicate what's happenning, usually followed up with a "and then bad things happen." This applies to most any unsavory topic, be it rape, torture, or brutality.

I've only ever had one problem with the way I handle things. It involved the rape of a PC. The (female) player of the character was totally okay with how I'd handled things and thought that it added a lot to the story. One of the other PCs (a guy, who wasn't even at the session) flipped out on me and threatened to get all physical about it. Of course, this guy had other issues and was far from a shining example of gallant chivalry in his personal life, so I tend to think he was posturing.

 

[Ace]

Taboo? I usually avoid anything to do with real religions, child molestation or rape

Nasty stuff happens off screen normally anyway

 

[Gizzard]

Even some of the half-orcs are products of love.

In the previous campaign, someone asked the Half-Orc Barbarian about his background, "Your mother was Human and your father an Orc?" The Barbarian looked puzzled for a second and then said, "No, both my parents were Half-Orcs." Lol.

Back to the original topic:

As for what might or might not happen in my game; its pretty wide open with respect to NPCs, but much more limited with respect to PCs. For instance, I suspect that the PCs will rescue someone who is being tortured for information by an evil Cult leader next session. They will burst into the temple and see the situation, perhaps a bit graphically, but they will be able to step forward and do something to stop it. OTOH, lengthily describing a PC being tortured until his party arrives to save him would cross the line of what I want to do in my game.

So, like a lot of people, I include some "mature" elements, but anything excruciating is kept "off-screen".

 

[Buttercup]

Now, ask yourselves: is murder allowed in your game? Er...presumably yes. But rape isn't?

Perhaps, Al, it's because murder is so rare, and rape is actually not uncommon. By way of example, I've never known anyone who was murdered, but I've known dozens of rape victims.

 

[SonOfLilith]

Well, nothing is really taboo in my group. rape, tourture, murder, mutilations, sex, just whatever works I suppose. Very interesting group I might add.

 

[Kilmore]

Well, the biggest taboo I have seen at the gaming table is male homosexuality, and even that line has been crossed. Personally, I think having a male character be gay or bi is just as valid to character development as making him half elven, but some of the players wouldn't be able to deal with it. Predictably, there is no such stigma towards female characters. Yes, it's an all male group.

One adventure I ran involved a cult murdering young children of a different racial type (both human), crossing two lines that I felt strongly about... mistreatment of children and racism. I've been told that this was one of the most compelling adventures I've ever run.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Nothing is really "held sacred", so to speak, although somethings aren't RP'd well, often based on the who's rather than the what's (I've one friend I'd RP the beginnings of an affair with as I'm on-par with his maturity, while their's another friend that's rather immature and would likely just be told "you score").

At the moment, my "main group" is in a city that's heavily loaded with demonic cults, most of which are more often half-baked diversions for an oppressed populace living in horrid conditions. As these groups often compete, and range from street-gangs to high-ranking political movers and shakers, it's gotten rather interesting in some regards (to a degree, I can honestly say that the BoVD came out just in time!).