D&D General Gore in D&D

[generic]

What is your approach to gore in D&D, and in violent RPGs in general?

Are you someone delights in describing bloody scenes, and when might this cross the proverbial 'line'?

What is your method for describing gore in D&D, and do you recommend and forms of description, especially of violence.

If this varies by campaign, why is that, and how so?

Generally, what is your approach to gore and gory imagery in RPGs?

 

[DND_Reborn]

We are descriptive, but keep in mostly PG-13 or so I suppose. A lobbing off of a head here or a slashing open a gaping chest wound there is about as "bloody" as we get.

 

[generic]

We are descriptive, but keep in mostly PG-13 or so I suppose. A lobbing off of a head here or a slashing open a gaping chest wound there is about as "bloody" as we get.

Interesting, I tend to generally take a similar approach, not quite delighting in gore.

However, in my most recent campaign, that has changed a bit, given the dark theme and the fact that a few of my players love gory descriptions, and the other don't mind them.

 

[Yaarel]

I have inconsistent feelings about gore. I mainly lack interest in gore. For example, I like the vampire genre, because I like the magic, but less their dietary fixation.

For some reason, men dont get permission to be mages unless they are drinking blood and killing people, or else have long hair.

That said. Graphic violence can be a useful tool for storytelling. It helps the words feel more vivid. But too much violence loses this effect of vividness, if the violence starts to become boring.

That said. I like movies by David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino that make violence and gore a kind of aesthetic.

I guess like anything, the use of gore in storytelling can be done well or done poorly.

 

[tglassy]

Um. I had a lvl 10 Dragonborn Barbarian in my group with 20 strength who ripped a guy's jaw off, reveled in the blood, and then ripped the man in half, lengthwise, and throw one of the two halves at his fleeing partner, which caused him to trip, and proceeded to use the other half to beat him to death. Another player in a different game was a lvl 20 Paladin with 29 strength, and wielded a warhammer. He smashed the enemy's head to the ground, then hit it like a golf ball, sending it through and out his backside. I played an Artificer in the last game with a heavy crossbow. I used the new Arcane Weapon spell, and made my bolts deal extra Acid damage, and critted on an enemy. The bolt hit his head, seeming to do little damage, and then his head began to melt from the inside out.

My DM lets us narrate how we kill the enemy, as long as we actually kill him per the rules. It gets...interesting.

But then, we all love Ash and the Evil Dead, so...yeah...

 

[generic]

Um. I had a lvl 10 Dragonborn Barbarian in my group with 20 strength who ripped a guy's jaw off, reveled in the blood, and then ripped the man in half, lengthwise, and throw one of the two halves at his fleeing partner, which caused him to trip, and proceeded to use the other half to beat him to death. Another player in a different game was a lvl 20 Paladin with 29 strength, and wielded a warhammer. He smashed the enemy's head to the ground, then hit it like a golf ball, sending it through and out his backside. I played an Artificer in the last game with a heavy crossbow. I used the new Arcane Weapon spell, and made my bolts deal extra Acid damage, and critter on an enemy. The bolt hit his head, seeming to do little damage, and then his head began to melt from the inside out.

My DM lets us narrate how we kill the enemy, as long as we actually kill him per the rules. It gets...interesting.

But then, we all love Ash and the Evil Dead, so...yeah...

I'm not sure whether I should laugh or vomit.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Interesting, I tend to generally take a similar approach, not quite delighting in gore.

However, in my most recent campaign, that has changed a bit, given the dark theme and the fact that a few of my players love gory descriptions, and the other don't mind them.

One of our players just started running CoS, and likes more of the gothic horror aspect so he might run things more bloody... we'll see.

 

[tglassy]

We don't get that way with every kill, just with certain characters. Like the Barbarian, and that Paladin. It was an Oathbreaker Paladin. Our more violent characters get that way.

 

[generic]

One of our players just started running CoS, and likes more of the gothic horror aspect so he might run things more bloody... we'll see.

I've found gore to most effective when people don't revel in it completely, but, in some cases, there are people who love Doom, Mortal Kombat, and Diablo, and just want the game to be 'realistically' bloody.

 

[generic]

We don't get that way with every kill, just with certain characters. Like the Barbarian, and that Paladin. It was an Oathbreaker Paladin. Our more violent characters get that way.

It does makes a certain kind of sense.