WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk

[Alzrius]

Sexual assault doesn't make for good conflict.

Law & Order: SVU seems to do okay with having it be their central premise.

 

[Zardnaar]

Aaand we're back to popularity equals quality.

Congratulations, everyone. We did it.

Well you seem to be claiming you're an ultimate arbiter if what's acceptable.

Hint you're not.

What's the biggest fantasy franchise atm? Hint it's Game of Thrones.

What are some of the best shows of all time? Sopranos, Breaking Bad and The Wire get mentioned a lot.

So with anything "bad" it's execution vs yes/no imho.

In gaming it's what everyone is comfortable with hell not to long ago there was that consent form thing which was just a reworked BDSM form.

 

[Zardnaar]

Law & Order: SVU seems to do okay with having it be their central premise.

Watched that years ago was vaguely surprised it's still going.

Mature themed yes but overall I though it was a decent show.

 

[Azzy]

I note that there's lots of content that's common in D&D games, like "violence", or "slavery", that many people are very upset about, but we include it because... it's sort of the premise of the game? And for instance, I suspect comparable numbers of people are distressed by demons and devils to any of the other upsetting things, but we tend to include them as enemies anyway. Very few people are bothered by consensual sex between adults, but we essentially have none of it in the core game.

The rules about which kinds of things we include in the core game, and how, are actually really complex! There's a lot of different kinds of "upset" or "uncomfortable", and sometimes they overlap, and some of them are somewhat cultural -- look at how, in the US, we consider gory murder much more acceptable for children to see than people making out, and a significant portion of our population thinks that people of the same sex holding hands is bad enough that threats of violence are a reasonable response to a risk that children could see it depicted.

So trying to come up with a simple rule or explanation is probably doomed. It's not gonna be simple.

Here's a good rule of thumb to start with (considering the actual context of the conversation before your equivocating)—WotC shouldn't publish content with SA in it. End of story.

 

[Gradine]

So, let's talk about layers.

A core rulebook or major supplement (such as a setting book or major adventure path) is the top layer. The stuff that is included in this layer is, by necessity, going to be considered a significant (if not major) part of the game being played by it. This layer has the broadest reach and the biggest impact over how the game is played. It's at this layer, and really this layer only, that people are speaking out against having references to things that are centered around real peoples' trauma (insert: sexual assault, slavery, etc.). There's just no place for it.

The middle layer is made up of smaller and 3pp supplements. Niche products for a niche audience. This is the "handle with care, if you touch it at all" layer. Mature topics; serious topics; as long as you are sign-posting what is in the product, and you're treating the subject(s) with the seriousness and care they deserve... well, I don't want to say nobody will complain, because I'm sure a few will. But if you doing your best, acting in good faith, utilizing sensitivity readers, etc; I think there's not really going to be much room for criticism.

The final layer is "your table" where you can do whatever the hell you want to do and the only people who will judge you are your players and the people you talk about your game on the internet to, and only one of those two groups actually matter, so ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[Zardnaar]

Here's a good rule of thumb to start with (considering the actual context of the conversation before your equivocating)—WotC shouldn't publish content with SA in it. End of story.

What about Drow novels? It's been in them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So, let's talk about layers.

A core rulebook or major supplement (such as a setting book or major adventure path) is the top layer. The stuff that is included in this layer is, by necessity, going to be considered a significant (if not major) part of the game being played by it. This layer has the broadest reach and the biggest impact over how the game is played. It's at this layer, and really this layer only, that people are speaking out against having references to things that are centered around real peoples' trauma (insert: sexual assault, slavery, etc.). There's just no place for it.

The middle layer is made up of smaller and 3pp supplements. Niche products for a niche audience. This is the "handle with care, if you touch it at all" layer. Mature topics; serious topics; as long as you are sign-posting what is in the product, and you're treating the subject(s) with the seriousness and care they deserve... well, I don't want to say nobody will complain, because I'm sure a few will. But if you doing your best, acting in good faith, utilizing sensitivity readers, etc; I think there's not really going to be much room for criticism.

The final layer is "your table" where you can do whatever the hell you want to do and the only people who will judge you are your players and the people you talk about your game on the internet to, and only one of those two groups actually matter, so ¯\(ツ)/¯

I support this ordering.

 

[Azzy]

What about Drow novels? It's been in them.

What part of "WotC shouldn't publish content with SA in it" was unclear?

 

[Scribe]

What part of "WotC shouldn't publish content with SA in it" was unclear?

In "not surprising to me" the last of the Drizzt books I read was riddled with this, so overdone, and completely unnecessary.

 

[Micah Sweet]

In "not surprising to me" the last of the Drizzt books I read was riddled with this, so overdone, and completely unnecessary.

I'm sure it was overdone, but that doesn't mean there is zero place for it, especially in that "second layer" discussed above. Setting books would fall into that category for me.