[BoVD, BoEF, Vile] Where do you say "unacceptable?"

[BOZ]

OK, i'll answer for both my own games and for the one i'm currently in (answers should be about the same in most cases):

NUDITY IN MY GAMES: haven't had any, but i doubt it would be a problem.

NUDITY IN MY BOOKS: nudity isn't shocking. graphic sex acts... might be too much.

SEX IN MY GAMES: well, all i'll say is i must have rolled a really good bluff or diplomacy last night...

SEX IN MY BOOKS: like i said, might be too much.

NECROPHILIA: jokes about it, but actually doing it would be going too far.

BESTIALITY: see above question.

INTER-SPECIES SEX: why discriminate?

VIOLENCE: plenty, but it's rarely fully described.

TORTURE: not if the PCs are not evil!

MUTILATION: could be a messed-up combat scenario, but usually not.

CHILD MOLESTATION/ABUSE: hell no!

 

[Silver Moon]

NUDITY IN MY GAMES: Not a problem, we're all adults.

NUDITY IN MY BOOKS: I agree with VikingB on this one, it depends on context.

SEX IN MY GAMES: Yes, but always off screen and without any details. There is, however, often talk of sex and tons of double entendres.

SEX IN MY BOOKS: Again, depends on context.

NECROPHILIA: Never touched the stuff.

BESTIALITY: Absolutely not (especially since my wife and I run a small farm in real life).

INTER-SPECIES SEX: No problem at all with this. One of my human playing characters is married to a dwarf, and they have three children (one of them another player's P.C.)

VIOLENCE: Nothing overly graphic, but it is a key part of the game.

TORTURE: Yes, but again, nothing too graphic. Usually comes up in the form of a threat.

MUTILATION: No, but a few players have Swords of Sharpness that cause amputations.

CHILD MOLESTATION/ABUSE: NEVER! Even if it is part of a character's history it is left implied rather than stated.

 

[Zappo]

Good thread. I hope it stays so.

For books, I don't really have limits. Anything that is used properly is good, but even if it's not, I'll probably chuckle at the author's lack of talent and eventually stop reading, but it won't "offend" me.

For games, though, since it's a social activity, there are a few fine lines.

For most of the areas you've mentioned, the same rule applies as for books. I can't be offended. However, I find that overuse, or inappropriate use, of full nudity, descriptions of sex, extreme sex, and graphic violence, simply becomes either boring or ridiculous.

It doesn't really matter how disgusting it is; if the players and DM are good enough to use it maturely, it's fine, otherwise, it lowers the campaign's tone. Naturally, the more extreme the act, the tighter that rope; anything that's performed by PCs or on PCs makes it even tighter. Fall from the rope, I'd get the feel that I'm wasting my time.

The fine lines happen around torture by PCs and child abuse. Both have the same "use when appropriate" caveat, and additionally:

- No descriptions of torture/rape when PCs are involved.

- No child abuse involving PCs, not even off stage, and no description ever, not even for NPCs.

- Unlike what mentioned in the first part of the post, I find inappropriate use of torture/rape by PCs and child abuse not childish, but outright insulting, and additionally this rope is so tight that I wouldn't trust anyone (not even sure about myself) to walk it. Might be done, just not by anyone I know. So for actual games, child abuse doesn't happen and torture is just something evil NPCs occasionally do to other NPCs in far away places.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Nudity has been used, but mostly in the "you were captured and stripped" motif.

Sex is always off camera. It rarely happens, but there are those instances that the PC's just can't resist that elven wench!

Child Abuse: Hinted at mostly, but in my current campaign the PC's save a child from being an abusive adopted father that was in the middle of beating the kid.

Molestation: Never even hinted. It's a subject that I never felt had any place in my game.

Incest: Only as far as demons go.

Demonic/Satanic Influence: There are lots of evil cults in my games, but I never get too real-life religious with it. One of my players is pretty iffy on the subject, so evil religions are kept vague.

Rape: There have been off-camera rapes. It's another touchy subject that is hinted at to get the PC's in the fighting mood.

Necrophilia: One villain necromancer was hinted at being aroused by the dead, but nothing more than that.

Beastiality: Hehe I'm dealing with this with Bastards and Bloodlines right now. While I like nearly all of the races, I still can't see what an elf would see in a unicorn or giant eagle. In my games this never comes up. (I'm in the process of re-writing a few of the backgrounds for those kinds of races.) I see no point in it.

Inter-species Sex: All the time. Humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and so forth are intermarrying all the time. My games are filled with half-races.

Racism: Dealt with quite a bit. It's a huge theme in my psuedo-Rifts D20 campaign where the non-humans are being hunted by the Coalition States at the moment.

In my books, rape and child abuse are the main things that I don't really need to read about. It took a long time to get past that infamous part in the first Thomas Covenant book to where I could read the rest without a heavy feeling if disgust for Donaldson as a writer. (I'm glad I did though, great series.)

Kane

 

[Darrin Drader]

DISCLAIMER: Please do NOT roast anyone else for their positions. I'm just curious to find out what people consider to be out of bounds of good taste in their games/gaming material (you may have different lines for each). Doing a poll would have too many options.

I'll just throw out the ones that match where I'll go and leave the ones where I won't.

SEX IN MY GAMES: Flirting might be done IC, but getting past 1st base is always behind the curtain. "You take the barmaid upstairs... the next morning, you and your companions make for the castle..."

I'm not interested in describing a sex scene in graphic detail.

NECROPHILIA: I may be willing to have an NPC who has engaged in this activity, but nothing of this nature will happen in-game.

BESTIALITY: No way. Ewww!

CHILD MOLESTATION/ABUSE: None at all, not even off-stage. Realistic? No.

 

[maddman75]

Note - most of the below are things I've used as plot devices as a DM, NOT behaviour the PCs have done.

NUDITY IN MY GAMES: Sure, though not often. Occasional 'wake up naked in the dungeon', slaves, sacrifices, what have you.

NUDITY IN MY BOOKS: Doesn't bother me. I even like it - though I don't see the need for a girl-on-girl centerfold in the middle of my D&D book. I DO have teh intarweb ya know

SEX IN MY GAMES: Flirting usually done in character, with any action done off screen. I mean is there any other way to do it? If the DM unzips I'm outta there, I don't care how much xp he gives for 'role-playing'.

SEX IN MY BOOKS: Doesn't bother me if its relevent.

NECROPHILIA: Can't recall ever doing it, but I wouldn't be above hinting toward it off-screen as a plot device.

BESTIALITY: Can't recall ever doing it, but I wouldn't be above hinting toward it off-screen as a plot device.

INTER-SPECIES SEX: Not really - I tend to think of the half races, templates, etc as a magical union, or something from another plane, rather than a dragon and troll "doin' it".

VIOLENCE: You do play D&D, right? Violence is what most adventurers do, and if appropriate I'm not afraid to describe what they see. Depends on the mood I'm going for.

TORTURE: Most likely to see the aftereffects. They've found prisoners tied to racks or inside iron maidens.

MUTILATION: Same as torture.

CHILD MOLESTATION/ABUSE: Very seldom. I'd say never, but I do recall a Ravenloft game where the plot involved children being eaten to revitalize ancient undead creatures. I handled it very off-screen as well - they found these undead eating a foul smelling stew, with a pile of bloody child-sized rags in a pile next to it. (and the paladin failed her horror save
) I don't make it a regular feature of the campaign, and never have apart from this plot that I can recall.

In general, I run it at PG-13, with Ravenloft going into R, possibly NC-17 territory.

 

[Gizzard]

NUDITY IN MY GAMES: No problem if it came up for some relevant reason. Has only come up once or twice during 10 years of gaming as an adult.

NUDITY IN MY BOOKS: Again it's fine if it's relevant. I didn't notice the nudity in BoVD (13 breasts? And I thought they came in twos? ;-) as much as I noticed the gore, so that's probably a fine balance.

-deleted OT commentary-

SEX / PREGNANCY IN MY GAMES: I don't personally want to go here. My group is all in their 30's-40's, but I just don't want to make this a significant part of the campaign. If a player wanted to explore pregnancy I'd be willing to think it over; if they wanted to explore sex in game I just don't want to do it. -edit- By this I mean graphic sex. During my years of play there have been occassional interludes where PCs tried to pick up NPCs. If they are successful, we just leave it at that.

SEX IN MY BOOKS: Not interested. I dont need rules or descriptions.

NECROPHILIA / BESTIALITY / INCEST / CHILD MOLESTATION / ABUSE / MUTILATION / RAPE: Something that villians might well be into. Not for describing in graphic detail, no need for a rules set. But something that is part of the plot when it comes up -- "Why do the children of this village go to the Evil Wizards tower and never come back?"

INTER-SPECIES SEX: Onstage? No, see the comments about "sex in my game". Offstage, sure. I try to keep Half-Elves, Half-Orcs etc a bit rare, but I'm not going to enforce some Aryan concept of racial purity in my games.

RACISM: This is an element of my campaign. It's not a huge part, but basically the races are always slightly suspicious of each other. People have said, "See, this is what happens when you let non-humans into the party. You just can't depend on them - they're too flighty." Nice, no. Realistic, unfortunately yes.

HOMOSEXUALITY: I've had gay NPCs. It worked out pretty well. But its a question of defining the motivations of a NPC to say he is gay and this other NPC is his lover.

POLYGAMY: This would be fine, I can certainly imagine cultures in the world that would be polygamous.

VIOLENCE: I've done some descriptive stuff, but nothing of the caliber that you might find in a horror novel. Frankly, the most brutal things tend to be more psychological - a situation where you have to make a life or death decision and only later find out whether it was right or wrong.

TORTURE: I've done a bit of this in the campaign, though graphic descriptions are not what I am about. As a game device, nothing moves the party towards the villian more quickly than, "You hear someone shouting 'TELL ME TELL ME' at the end of the hall and then you hear an agonized scream."

MENTAL ILLNESS: A lot of my CE villians are insane. I don't make a big deal of this either, and to the party it all looks the same -- does the villian kill townsfolk and bury them in his cellar because he's insane or because he's evil? Does it matter?

 

[Dark Jezter]

NUDITY IN MY GAMES: Well, considering that a PC in my campaign is an Eilistraee-worshipper, nudity is bound to pop up sooner or later. So nudity will occur.

NUDITY IN MY BOOKS: Breasts: acceptable (although may be disallowed depending on context). Exposed genetaelia or pubic hair: no.

SEX IN MY GAMES: It hasn't popped up yet, but if it does happen, it will only be implied ("You retire to your room along with the courtesan. The next morning the party sets out...").

SEX IN MY BOOKS: If sex is implied or mentioned in an RPG book, it's allowable. If it's described in great detail or portrayed in illustrations, no.

NECROPHILIA: NO WAY.

BESTIALITY: See above.

INTER-SPECIES SEX: Considering just how many crossbreeds there are in D&D (half-elves, half-orcs, half-fiends, half-dragons) there is a real possibility it might come up.

VIOLENCE: Violence by the bucketful. When the party's greataxe-weilding fighter dealt 40 damage to an orc that only has 5 hp, he got a description about how he just clove the orc down the middle.

TORTURE: Torture will be described should it come up, although I won't be going into any real weird/kinky torture.

MUTILATION: Yep. Getting hit by axes, arrows, and powerful spells tends to leave scars and disfiguring injuries.

 

[Chauzu]

NUDITY IN MY GAMES: Not unless it is relevant.

NUDITY IN MY BOOKS: No thanks.

SEX IN MY GAMES: Discussing romance and the such, ok. Discussing a pornographic orgy, no.

SEX IN MY BOOKS: Discussing romance and the such, ok. Discussing a pornographic orgy, no.

NECROPHILIA / BESTIALITY / INCEST / CHILD MOLESTATION / ABUSE / MUTILATION / RAPE: For the NPCs yes, but for the PCs, no.

VIOLENCE: Very high.

TORTURE: You bet.

MUTILATION: Yeah.

 

[Pants]

NUDITY IN MY GAMES: Eh, I got no problem with it, as long as it's tastefully done and not something along the lines of 'I get nekkid and show the guard my junk.'

NUDITY IN MY BOOKS: As long as it's tastefully done I don't mind

SEX IN MY GAMES: If it does happen, it will happen off stage. I ain't roleplaying that for anybody

SEX IN MY BOOKS: As long as it's tastefully done I don't mind

NECROPHILIA: Maybe as a plot hook for some nasty, evil fellas

BESTIALITY: Most likely, this will be used as the subject of many a joke around the gaming table.

INTER-SPECIES SEX: No problem. In fact, one of the big baddies in my world is the result of an ancient dragon using his half-blood children to exert his control over an area.

VIOLENCE: Sometimes it's fun to describe just how many pieces that goblin got cloven into after that particularly nasty critical hit.

TORTURE: Hasn't come up much, but it's always happened off screen

MUTILATION: Has come up a couple of times, usually off screen