Freeport's later modules

[catsclaw227]

If the goal here is to beat up a lot of pirates, I'm pretty sure you can keep the level of detail to a minimum. If the goal is instead to rescue servants and captives from depraved sadists, then I think you're in for a more serious balancing act.

DwarvenDog's approach is certainly a viable one. Some gaming tables may need to PG13 the themes and others can take it as it is.

 

[talien]

To be fair, I did use the spoiler tags, even if the other poster who was expanding on my issue didn't. If they didn't turn away at that point.... they were going to look anyway.

Sorry about the spoiler tags, I figured I was covered by the spoiler tags above.

 

[talien]

If Talien's list is comprehensive, I'd be inclined to just toss the sex/brutalization entirely. There is no one element among them that adds anything really necessary, unless you WANT to explore those themes.

I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, my biggest complaint isn't that there's a bizarre emphasis on this kind of thing...it's that it keeps being brought up.

I think it's safe to say that bad people do bad things to other people. A good 80% of the examples happen off screen anyway. It's easy to ignore, and I plan to ignore it in my game. I'm just not sure why the authors kept harping on it.

I also don't see the value in having any of this squicky stuff take place "on screen." Almost all of the victims are faceless; they don't even have any statistics. They're footnotes that have a random chance of being in a room -- in other words, this brutalization is a RANDOM event.

I'm all for shocking my players. But I think a sensitive issue like this should be presented artistically. If it furthers the plot, I will at least understand why the adventure presents the situation, even though I may not like it.

As an author, I can tell you that some companies would simply not publish this sort of content at all because it risks incurring the wrath of the D20 Licence, which specifically states:

Sexual Themes - Sexual situations—including abuse and pornography—may not appear graphically in art or text. When depicting the human form—or creatures possessing humaniform features—gratuitous nudity, the depiction of genitalia, bare female nipples, and sexual or bathroom activity is not acceptable. While sensuality and sexuality may appear in a Covered Product, it must not be the focus nor can it be salacious in nature.

Pirates raping women? I get it.

Having not one but three cases of child abuse? That's pushing things a bit.

Calling a villainess a Sea Bitch? Coupled with some of the other stuff. This just seems like someone's got an axe to grind.

And finally...some pirates are brutalizing the CORPSES of their victims? That one caused my wife (a player in my campaign) to agree that the adventure went too far.

(Thanks, Talien, BTW)

You're quite welcome.

 

[rjs]

Hey there,

When working on this adventure, I really wanted to divorce it from some of the more bizarre elements that showed up in other FP adventures and sourcebooks and bring Freeport kicking and screaming back to the gritty horror of piracy. While not all of Freeport is blood and guts, brimming with madness and unspeakable evil, these are elements that I felt had been underserved in the setting, wrong or right.

As others have pointed out, I think it's easy to dial down the darker elements by simply keeping some of the scenes and events on the page and not revealing them to the group. The more frightening and grotesque bits are there to help you (the GM) get an understanding of the situation. You (the GM) are the best judge of your players' limits and I *sincerely* hope people edit content, whether it's from the Book of Erotic Fantasy, Book of Vile Darknes, Book of Fiends, or any other book that deals with dark subject matter in a way that's appropriate for their games.