How far do you take your game?

[shadow]

With all the controversy surounding the Book of Vile Darkness, I'm a little interested in discussing how "Vile" people's games really are. Do you play in a idyllic fairy tale world with good and evil clearly defined, or do you play in a dark and gritty world that lives up to the stereotypes presented by various anti-D&D groups. I am NOT trying to start a flame war. If you want to discuss the ethics of vile gaming, go to Nutkinland. I'm just curious as to how far people on these boards take their games, and what subjects are considered taboo.

As for me:

Violence: Since I'm interested in action movies I like a lot o hack and slash. Occasionally the description gets a little gory, but I try to avoid vivid depictions of dismemberment and disembowlment, etc.

Sex: I've played with people who have played "playa' " PCs. These characters often engaged in sexual activities with comely NPCs. However, the actual act was never described. The scene would fade out as they entered the bedroom, or cut to another player. I've always thought that role-playing sexual encounters went just a little too far, and was more the result of perverted teenage guys rather than true role players wanting to engage in serious roleplaying.
One topic that I won't even touch is rape. I know people who've been victims of sexual assault, so I don't feel confortable bringing up such topics in my games. Although I can see it as being part of a background story (such as the creation of half-orcs), actual in game rape is just bad taste.

Language: This depends on the group. The last group I played with met in the DM's house. He had a five year old kid running around, so we had to watch our language. Generally I prefer to avoid a lot of heavy language because I see excess profanity adding nothing to the game, in fact often detracting from it because of the constant swearing. Still I once played a foul mouthed pilot in a 1930's pulp game.

Other: I also won't touch religion in my campaign. Although I don't mind most D&D campaigns using a fictional pantheon, I really don't want role-play out actual religious cerimonies. (I've known people whom I thought took their cleric role a little too far!) Also I don't like games that really put down real world religions or beliefs. This is one reason why I won't touch games like KULT with a 10 foot pole. (Even if it is just a game.)

 

[Angelsboi]

well in my game, i get pretty graphic. Then again, i play Ravenloft. One of the charaters saw his sister being cutted open by a guy with two sickles. I described the blood and guts and his poor, poor sister.

As far as sexual shtuff goes, im lucky to play with a group of gay guys who know what has happened in my past (i was molested from 13 to 17 by my stepfather, and to those who have known me on here, know the reason i despise and urge to kill my stepfather). I can say sex hasnt been described yet, nor, do i think it will.

But i would Deffinately discuss it wth a player before i mention a character gets raped. If he/she does, i assure you, its plot moving.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Well, I am currently running a GURPS Warhammer campaign, which carries in itself several assumptions - while there is no force that can truely be called "good" without any reservations, there is a force of absolute Evil - or, rather, "Chaos" to use the Warhammer terminology - that desires to corrupt everything most people hold dear. As for the specific topics you mentioned...

Violence: Well, this is the Warhammer world - graphic descriptions of gore are absolutely appropriate here. The goriest thing that happened in the last session was probably when one of the PCs shot an NPC in the eye with a crossbow bolt, and the bolt emerged from the back of the skull - with a twitching insectoid brain parasite still attached. On second place I'd have to mention the twelve zombies with freshly slit throats (the PCs took a break of one and a half hours while storming the bad guys' hideout, and the bad guys had twelve prisoners and a necromancer... add it up yourself.)

Sex: I don't feel the need to describe sexual acts in detail - I'll leave it up to the players' imagination if it comes up.
Again, this came up in the last session - the necromancer, who was also a worshipper of Slannesh (an evil deity of lust and perversion, for those who don't know Warhammer) was defended by three naked female zombies...
No further description was neccessary to make this scene disturbing.

Language: We are not Americans, and so we don't have any problems with "harsh language". And since we don't have any small children around, we feel free to use swearwords - as long as it is appropriate to the character in question...

Other: So far, none of the PCs have been tortured. If one of them should be captured, I think I will leave torture at a short description of the method and let them make a few Will rolls to see if they can withstand it. Loosing control over the fate of one's character for a lengthy period is no fun for anyone...

 

[Dremen]

Always played PG-13. When I was younger there was no desire to describe the sex, and we thought of it as rather light hearted kill the bad guy take his stuff.

Some sessions have been close to 'R' but not many. There was no concious effort on "...how far we are willing to go..." I think it is all marketing hype to sell more books. Plus it's in time for halloween. I think a group finds thier own path after a few sessions, never has any group I played with had a conversation on how far we will go.

The most was a descision to play a grim and gritty campaign, with deadlier combat. This was still 'PG-13'

-D

 

[ShawnLStroud]

How Low Do I Go?

I originally envisioned my campaign as a creepy, edge-of-your-seat, Viet-Nam styled conflict; with your friendly opponents being supplied by goblinoids and Drow. In my mind's eye, I saw these standard DnD heros trying to fight their way to a magnificent city in a deep, old-growth forest. I imagined dark, shadowy forest scenes with occasional shafts of bright sunlight. I dreamed about what might be lurking out in the deep darkness of the FR nights.

I use detailed depictions of violence and damage to let the players know how bad off they are (because they usually don't know until after the battle how many hit points they have left). I describe what happens when real EVIL takes over a region. I do whatever I have to do in order to make the experience immersive. In my campaign, you're splashed with blood when you take an axe to someone; bone protrudes from bodies when they're crushed.

The PCs have been exposed to the sight of people skinned alive in some twisted ritual; to the sight of hordes of small humanoid animals eating a horse alive (remarkably, the players recognized the little buggers for the threat they were), to what happens when you disembowel someone. They've also seen what happens when you reunite helpless folk with their parents or rulers, when the slanting shafts of sunlight illuminate the hopeless and bereft. It gets down and dirty in my game.

I never explicitly describe sex. I don't need to. My group is made up of married men and women; we know what happens. In a recent adventure, I described a decadent lifestyle to a rough woodsman PC (played by a woman), who took delightful pleasure in roleplaying what happens to a guy who wakes up draped with pretty, paid-for women.

So I get vile. I get down. But I don't step out past some barriers that I've erected around myself. My goal is to have fun with a group of my friends. We're all adults, so adult things happen in my game. We're all grown-ups, so we all know what the boundries are.

 

[Grazzt]

My campaign floats somewhere between PG-13 and R. It lies somewhere on the realm of Dark Fantasy.

Violence, torture, etc. is used quite a bit by certain villains. Course my players (including me) are 30+ years old. Each of us has been playing D&D for 18+ years, so we can handle the "adult" stuff.

Violence: As above, PG-13 to R. Violence is quite prevalent. Hack-n-slash is common; plus some of the campaign backstory lends itself to a violent presence, so it works.

Torture, violence, etc. including one villain modeled after Vlad the Impaler and his methods of torture (impalement, nailings, skinning alive, dipping in boiling oil, dismemberment, disemboweling, etc.) have happened to NPCs (the PCs were witnesses in one case). In one case, there was one PC who was captured by a band of "witch hunters" and accused of being an arcane caster (such magic is forbidden in parts of one kingdom and that PC got caught wandering in that area and was hunted down). Anyway, the PC was tortured (burned, bled, scalded in acid) before the other PCs could rescue her. She didn't die, but wished she had've (at least if it were real )

The violence area tends to go "R" more than any other.

Sex: Rarely comes up. It has on occassion, but we usually just breeze past it. PCs and NPCs have engaged in sex. We usually just don't play it out. As mentioned above we do NOT touch or really even mention rape. One of my ex-girlfriends (and two girls I know) were the victims of such atrocities, and so it never enters my game. As backstory to creation of half-races perhaps, but it is never played out.

Language: Harsh language sometimes...a lot sometimes. Definitely more than we can get away with on the boards here. Depends on if the kiddies are running around or not. Most of it is out of character around the table.

Other: We have played out some demonic sacrifices, etc. Religious ceremonies are often played out (good and bad). We use a mythological religion specifically created for my campaign. Not that any of us would be offended using Christianity or any of the ones listed in DDG; we just aren't really that interested in the gods in that book and really don't think Christianity captures the fantasy theme very well.

 

[RangerWickett]

My game is really evil. We have cigarettes!

Sorry, I had to say it. I'm not trying to open a discussion here.

But, um . . . I have sort of PG-13 versions of really bad things. Really nasty stuff usually only happens off screen, and though a lot of my monsters tend to be really nasty, they're just physically revolting, not morally repugnant.

 

[Zappo]

Hmmm.... we're all adults and:

Violence: yep, at all levels of graphicness from "You hit for 12 damage" to severed limbs and guts flying everywhere. We have no qualms in describing what the situation creates, even if "the situation" is a Marilith with six vorpal blades in the middle of a densely-packed human infantry unit. Torture is employed by evil characters, be them PCs or NPCs - though most of them don't usually bother since they know that information obtained that way is completely unreliable.

Sex: happens every now and then. In those cases, it is mostly glossed over. The players aren't interested in details and prefer the game to move on. Rape is treated the same way - but it hardly happens "on stage", since evil PCs and major NPCs tend to be more intellectual and less brutal than that.

Language: no children around, no limits. A lot is OOC, but not all. Game characters, again, tend to be more stylish than that - though by no means all of them.

Religion: we don't poke fun at RL religions during the game (we do it a lot outside the game, though), mostly because it ruins the atmosphere. Rituals are described in detail, including those which involve sacrifices, demons and whatnot.

 

[zyzzyr]

IMC

Well, I like to add a bit of LARP every now and then.

I had one PC trapped in a dungeon by an evil orc warlord, bound in chains. I decided we'd LARP it. So I took a bat and beat him around with it.

Once we got to the hospital, I noticed that I remembered that the warlord was left handed, and I played it right, so we'd have to do it all over again.



... Okay, couldn't resist

Anything other than abhorrent acts are ok for my game. When we get into a part where someone is being very evil (to take the GR example of eating babies), I might insinuate small bits of flesh and stuff, but I won't have them kill innocent babies.

The only answer to this is: Whatever offends you, don't put it in your game

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Sexual situations are generally kept to PG-13 at most.

Language is usually mello between us as players, although can get harsh if appropriate "in character".

Violence and gore is often R with occasional dips into NC-17 depending on villain and location.

Religion: These are always part of the fore-front, as beliefs and traditions are just about the biggest influencing factors of a fantasy setting. I often base these religions on real-world traditions and philosophies, as befits the culture being developed, but generally stay clear of Judaen-derived beliefs.