How vivid is the violence in your game?

[s/LaSH]

I tend to treat most wounds as messy but non-threatening, until the target gets dropped, in which case something really messy tends to happen (the invisible monsters getting split open invisibly, for example, or a really messy underwater fight). My webcomic only hints at what's to come...

 

[Vymair]

I usually describe.

1. Killing Blows
2. Nasty Criticals to either monsters or players

I have a few creative players who describe their own wounds when they are greviously injured.

We are not nearly as gory as it would actually be.

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

Yeah, it's pretty graphical, I like violence - really do . Even introduced a severity point system so we can splinter those bones and chop of those pesky hands...

Seriously, though, it's mostly a matter of time. If we're in a hurry to finish a session I cut back on superfluous descriptions.

-Zarrock

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

When I got 2 sneak attacks on a mage in last week's session, I described it as sticking one short sword into each kidney, then lifting

 

[Gnarlo]

We went through a period where we got pretty bloody for a while in our descriptions, almost like when the slasher movies were hot and it seemed they were trying to out-gore each other. That continued until I found and downloaded some pictures off the net of people who had been severely burned, or had arms / hands blown off, or heads split by blunt trauma to illustrate the damage from combat; and I found some photos of rotten bodies from crime scenes to use as zombie illustrations. It seemed like once we had a look at the reality of what we were sitting around describing, we backed off quite a lot.

We still describe massive damage or death blows more than mundane damage, and the regular combat is more a case of "your blow is mostly deflected by the armor, but still manages to leave a thin, bleeding line across his upper arm" than "you take 6 points, next person roll."

We still will say stuff like "the mace crushes his head in a spray of blood and bits, and he drops to the ground dead before he can even wimper;" we just no longer describe the spray of blood leaving a long, runny line on the wall, the shplorking sound of the mace being withdrawn from the brain cavity, or the gore and bits of matter being flung about as the mace is swung for the next blow.

 

[Fenes 2]

I usually only describe the finishing blow or a critical hit - normal hits are imho too abstract, especially in the case of arrows, to make a description other than "you nick him" realistic. (Really, can you see the level 10 fighter with a dozen arrows sticking out of him still fighting without penalties? I can't, so I only describe the last arrow that fells him, or a critical hit.)

 

[Altalazar]

The vividness varies in mine, mostly due to RP factors. If there is a big combat with a lot of wimpy creatures, there isn't time to get into describing all of the details, though I will mention things somewhat graphically if a 4 hp goblin is hit with a 35 point critical hit. But then i always describe criticals in graphic detail, just to hit home just how nasty they are.

I think it can add a lot of flavor, if done right - if for no other reason than to hit home that when you are rolling those d20s and damage dice that real violence is being done to some creature. It is one way that helps immerse the players in the world.

 

[Berandor]

Most of the times, I only describe killing blows and criticals. Sadly, I am almost alone in describing combat maneuvres, and my players mostly start describing only when they expect a certain bonus to derive from their action.

Sometimes, I start to describe every gory bit, when I feel the violence gets really out of hand, or when I introduce low-level characters to their first bloodbath. It's great to see what the 1st-level fighter does after the orc died whimpering and with a pleadingly outstretched hand, looking into some never-to-be-reached lands with dying eyes

Brandor

 

[Nifft]

I describe Criticals too. That's about it.

-- N

 

[Orryn Emrys]

This has really been a work in progress for my group. I used to treat combat with a fairly abstract descriptive texture... specifically, I generally only became really descriptive in the case of a critical hit, and even then I had a tendency to exaggerate. Over time, however, as our game has become more roleplay intensive, focusing a great deal on the individual PC's experience and perspective, I was inspired with a general need to "spice up" combat... the players were starting to get bored with lengthy battles that broke up the otherwise fluid perspective of their game.

My first concession to this need was a general habit of describing everything for the individual. For example, I would often describe the results of one person's engagement in combat visually to someone else in the party who could see what was going on... particularly if that individual's initiative was coming up, as it would potentially serve to modify their actions, by modifying their character's unique perspective, and certainly serve to more fully immerse that player in the immediate action.

Over time, the players have since become more fully aware of their individual perspective, and never assume that they know everything that's going on around them. Of course, it's taken a little tempering to make this work smoothly, as I might otherwise constantly have players asking me what their character sees. They've had to learn to assume a certain amount of this responsibility themselves, being certain to maintain a fluid awareness of their character's focus.

And, of course, my descriptiveness became addictive. Nearly all of my players now tend to describe their actions, frequently with a bit of flair as they're charged up with their character's intentions, before making (or at least announcing) their die rolls.

In response to this "individual orientation" in combat, I have in more recent months initiated brief descriptions of the characters' personal perceptions concerning taking damage, as well. I try to balance the sometimes-graphic needs of this approach with a tendency toward brevity... I'm not wanting to unduly torture the loyal player with his/her character's painful experiences, but I do want to drive home the severity of taking damage... particularly if ir reflects a sizable proportion of their hit points.

Which, of course, requires a bit more "bookwork"... but it's worth it in the end.