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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vartan" data-source="post: 5081743" data-attributes="member: 26155">The vast majority of RPGs are inherently geared towards violent imaginary combat. Even in, say, a World of Darkness rulebook there are a lot of pages devoted to combat resolution. D&D has always been among the most violence-centric RPGs: if you look at all of the core books from every edition/permutation then and take out all the pages describing what to kill, how to kill it and what you get for killing it then you would have a very small book.I've always strived for a little bit more realism in my games than is supported out of the box--not too much, just a little--and I try to run ethical games. Players who slash first and ask questions later don't do well in my games. In a slightly rational fantasy world, the "PC as murderous sociopath" model (as lampooned in Knights of the Dinner Table) doesn't lend itself well to character survival. As a DM I design adventures that involve more negotiation than swordplay, but at some point we all want the swords to come out...just like they do in the films, video games and novels that inform the D&D fantasy genre. A lot can be said about the influence of violence in art--especially simulations like video games and RPGs--but I don't know any gamer who has developed real-life violent impulses because of a game. There are a lot of contributing factors to violent behavior and I would be surprised if "played too much Call of Duty and beheaded the Orc King in his Rolemaster game" cracks the top 1000 list of violence inducers.Graverobber: the original Prestige Class. I actually played a Rogue in a Ravenloft game built around this concept. I was new to the group and the DM dropped me in at a crypt which the other PCs were exploring. They kept making jokes about me being a graverobber, so I crafted an entire concept around "Liquidating the assets of evil undead, thus keeping them out of the hands of potentially dangerous entities, and leveraging those assets to overthrow Azalin via political or military action.And to think, I've managed to play D&D for 20 years with no concussions.</blockquote>

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