Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Maintaining Grim and Gritty Flavour!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Alyx" data-source="post: 211425" data-attributes="member: 623"><p>The following ideas are ALL adapted from firsthand experiences I have encountered in four years living in Indonesia. Living in this country offers a unique perspective on the garbage society can become. I would never use these in my campaign I am running here in Indonesia -- my players and myself are already effulged in a grim world from which few escape, and none depart unscarred.</p><p></p><p><u>Street Children</u> </p><p></p><p>A number of you have already given this idea. Here are some ways to develop it to its full potential.</p><p></p><p>First, street children have a quota to fulfill. Depending on your setting, this may range from a few grubby copper coins, to a shining silver piece. If they do not turn this amount in to their 'employers' (and all street children are employed. There is no such thing as an unemployed beggar waif.), then they are whipped, beaten, and sometimes killed.</p><p></p><p>If a child is lucky enough to make money over his or her quota, he or she immediately spends it on drugs. A regular sight for the PCs should be small children (ages 7 plus) smoking at the side of city streets.</p><p></p><p>For both of these reasons, a street child will not accept food. If they are given food by a kind PC, they will not smile, nor give any gratitude whatsoever; they will throw the food to the street with disdain. They do not <strong>want</strong> food, they want money for their masters and drug dealers. They will go out of their way to express their dislike of food; if the PCs look harmless, the child might even throw the food back at them, or shout insults.</p><p></p><p>Rich looking PCs can expect an occasional child throwing stones at their horses, and then disappearing into the crowd.</p><p></p><p><u>Officials and Crime</u> </p><p></p><p>The police want bribes. The government wants bribes. The food shop owner wants bribes.</p><p></p><p>The police will invent crimes and charge the PCs with them, hinting that the PCs can get off with a small gift of one or two gold coins (whatever is equivalent to roughly 5 dollars IRL). The charges should be annoying, small things. If the PCs attempt to use the law to avoid paying these 'fines', they can expect to pay either A: Twenty dollars over five weeks of stuffy, uncomfortable court hearings, or B: Fifty dollars for a day or two of hearings; the extra money goes into bribes for the judges, et al.</p><p></p><p>If the PCs ever encourage a revolution, or attempt to eradicate corruption, the officials that result will in fact be equally corrupt, but better able to hide their dealings, who are prepared to counteract whatever actions the PCs took for the last set of corrupt officials.</p><p></p><p>Vigilante mobs take care of the serious crimes, or crimes that looks serious, or crimes that involve friends or enemies. The perceived offenders should expect maiming or death for the smallest of ‘charges’.</p><p></p><p>Rape victims, be they mature women or children, consider themselves at fault for the crime. A very close friend of mine is a good example of this; as a child she was very close to becoming a victim of rape. Despite living with my family for four years, finishing schooling with top marks, learning to speak perfect English, and absorbing many western values, she considers herself guilty of inspiring the assailant. She will not consider the case any other way.</p><p></p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p></p><p>I could go on, but that’s enough to give your campaign an ugly start. I’m in a good mood today, having circumvented the system here and acquiring a prize long sought. If I hadn’t been, this list would have been much more exhaustive. Those examples above are the ones I am thinking about most at the momment <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alyx, post: 211425, member: 623"] The following ideas are ALL adapted from firsthand experiences I have encountered in four years living in Indonesia. Living in this country offers a unique perspective on the garbage society can become. I would never use these in my campaign I am running here in Indonesia -- my players and myself are already effulged in a grim world from which few escape, and none depart unscarred. [U]Street Children[/U] A number of you have already given this idea. Here are some ways to develop it to its full potential. First, street children have a quota to fulfill. Depending on your setting, this may range from a few grubby copper coins, to a shining silver piece. If they do not turn this amount in to their 'employers' (and all street children are employed. There is no such thing as an unemployed beggar waif.), then they are whipped, beaten, and sometimes killed. If a child is lucky enough to make money over his or her quota, he or she immediately spends it on drugs. A regular sight for the PCs should be small children (ages 7 plus) smoking at the side of city streets. For both of these reasons, a street child will not accept food. If they are given food by a kind PC, they will not smile, nor give any gratitude whatsoever; they will throw the food to the street with disdain. They do not [B]want[/B] food, they want money for their masters and drug dealers. They will go out of their way to express their dislike of food; if the PCs look harmless, the child might even throw the food back at them, or shout insults. Rich looking PCs can expect an occasional child throwing stones at their horses, and then disappearing into the crowd. [U]Officials and Crime[/U] The police want bribes. The government wants bribes. The food shop owner wants bribes. The police will invent crimes and charge the PCs with them, hinting that the PCs can get off with a small gift of one or two gold coins (whatever is equivalent to roughly 5 dollars IRL). The charges should be annoying, small things. If the PCs attempt to use the law to avoid paying these 'fines', they can expect to pay either A: Twenty dollars over five weeks of stuffy, uncomfortable court hearings, or B: Fifty dollars for a day or two of hearings; the extra money goes into bribes for the judges, et al. If the PCs ever encourage a revolution, or attempt to eradicate corruption, the officials that result will in fact be equally corrupt, but better able to hide their dealings, who are prepared to counteract whatever actions the PCs took for the last set of corrupt officials. Vigilante mobs take care of the serious crimes, or crimes that looks serious, or crimes that involve friends or enemies. The perceived offenders should expect maiming or death for the smallest of ‘charges’. Rape victims, be they mature women or children, consider themselves at fault for the crime. A very close friend of mine is a good example of this; as a child she was very close to becoming a victim of rape. Despite living with my family for four years, finishing schooling with top marks, learning to speak perfect English, and absorbing many western values, she considers herself guilty of inspiring the assailant. She will not consider the case any other way. . . . . I could go on, but that’s enough to give your campaign an ugly start. I’m in a good mood today, having circumvented the system here and acquiring a prize long sought. If I hadn’t been, this list would have been much more exhaustive. Those examples above are the ones I am thinking about most at the momment :). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Maintaining Grim and Gritty Flavour!
Top