Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon 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 Next
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
*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!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
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
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Piracy And Other Malfeasance
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="Umbran" data-source="post: 9295803" data-attributes="member: 177"><p>We have to be careful about what we are calling "crime". Stealing property and money from the rich is one thing. I expect most of us don't actually care about property crime so long as you aren't leaving people starving in the process. </p><p></p><p>Violently taking another ship at sea, such that human bodies are torn asunder by cannonballs, wooden shrapnel, and cutlass wounds is another kettle of fish. Kind of hard to be considered a "decent person" when your job entails leaving a wake of fire, blood, murder and death.</p><p></p><p>A little while back, I was watching <em>Our Flag Means Death</em>, and having very similar questions running through my head. I'm watching a pretty cozy show... about pirates? Most of the main characters are explicitly serial murderers, and we are supposed to be empathetic to their trauma, insecurities, and emotional lives? How do you pull that off?</p><p></p><p>OFMD manages it by framing it as 1) somewhat absurdist, and 2) redemption arc. It is made mostly clear that the characters, deep down, would prefer to <em>not</em> be horrible people, if given an opportunity and emotional support structure. And, so long as they are on that path, we can forgive, or at least overlook, the horrible things they likely did in the past.</p><p></p><p>We see this a lot in fiction. In comic books, we have Wolverine, of the X-Men, with his "I'm very good at what I do, and what I do isn't pretty," bit. But we are embracing the character as he (mostly) leaves behind his morally questionable days, and is trying to be a hero.</p><p></p><p>Aside from the redemption arc, there's another major tool we have to allow for characters of morally questionable bent to not be bad people - make the antagonists even worse. It is pretty easy to come off looking like Han Solo when the major antagonist is up for murdering <em>entire planets</em>. Shooting up a few minions isn't a big deal if you are saving the galaxy in the process.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 9295803, member: 177"] We have to be careful about what we are calling "crime". Stealing property and money from the rich is one thing. I expect most of us don't actually care about property crime so long as you aren't leaving people starving in the process. Violently taking another ship at sea, such that human bodies are torn asunder by cannonballs, wooden shrapnel, and cutlass wounds is another kettle of fish. Kind of hard to be considered a "decent person" when your job entails leaving a wake of fire, blood, murder and death. A little while back, I was watching [I]Our Flag Means Death[/I], and having very similar questions running through my head. I'm watching a pretty cozy show... about pirates? Most of the main characters are explicitly serial murderers, and we are supposed to be empathetic to their trauma, insecurities, and emotional lives? How do you pull that off? OFMD manages it by framing it as 1) somewhat absurdist, and 2) redemption arc. It is made mostly clear that the characters, deep down, would prefer to [I]not[/I] be horrible people, if given an opportunity and emotional support structure. And, so long as they are on that path, we can forgive, or at least overlook, the horrible things they likely did in the past. We see this a lot in fiction. In comic books, we have Wolverine, of the X-Men, with his "I'm very good at what I do, and what I do isn't pretty," bit. But we are embracing the character as he (mostly) leaves behind his morally questionable days, and is trying to be a hero. Aside from the redemption arc, there's another major tool we have to allow for characters of morally questionable bent to not be bad people - make the antagonists even worse. It is pretty easy to come off looking like Han Solo when the major antagonist is up for murdering [I]entire planets[/I]. Shooting up a few minions isn't a big deal if you are saving the galaxy in the process. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Piracy And Other Malfeasance
Top