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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scott Christian" data-source="post: 8244068" data-attributes="member: 6901101">I understand the concern, and maybe silly is not the best word. But it is the only word I can use to describe the vast array of context, which trumps everything.I can say I am never going to read a book with child murder, but then read Night by Wiesel and suddenly have the child being hung as the most touching part of the story. The story set the context for it to be okay. And since, in an RPG, the story evolves over time, hard set rules need to be flexible.I am not in disagreement. If the table says, no child violence, then it should try to be adhered to. But people still need to see the varying degrees of what it means. I mean, the DM can't pull out a rules contract a hundred pages long to narrow down the definition of child violence. Here are some examples:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is it okay for a character to have a backstory that lost a child to a terrible incident?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is it okay to set up an Indiana Jones style scene where the party rescues children having to work in a mine?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is it okay to have an NPC backstory of child abuse? Child neglect? Too tough of scolding?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is it okay for the big old blacksmith to smack his apprentice on the ear, knowing everything else he does is to help the kid?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is it okay to have a ship sink off the coast - it might have had some younger people on board?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is it okay for a planet to be destroyed? (It most certainly has children.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is it okay to show a gang of young 10 year old street urchins that are ruffians and often have fist-a-cuffs with one another?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Are the Lost Boys from Peter Pan okay? Is it okay to have one of Captain Hook's pirates damage (cut) one during a fight?</li> </ul>All these style questions could be asked for almost anything.This is what I mean. The context will always change, and therefore the rule is silly. This doubles as true when one understands the story (if you are not railroading) can lead to areas unplanned. The context dictates whether that will trigger a person, not the act. And there is almost no way of knowing which context will.</blockquote>

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