Satyr - An excuse for rape, or an interesting creature?

[danzig138]

Yes. Massively different. Rape's a form of torture. Would you describe a PC being tortured in detail?

Maybe I missed something. . . when did anyone say they described a rape in detail?

As for me, you'd have to define "detail." If your character gets tortured IMG, I'm not going to just let it go as "You get tortured." I will give some basics on the type of torture used.

That's the worst thing to happen to a human being

No, it isn't. When you are raped, you have a chance at recovering from that and leading a good life in the end.

When you die, you don't get a chance to live a normal life. It's done. So as far as I'm concerned, the idea that rape is the worst thing that can happen to a human being is a stupid idea, and demonstrates a naive outlook. Actually, I find the idea a touch offensive, since it seems to me to be a backhanded way of saying the victim is weak. And while I'm sure some are, I haven't met a rape victim yet who was weak, or thought that being raped was worse than being killed.

As far as rape in a game, it has, and will happen in games I run, depending on the game. But you absolutely should let your players know before they ever set pencil to paper what kinds of things can or may happen in your game. That way, they can opt-out if they are interested in games with certain possible aspects. Whenever I get a new player, I tell him right from the beginning that anything bad that happens in life can happen in the game, and not just to NPCs. If he's not down with that, cool. I completely understand, and if I know of any games that might be more to his tastes, I'll recommend them.

 

[Glyfair]

Subjectivity aside, if you believe rape is the worst thing that can happen to a person you are 100% wrong.

Perhaps. But if you ask a number of rape victims if that is true, I think most will disagree with you. At the very least most will say they can't imagine anything worse.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Hmm. The succubus does actually make for a much more interesting discussion. While people be offended if the succubus gets a little nasty with one of the males - while he sleeps?

Will the same group be as easy going when the satyr does the same thing with a female?

This is actually a different take on succubi than I would usually come up with. I always consider them as tempters, using sex as a bait, rather than actually trying to take sex from men as a goal of its own. I mean sure, they like sex, but it's the tool, not the end. Taking advantage of the man in his sleep is more in a "succubus and incubus as the same demon who harvests sperm from human men and impregnates women with it as part of demonic breeding program" vein, which isn't a conception of them I've used in my games.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Hmm. The succubus does actually make for a much more interesting discussion. While people be offended if the succubus gets a little nasty with one of the males - while he sleeps?

Will the same group be as easy going when the satyr does the same thing with a female?

I would say that, yes, if the PC has no chance to do anything about it, then the players will be upset. OTOH, I do agree that there is a double-standard where certain types sexual violence are concerned, based upon gender. Personally, I think that the generally best way to use such ideas is to have things like this occur to NPCs, offstage.

Mind you, this isn't to say that a group of PCs camping in a goblin's lair might not be coup de-graced one by one if the goblins can manage it....and some players might view this as a violation of player/DM trust as well.

YMMV.

RC

 

[kolikeos]

Ditto. Bad form, all the way around.

QFT

 

[an_idol_mind]

True... but there's also a good chance one of them has suffered a mugging (yet we still use bandits doing ambushes), someone dying from cancer (yet D&D still uses diseases), something they know being assaulted (yet attacking happens all the time), someone they know being murdered (yet NPCs, and sometimes PCs, die every session), etc.

Not sure why rape should be on a different plateau.

Rape is much more traumatizing than being mugged, hit, or afflicted with a disease.

That said, I wouldn't run a scenario where someone got a disease and died if the player's mother was suffering through cancer, for instance. Part of a fantasy role-playing game is escapism, and I think it's usually a good idea to back off of certain issues when the time is right.

 

[krissbeth]

I would almost definitely leave a campaign if rape became an acceptable PC element.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Not sure why rape should be on a different plateau.

The why is irrelevant. Rape has a good chance of squicking people out. Violence doesn't. As a DM that's all you need to know to improve your game.

 

[gizmo33]

Seriously - debating whether or not falling off a cliff is worse than having a big rock land on you seems pointless and weird. How about instead of trying to rank the various injustices of the world on a point scale, the thread be more about how to use satyrs in a way that bypass the particular issues that the OP had? Types of encounters that avoid sexual violence - since that was the OPs objection. The rest of it, IMO, is just nonsense - and yes it is all subjective and saying otherwise doesn't change that.

 

[Desdichado]

I did not fail to notice that your other posts don't condone rape in-game, but I find people often say seemingly conflicting things when empassioned on the internet. This is certainly one of those cases.

I was not trying to put words in your mouth, and I'd appreciate it if you would stop questioning my ability to read.

No, it's not one of those cases. Just because you selectively quoted portions of what both Doug McCrae and Vosput said (which I was responding to) doesn't mean that I contradicted myself, it simply means that you ignored the relevent portions of both quotes that gave clear context about what I was saying. In any case, if you are not trying to put words into my mouth, I won't make a big deal about having words put into my mouth anymore.