pming
Legend
Hiya!
It's really simple.
If someone gets offended by something you say, apologize, make a mental note to not do it again, and move on.
If someone gets offended, you apologize, and they still give you grief. Not your problem. Show them the door if they persist.
If someone gets offended and immediately starts "going off on you" before you can apologize, interrupt their rant with a loud "F-You! Get the F out and don't come back!" (or something equally shocking/strong).
Or you could do what some people do: cover a couple of things before PC's are created. Even with an experienced group. I ran a zombie-apocalypse game a year and a half or so ago. With my normal group (which have been playing with me for years and years if not decades). At the beginning of it I made a statement to the effect of "Ok guys. This is a zombie apocalypse game. It's going to be rated R, basically. There will be sex (not a lot of description, but the beginning of "it" might get a quick narrative), there will be gruesome death (with descriptions), there will be unfair moral choices, there will be killing of children, animals, the elderly, and possibly each other (PC v PC, depending on how the RP'ing goes). Everyone cool with that?". Everyone was cool, but my wife did reiterate for everyone there that she had a particular hang-up/phobia about rape...so I told her "Don't worry. No rape except as just the word if needed to describe a past event". She was cool with that.
The biggest thing to remember: YOU are not obliged to not-offend someone! There is NO right to "not be offended"! This does cover over into RPG groups as it is a social thing. Don't try and be a dick, but stick to your right of free speech if you have to choose it or 'offending' someone at the table. That just means you and whomever is offended about something are not going to get along. It happens. Neither person is "bad"...just different. And, IMNSHO, being "different" is a GOOD thing!
^_^
Paul L. Ming
It's really simple.
If someone gets offended by something you say, apologize, make a mental note to not do it again, and move on.
If someone gets offended, you apologize, and they still give you grief. Not your problem. Show them the door if they persist.
If someone gets offended and immediately starts "going off on you" before you can apologize, interrupt their rant with a loud "F-You! Get the F out and don't come back!" (or something equally shocking/strong).
Or you could do what some people do: cover a couple of things before PC's are created. Even with an experienced group. I ran a zombie-apocalypse game a year and a half or so ago. With my normal group (which have been playing with me for years and years if not decades). At the beginning of it I made a statement to the effect of "Ok guys. This is a zombie apocalypse game. It's going to be rated R, basically. There will be sex (not a lot of description, but the beginning of "it" might get a quick narrative), there will be gruesome death (with descriptions), there will be unfair moral choices, there will be killing of children, animals, the elderly, and possibly each other (PC v PC, depending on how the RP'ing goes). Everyone cool with that?". Everyone was cool, but my wife did reiterate for everyone there that she had a particular hang-up/phobia about rape...so I told her "Don't worry. No rape except as just the word if needed to describe a past event". She was cool with that.
The biggest thing to remember: YOU are not obliged to not-offend someone! There is NO right to "not be offended"! This does cover over into RPG groups as it is a social thing. Don't try and be a dick, but stick to your right of free speech if you have to choose it or 'offending' someone at the table. That just means you and whomever is offended about something are not going to get along. It happens. Neither person is "bad"...just different. And, IMNSHO, being "different" is a GOOD thing!
^_^
Paul L. Ming
