What subjects are taboo in your game?

[Veander]

Totally depends on the group when it comes to any of this. I have included some really "uncomfortable" issues over the past 17 years of gaming.

I have had people in "Hell" reading the "Bible" (of another religion) trying to anger some demons. Then some demons did come and one of the players had his heart ripped out. There was a purpose to it and it was much more exciting and dramatic than that description.

I thought it was interesting that we did that back then and none of us became upset. We knew each other though and understood our feelings. In my current groups, I would never do something like that. I met all my current gamers through email/the internet, so my knowledge of their sensitivities is not so well.

I haven't spent much time on rape though. Had an adventure hook once where I tried to use it with close friends and it took a nosedive. No one knew how to react in terms of this just being a game.

I rarely care too much about taboos. I have two children yet I understand the motivation that comes with children being in any danger (or death) in a campaign.

Honestly, my biggest use of anything considered "vileness" is predicated by the absolute love of bringing moral puzzles to my gamers. You bring a moral decision properly to a group and you will see people stop spinning those dice and doodling (if they are). Hehe

Anyway, just my thoughts on the matter.

Veander

 

[Zelda Themelin]

No taboos whatsoever in my games as such.

However, what appears in game depends on what kind of game people wish to play.

And D&D as such is not 'dark themed game', neither especially humorous. Of course one can make homebrew worlds to one's liking.

Also, I find very graphic scenes both hard to describe myself, and sort of waste of time. This is pretty same thing, as too much role-playing of needless details (or needless details of "realistic combat"), and longwindy describtions of houses, landscapes, people or whatsoever.

I guess my personal preferance goes just simple "don't bore me".

 

[Olive]

welll... i am uncomforable with sex in my games. which is wierd because i'm hardly a prude, but i've never met anyone who can roleplay it well... it always turns into giggles, and it irritates me. plus when i was younger i played with people who pawed the MM 1e succubus picture and always had sex with the tavern whores...

but also taboo, or at least i'd like them to be taboo: real world analogies in alignment discussions and trying to interject physics in discussions about magic spells...

 

[Fenes 2]

welll... i am uncomforable with sex in my games. which is wierd because i'm hardly a prude, but i've never met anyone who can roleplay it well... it always turns into giggles, and it irritates me. plus when i was younger i played with people who pawed the MM 1e succubus picture and always had sex with the tavern whores...

but also taboo, or at least i'd like them to be taboo: real world analogies in alignment discussions and trying to interject physics in discussions about magic spells...

I won't touch the comment on the MM 1E succubus, but what is wrong with playing a character that always has sex with tavern whores? I somehow see many "classic" adventurers, especially non-noble fighters and rogues, as similar to soldiers during war or sailors on shore leave when it comes to R&R - most won't go (only) to the library or church on leave. If someone had to live with the fact that every adventure could be his last, and would pass long amounts of time in the wilderness, wandering from town to town, do you really expect him to raise a family or remain chaste?
I would be very uncomfortable in a game where sex was taboo, as it would kill many character concepts for me, and severly limit my options as both a PC and the DM. Apart from the "your girlfriend/fiancée/wife has been kidnapped plot" it also makes exploiting the "codpiece" blind spot of many male player and non-player characters impossible, robs the game of some needed realism (reaslim in the societies of the campiagn, not exactly the physics etc. IMHO, even people in a game world should have realistic desires and goals, and procreation is a very important one.)

 

[Virginia Wilde]

I don't work with certain forms of sexual 'preoccupations.' The game can do without them, as even in the real world, they're buried pretty deep, unless you know where to go (personally, I don't but I know a fella who does). Things I have dealt with are women's rights, slavery, torture (what dungeon isn't complete without an accurate torture chamber), and Xill reproduction (it's in the friggin' Monster Manual!). Making your villains evil makes the heroes that much more important, and introducing moral quandaries makes for some interesting roelplaying.

On a lighter note, our group can't take much seriously. We tried Ravenloft a few times, but it kept turning into Scooby Doo crossed with Castelvania. The lasher vampire hunter with a pathological fear of torches and his lizardfolk expert companion kept wandering away from the half-orc fighter, female cleric, and female sorceress to go find 'sammiches' in Strahd's castle, who turned out to be the one wearing the two-headed werewolf costume to scare the farmers of his land so he could drill for oil.


On a even more side note, you can inject physics into spells. Fantasy is defined as a form of media in which the existing laws of the universe are altered, or a new one(s) is/are added. Once that is clear, you will note that even a fantasy world must subscribe to its own set of physics. Note that there are certain canons of "physics" within the magic of the D&D world. One must try to remain within these guidelines, or the players' supension of disbelief goes right out the window. Too many people think fantasy means "anything can happen." This notion is mostly false. If anything can happen, you're writing poorly (or you're writing The Cell), and there's no physics involved. I think I'll write an essay on this.

 

[Andor of the Blade]

Child abuse of any kind is not even brought up in my game. Other than that, there are no rules.

 

[Virginia Wilde]

That's a good one. I didn't think about that. I guess it's just never come up.

 

[LostSoul]

Pcs who try to rely on real-world physics and chemistry get a talking to.

That can get annoying in a Sci-Fantasy game like Star Wars. I've made the decision that space in Star Wars is filled with ether.

 

[Gothmog]

Originally posted by the Jester:

Pcs who try to rely on real-world physics and chemistry get a talking to.

Why is this? Not to be argumentative, but if you are playing D&D, how can you NOT rely on real-world physics and chemistry to determine the parameters of what can happen in a fantasy world. Do you use bows and crossbows? Then the character needs to know the parabolic arc an arrow will fly when shot so he can guage how far to angle his bow upwards. Do characters fall when they jump off a cliff? What about terminal velocity during a fall? Certainly size tiny creatures should not take 20d6 damage from falling 200'- they simply can't reach than kind of velocity based on size. Does greek fire or lamp oil work in your world? Then the laws of combustion and how phosphorous works when exposed to open air should apply. Not to mention look at the spell components for most spells- for example lightning bolt- it uses a bit of fur and an amber, crystal, or glass rod- if you rub those object together you will usually produce a small static charge- the impetus for a lightning bolt.

To me, trying to reinvent scientific laws or ignoring them is a lot more work than using them in a game- and for the sake of the players, having real world physics and chemistry apply in a game world mean they spend that much less time trying to figure out exactly how a torch could burn underwater. I would make the stipulation that the PCs don't know about real-world physics and chemistry in a fantasy game (barring some really bizarre event), but players should feel comfortable enough with the world that they don't have to guess what will happen if they try to pour oil on top of water and light it. I won't even get started on the whole half-orc/half-elf/half-anthing issue, it simply is silly from a biological standpoint. Of course, I might be a little biased here since I am a scientist, so take what you will from my comments.