No one under the age of 18 allowed at the gaming table. Ever.
Seriously i have sent players home who have brought their kids, or younger siblings.
Politically?
Think bioshock 1&2 with a dash of Game of thrones for heraldry.
Regarding sexual matters?
Sex, sexuality, and sexually driven story lines are common, about as common as combat.
Regarding irregular ideas (to other gaming tables) GLBT issues are handled with respect to the players and are used to improve the the game in a productive way to progress the story. They are treated as story points and are never thrown in there just to diversify or without purpose.
Grittiness/mortality?
Death is common. Of note: violence and sex have a strong dividing line down the middle that I as a DM will never cross. Sex will never steer into death. This isn't a slasher flick,and it will never be up to negotiation.
Any other aspects?
I didn't know I had this revulsion, but after an episode of game of thrones where joffery has one prostitute beat another with a heavy wooden thing, sex will never merge into violence in my games. Game of thrones had more violence against females then I could stomach, and i have since stopped watching the show.
I have also never been a fan of slasher films for a same reason, but it was while i watched the GoT that it came to light.
Characters are always heroes - I don't think we've had a game without a Paladin or LG Cleric in decades, but we have have a number without rogues (or someone who is a rogue class, but is a good guy - say a ex locksmith that had his shop destroyed three times by monsters so he becomes an adventurer). Never any evil characters, and I can only think of one Neutral in the last 2 decades, and he wasn't around long.You're lucky then. My players detest playing good characters, so i have a lot of neutrals in my games, since i frown upon the evil alignment. Sigh. What i would give for them to play actual heroes. Just once.
Well the group came together 20 years ago (yeah - long term group of same people) primarily as a Champions/Hero system group. We tend to keep the superhero attitude when we play fantasy. PF is a sometimes used secondary game. But think Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America or Spidey attitudes, just in a Fantasy game. :D
I tend to be very graphic in my descriptions of gore and death, so much so I've made a player ill before. As far as sexual situations in the games, I've learned after 25+ years with the same group that the more "mature" the subject matter is, the less mature they're going to act. And I've seen this in the few groups I've played in outside my own. I finally had to look one of my long time players in the eye once and tell him that if he asked me to describe in detail the genitalia of the prostitute he bought one more time I'd ask him to leave the group. Granted, to my knowledge the guy has only ever been with one woman one time in his 44 years on Earth, but it's not my place to let him live that particular part of fantasy gaming vicariously.
I once explained to a friend and former gamer/now writer of adult themed fantasy why I'm opposed to reading or writing about detailed sexual encounters in books and games. I told him, "I've had sex. I've never slain a dragon. I don't need someone to write about sex or describe it to me in a game. Now, tell me about the dragon."
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The two ships in our Pirates shackles game are "The morning after" and "The walk of shame"
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I've never slain a dragon.
What a shallow and meaningless life you've led.
I'm too old, too fat, and too unstable mentally and emotionally for the Corps. So please 'splain.
I just would say he pulled it out. 'Nuff said...
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Sex in the game for most folks does seem to be the fairly taboo thing. I've run a couple of games with more of an open policy than usual, but those are particular circumstances. Most games I run have little to none at all...for pretty good reason. It's a rare group that's that comfortable with it.
I think the real issue is that there just aren't enough rules/crunch in this area. I mean its hard to have a really heartfelt RAI vs. RAW discussion when there are not rules about sex. If we had a feat tree or maybe some traits. Rally, if we knew what ability score was involved we could at least optimize...obviously when talking about sex RAW would be better that RAI.
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Yeah, everybody loves RAW sex.
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This sounds like a job for the Book of Erotic Fantasy! BAD THIRD PARTY CONTENT HO!
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Apparently there was a third party created Pimp class. I can't remember what thread we discussed it in.
Did it have an ability called "Keep The Pimp Hand Strong"? And did it give him a Monk's Unarmed Strike progression?
Well the group came together 20 years ago (yeah - long term group of same people) primarily as a Champions/Hero system group. We tend to keep the superhero attitude when we play fantasy. PF is a sometimes used secondary game. But think Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America or Spidey attitudes, just in a Fantasy game. :DCharacters are always heroes - I don't think we've had a game without a Paladin or LG Cleric in decades, but we have have a number without rogues (or someone who is a rogue class, but is a good guy - say a ex locksmith that had his shop destroyed three times by monsters so he becomes an adventurer). Never any evil characters, and I can only think of one Neutral in the last 2 decades, and he wasn't around long.You're lucky then. My players detest playing good characters, so i have a lot of neutrals in my games, since i frown upon the evil alignment. Sigh. What i would give for them to play actual heroes. Just once.
You are lucky. So many people would rather play Punisher than Captain America. I am sure if I ever stopped saying "no evil alignments", people would play NE or CE more than CN (which they usually play as CE anyway). And I am sure if I limited alignments to "any good or LN", no one would sign up to play.
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Do you run more toward Game of Thrones, or My Little Pathfinder?
Given most everyone in my group has almost zero love for GoT, it's no surprise we lean somewhat heavily in the opposite direction. The game is for the most part lighthearted, without being a candy-coated cheer romp... or if it is, there's something less pleasant beneath the sugar coating, kind of like a tootsie-roll pop with the tootsie roll being some slumbering nightmare creature. I would very, very rarely give anything in my games above a PG rating.
I imagine many people here, judging from the things in this thread, would find my games too PG-lite and too "unrealistic" for their tastes. I don't like gritty, grungy storylines. I like kitchen sink fantasy where you throw near everything in, so fantasy purists would be turned off from the get-go. I like resurrection magic, it keeps me from having to keep working people in and out of the story, and lets the plot continue on without having to get all the new characters caught up to speed, while allowing me to still have the threat of lethal consequences in and out of combat.
My major inspirations are as follows:
The Dresden Files, Gargoyles*, The Dark Tower, The Way of Kings, Codex Alera, some Lovecraft, Final Fantasies, Chrono series, Mana series, Gunnerkrigg Court, various Steampunk series, and a whole bunch of stuff I'm probably just not thinking of at the moment.
Politically?
There's two ways we can take this, one that my group is VERY into and one that my group is very NOT into.
In the sense of in regards to real-world politics, we drop them at the door. I've had to berate a couple of my players at one time or another for trying to bring up real-world politics stuff in-game, because that stuff just leads to nothing good, especially when the entire group is not on the same political wavelength. But frankly, I'd be 100% happy if that exclusion extended beyond the game; I just don't have the authority to enforce it outside of GM context. I don't like real-world politics.
In-game politics, on the other hand, we tend to get pretty into. Kind of a necessity in our current Kingmaker game for obvious reasons.
Regarding sexual matters?
Almost zero. Heck, we almost never even have romances - PC-to-PC or PC-to-NPC. It's never come up, and probably never will.
Grittiness/mortality?
Grittiness is at extreme low. I don't like those kinds of settings.
I tend to be a pretty lethal GM. I don't go out of my way to PC-kill, but I don't fudge the dice to spare the dead, either. That said, I am - as stated above - 100% for Rez magic. Besides keeping the cast together for the continued flow of the plot, there's fun that can be had with reincarnate shenanigans. I've never understood the mindset of "resurrection negates the fear of death". Maybe I've just never been able to play in a group that had enough spare cash on-hand to drop a rez diamond every other day if needed. When someone's died in my KM group, it's usually been a mad scramble to get back to the druid in time, scrape up the necessary gold (the party was well behind WBL for quite some time, this has since been mostly rectified), and see what weird critter the deceased comes back as this time.
Any other aspects?
I want settings that are less humanocentric. The "standard six" races of human, elf, halfling, dwarf, gnome, and orc are less than half of the major civilized species in my own homebrew setting. The others range from half-humanoids (Naga, Arachnes, a harpy-like race, etc.) to anthropomorphics (Catfolk, Lizardfolk, a wolf-folk race, an insectoid humanoid race, etc.) to various fey species. It has always struck me as bizarre that in fantastical settings, all of the "civilized" and "accepted" races were basically just, in appearance at least, humans with different basic physiques. There's nothing fantastical about that, to me.
I've equal love for Big Damn Heroes games as I do for Magnificent Bastard evil games. I don't particularly care for MurderHobo style play, but if my players run that way and they're willing to roll with the consequences, I'm cool with it. MurderHoboes that survive the first few backfires of their plans tend to either learn the error of their ways or get more Magnificent about their methods, in my experience. My current KM game is all-neutral save one (one LN, two TN, one CN, one CE); the upcoming Savage Tide game to follow has a Paladin and a CG Pirate as planned cast members, while the Crimson Throne game I'll be running after that (yeah, I tend to plan my games wayyyy in advance >_>) has a Bard of unknown alignment and an Antipaladin on the docket. So we tend to swing back and forth.
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I haven't run a game below NC-17 in many years and generally run at R level... though I've dipped into X when my players ask for it.
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I like to think that I run an R-rated game set in an NC-17 world. I hint at all kinds of totally horrible/depraved/outright over-the-top stuff constantly, but generally only provide glimpses "on-camera" unless the players want to shine a flashlight on it.
Some examples:
Sex and violence:
Slasher horror:
Politics:
Drugs:
Prostitution:
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No one under the age of 18 allowed at the gaming table. Ever.
Seriously i have sent players home who have brought their kids, or younger siblings.Politically?
Think bioshock 1&2 with a dash of Game of thrones for heraldry.Regarding sexual matters?
Sex, sexuality, and sexually driven story lines are common, about as common as combat.
Regarding irregular ideas (to other gaming tables) GLBT issues are handled with respect to the players and are used to improve the the game in a productive way to progress the story. They are treated as story points and are never thrown in there just to diversify or without purpose.Grittiness/mortality?
Death is common. Of note: violence and sex have a strong dividing line down the middle that I as a DM will never cross. Sex will never steer into death. This isn't a slasher flick,and it will never be up to negotiation.Any other aspects?
I didn't know I had this revulsion, but after an episode of game of thrones where joffery has one prostitute beat another with a heavy wooden thing, sex will never merge into violence in my games. Game of thrones had more violence against females then I could stomach, and i have since stopped watching the show.
I have also never been a fan of slasher films for a same reason, but it was while i watched the GoT that it came to light.
Yes, that scene was an absolute stomach churner. Joffery is the worst villain in the story, IMO. Can't stand him. The guy that plays him is a pretty good actor, to be able to play a slime like that so well.
To be honest, I don't understand why rape, even as described above, would be anywhere near as terrible a crime as murder. Is it better to go on a genocidal killing spree in someone's home? I just don't get it.
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You are lucky. So many people would rather play Punisher than Captain America. I am sure if I ever stopped saying "no evil alignments", people would play NE or CE more than CN (which they usually play as CE anyway). And I am sure if I limited alignments to "any good or LN", no one would sign up to play.Well the group came together 20 years ago (yeah - long term group of same people) primarily as a Champions/Hero system group. We tend to keep the superhero attitude when we play fantasy. PF is a sometimes used secondary game. But think Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America or Spidey attitudes, just in a Fantasy game. :DCharacters are always heroes - I don't think we've had a game without a Paladin or LG Cleric in decades, but we have have a number without rogues (or someone who is a rogue class, but is a good guy - say a ex locksmith that had his shop destroyed three times by monsters so he becomes an adventurer). Never any evil characters, and I can only think of one Neutral in the last 2 decades, and he wasn't around long.You're lucky then. My players detest playing good characters, so i have a lot of neutrals in my games, since i frown upon the evil alignment. Sigh. What i would give for them to play actual heroes. Just once.
Interestingly enough, one of my longest-played characters in Champions was based on Captain America. :p
Yes, that scene was an absolute stomach churner. Joffery is the worst villain in the story, IMO. Can't stand him. The guy that plays him is a pretty good actor, to be able to play a slime like that so well.No one under the age of 18 allowed at the gaming table. Ever.
Seriously i have sent players home who have brought their kids, or younger siblings.Politically?
Think bioshock 1&2 with a dash of Game of thrones for heraldry.Regarding sexual matters?
Sex, sexuality, and sexually driven story lines are common, about as common as combat.
Regarding irregular ideas (to other gaming tables) GLBT issues are handled with respect to the players and are used to improve the the game in a productive way to progress the story. They are treated as story points and are never thrown in there just to diversify or without purpose.Grittiness/mortality?
Death is common. Of note: violence and sex have a strong dividing line down the middle that I as a DM will never cross. Sex will never steer into death. This isn't a slasher flick,and it will never be up to negotiation.Any other aspects?
I didn't know I had this revulsion, but after an episode of game of thrones where joffery has one prostitute beat another with a heavy wooden thing, sex will never merge into violence in my games. Game of thrones had more violence against females then I could stomach, and i have since stopped watching the show.
I have also never been a fan of slasher films for a same reason, but it was while i watched the GoT that it came to light.
Have you watched Call the Midwife lately? Holey Bejeezus, just don't buy a pickle fork for your wife the eighth time she's preggers!
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I think I'd enjoy playing in a lot of the games mentioned...and probably the most key thing...that several people mentioned...is that the game is run at the right level for the players. :)
Just one of my little ploys I figured I'd mention, for a game I never did get to fully run...
The king that replaced him lasted maybe three years...he was too young and immature, and he failed miserably. He was assassinated. The present 'king', about to be crowned, is even younger - an actual child of about 3.
Of course, until he is older, he has a...gah, forget the word...someone acts as king for him. He's an uncle, a young man, himself...but actually pretty wise...he's not much for the courts, though...he's a ranger. In the meantime, the nobility in the courts are scheming...some have pacts with 'friends' from outside of the kingdom.
Among the bizarre things going on in the kingdom, there is a group of men who keep their presence a virtual unknown...they love the kingdom, and are insanely loyal...and have decided that to keep the kingdom stable, they just had to do what needed to be done...they cut deals with devils. Yes, in a basically NG kingdom, some fantastically loyal LE folk are doing 'what needs to be done'...the dirty work...out of love for the kingdom.
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Have you watched Call the Midwife lately? Holey Bejeezus, just don't buy a pickle fork for your wife the eighth time she's preggers!Yes, that scene was an absolute stomach churner. Joffery is the worst villain in the story, IMO. Can't stand him. The guy that plays him is a pretty good actor, to be able to play a slime like that so well.No one under the age of 18 allowed at the gaming table. Ever.
Seriously i have sent players home who have brought their kids, or younger siblings.Politically?
Think bioshock 1&2 with a dash of Game of thrones for heraldry.Regarding sexual matters?
Sex, sexuality, and sexually driven story lines are common, about as common as combat.
Regarding irregular ideas (to other gaming tables) GLBT issues are handled with respect to the players and are used to improve the the game in a productive way to progress the story. They are treated as story points and are never thrown in there just to diversify or without purpose.Grittiness/mortality?
Death is common. Of note: violence and sex have a strong dividing line down the middle that I as a DM will never cross. Sex will never steer into death. This isn't a slasher flick,and it will never be up to negotiation.Any other aspects?
I didn't know I had this revulsion, but after an episode of game of thrones where joffery has one prostitute beat another with a heavy wooden thing, sex will never merge into violence in my games. Game of thrones had more violence against females then I could stomach, and i have since stopped watching the show.
I have also never been a fan of slasher films for a same reason, but it was while i watched the GoT that it came to light.
Never heard of it...but no wife, either, so I'm safe? ;)
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In mine it really depends on how much my groups and the players want to fool around in the medium.
spoilered to save space.
As a gm I like maturity and to allow the decisions to have consequences. For me one of the favorite tools in my wheel house is making a character earn their G in alignment. I like to present options that both have consequences sometimes overt sometimes not as much, think XCOM where you have to decide what nations to help or what I've heard The Witcher will make you do. I've literally watched players turn on players because it was what they thought would be the right thing for not just themselves but the world at large, I've watched them save bandits so they could use what they know, and watched oracles play games with causality in order to beat a future they don't agree with. To me the fun is letting the players tell you what they want and watching what they are willing to do to get them.
As for the sex question it really depends on the characters and the players interests. Most importantly I think the amount of sex or romantic relationships that exist in my games is directly proportional to how much work my party wants to explore them. To me it really is more about the relationships between characters and how they interact. Case and point one of my players was a dwarven fighter and committed married man who had his son stolen by a cabal of evil outsiders at the end of our last arc. Meanwhile our resident shifter scout (and constant trouble maker) has been betrothed to not one but 2 monstrous women in the span of a year, has had a dragon write a homoerotic (yet otherwise surprisingly accurate) novel about his adventures, and believes he might be the father of said dragons granddaughter. All that interaction has colored the ways these characters act and the relationships they've formed and in my mind that is what makes interesting story relationships work.
As for the topic of rape I think it weighs heavily on what you plan to do with it and that responsibility is taken. For instance I'm not a fan of the old half-orc write up that basically put all of that race in that context yet it never actually committed to that presentation and explored it fulling and respectfully. The problem wasn't that they used rape it was that they just dropped it in there like it was nothing and never explored what that would mean if you have a whole race that was usually conceived in such a way and how they would interact with the world around them and the people in it. I always feel like if your planning to use it you need to just understand its a heavy topic and if you mis-wield it your likely to break your arm.
Yeah that happens a bit but it's more about making sure to remind the players and their characters what they are fighting for or as the end result of their actions. The aforementioned shifter is part of a street gang he has just discovered is all but wiped out thanks to his absence, said dwarf has decided to end his aid to his brother in order to continue to search for his son, the elven wizard died trying to kill said shifter after he realized Filtran's (the shifter) actions prior had helped create a war in his homeland and the deaths of hundreds if not thousands, and I've currently got a necromancer seeking to start a bidding war for his soul and new found title in hopes of playing some demons against devils and using the chaos to profit. As you can clearly see they all have things going on and the amount of risk they have to their lives and the things they care about is apparent. All I have to do is make sure to follow through when the s+@! hits the fan.
the politics of the land depend entirely on where and what country you are in which can run the gamut from Imperial Rome/40k, rebel confederacy, ki based magocracies, Aztec pantheon worshiping elves, and hyper advanced gnomish technocracies build from the remnants of their giant dimension hopping and tunnel boring pilgrimage craft. Everything else falls in between there. As for character involvement it really depends on them and what they want to do. As of right now their are whole nations that are interested in them in one way or another but I try to only involve my players in the greater political games as much as they want to. Sometimes this means I get players who want to write the rules of kingdoms and go to war for resources and other times they will be the pawns of those people.
I think I'd enjoy playing in a lot of the games mentioned...and probably the most key thing...that several people mentioned...is that the game is run at the right level for the players. :)Just one of my little ploys I figured I'd mention, for a game I never did get to fully run...
** spoiler omitted **
Sounds interesting. And as for the young king's stand in, it's regent.
To be honest, I don't understand why rape, even as described above, would be anywhere near as terrible a crime as murder. Is it better to go on a genocidal killing spree in someone's home? I just don't get it.Unless a whole ethnicity of people is all gathered under one very large roof I don't see how this is possible.
And America has more of a hangup with sex than violence.
Also, forced rape isn't just about sex, it's somewhat akin to torture. There's usually physical trauma in wherever was penetrated, bruises, choke marks etc. Its often meant as a sadistic act of hate to degrade, punish, humiliate, violate etc. the person to make them feel like less of a person.
I understand perfectly well that rape is a terrible crime, one often used as an "enhanced interrogation technique". What I don't understand is why it would hold a candle to the wickedness that is murder. "A fate worse than death" is only a stupid phrase. There is a reason that the threat of death often works to pacify a victim during a rape.
If we can play games where the alleged heroes enter a communal living space for an underprivileged ethnicity, say, goblins, and murder every living thing there, well, rape seems like pretty close to par for the course.
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To be honest, I don't understand why rape, even as described above, would be anywhere near as terrible a crime as murder. Is it better to go on a genocidal killing spree in someone's home? I just don't get it.Unless a whole ethnicity of people is all gathered under one very large roof I don't see how this is possible.
And America has more of a hangup with sex than violence.
Also, forced rape isn't just about sex, it's somewhat akin to torture. There's usually physical trauma in wherever was penetrated, bruises, choke marks etc. Its often meant as a sadistic act of hate to degrade, punish, humiliate, violate etc. the person to make them feel like less of a person.
I understand perfectly well that rape is a terrible crime, one often used as an "enhanced interrogation technique". What I don't understand is why it would hold a candle to the wickedness that is murder. "A fate worse than death" is only a stupid phrase. There is a reason that the threat of death often works to pacify a victim during a rape.
If we can play games where the alleged heroes enter a communal living space for an underprivileged ethnicity, say, goblins, and murder every living thing there, well, rape seems like pretty close to par for the course.
You know, I probably can't answer your question to your question to your satisfaction, but I can tell you I would much rather be killed than raped. Take that for what you will.
I can just say you are the first I have talked to who felt that way.
Murder -- one quick flash, and it's all over.
Rape -- suffering the rest of your life, in most cases.
If your aim is to minimize human suffering (quality vs. quantity of life thing), then rape is a far worse crime.
Nobody said murder had to be quick, or without forms of torture other than rape, or painless. To my mind, I would take rape before murder any day. Pain can be worked through, shame can be gotten past... but never death. Any serious crisis can be worked through, it usually takes about a year or so.
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Nobody said murder had to be quick, or without forms of torture other than rape, or painless.
It's a bit dishonest, though, to change it from "murder is worse" to "torture + murder is worse."
That's a lot like saying "murder is worse than rape because the murderer will rape you before killing you."
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Nobody said murder had to be quick, or without forms of torture other than rape, or painless. To my mind, I would take rape before murder any day. Pain can be worked through, shame can be gotten past... but never death. Any serious crisis can be worked through, it usually takes about a year or so.
Tell that to people with PTSD who've had their friends blown apart while they were standing next to them. My uncle came back from Bosnia a changed man. Whenever there is a loud popping noise he dives under the table, starts shaking and sweating. And that war was 15 years ago.
Also, you never really work through it. You just learn to live with it. Live around it so to say. But a certain stimulus is all you need to loose all those years of therapy in a second and revert back to a mess.There are two things i would choose death over. One is rape, the other is Alzheimer's. If i get it, and the moment i loose it for a while is the moment i go to Belgium to perform an assisted suicide.
Also, for torture. Physical pain i can live with. Emotional and psychological scarring, i can't.
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The game I'm running is edgy enough that I moved the location to my house. We had been playing at the home of two of my players (they're married) and they have a 7-year-old kid that regularly hangs out in the same room as the game.
I would have had to greatly censor the story I wanted to tell, so I requested that we move the location. Like I said up-thread, my game is "hard-R" with strong horror elements. I wouldn't want to describe the handiwork of the undead serial killer with a 7-year old in earshot.
(Of course, my mature-beyond-her-years 14-year-old can handle such things... Heck, I let her watch Game of Thrones!)