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I was just wondering if anyone else makes NPCS of people they know to work out frustrations safely?
So that for example rather than yelling "You're an idiot why would I do that when you just told me not toand insisted on remote running things, be consistent or sod off. Better yet be consistent AND sod off so I can do the job I was ttrained to." at your boss you instead make a recurring goblin/Kobold/ooze npc based on them you can repeatedly do horrible things too.
I do not think that is necessarily healthy or very mature. . At least as you described it and using the term 'torture'.
I mean, if you are running a fairly light hearted game, and there 'just happens' to be an NPC that looks like your boss that is eaten by a grue to introduce an enemy, then that seems fine. As long as it isn't longer or more complicated than, say, making a character in a basic character creator and running it off a cliff. Just 'enter, stage right; chased by a bear; exit, stage left' kind of thing.
But having a long narrative of horrible events, and involving your table in the issue, does not seem appropriate. Involving other people in your revenge fantasies is not right. It might be better if it was someone that your table had a shared hatred for (lets say you party with coworkers, and the target is your boss), then it might be better. But overall, just try to keep it at reoccuring one line joke level at best.
Hmmm guess it's just me works out frustrations like this.
One of my main problems was that this is basically forcing your players to sit through a round about rant about how that person is terrible. You could always ask your players for their most hated people, and make a big dumb one off where the jerks are ruining everything, and the only answer is via greatswords and fireballs in the face.
Going over the top and kind of silly gives enough separation so that it gets less....'eeeeehhhh...'-ish.
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So? What's the difference between them seeing Bob get horribly ripped to pieces by the shadow demon stalking the school and seeing Tom the lieutenant in the city guard getting yanked apart by the evil mages black tentacles spell? One of them is me working out my frustration at someone I have to bite my tongue and be civil to in a way that doesn't result in me taking a swing at them or and the others a generic Npc. Either way they go away having enjoyed a gaming session and I've worked through some frustration without bottling it up till I hit someone in the head with a hardcover book or subject people to an hour long rant about how horrible someone they'll probably never meet is.
For most players the Npcs who die horribly description is along the lines of you see a man get swallowed by the dragon, you see a goblin stab a party goer then try to eat the nearby torch in its excitement or you see someone stroll out into traffic a blank look on their face. They never know nor care about the victim just how much they can loot from the bandit/monster/chest.
How many lovingly crafted backstories have you never used because the players ignore them?
Well, there is a personal psych component, and then there is a social component.
For psychological health, the fact that it matters that it needs to be THIS person that suffers can be troubling. The difference is that it matters to you. The fact that the faceless NPC (that could just as easily be replaced with a scarecrow with a tape recorded tied to it) has to be an effigy for this one person sounds like a possible issue
(I am not a trained psychologist, however, and I have not seen you use one of these cathartic lynchings, so it could be much less severe than I make it sound)
For the social component... if you imagine the NPC as the jerk, and the players never know that.... then yeah, no difference. Just be careful with the small descriptions so your players don't catch on and think 'here we go again'. A GM's job is to help everyone have fun (which is why I suggested the LEAGUE OF JERKS one shot). Don't let it interfere with your responsibilities, and it is not that big a problem as a GM.
