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I am creating a new character. He’s a crass fighter with low Charisma. I’m not a person who uses offensive words on a regular basis, but as I was contemplating I realized that he would. Swear words, racial slurs, and generally being abrasive.
This brought me to a couple questions.
Is frequently swearing in character ok under the ‘don’t be a jerk’ rule in PFS? Perhaps with some forewarning.
Does anyone have some creative swear words or phrases that would be Golarion specific? In other words, offensive to someone on Golarion but do not really mean anything to people from Earth.
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I am creating a new character. He’s a crass fighter with low Charisma. I’m not a person who uses offensive words on a regular basis, but as I was contemplating I realized that he would. Swear words, racial slurs, and generally being abrasive.
This brought me to a couple questions.
Is frequently swearing in character ok under the ‘don’t be a jerk’ rule in PFS? Perhaps with some forewarning.
Does anyone have some creative swear words or phrases that would be Golarion specific? In other words, offensive to someone on Golarion but do not really mean anything to people from Earth.
Just don't be a jerk about it. :-)
Keep your racial slurs in the "fantasy race" realm, stick to taking the name of fictional deities in vain, and make sure your abrasiveness is directed at characters and not players.
You could probably watch some old Star Trek and adapt Dr. McCoy's "Vulcan" jokes to elves. Imply that halflings are lazy moochers, gnomes are weirdos, dwarves are greedy, etc. You could probably get some fantasy swear word inspiration by reading the write-ups for the gods.
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Ive heard someone on these boards use the word 'bastages', which I assume is his term for...a child with no father...
You could also use swear/deragatory terms from languages other than your native one or from countries other than your own.
Iirc, 'bloody' is basically the British equivelant of the word 'damm' in the US. (Yes, I know I misspelled it). While someone mgitht ake offense to you using the American version, I doubt they'd care, or even know, if you used the British version.
But like others have said, just dont be a jerk about it, keep it in character. And maybe tone it down around kids, cause parents tend to frown on that kind of stuff. :P
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You should definitely check out my all time favorite thread: SWEARING IN GOLARION.
I used to carry around a printed copy of my favorites to throw in at perfect PFS moments.
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Start making fun of other characters based on their classes - then you can be totally PC and offensive!
Call alchemists "Quaffer." Insist on calling all spell-casters "Wand-wiggler," regardless of actual class. "Sneak-thief," (Rogue) "*deity*'s Errand-runner," (cleric) "Baby-eater" (witch)... If you're feeling like making your character a super-jerk, pick on Oracles for their curses if you think the players will have a sense of humor about it.
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Seth is the only one to touch on it (that I saw in my brief skim...).
Joss Whedon ran a cult-classic tv show on network television. Yet he inserted many obscenities which were able to be aired. Because they were in Chinese. Things like "stupid inbred stack of meat" or "holy testicle Tuesday" and "the explosive diarrhea of an elephant" all got translated to Chinese and used in-'verse. I intend to use some of the phrases from the show when playing my Tien monk.
As for racial slurs, you're fortunate enough to play in Pathfinder Society. There are racial slurs everywhere! Even if First Steps III there is a woman who will talk down to various races (dwarves are filthy heathens, halflings are children, etc etc). My elf finds humans perplexing and observes them, questioning their illogical haphazard tendency to hasten when they should take it slow. Sort of sounds like a Vulcan, doesn't it?
And as Aberrant Templar said, Star Trek is a good thing to look back to. I'm going through Next Generation myself and there are great insults slung by Klingons who look down on all other species.
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Seth is the only one to touch on it (that I saw in my brief skim...).
Joss Whedon ran a cult-classic tv show on network television. Yet he inserted many obscenities which were able to be aired. Because they were in Chinese. Things like "stupid inbred stack of meat" or "holy testicle Tuesday" and "the explosive diarrhea of an elephant" all got translated to Chinese and used in-'verse. I intend to use some of the phrases from the show when playing my Tien monk.
If you would ccall it Firefly I would imagine most everyone would know what you are talking about. ;)
When I was talking about it in my post, I actually hadnt thought about how it was handled there. I have a Tien Alchemist...might have to re-watch that show again to see if I can pick up any of the phrases to use in character. Thanks for the great idea! :P
Farscape (e.g.: dren, frell, tralk, etc.) and Battlestar Galactica (frak, felgercarb, etc.) used made up swear words, so censoring was never an issue, in that regard. Like Firefly, it may be the best way to go.
Remember that some venues might not appreciate foul language, regardless of who's at the table. One of our local spots is in the back room of a comic shop that has quite a lot of kids with parents coming and going.
I would like to note that just because a character is "crass" and has a low charisma doesn't mean you need to play him as a racist, a crass fighter might place value on combat and not take race into consideration when pointing out others "weaknesses of character." A lot of historys most notorious racists, I would argue, also have the most charisma.
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Ive heard someone on these boards use the word 'bastages', which I assume is his term for...a child with no father...
Might've been me; I use the term occasionally. I can take no credit for coining it -- it comes from the silly 1980s gangster comedy movie, "Johnny Dangerously". One of the characters, Roman Maronie, has a thick (presumably Italian) accent, and swears profusely, but he always butchers the swear words. Among his gems:
- Bastages
- Farging iceholes
- Son-o-ma-batch
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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If it's not a table of people that I'm familiar with, I tend to ask at the start of the game "is it alright if I casually swear?" This generally gets a chuckle, and a communal, "no problem," kind of response.
I have, however, had people respond that certain word(s) offended him/her, and so those word(s) were avoided. I'm also happy to report that even other players at the table responded to such requests with maturity in not saying those word(s) as well, making everyone happy.
FLGS wise, my particular FLGS sounds like a biker bar some days. Whenever small children pop in, someone gets everyone else's attention, gestures at the little one, and we all dial it back until the child is back out the door.
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I haven’t decided just how crass or racist this character is. I have a couple of other characters that have low charisma for entirely different reasons. I’m trying something new with this guy. You could say I’m trying to push my RP boundaries.
Some things I like from this thread are calling casters “wiggly-fingers”, Elves as “pretty-boy”, Druids as “tree-hugger”, Clerics/Paladins as “errand-runner”, and Gnomes as “knife-ears”. I’m also thinking of calling Halflings “Squishy”, from his background as a cadge fighter in Cheliax. Where dose “Slips” come from?
I was also thinking of taking a couple of tips from the thread Mazlith linked to, like “It’s dirtier than Urgathoa’s toes in here!”, “You’re so ugly, even Erastil wants you to stay single.”, “Wow, you’re prettier than Calistria’s tatas!”, and “You’re wound up tighter than Iomedae’s chastity belt!”
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Well.....I have always been fond of referring to Andorans as "rebel scum" when I have been playing a Chelaxian. Oh also as a Chelaxian, ( it was mentioned up thread ) calling halflings slips " Oh how delightful we have a slip on the expedition" or " Slip, would you be so kind as to stow my luggage" or after a halfling rogue has opened a lock "now that was very well done...for a slip"
Oh this is another one that will get an Andoran's upset.....Refer to their State as a "quaint little 40 year old experiment in democracy......Oh no we Chelaxians are not worried....we simply are waiting for your government to be devoured by the mob. Look at Galt"
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Two things.
1) By all means watch yourself. We've a 9 year old at the table and try* to be on our best behaviour. Thouch I will admit in an evil streak when I sat down and she said people had been saying 'potty words' earlier I did ask her what they were. She didn't fall for it. :-)
2) A little bit of racism goes a long way. When I ran Rise of the goblin guild, there was a Halfling in the party. By having the Magnamarian office he had to deal with call him a 'slip' and look down at him (easy for me, since I'm an ogre). I was able to get across how halflings were viewed, w/o being a Richard about it. (I've also played as a player with the player, so he knows it's not personal.)
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Swearing and Age
As father of two kids 9 and 12 - I sometimes seem to have different opinions what is okay or isn't. So let's look at the following list of insults.
Goatish dread bolted flirt-gill
Fawning dismal dreaming gudgeon
Fusty lily-livered harpy!
Beslubbering clapper-clawed gudgeon
Onion-eyed blind-worm
Pribbling motley-eyed miscreant
Whining mammet
Green-sickness carrion!
Filthy bung!
Freckled whelp hag-born!
Fobbing boil-brained bladder!
All in all I have here a list of 40 such insults. Would I have problems any of these being used at the gaming table?
Well - off course not. This isn't swearing - this is culture !!!!
My 9 year old daughter brought them back from primary school today. Apparently these are Shakesparian insults. How bad can it be at the games take if this is what they bring back from school ...
I just thought I share - and sorry not to share them all. Too much work to type them in.
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I haven’t decided just how crass or racist this character is. I have a couple of other characters that have low charisma for entirely different reasons. I’m trying something new with this guy. You could say I’m trying to push my RP boundaries.
Some things I like from this thread are calling casters “wiggly-fingers”, Elves as “pretty-boy”, Druids as “tree-hugger”, Clerics/Paladins as “errand-runner”, and Gnomes as “knife-ears”. I’m also thinking of calling Halflings “Squishy”, from his background as a cadge fighter in Cheliax. Where dose “Slips” come from?
I was also thinking of taking a couple of tips from the thread Mazlith linked to, like “It’s dirtier than Urgathoa’s toes in here!”, “You’re so ugly, even Erastil wants you to stay single.”, “Wow, you’re prettier than Calistria’s tatas!”, and “You’re wound up tighter than Iomedae’s chastity belt!”
ThorGN I don't actually know what slip means, just that it is a derogatory term for halflings in Cheliax.
How about the classic "frak" from Battlestar Galactica?
I remember when the debates over fracking in Pennsylvania started a few months ago, I thought that the people opposed to it were being pointlessly prudish until I read up on the subject. ;)
I always liked the insults in Wilbur Smith's 'River God' that were essentially taking the Dark God Seth's name in vein. 'By Seth's Festering Scrotum!' and such get the point across fairly well.
In today’s modern Galaxy there is, of course, very little still held to be unspeakable. Many words and expressions which only a matter of decades ago were considered so distastefully explicit that were they merely to be breathed in public, the perpetrator would be shunned, barred from polite society, and, in extreme cases, shot through the lungs, are now thought to be very healthy and proper, and their use in everyday speech is seen as evidence of a well-adjusted, relaxed, and totally unf [bleep!] ked-up personality. So, for instance, when in a recent national speech, the financial minister of the Royal World Estate of Qualvista actually dared to say that due to one thing and another, and the fact that no one had made any food for awhile and the king seemed to have died, and that most of the population had been on holiday now for over three years, the economy had now arrived at what he called, “One whole juju-flop situation,” everyone was so pleased he felt able to come out and say it, that they quite failed to notice that their five-thousand-year-old civilisation had just collapsed overnight. But though even words like “juju-flop,” “swut,” and “turlingdrome” are now perfectly acceptable in common usage, there is one word that is still beyond the pale. The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one - where they don’t know what it means. That word is “Belgium” and it is only ever used by loose-tongued people like Zaphod Beeblebrox in situations of dire provocation.
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I've heard that Shadowrun supplies its own cuss-words, like, "Frag this drek".
Of course, with such a varied pantheon, there's always plenty of blasphemy to go around.
My Barbarian, who converted from Gorum to Cayden Calien, enrages with shouts of, "Cayden's Empty Mug!" or "By Gorum's Jagged, Rusty Crotch!"
Of course, despite the ease of calling someone a "spawn-of-the-Rough Beast", it's even worse to blashpeme the Good deities. If your character isn't used to harsh language, a shaky "forsaken by the Inheritor!" could be good for a laugh. Generally, you won't be a jerk if the other players and the GM find it hilarious. They'll get your intent.
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I don't think swearing is altogether a problem from what I've seen, but sexual crudity absolutely can be, even if you're playing with all-adults.
I've seen it turn players away from tables.
I don't think asking at the beginning of a game is enough; there's a lot of peer pressure to go with the flow, and you never know what to expect.
Err on the side of caution and play/GM responsibly.
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I don't think swearing is altogether a problem from what I've seen, but sexual crudity absolutely can be, even if you're playing with all-adults.
I've seen it turn players away from tables.
I don't think asking at the beginning of a game is enough; there's a lot of peer pressure to go with the flow, and you never know what to expect.
Err on the side of caution and play/GM responsibly.
+1, +1, +1 & +1 All good points.
Keep in mind that 'laughing uncomfortably' is not the same as being entertained. Especially if the person is swearing or being crude to get a rise THEY will be entertained, and assume others are as well(no matter how slight the 'laugh' may be) .I usually shake my head at a bad comment. I say something like 'not funny' or 'stop it' at the second comment. If it comes to the third (& it has-even at PFS) I will call the person out.
Please don't be afraid to ask someone to tone it down. Please be respectful if someone asks you to tone it down.
Everyone should be able to say what they want, but everyone should respect that others don't want to hear it.