When I play or run, I try not to get too graphic, especially about sex; a simple cut away after a kiss or something classy; I'm very conscious of the fact that we have a diverse table with lots of players with different comfort levels, so PG13 seems a good description so as not to alienate anyone. I have a few friends in particular though that seem very into the more graphic stuff, a couple girls and a few guys in particular for clarity sake (so you guys don't think it's only the guys or girls). They seem to want a more debauched game, and often want me to include brothels, me to let them shack up with the NPC's, etcetera. One even runs a game more along those lines, where all the NPC's it seems are trying to shack up with my character. It's not really a problem per se, except that I don't really run or play like that; my GF plays with us (and is one of the worst offenders) so I definitely try to keep it classy; yet it seems like I'm always being subtly pushed to play like that. I honestly don't know what to say anymore, and definitely don't want to bring it up to make the people feel self-conscious about it. Does this happen a lot and I'm just the stick in the mud? I'm definitely the minority in my group, but it seems a little weird to me. So what do you guys think? What is your table's comfort level in this regard?
Thanks Pan, sorry I haven't been on the forums lately and didn't know the topic was already addressed. I'll keep this one up to though just to see how people see it and to respond to comments.
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Its ok I thnk your topic is very similar yet also different enough. I just posted the link because there might be some good reads for you in the "ick" thread.
I have two groups that tend to have pretty disparate styles. Group 1 is really into adventure/story/heroics. These guys are really into overarching plots and interesting adventures. They tend to prefer an indy jones style gamew here gore is pretty minimal and romance is a passing moment not something dwelled on. Action/adventure/story rules this table.
Group 2 is beer and pretzels. These guys are really into building characters and getting into fights. Thats tempered some with a few of us "plot" guys. These folks love gore and mature themes and joking around. In fact, one member of group 1 crossed over for a few motnhs but ended up stepping out because of playstyle differences. (we had one guy who has a problem tossing the word "gay" around in derogatory manner. The group has since come to a point we sternly told him "enough is enough" even for beer and pretzels we have our limit.)
I tend to be a bit of a chamleon so I adapt to whatever the group becomes comfortable with. I dont neccesarily have a preference but I do like variety hence two gaming groups.
Yeah that thread had some great parallels that were interesting; honestly I didn't put much thought into the violence/horror topic, I run horror theme games from time to time and love horror elements. That said, I tend to like more nuanced horror such as Japanese horror as opposed to the grindhouse tropes in western culture. It honestly made me feel a little more normal knowing a lot of people are the "fade to black" types as opposed to the graphic mature games; I'm still the minority in my group though, and the rest seem to enjoy it immensely. I hesitate to even bring it up to them so as not to make them self conscious about themselves, because it's just me. The game that we played recently felt like playing the hangover movie, which although funny, was pretty weird to me. I tried to gauge my GF's opinion on it (mind you, she's one of the more graphic ones) and she was like "that was soo amazing! My favorite game I ever played."; which kind of shut me up.
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I like to put horror themes in my games, usually a "classy horror" but then I love to cut in with a particularly brutal and graphic scene. Shakes everyone up.
Also knight of cerebus syndrome is a very good thing to use.
As for violence, depends. I used to default to horrifyingly graphic descriptions of fights, but as I get older, it sort of feels like cheapening so I use horrid, graphic descriptions only on worthwhile blows (large crits, killing blows and spells).