Kenneth Hite is the lead designer for the new edition of Vampire

Steven Mitchell · June 23, 2017, 02:14:01 PM

People often seek heightened drama in their game situations that they would work very hard to avoid in any real life situation that was even remotely similar. Yeah, I know, exceptions. Just like there are people that want drama around them 24/7, there are people that really would prefer playing out the negotiated settlement with the nearby goblin colony, with an "acceptable" level of stealing, raiding, and a protocol for when the knives come out. They are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Dumarest · June 23, 2017, 02:14:11 PM

Clearly the real problem is that he's playing D&D when he could be playing The Fantasy Trip.

Baulderstone · June 23, 2017, 02:27:47 PM

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;970967People often seek heightened drama in their game situations that they would work very hard to avoid in any real life situation that was even remotely similar. Yeah, I know, exceptions. Just like there are people that want drama around them 24/7, there are people that really would prefer playing out the negotiated settlement with the nearby goblin colony, with an "acceptable" level of stealing, raiding, and a protocol for when the knives come out. They are the exceptions that prove the rule.

It is just about catharsis. We like danger and drama in our movies and TV because we can get the emotional release they provide at a safe remove. Even the dude that wants to engage in negotiations with the goblins is engaging in a dramatic version of what would be stressful in real life. We like to engage with heightened entertainments as break from our safe and quiet lives.

Simlasa · June 23, 2017, 02:59:26 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;970959Paizo makes no attempt at providing content ratings. I prefer to keep my violence at PG-13 or below. No gore, no rape, no nothing. It does not entertain me.

I've got little to no experience with Paizo's products. I know they're wildly popular.
Do they sell via OBS (which has an adult filter?
Has anyone pushed them to add content warnings?
Do reviews and summary descriptions not mention the bits that upset you?
Does it bother you despite the fact that you can add/drop/delete anything you want before running it?
Do you want them to offer sanitized versions ala what's being done with some Hollywood movies?

Dumarest · June 23, 2017, 03:01:45 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;970959Paizo makes no attempt at providing content ratings. I prefer to keep my violence at PG-13 or below. No gore, no rape, no nothing. It does not entertain me.

So write a letter to Paizo complaining and then boycott them when they decline to label their products as if the audience was made up of preteens.

Simlasa · June 23, 2017, 03:06:55 PM

Quote from: Baulderstone;970963"The Whisperer in Darkness" is another ambiguous one. Maybe the Mi-go really are selling a transhuman utopia. The shelved, dusty braincases suggest maybe they aren't, but perhaps they are just waiting to get back to Yuggoth to get them properly plugged in.

'In the Walls of Eryx' is a later tale and non-Mythos scifi but it has a a similar shift as 'Innsmouth' when the narrator at the end comes to realize his blind prejudice and crimes against the natives.
Lovecraft was a bit more complex than some like to allow.

Quote from: Baulderstone;970975It is just about catharsis. We like danger and drama in our movies and TV because we can get the emotional release they provide at a safe remove.

Which extends to some people, women and men, having rape fantasies that they enjoy acting out with trusted partners. Still make-believe and still OK between consenting adults IMO.

tenbones · June 23, 2017, 04:05:37 PM

Where do rot-grubs burrowing into humanoids, where they meet, fall in love and lay their eggs, fall into the rape-murder spectrum of outrage?

san dee jota · June 23, 2017, 04:15:34 PM

Quote from: tenbones;971012Where do rot-grubs burrowing into humanoids, where they meet, fall in love and lay their eggs, fall into the rape-murder spectrum of outrage?

You had my outrage at "rot-grubs". Gyah! Those are nasty by any measure you want to use.

Nexus · June 23, 2017, 05:39:05 PM

Quote from: Simlasa;970996
Which extends to some people, women and men, having rape fantasies that they enjoy acting out with trusted partners. Still make-believe and still OK between consenting adults IMO.[/QUOTEOne of the two times rape came up directly in a game I was running the person playing the character (a woman) refused my offer to have her character saved by a deus ex machina or give her a do over. She felt it would ruin the sense of consequence and accountability. The character had made several bad choices and this was the logical result. So it not always a fetish issue, in this case it was her desire for verisimilitude and accountability and she felt it was make for interesting rp handling how the PC dealt with it.

TrippyHippy · June 23, 2017, 05:40:46 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;970891Fantasy roleplaying is typically crime fantasy. You are breaking into people's homes to murder them and loot their possessions. Endless hobgoblin holocaust without pretense. Of course I would want to sanitize that.

Then are you not encouraging impressionable minds to think that this sort of behaviour has no consequence or impact?

crkrueger · June 23, 2017, 07:50:57 PM

Quote from: tenbones;971012Where do rot-grubs burrowing into humanoids, where they meet, fall in love and lay their eggs, fall into the rape-murder spectrum of outrage?

I thought Rot Grubs represented White European Colonialism.

Armchair Gamer · June 23, 2017, 08:29:29 PM

Quote from: CRKrueger;971054I thought Rot Grubs represented White European Colonialism.

Don't give them ideas.

GameDaddy · June 23, 2017, 09:31:02 PM

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;970896I wouldn't call criminal behavior a driving force in RPGs, but violence and crime are definitely part of the landscape. Violence in entertainment is exciting. I'm fine with games with mechanics that emphasize other types of confrontation or eschew violence in general, but when people start talking about 'why do so many games encourage violence' or get entertain ideas like eliminating violence from RPGs will eliminate violence in the real world, I think that is a misguided view.

I doubt eliminating violence in RPGs will eliminate violence in the real world. I just don't see the need for RPGs to emulate the real world, especially with a focus on sex and violence. RPGs should encompass or cover much much more than that, and to focus on that exclusively, is well, unhealthy.

Also, ...concerning triggering the GameDaddy. I wrote one post and received four pages of flames as a response. Who is triggered now??? Hahahahah...

GameDaddy · June 23, 2017, 09:34:28 PM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;970908I do not believe in eliminating violence. Violent media does not cause violence in real life. Consuming violent media does not desensitize you if you experience real violence. I would like to have the explicit option of gaining XP for solving problems at all, regardless of whether violence was involved.

Why yes, Violent Media does cause additional violence in real life. See also;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XN2X72jrFk

Nexus · June 23, 2017, 09:34:56 PM

Quote from: GameDaddy;971063I doubt eliminating violence in RPGs will eliminate violence in the real world. I just don't see the need for RPGs to emulate the real world, especially with a focus on sex and violence. RPGs should encompass or cover much much more than that, and to focus on that exclusively, is well, unhealthy.

Also, ...concerning triggering the GameDaddy. I wrote one post and received four pages of flames as a response. Who is triggered now??? Hahahahah...

Who was talking about rpgs focusing exclusively on sex and violence?