WTF D&D?

[MageInBlack]

This thread took a weird turn from 2 hour morale dilemmas...to novelistic backstories...to subject matters broached in Lamentations of the Flame Princess games. I think I need to bail on this one.

[geneweigel]

Its a good question. How far is too far? And maybe thats why the "snow flakes" scared. Hanging out with associates/acquaintances/strangers to play a game and being inappropriate then adding a game session where someone does the opposite of what they call a "virtue signal" to make their evil character seem appropriate. Take for example the scene in YOUR HIGHNESS (2011) with the minotaur body part necklace. Its easily doable by any character. Is that too far?

I would say YES but it would depend on exactly the context any veer off into creepsville and it would be dealt with. I wouldn't put a standard operating procedure on how to deal with it.

[garhkal]

43 seconds of this crap was all I could take. Makes me feel uncomfortable at the table? How about inhaling a gust of chlorine gas from the Green Dragon that just laid it on me...? That kind of uncomfortable? Some people just can't do something as simple as play a fun game without making it into some kind of social drama.

I can think of a few things that would make me uncomfortable in a game. Role playing rape, for example. The thing is, no one I have ever played with in all my life has done something like that. I cannot imagine having so many things that make you uncomfortable that you need a freakin' system in place to take care of this.

I find it strange, i've often heard people USE that example as something that would make them uncomfortable, but NOT ONCE have i ever seen it in game. NO MATTER the game. Even as a bystander.

But anyway, I honestly don't want to play in a game with someone who is so messed up that they are uncomfortable or triggered by fantasy violence etc.. If you can't separate reality from the game, go get help, and get your ass and your head wired together. Come back when you are mentally in better shape.

That's not to say that I don't have sympathy for people dealing with bad situations, suffering depression, anxiety, or other problems. Just that maybe signing up for a stranger's game at a con, and expecting the DM to accommodate any number of psychological issues is asking too much, and frankly, the prospect of being made to deal with someone else's mental instability, in a public venue, during a game which is supposed to be relaxing and fun, makes me uncomfortable.

The CLOSEST i have heard of that, came from a thread i posted over on DF a while back.. Got an email from someone who lurked who like me, hits many conventions, and he regalled me of a great game he played in with lots of drow, driders and spiders. BUT one of the gals supposedly, freaked out at the descriptions, and had a panic attack.. cause IRL she (again this is supposedly) had a major phobia of spiders..

Rated "R" is the usual for me but I can go "PG" or "NC-17" depending on the crowd. I certainly never want to play "G". That would be too much to ask. Its just time to get politely ousted because dragons have teeth, guts and if need be they have private parts as well. Do you want to be bored in a rubberized world or do you want danger and invasive horror threatening and/or ruining everything? Without that unsettling force potential there is nothing. You are either a player who is a default hero(ine) or you're nothing. Its not SEDENTARIES & SIT-AROUNDS after all. If someone was acting mentally unstable or visibly upset there is no way I am going to continue but they are phased out from that point on.

Since i often DM at conventions, and thus can have kids (sometimes down to 7 or 8 yrs old) i DO often, tone down the descriptions for a "PG/G" crowd. BUT if its all adults, i ask, "would they like me to go the R rating for a module, or PG rating..

[Ratbreath]

I find it strange, i've often heard people USE that example as something that would make them uncomfortable, but NOT ONCE have i ever seen it in game. NO MATTER the game. Even as a bystander.

I actually have seen it as a bystander once back in the dorms. I forget the exact circumstances but I was briefly in a room where there was a game and one guy was either describing what he was going to do or what he imagined was going to be done to some woman. He was both gleeful and graphic.

[Juju EyeBall]

If you're trying to use DUNGEONS & DRAGONS to figure out how the real world works, you're going to have a bad time.

[EOTB]

If you have a rule summed up as:

"Don't game with fucking weirdos, or be skittish about excluding recent additions if/when their weirdness becomes obvious"

You don't need an X-card.

I swear, half of these conversations in the gaming community remind me of a group of people sitting around talking about cooking methods for questionable meat so you can still eat it and maybe not get sick.

[Flambeaux]

I actually have seen it as a bystander once back in the dorms. I forget the exact circumstances but I was briefly in a room where there was a game and one guy was either describing what he was going to do or what he imagined was going to be done to some woman. He was both gleeful and graphic.

I was at a con a few years ago and one of the players, who was VERY drunk, insisted that an NPC be violated. Several of us thought he was joking, however disgusting, and pushed back gently. When it was clear he wasn't joking several of us pushed back hard until he left the table. It was weird and awkward and disgusting. But we dealt with it. No one needed trigger warnings or safe spaces. And the DM didn't even have to intervene. We handled it in character until it was clear the problem was out of character and then we did what was necessary to resolve the conflict without violence.

[geneweigel]

In the case of the drunk, I completely agree case by case and see if it can be dealt with. Honestly? That is the one trigger that has to be dealt with when someone is hanging on to sobriety its better to placate and shut them down. Imagine a slobbering drunk seeing someone pressing an x card ? Heh!

[TRP]

/me raises X card
"Whiny bitches trigger my anger management issues, and I'm already on probation. Now, can we just go circumvent some traps, solve puzzles, kill shit and maybe get rich, or die trying?"

[geneweigel]

We can look at all of this as a cry for help just another part of an underlying desire to fix "new D&D" because its just not that original Coke taste which we're all familiar with at this point. So I would gladly "rehab" all these people to the "fine dining" that is classic AD&D...

What they need is content and thats really the cause of dicking around in D&D. I've looked at some 5th edition adventures and there wasn't a lot to do but put off the encounters with some talking. D&D has been like that for so long I can imagine playing chess in the middle of a D&D game these days.

[TRP]

... I can imagine playing chess in the middle of a D&D game these days.

threadjack (quote, reminisce)

In one of our bitd campaigns, we somehow got polymorphed into snits and teleported into a bolotomus. Yep, we had to win Snit's Revenge to get out. Not exactly chess though. I don't recall any X cards employed.

[T. Foster]

2/3 of Allen Hammack’s published AD&D modules (C2?and I9) include chess games, as does Gary’s own EX2 (while Necropolis includes a senet game, which is pretty close). I’d say that mixing chess into your D&D is actually a pretty strong Gygaxian trope.

Did Gene maybe typo “can” where you meant “can’t”?

[PapersAndPaychecks]

This whole thread is giving me a severe case of facepalm.

[geneweigel]

2/3 of Allen Hammack’s published AD&D modules (C2?and I9) include chess games, as does Gary’s own EX2 (while Necropolis includes a senet game, which is pretty close). I’d say that mixing chess into your D&D is actually a pretty strong Gygaxian trope.

Did Gene maybe typo “can” where you meant “can’t”?

I think since I prefer chess anytime it came to mind but a literal pausing the game to have an in-game game of something (fill-in-the-blank) while everyone waits sort of thing. I agree, perhaps it is a bad example using chess. An in-game 4 hour tiddlywinks duel?

[geneweigel]

This whole thread is giving me a severe case of facepalm.

Sorry, just compulsory replies at this point.