What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in your

[Ragitsu]

Dark Champions games?

[Hawknight]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

While I've done some very graphic descriptions of murder, torture and general rip a body to shreds in my old DC games, I have never and would never describe a rape situation as it happens. Too creepy for me. Would have to just say "(Victim) was sexually assaulted" and leave it at that. Would never use that act or any part of it as a defining clue of who the bad guy is. Not even for Germ.

[matrix3]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

Yeah, never had an NPC raped, the closest was to have a bad guy wanted for previous sexual assaults, or an NPC call girl as a contact. Also, I have not and will not bring up child abuse of any kind (again, except for the possibility of someone having such a crime on his/her rap sheet, but even then I don't think I ever have). The closest I came was as a red herring when a young female NPC working with the group related such abuse as the reason she ran away from home. They turned out to be false memories implanted by a cult that recruited her.

[Alverant]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

I was in a fantasy hero campaign with a female character. Preceeding a barroom brawl, an orc/ogre/troll/whatever thing threatened to rape my character. That pretty much killed my interest (which already suffering from a serious case of bland-itis) in that campaign. There are some things that are off limits. Rape, abuse, vicious sadism, things along those lines. Clean up the language and have it happen off camera to generic NPCs. Don't even think of doing it to the PCs or NPCs close to them (for example don't have a character's mother be the victim of a serial rapist/murder who likes to torture his victims and you certainly don't have the character discover the body). These games are suppose to be fun and when you step over the player's boundaries it stops being fun. The "line" should be the tamest line in the group. If one player loves the Saw movie series and another player gets queasy watching CSI, stick to the second player's limits.

[SCUBA Hero]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

When I run *any* game, anything the player *really* doesn't want happening to his/her character is off-limits. For example, I once ran a Harn campaign where there was an attempted rape on a player character - BUT! - I approached the player before the game with the idea, assured her it would turn out okay, and got her permission to run the plotline; if she wasn't okay with the idea, then the scenario absolutely wouldn't have happened. [This also led to a great role-playing moment later when the attemped rapist was as helpless as he imagined his intended victim was earlier.. ]

 

I also ran a campaign where the father of an under-eighteen player and the player were both PCs... the father had absolute veto power over any proposed plotlines involving potentially "off-limits" subjects.

 

Bottom line, the game is supposed to be fun (overall) for the GM and players; otherwise, why play? Respect your players' boundaries, and demand the same respect in return (this works for both sides of the GM screen).

[Vondy]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

The only "dark champions" games I run are police procedural / hard boiled detective / noir crime games. It tens to be gritty and sometimes dark. Murder, torture, and rape are all potential lines of investigation. In the case of the latter two, I don't deal with them in medias res (see below). Instead, I describe them post-event in clinical language appropriate the the genre and via scenes-vehicles appropriate to the genre: coroner's comments during autopsy, doctor's comments, victim statement, police report. Graphic, but flat as a tombstone and matter of fact. As a rule, for all genres, I avoid rape involving player characters or significant recurring cast.

 

On one occassion, as a wrench for an undercover player character (played by a female) I had a rape scene. I fully expected the player to get creative to stop it and maintain her cover. She did nothing, which was uncomfortable. As a result I *never* do rape scenes in medias res. Ever. I also avoid torture involving those classes of characters unless the player specifically green-lights it for story purposes, which not surprisingly, has never happened. I have one interrogation scene (of an NPC) in my PBEM that involved chemical interrogation, light physical abuse, and intimidation. That's as rough as the description got and even that was unusual and only done to establish a character and give the player something to react to on a moral level.

 

In terms of things I don't handle at all: child abuse, especially abduction and molestation. I also don't do racism as a theme.Sex is always handled "dress hits floor," style scene-wise.

[tenebre]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

nothing really. as long as it fits the campaign. We ran an evil campaign and one of the PCs was a cannibalistic necrophiliac. Its all in good fun and jest. Of course i watch tons of exploitation cinema and find it hilarious. I never take games, even RPGs too seriously.

[Deadman]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

In our DC game there isn't a whole lot that is off limits. One difficulty I often find when creating scenarios is creating villains that are worse than the gun wielding psychopaths that are the PCs. While they are all heroically motivated that definition has to be somewhat stretched to encompass them. Our campaign is kind of a Batman/Punisher hybrid where super powers don't exist but we make extensive use of super-skills and dramatic license.

The Dark Champs game has become our longest running game and the players have all said that their PCs are among their favorite characters ever. I try to inject a lot of realism into the game and unfortunately there are some very twisted and evil people in our society. I stop short of actually describing some of the vile acts that take place but I have tormented my PCs brutally in the past. For example at the start of one session I handed all the players character sheets of someone close to them and then systematically played out the hit on that individual. This was mainly to instill hatred of the villains and make the game more personal. In a nutshell, it worked. Recently we had a PC die which I pre-scripted with the player but the look of shock on the other player's faces was priceless. In short my campaign is an extremely violent and twisted one with little off limits. Fortunately all of the players are mature adults and can handle the subject matter, we wouldn't do it otherwise.

[Gnaskar]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

In the one pure Dark Champions scenario I've run, there ended up being a near rape against a player character. I generally avoid sexual content completely (as I have a player who's uncomfortable about role playing such content), but in this case it turned out a tense and dramatic scene that had the players at the edge of their chairs. The player, a cute female hacker, had decided to scout out the bad guy's warehouse, in a rundown part of Moscow, on a Friday night. It should be stated that the player in question had a sniper covering her as well as a fully charged taser concealed in a pocket. Finding a group of drunk never-do-wells by the warehouse, who were obviously interested, and likely to "insist" if things went badly. After about half an hour of tense conversation, the player managed to get the Alpha Thug alone into the warehouse (which she had wanted to sneak into and explore in the first place), and tased him.

 

Otherwise, I don't do anything the players aren't comfortable with. We're all here to have fun

[Ragitsu]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

Admittedly, the maturity of your players is, ultimately, the deciding factor in what risqué themes get played out.

[dmjalund]

Re: What are some things , in terms of storytelling/plot, that are "off limits" in yo

 

In the one pure Dark Champions scenario I've run, there ended up being a near rape against a player character. I generally avoid sexual content completely (as I have a player who's uncomfortable about role playing such content), but in this case it turned out a tense and dramatic scene that had the players at the edge of their chairs. The player, a cute female hacker, had decided to scout out the bad guy's warehouse, in a rundown part of Moscow, on a Friday night. It should be stated that the player in question had a sniper covering her as well as a fully charged taser concealed in a pocket. Finding a group of drunk never-do-wells by the warehouse, who were obviously interested, and likely to "insist" if things went badly. After about half an hour of tense conversation, the player managed to get the Alpha Thug alone into the warehouse (which she had wanted to sneak into and explore in the first place), and tased him.

 

Otherwise, I don't do anything the players aren't comfortable with. We're all here to have fun

I think I saw this episode of Criminal Minds