| From: | Cybertroll cybertroll@******.crosswinds.net |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Shadowrun and Butality (WAS: Getting nasty to your PCs) |
| Date: | Wed, 01 Sep 1999 05:29:18 +0300 |
few comments here....
First of all, RPG games (and especially SR which is a violent game) are
supposed to be played by mature people. I never agreed with the 10 years
old and up rule in most of RPG game books. RPG games deal a lot with
death and brutality. Especially SR which is a darker version of our
world. Look at the characters we are playing. We are not heroes. We are
criminals. In the last session my Troll character actually killed 15
Aztlan soldiers in no time. Even if I am fighting against Aztlan
opression in Amazonia (that's our campaign) which is somekind of a noble
cause, I still had to murder 15 innocent soldiers who had no idea about
what's going on. I didn't kill monsters, I killed human beings.
In the world of Shadowrun there is no such thing as censorship in the
scenes described. It's a world full of criminality and filth. People are
raised in the gutter. Runners are people that tried to escaped from the
gutter by enforcing the law of the jungle. The mighty will survive. When
one walks in the streets of Seattle, he will see crimes happening all
the time. Murders, robberies, rapes... he will see people wasted by
drugs... he will see people leaving next to the garbage just because
they are homeless... reminds you of something? At least where I live in
Athens (Greece) seeing people dying from drugs in the subways is not a
very rare sight. Why try to cover those scenes?
I don't understand why some people are against describing rape scenes
in an RPG game. Aren't these things happen in real life? If the group is
mature enough to handle it (at least 18 and over) then why try to avoid
such things?
I am not sick, nor do I enjoy rapes or murders. And I still insist on
the fact that RPG is only a game. But as a GM I try to make my players
feel like they are living in such a dark world (which is not much
different than the one we are living now anyway). And the most important
thing is, that I try to make them feel really what crime and brutality
is. To get a small taste of real world. Cause heroes and noble causes
maybe true in our world, but most of the times, are achieved through
many dirty acts, especially in a battle or war. Let's face it, our
characters are not saints. They are criminals. My troll is a criminal.
Your mage is a criminal. Your rigger, decker, whatever is a criminal. If
u don't feel confortable, better stop playing this game to protect
yourself. SR can damage your soul more than you can imagine, if you
cannot handle violence.
Cybertroll
PS: this rant doesn't apply only to Shadowrun actually. It is almost for
all RPG games. And as I said RPG games require a certain maturity to be
played. If u lack such maturity and understanding of our world, leave
RPGs alone for your own good. And if someone asks me if RPG games are
dangerous, I will reply to him: "Yes they are if a player doesn't have
the maturity to ditinguish reality from fantasy".
--
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