It's not Friday, but I'll won't be making a entry then as my time will likely be taken by all sorts of cool family stuff. Given that, I decided to move up my Friday rant by a day and close out my week of blogging.
G. Kinslayer is a common guest blogger over on Unclebear's blog, and I'm afraid he's dragging down what used to be a great site. So much so, that I've dropped my link to it. I like Unclebear, and think greatly of him, but between his love of Salvage Worlds (boring IMO) and his current choices of guest bloggers- there just not much of interest to me there anymore. And my blog list reflect more what I want to read than anything else.
The straw that broke the humped beast of burden's back wasn't really all that major by itself. It's just part of a trend not only of the guest blogger, but of the hobby as a whole. It's about torture devices, nicely detailing out how they are made and what they do.
The question is why? What does this speak for and to? What type of game would need this detail, and what type of players require it? How would it be used? Coming on the heels of a previous series of posts by the same author about screwing the players, I don't think I really want the author's answer to those questions.
I guess it may be useful if you're playing SAW the rpg or something.
Not that I think much of that idea. What drives a section of the hobby towards such subject matter? My first thought is that it's related to the same drives behind Torture Porn in movies. Thus the title I picked for the article, a type of voyerurism related to the worst elements of mankind.
Whatever the case, I have no desire to take my fantasy games to such places. And I think it says something sad about those who do, and the hobby where it's become so accepted.
Posts
Brynn’s Saga
1 day ago
9 comments:
It takes all types to make the world go round, and when you get into the realm of fantasy, people start accessing wish fulfillment parts of their brain, and that can get a little bit messy
I can see torture devices as a indicator. You enter a room and see a rack, you know bad stuff is happening. Beyond that,it makes me a little uncomfortable too.
I think creepy is a better term than messy.
People's fantasies are people's fantasies. And that's fine. But it used to be the case that people would keep the creepy ones to themselves. It's a pity we've lost that.
What's sad is the Unclebears says this stuff is popular with his readers. And that is just sad.
I'm kinda with you, the kinslayer posts lack context and I don't have any interest in them either.
@satyre: I'm removing your post, not due to your disagreement, but due to your included link. This blog is about rpgs, and other than the two offsite (and uncommented on) links I have to the right- there'll be no politics here. My site, my rules.
With respect to your disagreement on having detailed torture in rpgs...
I find it interesting that most of those who insist on wallowing in filth claim they do it for only the most moral reasons (i.e. raising awareness). What does it say about a person that they can only oppose something by doing it themselves- in great and loving detail?
Jaded is perhaps the least one could say.
Hypocritical is more likely IMO.
Or at best, so overfocused on their 'cause' that they don't realize they've become completely counter-productive.
Whatever the case, it strikes me as worse that just being a fan of torture porn- the justification is sickening.
Wallow in filth? Moral reasons?
Perhaps I'm not reading you right here, are you actually saying that you completely condemn any sort of torture or morally grey/hot-button issues in Role Playing? Because that's the vibe I'm getting.
@Helmsman: The response was to satyre, who was justifying the fixation and in depth description of torture (wallowing in filth) by saying it was all about fighting evil (moral reasons).
Something of pity that he put a political link in it. His post was a wonderful example of that mindset.
For some reason, it didn't leave a pointer saying I deleted his post. I'll have to check into way as I thought that was default behavior for the software on this site...
I personally try to explore all aspects of storytelling, though usually as a GM I'm a bit light-handed to be dishing out torture, I don't shy away from it if the story warrants it. I will admit that one of my regular GM's frequently uses torture, rape or whatever to tell her stories and though they're extreme stories, they're always very compelling.
@Helmsman: I think your regular GM is likely too heavily handed for my taste, especially if she goes into great detail and drags the PCs directly into such events.
There is something sick about spending so much time on such things, and finding them compelling isn't to my mind a healthy reaction.
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