In my case, this is mostly focused on superhero and similar setting any modern era games (or near future like cyberpunk and early transhumanist) have you employed current issues as inspiration for scenrios and events? Has you team of high end mercs had to infiltrate NK or somewhere the middle east? Have you street level vigilantes had to deal with a school shooter or terrorist using a car or bombs (see the Netflix's Punisher for an excellent example of this, IMO). Does your game's dramatic or melodramatic moments ever touch on politics?

If so how did it turn out? If not, is it by deliberate choice or juat how things worked out?

Did a series of modern adventures using Beyond the Supernatural that dealt with investigating slave trade in the middle east and one of the PCs going undercover. The supernatural elements for that adventure were zero. Though the players did not know that and kept expecting some horror to be pulling the strings. But turned out to be good ol human greed.

I had a Vampire NPC do a Trump impersonation a couple times. First time was based on a one-off joke but I decided to bring it back the second time for the PC of the player who asked for a Trump mask (for a raid) in the first place.

After their second encounter with the NPC, that PC now has received a Mild Derangement... go figure.

Nope.  Cuz quite frankly, I game to escape real life bullshit.

More the other way around.  I deliberately avoid modern and near future games because of the tendency some people have to make them about nothing but their take on some real-life issue.

Yes.
And my players don't care;).

I have in the past. I would never do so today.

Too much fucktards would shit themselves if your take on their pet issue wasn't "right" and that opens political shitfests between players which only detracts from the game.

Quote from: CarlD.;1040039If so how did it turn out? If not, is it by deliberate choice or juat how things worked out?

Democrats get added in my games all the time. Paul Reiser played one in Aliens.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1040303I have in the past. I would never do so today.

Too much fucktards would shit themselves if your take on their pet issue wasn't "right" and that opens political shitfests between players which only detracts from the game.

I just don't play with people I'd call fucktards;).

Quote from: CarlD.;1040039In my case, this is mostly focused on superhero and similar setting any modern era games (or near future like cyberpunk and early transhumanist) have you employed current issues as inspiration for scenrios and events? Has you team of high end mercs had to infiltrate NK or somewhere the middle east? Have you street level vigilantes had to deal with a school shooter or terrorist using a car or bombs (see the Netflix's Punisher for an excellent example of this, IMO). Does your game's dramatic or melodramatic moments ever touch on politics?

If so how did it turn out? If not, is it by deliberate choice or juat how things worked out?

Absolutely.

I draw no distinction between fiction/reality when it comes to my modern/sci-fi games in terms of themes. In fact, real-world issues make *easier* fodder for gaming than making shit up on your own. Just be prepared to deal with the in-game consequences of such actions, which alone can greatly affect the tenor of your game (especially Superheroes). And if you do these things you should plan accordingly to maintain the integrity of the tone of your game.

Case in point - if a PC had near-Superman like levels of power, and decided to go All-American... consider if he went in and took out Saddam Hussein on his own. In real life our own governments didn't realize what those outcomes were going to be (though some people did and warned our various leaders but ultimately went unheeded). Consider how super-powered PC's would react to such an aftermath. Would they suddenly decide to lop the heads off of all the other factions that rose to fill the vaccuum. Their characters would become de-facto surrogates for the very quagmire we found ourselves in. Granted you might be able to resolve those issues more directly and succinctly - I doubt your PC's would be coming out of that feeling very heroic.

You might fill the scenario with something a little more on the nose - Saddam has a metahuman program and he's making his own band of metahumans (plotwist - *he* is one of them and leads them personally) and you take into account the potential vaccuum left behind with options to fill it with something beneficial. Or whatever.

If you're going for gritty realism - then yeah, nothing is off the table. I've used stories from serial-killers, gang-banging incidents I've witnessed or heard about second-hand, or from my father (he was a cop). Anything and everything is gaming fodder. And it turns out - exactly as he players make it turn out (or worse). LOL. I play the ball where it lands, especially for street-level cyberpunk stuff. For supers I will toss in various possible options (without too much foreshadowing - if the PC's don't pick up on it, then oh well.)

In a cyberpunk game my PC's got caught up in bank-robbery I modeled off of the North Hollywood Shootout in LA. And it ended in this huge three-way bloodbath where the PC's ended up killing the actual bankrobbers and several police and taking the loot. (and eventually were hunted down by the police later in the campaign).

Quote from: AsenRG;1040365I just don't play with people I'd call fucktards;).

I live in Los Angeles, one of America's fucktard epicenters and I run RPGs in public venues (cons, game days, FLGS etc).

Anyone can show to the table (and the vast majority are cool). However bringing real world politics into the game increases the probability of "triggering" someone looking to do their attention whore dance.

This evening I was getting coffee and reviewing a document when some team on the TV won some game and an idiot jumped about on tables and chairs screeching in patron's faces while his friend filmed him. For unknown reasons, it remains illegal to taser these people in the dick.

I play games to escape from real world political bullshit.

Excuse me, I have a question.  When did School Shootings become political?

After Columbine? But maybe I wasn't paying attention to the talking heads in the press after previous incidents.

The toxic combo of ubiquitous smartphones and social media has made everything political.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1040667After Columbine? But maybe I wasn't paying attention to the talking heads in the press after previous incidents.

The toxic combo of ubiquitous smartphones and social media has made everything political.

^This. Whenever I hear someone say 'Smartphones and social media are great. Everyone has a voice now.' I want to punch that moron in the face. Hard. Everyone doesn't need a voice. There are FAR too many stupid and ignorant people out there spewing nonsense, misinformation, and just utter bullshit for it to ever be a good thing.