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Author Topic: What exactly are the Most Offensive RPG features, subjects, tropes, mechanics, etc.  (Read 14815 times)

Razor 007

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What are the big no-nos, if any?
I need you to roll a perception check.....

Catelf

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I guess the lack of responses means that there are no no-nos?
Especially not nowadays, and not on this site .... except criticizing others playstyles, that is.
:cool:
I may not dislike D&D any longer, but I still dislike the Chaos-Lawful/Evil-Good alignment system, as well as the level system.
;)
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ElBorak

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For me the no-nos would be all of the stuff that the SJW crowd wants to insert into the game while removing all the things that make it fun.

Oh and I can also do without the shark jumping so-called "art" you see so much nowadays. No one needs a sword that is wider than their own body.

HappyDaze

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Any game that makes equipping a starting character take far more time than all other aspects of character creation is a big no-no for me. Shadowrun has long been an example of this, and it keeps getting worse.

Opaopajr

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Huh, I was not going to reply, but yeah... itemized-tax-form char-gen is an obscenity I would rather not see. :cool:
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You know, people keep comparing non-TSR D&D to deck-building in Magic: the Gathering. But maybe it's more like Katamari Damacy. You keep sticking shit on your characters until they are big enough to be a star.
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Lychee of the Exchequer

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There aren't any offensive subjects in RPGs per se.

But some RPGs and supplements reveal their authors and readers to be deconstructionists intent on bringing down Western civilisation, consciously or otherwise.

One pet peeve of mine though is graphic artists unable to grasp the basics of human anatomy (Wayne Reynolds, for example). There is a whole slew of mediocre or failing illustrators who can't draw according to my admittedly exacting standards. They think they can, but they really don't - I attribute it to the demerits of a botched or non-existent classical education, i.e they haven't sufficiently studied pre-20th century art.

Regarding mechanics, any system sufficiently complex for taking me long hours to create NPCs as a GM will get a pass from me (I'm looking sideways at you, Pathfinder 1 and 2).

Lychee of the Exchequer

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One corollary of excessively complex rules: if I need a computer application to play an RPG, that is an RPG that I won't play with.

RPGs are meant to be analog.

Omega

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Quote from: Lychee of the Exchequer;1112672
One corollary of excessively complex rules: if I need a computer application to play an RPG, that is an RPG that I won't play with.

RPGs are meant to be analog.

Sadly theres a growing push for app dependant board games now. Apparently because board gamers are too stupid or lazy to read the rules. And of course if you discontinue the app. The games useless now and you'll have to rebuy the game in a few years as 2.0. horray. Not.

Example I passed on the new Mansions of Madness as it requires an app to play. And the game is unplayable without it. Theres a resistance to this. But as more of these things come out its looking less and less likely to end unless theres a major failure or big refusal to buy. And cult of the new will buy it just because.

Stephen Tannhauser

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Not directly offensive, but any game that requires you to get into a controversial or divisive headspace in order to work I would consider to be difficult, even if I agreed with the headspace in question. It's the right of a game designer to proselytize if he wants but the audience's enjoyment should come first.
Better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. -- Mark Twain

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HappyDaze

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Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser;1112679
Not directly offensive, but any game that requires you to get into a controversial or divisive headspace in order to work I would consider to be difficult, even if I agreed with the headspace in question. It's the right of a game designer to proselytize if he wants but the audience's enjoyment should come first.

Would this include Eclipse Phase where anyone that is not an anarcho-communist is a varying shade of wrong?

David Johansen

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Races ae controversial because they're clearly a thinly veiled justification for racism and stereotyping.
Character sheets with a space for sex or gender are controversial because there are six billion genders and you are submitting to cultural bias.
Alignments are controversial because democrats believe everyone is good and republicans believe everyone is evil
Attributes are controversial because they imply all men are not created equal.
Random character creation is controversial for the same reason.
Points buy character creation is controversial because that kind of entitlement automatically creates bias.
Combat is controversial because playing violent games causes murder.
Character death is controversial because it causes suicide.
Magic is controversial because it's disrespectful to Wiccans.
Equipment is controversial because all property belongs to the estate, even imaginary property.
Random encounters are controversial because a good story is preplanned and unchangeable.
History is controversial because we have always been at war with Eastasia.
Psionics are controversial because the government doesn't want people to know their secret agents can read minds.
Superheroes are controversial because they are clearly fascist ubermensch.
Heroes are controversial because they are the mark of childish stories and can never be literature.
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nope

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Quote from: David Johansen;1112683
Races ae controversial because they're clearly a thinly veiled justification for racism and stereotyping.
Character sheets with a space for sex or gender are controversial because there are six billion genders and you are submitting to cultural bias.
Alignments are controversial because democrats believe everyone is good and republicans believe everyone is evil
Attributes are controversial because they imply all men are not created equal.
Random character creation is controversial for the same reason.
Points buy character creation is controversial because that kind of entitlement automatically creates bias.
Combat is controversial because playing violent games causes murder.
Character death is controversial because it causes suicide.
Magic is controversial because it's disrespectful to Wiccans.
Equipment is controversial because all property belongs to the estate, even imaginary property.
Random encounters are controversial because a good story is preplanned and unchangeable.
History is controversial because we have always been at war with Eastasia.
Psionics are controversial because the government doesn't want people to know their secret agents can read minds.
Superheroes are controversial because they are clearly fascist ubermensch.
Heroes are controversial because they are the mark of childish stories and can never be literature.


Too true! I've even read firsthand testimony from GameDaddy that Maid RPG precipitates child rape cults! :eek:

Let's get those burn piles going for all these dangerous books! :p

insubordinate polyhedral

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Quote from: Opaopajr;1112667
Huh, I was not going to reply, but yeah... itemized-tax-form char-gen is an obscenity I would rather not see. :cool:


Excuse me, sir, this is an audit from the Internal Treasurevenue Service. You seem to have forgotten to declare that magical sword that you acquired in the dungeons of the sunken temple last year.

And obviously you didn't craft it because 5e's crafting system sucks. :D

Brad

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Probably any sort of mechanic that gives the players the ability to veto GM fiat. That's not an RPG. It's like saying if all the players on a baseball team think it's a ball, and the umpire calls a strike, it's a ball; completely undermines the position of a referee.
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

Catelf

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Quote from: Omega;1112678
Sadly theres a growing push for app dependant board games now. Apparently because board gamers are too stupid or lazy to read the rules. And of course if you discontinue the app. The games useless now and you'll have to rebuy the game in a few years as 2.0. horray. Not.

Example I passed on the new Mansions of Madness as it requires an app to play. And the game is unplayable without it. Theres a resistance to this. But as more of these things come out its looking less and less likely to end unless theres a major failure or big refusal to buy. And cult of the new will buy it just because.

I bought the new Mansions of Madness boardgame for the miniatures ...
It isn't totally unplayable without it, but you DO have to do all the GM-work for it, as that is exactly what the app seem to do, from the description in the rules.
Sure, there is the thing that the app also tell the target number for combat rolls etc, but the monsters stats are noted on the cards in the actual game, soooo.....

But, i agree with your criticizm, even though i think the so-called "legacy games" are far worse atrocities when it comes to wasteful handling of material.
("Legacy games" boasts with that "No Game is ever the same, Literally!" because it has packs of cards that you do not unpack until later ... and because you are supposed to physically tear up cards as you play, as well!, and that might even be true for sections of rules and/or the gameboard and/or varying tokens ....
...
When all that could be done with GM-styled preparation instead of destroying actual set pieces !

EDIT:
Essentially, they seem to introduce GM-like things, without actually using a GM !
« Last Edit: November 01, 2019, 11:19:37 AM by Catelf »
I may not dislike D&D any longer, but I still dislike the Chaos-Lawful/Evil-Good alignment system, as well as the level system.
;)
________________________________________

Link to my wip Ferals 0.8 unfinished but playable on pdf on MediaFire for free download here :
https://www.mediafire.com/?0bwq41g438u939q