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Old 10-22-2018, 09:02 PM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Killing Slavers

In your games, how do your players deal with slavers in societies where slavery is legal? Do they accept them as a necessary evil and/or engage in the slave trade through buying and/or selling slaves? Do they ignore them and/or avoid participating in the slave trade? Or do they activate hunt them down and murder them and, in the process, liberate their slaves and/or take them to safety?

Last edited by Andrew Hackard; 10-22-2018 at 11:46 PM. Reason: Text removed for political content.
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Old 10-22-2018, 09:33 PM   #2
evileeyore
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

Depends on the Characters.
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Old 10-22-2018, 10:04 PM   #3
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

Doesn't come up terribly often. Usually when I want opposition that is Obviously Evil I want something more over the top than simple slavers (e.g. my kobolds are slavers, but they also eat babies), and if I want Moral Dilemma it calls for something more nuanced than simple slavery (if slavery is involved at all, it probably targets things that are actually explicitly less than human in some important way).
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Old 10-22-2018, 10:25 PM   #4
sjard
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

<Moderator>
Keep this thread very carefully on game only related aspects of the topic please.

This topic has the potential to wander sharply into real world politics that are prohibited on these forums.

Thank you.
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Old 10-22-2018, 10:46 PM   #5
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
... if I want Moral Dilemma it calls for something more nuanced than simple slavery (if slavery is involved at all, it probably targets things that are actually explicitly less than human in some important way).
What do you consider to be "less than human"?

I've a Troll Witch in a game who'd be quite upset that "not Human" can make slavery into a "nuanced" position. ;)
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:05 PM   #6
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What do you consider to be "less than human"?
Depends on the dilemma I want to pose? Usually it's things that don't have wants, want to serve people (robots can be either of the above), or if left to themselves will be evil or destructive.
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:06 PM   #7
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

This issue is similar to running a game set in 1920's America where racism is rampant. You either discuss these sorts of things with your players in advance and lay out expectations from players and GM or you run the serious risk of, at best derailing a campaign and at worst having the players leave your game out of disgust.
I'm sure there are simulation style players that want to explore the issues brought up above but in most cases if you put a traditionally inflammatory situation in your game unannounced be prepared for some friction.
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Old 10-23-2018, 01:27 AM   #8
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

In a Transhuman Space campaign, I played a former indentured bioroid (by then uploaded) who also owned another indentured bioroid (this made sense due to the PC's views on indenture and the benefits of existing). I was hoping to spark some interesting interactions, but other PCs seemed to barely pay any attention to the social nuances of the situation, even those from cultures where this wasn't seen as normal. Suffice it to say, nobody tried to kill my PC for this.
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Old 10-23-2018, 02:43 AM   #9
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
In your games, how do your players deal with slavers in societies where slavery is legal? Do they accept them as a necessary evil and/or engage in the slave trade through buying and/or selling slaves? Do they ignore them and/or avoid participating in the slave trade? Or do they activate hunt them down and murder them and, in the process, liberate their slaves and/or take them to safety?
I have to ask why they would attack the slavers any more than they would murder and rob any other merchant? If they play people from a society where slavery is legal then ... well, it's possible for them to have arrived at an anti-slavery position, but they'd need to explain to me very carefully how their character became so massively alienated from his own culture.
Playing hostile foreigners of course, is a different matter, in which case raiding a slave owning state and cutting the slaves loose is entirely congruent, in the same way that burning homes and stealing property and livestock would be - and if slavery is a bone of contention between the nations then so much more congruence.
Basically, if it doesn't depend on the setting, there's something up with your players.
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Old 10-23-2018, 06:33 AM   #10
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Default Re: Killing Slavers

Societies where slavery is legal or societies where it is socially acceptable? Those are two very different things.

In the Chronicles of Nitara (Modified DnD), the whole point of the campaign as that the titular Empire of Nitara is corrupt, evil, bureaucratic, autocratic, cruel, fascist, and mismanaged. One of the PCs owned a handful of halfling slaves to staff his tavern, which in turn was a front for one of the many competing assassin guilds in the city. The party Face was technically a kidnapping victim forced to assist in missions, so arguably enslaved by the rest of the party, but she was all too happy to help out.

In King of the Hill, we were playing Seers of the Throne in Mage the Awakening. Our patron was the Lord of Mammon (the department of making everything a commodity to be bought and sold; replacing human cares and emotions with soulless capitalism and mindless consumption to keep the mortals from unlocking their magical powers). We bought several party members from them, as well as a wide range of assets. Granted, the transaction was more like buying a football player than traditional slavery. It's very easy to start thinking of the mortals as unimportant pawns in World of Darkness games, and we were playing chess masters.

In Divided We Stand (GURPS AtE where a magical invasion got nuked, doing weird things to the environment and manasphere alike), the players were part of a militia dedicated to rebuilding. They routinely killed slavers and relocated the slaves to friendly villages. On the other hand, they were far more diplomatic about it when dealing with the Roman Empire (a reenactment group which had the skills to thrive in the apocalypse), who's multiple thousand strong legions could probably crush their 100 man militia like bug if they annoyed them. Legality doesn't really come into it in After the End, but might makes right.

In the games I run, slavery is never casually included in the setting. Either I'm running an evil campaign (which can be a lot of fun), or it's included to provoke a reaction from my players. Slaver gangs in AtE are included to provide a chance for the players to feel like heroes when they rescue them, and was added to the Romans to expand on the cold war atmosphere between the two factions and to explore the themes of stability/safety vs freedom.
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