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Old 10-20-2018, 08:14 AM   #11
ericthered
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
So what do you do when they violate the ban?
Its a soft ban, not a hard ban. Its entirely possible for kids to get hurt in genre in a maturely handled manner. If its not handled well, and it causes an issue, the GM (myself) and possibly a few of the players will discuss the issue with them. If they say sorry and promise not to do it again (and have a track record that doesn't contradict that statement), we move on, and the past is the past. I also have also considered booting players for having thin skin and causing drama, but never had to carry through with that.

If they don't say sorry, or we've had repeated problems with that player, I boot them. I generally play online, and its easier to find a new player than for them to find a GM. I (and the players I play with) like to play a certain kind of maturely handled game, and keeping the right feel in play is one of my responsibilities as a GM. In an online format, its as simple as booting them from the server.

I understand its harder with some physical locations, and harder still when these are people you're friends with outside of the hobby. This is how I handle it, and while online games have drawbacks, they also have benefits, and handling out of line players is one of them.
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Old 10-20-2018, 08:32 AM   #12
Alden Loveshade
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

I usually design child NPCs as "realistic," or at least as realistic as adult NPCs. The average 10-year-old has a lower ST, DX, IQ, and probably slightly lower HT that they will at maturity (default in GURPS is 15), and certainly less points in skills. (GURPS 3rd edition suggests starting PCs with no more than 2 points in skills per year of age, which I still use as a general guideline for more realistic games.)

For PCs, typically I run children on the same point level as adults.
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Old 10-20-2018, 11:34 AM   #13
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

I've statted a kid once. Zero points beginner mage counting the typical appropriate ads/disads like Social Stigma (Minor), Patron (Parents), Dead Broke, and lowered Strength.

Other than that, kids never really came up in any game ever.
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Old 10-20-2018, 12:13 PM   #14
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
So what do you do when they violate the ban?
Well if a group can't agree on and avoid subjects that are triggers for one or more of the members (be it killing children, rape or whatever), I don't think it's a functioning group. To me that is just something you decide along with rule system, setting, where to play, etc, and then you do it. I mean the game has to be fun for everyone and I have a hard to imagining someone who can't have fun without killing children, while the opposite is quite easy.

If someone is about to break a rule in the heat of the moment I would pause the game and talk about it.
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Old 10-20-2018, 12:31 PM   #15
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

I have children show up as NPCs regularly but I rarely stat them up. They exist as most NPCs do in my games, as a few notes about motivations, personality, appearance, and unusual abilities.

They don't have special plot armor, but nor are they placed as targets for the PCs. The folks I game with would avoid wanton abuse of children, considering that most of us are professional caretakers of children (and many of us are parents). Callousness and other disads get channeled in other directions.

A number of PCs are young, like upper teens, but we treat them as adults with age as a free feature. I don't have specific rules in place about that, but I would expect a good backstory for a 16-year-old who spends most of his or her points on knowledge skills. (Blessed by a god, fell in a cauldron of knowledge as a baby, is distantly related to that mythical sage, etc. If the story provides ongoing game benefits, I would charge for an unusual background or other appropriate advantages.) That would be part of the character creation dialogue. Most of the young characters are more physically oriented, which seems plausible enough in a DF game.
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Old 10-20-2018, 12:46 PM   #16
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

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So what do you do when they violate the ban?
As a GM, I can't think of a situation where I would adjust the in-game reality to enforce out-of-game agreements. (I suppose we might, as a group, decide on features of the in-game reality that support our agreements... like "this DF world embodies the ideals of multiculturalism, gender diversity, etc. Not that there aren't racists and sexists and homophobes, but those assumptions aren't baked into the social and legal fabric of the reference society." But that's different than having inexplicably powerful NPCs spank the PCs for infractions.)

A feature of playing with civilized adults is that they abide by communal agreements.

In my groups, some things are left unsaid. This is not from any intention, but more that groups form organically and we don't have a formal process of coming to a consensus about expectations. If that becomes an issue at the table, I would drop out of character, have a discussion, come to consensus, and move on.
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Old 10-20-2018, 01:45 PM   #17
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Hmmm. I've been playing/GMing over 40 years now. I've never had a player ask to play a child. I've never had players kill or attack a child. In fact, when one catches the PCs while the PCs are trying to be sneaky, the PCs have universally done whatever was needed to avoid harming the kid. In my games, child NPCs are backdrop as kids on a playground or something.

I don't design my scenarios to force the PCs to attack children. If the PCs were attacking kids and I hadn't deliberately forced them into it then I would find new players.
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Old 10-20-2018, 02:00 PM   #18
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

I suppose there are people "forced" to game together and instead of dealing with drama like an adult the only option is to double down on power escalation. I don't personally know anyone in that situation and I haven't seen a situation resembling that since high school in the 80's.
I think having a serious talk before the campaign starts about "what do we want to do in this campaign?" is always necessary and if people are misleading in that conversation just to cause drama in the game, they need to be removed.
All I know is if a player said to me, "I want to attack children in the supers game you're planning." I'd say, "You might need to find a new GM...or group."
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Old 10-20-2018, 07:01 PM   #19
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

If I create an adversary to the PCs who happens to be a child, I'm going to have to deal with the fact that one of the players might decide that killing them is a viable option. This includes the fact that it might cause a rift at the gaming table, that killing a child would likely be considered vile in game, etc.

If a player decides to kill a child arbitrarily, it's going to end the same way as if the player killed a random NPC in general. It would begin with "Why'd you do that!?" and probably end with "You're out." Unless the characters are horrible people to begin with, going around attacking innocents isn't in character or good role playing.
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Old 10-20-2018, 10:32 PM   #20
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
So what do you do when they violate the ban?
Kill the character in a painful and disgusting manner?
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