Killing Slavers

[AlexanderHowl]

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?

[evileeyore]

Depends on the Characters.

[Anthony]

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).

[sjard]

<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.
</Moderator>

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Anthony

... 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. ;)

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

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.

[pestigor]

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.

[vicky_molokh]

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.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Originally Posted by Anthony

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).

This is pretty much the biggest problem. Slavery isn't quite evil enough to make someone irredeemably evil, but it's too evil to leave the slavers feeling sympathetic.

Slavery really only works in a story which is "about" slavery or some related topic (like power or oppression). One example which immediately comes to mind is Small Gods, which demonstrates the oppressiveness of the fundamentalist Omist society by contrasting them with an island where even the slaves are more free than "free men" serving Om.
Of course, if you're willing to delve into stories deeper than "The goblins are evil nasties, kill them," slavery is a potent tool for characterizing a society and the people living in it—as well as people in other societies. It's also good tool for asking "What matters in life?" After all, if slavery is bad, there must be something about being enslaved that makes it bad. Is it the lack of freedom or quality of life? The dehumanization or loss of agency? Or is there just something inherently bad about being property—and what does it mean to be property, anyways?

I'd love to play a TRPG which explored these kinds of ideas, but the rest of my gaming group probably wouldn't be as interested. I guess I'll have to get that kind of narrative satisfaction from VRPGs instead...

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by GreatWyrmGold

This is pretty much the biggest problem. Slavery isn't quite evil enough to make someone irredeemably evil, but it's too evil to leave the slavers feeling sympathetic.

Really? If I want to make my NPCs sympathetic I tend to have no problems doing so.