11-16-2019, 03:10 PM | #11 | |||||
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Toning down the grue
I have been avidly reading replies to this thread, but it was trimester-report-writing week at school so I had no time for posting. I appreciate all of the comments and have plenty to think about. A few responses, at semi-random:
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With the older kids, I'm not worried about what they play when I'm not involved. (My own middle-school games were hyper-gory too.) But as an employee, I do need to honor the norms of the school and parent community. Probably for the middle school set I won't change anything, but I wanted to explore the options. I think, too, that it will be a good time to talk about table-agreements in terms of the types of stories we are telling and whatnot. I'd hope that the gamers I'm bringing into the community won't create scandals at Gen Con down the road! |
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11-18-2019, 11:23 AM | #12 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Toning down the grue
Yeah, this is my biggest reservation with kids. Roleplay ethics and consent is tough to articulate with children because they've so rarely needed to be responsible with any power in a relationship.
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11-19-2019, 01:28 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Re: Toning down the grue
This absolutely describes my daughters, 11 and 13, who will gleefully shoot for eyes and hack off limbs.
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11-19-2019, 02:21 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: Toning down the grue
Alternately, use the regular stats but describe them as plants or robots or whatever. Instead of goblins, the mines are occupied by 'broclins,' which are similar but a kind of angry ambulatory broccoli.
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11-19-2019, 03:34 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Toning down the grue
Point. I know many children who would happily dismember a horde of Broclins and crush their corpses into the mud while laughing gleefully.
Last edited by Dalin; 11-19-2019 at 05:46 PM. |
11-19-2019, 04:49 PM | #16 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: Toning down the grue
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New job description for such delvers is "Combat Horticulture."
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11-19-2019, 05:45 PM | #17 | |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Toning down the grue
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and dinner... basically almost any meal. I love broclins, nom-nom-nom. |
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11-19-2019, 06:59 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Re: Toning down the grue
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11-19-2019, 08:54 PM | #19 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Toning down the grue
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11-19-2019, 09:37 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Toning down the grue
Broclins – and their wan demonic cousins, the peshkaliflower – are gustatory devilspawn. Douse them in Hellandaise sauce and roast them where they stand.
Speaking of violence: For foes that do bleed and shriek, there have been many suggestions to replace the more graphic hit locations with generic "critical location" targets. This sounds very good for going low-grue. With a side benefit, perhaps: The expensive Physiology skill kind of runs up against the fact that, for so many monsters, the neck or eyes or whatever is already an obvious target. By making critical targets non-specific, Physiology rolls could become important for pretty much any monster, giving the "monster expert" PCs more spotlight. Without the GM having to invent specific secret weak points every time. The same with "And Stay Down!": Heavy use of these options would allow more opportunities to employ the expensive Psychology skill. Even if the GM hasn't given a monster interesting mental weaknesses for the skill to detect, a roll could always be useful in predicting what sort of injury (or other trigger) will provoke what "And Stay Down!" reaction ("cower, play dead, flee, or surrender"). The idea, of course, is that players could shoot for just enough violence to achieve that result, instead of instinctively going for the 9d-9 Ice Dagger to the vitals. (Along those lines, I suppose a GM who uses the explicit categories of fodder, worthy, and boss could use Physiology/Psychology rolls to tell players which category a new monster belongs to. I haven't played this way, but maybe it'd be fun for players who are used to video games that have categories like this.)
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Tags |
gore, hit locations, kid friendly |
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