Last Sunday’s youtubers video by Jamey Stegmaier (embedded below) was all about how “How Games Approach Sensitive & Controversial Themes”.

Apart from the theme of a game Deliverance not being what first came to mind (hill billies, river trips and squealing like a pig are not apparently what this game is about) this subject got me thinking about D&D. But not only D&D but other RPGs and settings.

RPGs can involve sensitive and controversial themes. For instance look at the Android settings and how bioroids and clones are treated. There are obvious parallels with slavery. In one of the FFG novellas there was even a story with the futuristic version of the underground railway for clones.

Then there is Vampire: The Masquerade an RPG that is for mature players because of its “…graphic and written content of a mature nature, including violence, sexual themes, and strong language.” (Taken from the warning https://www.modiphius.net/collections/vampire-the-masquerade).

So that’s just a couple of examples of official products that contain sensitive and controversial themes. Then we have the actual campaigns and adventures that a DM/GM come up with as well.

There have been a couple of high profile examples of where a DM/GM has abused a position of trust and chosen a subject that is controversial and in my opinion inappropriate for a RPG and has no place in a game whatsoever. Last year there was a GM at UKGE that made the headlines. Then just weeks ago an internet famous GM Adam Koebel caused the cancellation of one of his internet shows.

So how do we handle potential sensitive and controversial material in RPGs?

From an official setting point of view there is the warning about content. Such as that given by the publishers of Vampire: The Masquerade. Everyone playing the RPG should be made aware of that warning. If at an open gaming session at a con, at the start of the session. Or during the session zero.

Similarly EN Publishing give a warning about the content of a published adventure for the Judge Dredd and Worlds of 2000 A.D. called Nobody Expects the SJS! “This scenario involves themes of harsh interrogation and psychological and physical abuse. Please ensure you talk with your players before hand about their feelings in this area.”

As a gaming group the DM/GM during the session zero (that’s the session before any play starts where players create characters, and discuss the up and coming campaign) should be discussing the themes that the upcoming campaign will be touching on. But what’s more important is that the DM/GM makes sure that the players are comfortable with those themes, and giving the players a chance to indicate publicly or privately (because they may not be comfortable discussing in public) whether they are happy with those themes.

During play there is the possibility to use X cards. These allow players during play to discreetly indicate that the current subject matter is unsuitable and making them feel uncomfortable.

I think it also helps if a DM/GM “knows” his players. I knew for my D&D group that I had to avoid certain themes/subjects because of the beliefs of one of the group.

The nature of my campaign means that it is possible that new themes to cover crop up during the campaign as story ideas come along. So I’ve checked with the group that they are comfortable with this new theme. That was an open discussion before a session. Before I start using that story idea and theme I will once again bring the subject up with a bit more detail and give the players an opportunity to publicly and privately discuss this with me.

These two measures should stop incidents happening like the ones mentioned above. But that’s only if everyone follows them. They don’t stop it happening if the DM/GM doesn’t use them or ignores them. We can’t stop people being dicks.

That’s how RPGs handle sensitive and controversial themes.

I awoke in the middle of the night to let the dogs out for a nature break. Upon returning to bed I decided I’d fall asleep again listening to Roll for Crit play the Chariots of God adventure for the Alien RPG.

That was a mistake.

I ended up looking at the pdf copy of the rulebook that I had. The game can be played in to modes. A campaign mode and a cinematic mode.

The cinematic mode is basically a one shot adventure. That the authors suggest be played with pre-gen characters. They liken this mode to being similar to a movie. It’s probably the only way I’d get to play this RPG.

However in the section of the rulebook there is a panel that has a list of inspiration for players and games masters alike. It wasn’t a big list, unlike the ones in the D&D Players Guide and DM Guide. But looking at it was another mistake I made.

I was soon on Audible spending some of the credits I had to get some of the recommended reading. Three of the books had been dramatised by Audible. Which was pretty cool. Especially when I saw the first had Rutger Hauer listed amongst the cast.

There was also some books listed that provide background info about the universe Alien is set in. They cover ship specs, vehicle details, weapon specs, etc. Great resources for a GM.

It got me thinking I love it when there are books like this available for something. They help provide a rich tapestry, a depth and life to the world the movie/book/game is set in. Especially when it’s an existing universe, and we are not waiting for the RPG publisher to release this sort of information.

From a GM point of view the stories, the books about the universe are great inspiration. They provide details that help bring a campaign/adventure alive. A location or event described by a single sentence might be enough to inspire a whole campaign or quest.

In my homebrew adventure I was inspired by the map of the Sword Coast and the islands that form the Moonshae Islands along with the smaller island clusters nearby. Heck we have spent our first seven sessions just around the Mintarn group of islands. The players haven’t even made it Moonshae yet.

Although sometimes it can get all too overwhelming. Information overload. It can get daunting. Just look at the amount of stuff out there for the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek. Where do you start?

You can let the characters back stories guide you. Pick a point on a map that looks interesting (that’s basically what I did above). Use a location in a story you enjoyed. Heck you could even just borrow the story itself.

But once you have that starting point it’s just a matter of following the advice from much much more experienced DM/GMs than me, and start small, start local, and spiral out.

Watching, reading other RPGs is usually a mistake for me because I want to get them to the table and explore the worlds they open a window into. I now want to explore the Alien universe. Tomorrow it’ll be Mega City 1. Not enough time, or players.

Yesterday Sly Flourish put up a very interesting post called The Only Dungeon Map You’ll Ever Need.

Sly’s post itself was inspired by one by Dyson Logos (he of those awesome maps).

Having a default multi use dungeon is a great idea for a DM/GM to have in their toolbox.

As Sly says in his post “Which map is your go-to map when you don’t have anything prepared and need a map to run your game right now? What map can you print out, stick in your kit, and use for the next 40 years?”

Sly then goes on to present a list of criteria that should help you selecting your ideal map. Before then suggesting one or two maps that are worth considering.

And I will be choosing one or two to add to my DM’s folder.

However Sly does raise the question about why limit yourself to one map. And I do keep my copy of the Lazy DM Workbook with my DM folder. Plus the maps I have used previously during the campaign. This fits in with a bit of advice that Jim Murphy gave in one of his videos about being a minimalist DM and being a magpie for maps.

Also with either or both of the decks that allow me to generate random dungeons I have the ability to create a dungeon on the fly no matter what the party decide to do. Potentially this does away with the need to have one of these go to maps. However I don’t see them being an either or situation. Both could happily be in your DM toolbox.

What do you think? Is this something you’ll be adding to your DM toolbox?

It’s taken me two days. But I’ve freed up my dining room table from all the MtG cards on it. I had been using the table as a “staging” area for my deck building efforts.

But considering my lack of playing and deck building I finally gave in and tied up the space. I’ll stick with my Commander decks and just tweak them for the time being.

But whilst I was tidying up the table I came across the following two bits of cardboard from the Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation Pre-release kits.

I immediately after looking at them felt these are pretty good ideas to to use in a campaign.

Forget the MtG small text for each challenge. It’s the titles.

I love the idea of sending a party on five trials to earn favour from a God. Each trial faced being themed around it’s title. Each one testing the members of the party as a group and individually.

A harder one to work in is the other card with The Five Hours. At the moment this speaks to me as being event based around time. I need to think more about this one.

I might have to go back and look at the lore for this block to see what ideas get created.