Lothar's Lair

In every game one takes on a personae as a character he or she has made. The way one does this is as simple or as complicated as one wishes. However there are some common understood or hopefully understood rules or guidelines to follow. These include but not limited to; Sexual content if at a table of under aged players, Real life religious toe stepping, real life negative gay/straight lifestyle innuendos at a table of under aged children or people of certain strong beliefs, Real life racial comments…etc. These subjects and those related to them can create a real disaster in a game. As a DM the subjects and flow of the game is typically in your hands. You can guide the game and role playing as you wish and only you will know (if you know your players and their beliefs etc.) what can of worms one can open and have the game still be fun for all at the table. Same goes for the players at the table. If a player starts roleplaying their character in a fashion that makes the group uncomfortable as a DM you should dis-rail it quickly. You should allow humor obviously, but if the subject matter starts getting personal to other players it should also be averted. The characterizations and/or the roles one portrays as a character should be in a light tone at first to judge the reactions of the group (even their facial expressions and any negative side glances)so one can continue to play their character to the best as they can without any Real Life (RL) negative assertions. I’ve had a transvestite at the table before and for a gaming group it was a tough situation to control. I was in a gaming group as a player where the female DM (Dungeon Mistress) seemed to have an affinity to play any demon as being a violent male homosexual that during combat would try and rape the male characters in the group. Ok, so this was really strange because it would happen time and time again and if the player seemed to be ignoring it or show no response she would choose someone else and invest the time and effort to try to demoralize them next. I ran games where all of the players were Military police officers (20-28 yrs old numbering 18-20 at the table) where all the side jokes were related to military affairs or military actions of some nature or another. I had also I played in the RPGA (Role Players Gaming Assoc.) I played next to a guy that always played a young female mage of around age 10-12 in human appearance, using alter self spell. Not sure why he did that but when any subject came up that was adult in orientation he would play his young female as offended and acted that she wanted no part of whatever action the group was engaged in. It made the game interesting but at the same time also hard to deal with. In summing up, get a feel of the group one is playing in find out beliefs and strong convictions of the players and DM play a neutral role and get to know the character well, then invest the time to ascertain the various things he/she as a character wants to entertain as related to subjects and actions taken during a game to make it fun and a good time for oneself and others at the table.

Hope this helps and good gaming.