Fantasy Heartbreak Workshop

For various reasons, some people have difficulty handling specific themes, situations, or individual details which arise during role-playing games. I can easily accept how this sort of occurrence might come up either with advance warning or unexpectedly during the course of play, suddenly turning someone's experience from light and enjoyable to awkward or anxiety-inducing. The issue has been discussed for years within various RPG communities, with different solutions proposed. But in recent months a few specific posts (by Cass Kat , Emmy Allen & Scrap Princess ) have helped me sort out a few thoughts on the subject. There are three main "tools" I'm aware of that have been used in the past to help people avoid or deal with these situations are: The X Card - Literally a card with an X which is displayed when an uncomfortable or problem situation arises.  This is a cue to stop play and discuss or and work through or bypass the elements causing a problem.  Th...

(continued from Part 1 ) . . . but that was Tolkien's world. There does seem a strong trend in the current era of trying to humanize the Other. In a lot of senses I think this is a good impulse. I suspect that viewing other living creatures (and people in particular) as having more than just a material value, makes one take a greater interest in creating and maintaining beneficial institutions. Empathizing with those not like oneself and feeling some bond of fellowship is both important in society and provides interesting narrative opportunities. In the real world I feel we need to love and respect other humans, even treat animals well. But I always feel a little cautious about ascribing such human traits to non-humans.  In the real world I think many folks make a distinction: Human: Intelligent. Capable of culture, self-reflection, empathy and caring. Is inherently worthy of some measure of respect. Animal: Less intelligent. Culture? Self-reflection? Empathy? Maybe wo...

Emmy Allen's posting about Orcs, Violence and Evil , got me thinking about this issue again. So the following is probably less a response, and more a bunch of rambling thoughts inspired by it. Also, though I've read Lord of the Rings again recently, her Tolkien lore rating (and your own, dear reader) may be higher than mine, so with a grain of salt: Big "E" Evil as Emmy's post characterizes it is a rare thing innate to certain alien non-person entities: a monomania or existential necessity for specific innately destructive or corrupting concepts, similar to other beings of alien mindset or more akin to elemental forces. I find this idea interesting, and have enjoyed stories where this was the case in the past. But reading the post gave me an urge to do a more in-depth compare and contrast of the idea against how evil and personhood appear in the Lord of the Rings trilogy itself. Few of the powerful supernatural beings in LotR quite start out as monomaniacal ...