Religious and ethical dilemmas in Roleplaying Games (RPG) (the pen and paper variety)

[LuisDantas]

RPGs are very much an escapist hobby.

For most of its history it has typically been a fairly uncomplicated one, as well. For all the worried talk that is unfairly directed towards RPGs, there is very little moral hardship in the average D&D/Pathfinder dungeon scenario. It is all about a very fantasious character growth that is in effect simple access to ever greater capabilities with minimal justification by handwaving.

Still, the hobby is very diversified, even if the money seems to keep flowing into very few trends at any one time. For a while in the 1990s and early 2000s "Vampire" RPGs and similarly "dark" themes were all the rage. TORG had a very ambitious setting and ideas. And for the last few years there has been a noticeable trend towards RPGs that are in effect a study challenge, where the setting is very detailed and the story involves above all some degree of mastery of its concepts.

However, one segment that puzzles me is that of the more esoteric RPGs. Kult, In Nominem, even Nephilim have a considerable amount of occult or religious themes, albeit perhaps not in a particularly central role.

I often wonder what is other people's perspective of those RPGs. I only have any real experience with Nephilim, and I noticed that it has a very rich background indeed, but I wonder if it can be difficult to handle for some sets of beliefs (perhaps my own included; the jury is still going).

Do you have anything to share about the subject?

 

[Gjallarhorn]

"When I write a book, I put everything I have into it; so the more I have, the more the books become. Some people get freaked out by them: mostly the people who believe, mistakenly, that fantasy is about escaping reality. To them I say: If you have a problem with reality, you should be spending more time dealing with your life, and less time reading popcorn fantasy." -Matthew Stover

Also, don't dismiss D&D for lack of moral dilemmas. You've probably never had to do the trolley problem with captives and werewolves before.

 

[Riverwolf]

RPGs are very much an escapist hobby.

For most of its history it has typically been a fairly uncomplicated one, as well. For all the worried talk that is unfairly directed towards RPGs, there is very little moral hardship in the average D&D/Pathfinder dungeon scenario.

:biglaugh:

Do you have anything to share about the subject?

You've never encountered the Prisoner Dilemma, have you?

Here's the cliffnotes: do you kill the Orc women and their still-nursing Orc babies? After all, Town's several days' journey back and you don't have the provisions or the time, and just letting them go could cause them to go to other tribes and give away your location. Furthermore, the babies could grow up to take revenge on YOU since you probably killed their father. Then again, babies! At the mother's breast!

 

[LuisDantas]

It seems that people take their scenarios more seriously than I expected...

 

[Quintessence]

It seems that people take their scenarios more seriously than I expected...

I'm not sure I'd put it that way. From the OP, I would say you might be bringing some assumptions to the table about role-players and role-playing that are not entirely accurate.

For example, I would definitely not describe a love of role-playing as an "escapist hobby." Real role-players are storytellers, and they do it because they love storytelling with a group of friends. Storytelling is the essence of what role-playing is. Any good storyteller is going to include moral/ethical issues in their tales, along with philosophy and solid world building. This isn't new.

 

[Riverwolf]

I'm not sure I'd put it that way. From the OP, I would say you might be bringing some assumptions to the table about role-players and role-playing that are not entirely accurate.

For example, I would definitely not describe a love of role-playing as an "escapist hobby." Real role-players are storytellers, and they do it because they love storytelling with a group of friends. Storytelling is the essence of what role-playing is. Any good storyteller is going to include moral/ethical issues in their tales, along with philosophy and solid world building. This isn't new.

And a skilled DM can present those issues in such a way as to keep the game from stopping and devolving into an argument.

Such games aren't inherently escapist; they can force us to confront issues in a "safe" environment that we may never get to experience in real life.

 

[Drolefille]

It's "escape" in the sense that it isn't real life. It is absolutely about story telling and bringing a character to life. In tabletop RPG I'll play a Callistrian Prostitute Cleric (I hand out coupons), or a mechanic on a spaceship, or a changeling who doesn't remember who she is and is more beast than person now. Those could be just "escape" but each of those games involves situations where I have to make ethical choices as well. World of Darkness as a whole is anything but "escapist" as I had at least one character be indirectly responsible for the death of multiple children, and then decide whether to make a deal with the ghost who instigated it.

Games can be played as dungeon crawls - kill stuff get treasure level up repeat. But good GMs won't do that.

And Live Action Role Play takes this to a whole new level. You can play a character to escape your real life, but a good plot team will draw you in to the story line. I use my LARP character as a way to explore being extroverted. She has a vicious temper (I show anger rarely and never violently) and is passionate about causes that she can actually DO something about (unlike the impotence of real life). If she values free will over everything, what lengths would she go to to free slaves, would she enslave someone to free hundreds? She's completely ok with necromancy despite others finding it to be the most evil thing around but she sees no harm in creating undead as long as they aren't harming us, they're dead so no free will involved.

And this is a game without any religion allowed, I'm looking into a dystopian game that has an assortment of faiths along with a variety of "subspecies" (strains of the zombie infection), do you try to save someone from the zombie attack, or leave them behind to save yourself?


I ramble, sorry! I'm not familiar with the other RPGs you listed, World of Darkness (Vampire, Mage, Werewolf, Changeling, Geist, Hunter, etc.) is quite dark, particularly when done 'right.' But I've found many religious/philosophical/ethical dilemmas in everything.

 

[Riverwolf]

Games can be played as dungeon crawls - kill stuff get treasure level up repeat. But good GMs won't do that.

Unless it's what the players want to do.

 

[Quintessence]

Unless it's what the players want to do.

I don't see the point of role-playing if that's all you want to do. You're not really role-playing, then, you're... I don't know... hack-and-slash video gaming.

 

[Riverwolf]

I don't see the point of role-playing if that's all you want to do. You're not really role-playing, then, you're... I don't know... hack-and-slash video gaming.

No, it's not really "role-playing", but it's using the mechanics of a table-top RPG to play the kind of game that inspired old-school dungeon crawlers, but with a human mind running it to account for unseen situations and variables on the fly. Nothing wrong with that kind of play. Not for me, but plenty of people prefer it.