tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post532628793200886374..comments2024-03-29T13:22:19.434+00:00Comments on Roles, Rules, and Rolls: Basic DisgustRoger G-Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-42622364218944092202011-06-05T09:19:21.902+01:002011-06-05T09:19:21.902+01:00@zoanne: Thanks for the query, it raises some issu...@zoanne: Thanks for the query, it raises some issues I deal with in the next post. When disgust is seen as an existential defense to the possibility of losing humanity, the face defines a person's humanity in a way that the limbs do not.Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-48593152791352199072011-06-04T13:03:02.624+01:002011-06-04T13:03:02.624+01:00Perhaps there should be a "Notice Feotor"...Perhaps there should be a "Notice Feotor" skill? And I am determined, someday, to roll Roger's "Catch a Veneral Disease while Carousing" outcome when spending spare cash in a town...<br /><br />I have a friend who works with army veterans, and apparently people react fine when they meet someone with a limb amputated, but behave completely differently round people with facial injuries. I suspect this is linked to disgust somehow (tragically unfair) - but how, I wonder? Or is it because we are so dependent on the familiar shape etc of other faces, and can't cope when they look a bit different?<br /><br />Katie Piper's documentaries are brilliant - perhaps the anti-facial-disfigurement reaction is superficial enough that programs like that could make a significant difference.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-47600709502604312632011-06-03T20:44:51.104+01:002011-06-03T20:44:51.104+01:00@Greg: Got that concern (desensitization to horror...@Greg: Got that concern (desensitization to horror) planned in an upcoming post.<br /><br />@richard: I think there's more play possible around gender or social issues because we can deal with them in a more aware, less reflexive way. With disgust, I think an occasional light-touch reminder here and there (a boar's head banquet, a ditch where paupers' bodies are dumped) goes a long way, and those other background features are probably the same.<br /><br />@Jeff: Me too, but I like to make sure that comedic effect gets achieved intentionally and not otherwise!Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-88313111689498592082011-06-03T11:46:57.912+01:002011-06-03T11:46:57.912+01:00Your ideas are excellent, but personally I like th...Your ideas are excellent, but personally I like the comedic effect of adding a little poop to the dungeon.Jeff Rientshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17493878980535235896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-45275892607184375932011-06-03T10:33:31.092+01:002011-06-03T10:33:31.092+01:00Not sure if my comment got spam-filtered or just d...Not sure if my comment got spam-filtered or just didn't take because I was posting from a phone. Trying again, with more thought this time:<br /><br />The dirt issue's a tricky one, possibly destroying immersion in the game. I understand what you're saying here, that it's a filtering issue - you shouldn't constantly remind the players about irrelevant background, just like you wouldn't interrupt a modern thriller about, say, kidnapping and freedom to remind the audience that the hero's shirt was effectively made by slaves. On the other hand it's hard and maybe not good to skirt all social issues your pseudo-medieval setting is likely to throw up in order to cut to the sword-swinging. Like gender relations and religion, for instance.<br /><br />Could diseases be handled in a kind of superstitious way, I wonder? Like the disease is not just bacteriology and poor hygiene, but the attention of a malign spirit, which gives the PCs something to engage with? Telecanter recently introduced plague into his game, and the possibilities this threw up made me wonder why I've never done it - contagion, sure, but also a time-limited quest to find some sort of treatment, with isolation and/or taboos built in. What if the PCs are afflicted with something visible that makes them pariahs? Now they can only move around the city in secret: they are the monsters.<br /><br />@Greg: film-making is an exercise in manipulation. You feel what the film-maker wants you to feel and focus where they want you to focus, largely because you are at the mercy of their unfolding narrative to figure out where the importance is, while the film is going on. Afterwards you're free to assess the whole thing, but at the time this uncertainty is a vital part of the medium. So if the hand didn't matter in the film, that was deliberate, I'd guess, a feature of that film in particular (and of many films in general). The loss of a finger in <em>The Piano</em> is still devastating: the film makes it so. My point is your reaction to films is not an index of anything very reliable.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-83132689556953017402011-06-03T03:24:43.930+01:002011-06-03T03:24:43.930+01:00I've noticed that players react with disgust (...I've noticed that players react with disgust (or is it anxiety / fear) to NPCs with visible signs of illness - particularly coughing or sneezing. They almost always try and leave the area immediately, and there is almost never laughter or jokes.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13457050225967190052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-77081634511215534792011-06-03T02:59:48.020+01:002011-06-03T02:59:48.020+01:00One thing I really hate about the past 30 years of...One thing I really hate about the past 30 years of cinema has been the extreme advancements in gruesome and distasteful imagery. Not because they are evil or something, but because they have now become so common that they don't pack a punch anymore.<br /><br />In Book of Eli, he cuts off a dude's hand and it is pretty graphic. I watched the film today for the 3rd or 4th time and it barely even registered to me when it occured as something of significance.<br /><br />I don't know where we can go from here, to be honest. When cutting someone's hand off just isn't even noteworthy, where do you go?Pontifexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01761338487255048337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4829093857574761981.post-49789204308901407632011-06-03T00:24:01.254+01:002011-06-03T00:24:01.254+01:00This is an excellent post. I rather like the idea ...This is an excellent post. I rather like the idea of giving disgust a tangible, in-game representation. I also found the explanation for why the DM shouldn't emphasize elements that would disgust a modern player but not his psuedo-medieval character very insightful. Nice job.Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16844959687301550378noreply@blogger.com