I feel fortunate that a safe, welcoming, and comfortable environment for tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) players has become common over the past decade (or two? This trend is not actually new at all, just fairly new to me. ) When a gamemaster (GM) asks if the players have any issues with potential topics (without going into self-revelatory details about past trauma, phobias, etc.), it elevates the storytelling by making it truly fun for everyone, not just the GM. I’ve written about this in the past, here.
What about the GM’s RPG Safety?
I recently found myself looking at the safety topic from another viewpoint: my own as the game runner. Last year I embarked on a self-improvement project that involves learning to run Call of Cthulhu. The horror-fantasy world of Cthulhu (CoC) is based on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and many other writers.
As part of the tutorial progression, I’m sticking to the readily available modules (and using the ones labeled “for beginners,” “baby’s first Cthulhu,” etc.) rather than writing my own. It didn’t occur to me that I’d need to bring up the player safety rubrics on behalf of myself. But that’s exactly what happened.
RPG Safety is Fun. For All.
I generally think of (and have experienced) the “X card” and “lines and veils” discussions when playing with new friends or strangers at a convention. But a few aspects of the story I planned to run struck me as wrong. You might say, “Kathy, maybe you don’t like horror after all,” and you might be correct. But I realized a couple of things:
- A story told as a group roleplaying experience feels different than reading a novel. These tales are more immediate, and the “horror consumer” may feel it more intensely and personally.
- The Lovecraft source material is full of attitudes and opinions that are, indeed, horrible. Also racist, misogynistic, and patronizing. These aspects of the 1920s milieu can rightly create conflict, but also unconsciously flavor other aspects of the story. Writers can, and are, doing much better these days.
Writerly Power
So, I listened to my intuition and revamped one aspect of the story, giving some of the antagonists quite the intricate history, empowerment, and a major attitude adjustment.
Perhaps I’ve strayed too far from the conventional horror story—“normal” people being chased and attacked by “monsters”—but I find my new story thread interesting, at any rate. And the players seem engaged. Are they getting the “frights” they signed up for? Maybe not. But, as I said, I’m learning.
Empowering myself to craft a story that seems right to me is part of the process.
How about you? Are you comfortable speaking up about your preferences in a group storytelling situation? What about when you run the game? I’d love to hear your experience. Comment on the blog. Navigate to my website, click blog title, and complete dialogue box that will open at the end of the post.
If you enjoyed this journal entry, you might like to read about Playing Games.
I started this blog thread on the gritty details of the writing process over on my Facebook Author page, @kbkathylbrown, but think I might be better served putting it over here. If you’re interest in following my writing process in an informal way, you’ll find a few posts on Facebook that might interest you. You can subscribe to the blog from the website landing page (scroll down).
Don’t miss The Big Cinch from Montag Press, an award-winning supernatural noir adventure by Kathy L. Brown. Sean Joye, a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean, new life in America. Until he asks the wrong questions…
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor
My latest Sean Joye short story appears in the St. Louis Writers Guild 2024 anthology. Sean’s new client is an actual ghost with a big problem. “The Haunted Guild” is a delightful Halloween treat!
Love Letters to St. Louis is an adorable letter-shaped volume of short stories, poems, essays, and illustrations and includes my first science fiction story, “Welcome to Earthport Prime: A Self-Guided Tour.” A perfect gift and profits benefit the guild’s young writers’ program. Available on Amazon and local St. Louis bookshops.
Reviews, even a line or two, put the books you enjoyed in a more prominent position on Amazon and are vital for independent and small-press books to find their audience. Remember your most recent read? Leave a review for it on Amazon or Goodreads today. The direct link to review Wolfhearted on Amazon is here, The Resurrectionist, here , and Water of Life, here, or visit my Shop off the landing page menu to review at Barnes and Noble. Thanks in advance. Reviews put the book in a more prominent position on Amazon.
Like the blog? Subscribe (form at the bottom of my website) to never miss an issue. Want more? Sign up for my subscription list to hear about new releases and appearance before the social media crowd. And, of course, I’m selling books. Check out all my stories at Amazon.com. Or at Barnes and Noble if you prefer, here. Order The Big Cinch from Bookshop.org, here and The Resurrectionist, here. My novella, Wolfhearted, is available as an audiobook, here.
As you know, I have been running TTRPGs for 44 years. So I have seen the GM perspective from both before snd after this shift to the “gentile”. As a player as well. Coming from the generation that I do, crying and sulking over being offended just wasn’t done. That said, I now have players that express these issues so I try to exclude them. Horror is a difficult subject. It SHOULD make you feel uncomfortable. And I think most people who choose to play a horror game expect a bit of that. Other genres, not so much. I have become less of a stickler for historical accuracy in these games, as Fun is the ultimate goal. I think, as a player, you have to have little thicker skin. But yeah, the “X” card is a good call.
I found the depiction of certain NPCs in the module I’m using problematic, in ways that are hard to explain, but I’m learning to trust my gut more than “mind logic.” Something in me found it creepy, and not in a good way. I like the changes I made, and I see the players having fun with these unexpected allies for themselves/victims of the Big Bad to be concerned about. It’s a richer story, I think.