how do you properly pull off scenarios in tabletop RPGs where you take everything away from your players as a DM without making them feel like it's just a temporary inconvenience?
Like let's say our group of heroes gets captured by bandits and turned to slaves, caged inside a mine.
How do you eradicate the mindset of your players which causes them to instantly rebel or motivate other slaves into taking up arms and fighting their oppressors without making it feel unfair?
Does anyone here have adequate experience with this type of story-telling?
Robert Hill
If they're characters want to rebel, let them rebel.
Then crush them. Really break their spirits.
Alright, crushing might be a bit harsh of a word. Make it tantalizingly possible to win, and allow it if they do, but stack the odds against them the first time. Make the other slaves doubt them from failure. Give them rivals and enemies in their captors. Only kill npcs that helped.
When they do get put into their place, though, give them a story; a quest to do in their capacity of slaves. Carry the momentum forward. Finally, give them a chance to run, but not take down the captors. Make them flee into the night while still powerless. Give them a struggle to become powerful enough again to return and take down their slave drivers and retrieve their things. Let the overall master escape, and become a recurring villain, or person to hunt.
tl;dr: Let them rise up, put them down fairly, don't kill them, and give them another objective as slaves.
Grayson Cook
Hint that they have to wait and watch for an opportunity, until then shut down everything that they attempt.
Don't drag this on for TOO long though. It makes for a rather boring game if you have the players spending multiple sessions accomplishing nothing but being victims for some kind of despair-porn fetish realm.
Owen Lopez
well, I had planned for every female player character and every male player character described as pretty to be brutally raped into submission if they ever attempt some shit and get caught. I have a flow-chart of the areas of their body that get raped depending on severity of transgression.
Blake Howard
I really hope you're being sarcastic there. If not, don't be That DM. Just don't.
Tyler Gray
I'm serious, I have a 10 pages of gruesome descriptions pre-written that describe their physical and emotional damage.
Kevin Ortiz
Please don't. It's creepy as fuck when you find out that your DM spends his time imagining how to rape your PC in between sessions.
Jonathan Evans
so I'm not allowed to depict common submission tactics employed by slave-owners?
Owen Long
There are certain points in a game where """realism""" doesn't necessarily make the game better.
Gavin Smith
...
Landon Reyes
>doesn't necessarily make the game better
I disagree
Joseph Sullivan
Ok then, dirt-farming peasant campaign with no dragons, magic, heroes, or choices is a-go!
Ayden Sanders
Have you read The Soul Reaver for Rouge Trader? It's a scenario split up in three parts where the first part ends with the capture of the players. The second part is about living in Dark Eldar captivity and recruiting the loyalty of other powerful prisoners. The third part is all about escaping captivity.
Its great and my players loved it. So you might want to have a look at it and take some inspiration.
Kevin Watson
>no choices TOO REAL
Colton Perez
I don't see how what you're trying to do could possibly be fun or interesting in any way. So the players don't rebel or try to escape, then what? You spend the next ten sessions describing all the silver they mine? At what point are they allowed to roll new characters? At what point do they just walk away from the table?
Benjamin Wilson
Yes, but not 10 pages of that shit. A fade-to-black scene and then a brief third person's perspective of the PC is more than enough. Players don't need to hear how the healslut was chained up and gangbang for 12 hours.
Asher Rodriguez
>b-but muh realism
You're a faggot and nobody is going to be fooled by any excuse you generate for Stop posting and take your own life
Gavin Wood
Basically my thoughts. What's the end game here OP?
Jason Martinez
Have you not been paying attention? The end game is to drag the game down to some Magical Realm bullshit and have all the PCs raped in graphic detail while the DM harbours a stunning 2mm erection.
Austin Hughes
Stunning? It couldn't even poke someone's eye out
Kayden Phillips
permanent death
Xavier Cook
You are planning to have your players listen to your descriptions with no possibility of having any meaningful interaction until you've finished with your exposition.
Boring exposition is something players often dislike at the best of times. Since you're describing the rape of their characters, I'm expecting one of two reactions: - They are disturbed by it to the point where they can't enjoy the game. - They get bored due to the lack of interaction available.
Matthew Perez
they are allowed to resist. It's just that resistance is futile without their equipment. I let them roll on willpower if they want
Michael Butler
God OP. This started off as a decently good thread, why did you have to fuck it up with magical realm shit
Jaxson Ross
I happen to LIKE that despair-porn fetish comic, thank you very much.
Liam Cook
So they resist and fail. Then what?
Benjamin Miller
You kill yourself or stop being a shitty DM.
Leo Fisher
That's cool an all, but you shouldn't be trying to shovel that shit on your players unless you've all agreed beforehand to have a hentai-RP. In which case Veeky Forums isn't the place to discuss it.
Jack Smith
I was talking about the sadcat.
Connor Hill
OP dont drag your players through your magical realm... seriusly this is a bad, bad idea
Hudson Diaz
Just for my sanity, no one's actually believing rapeanon, right? It's baiters baiting baiters, yes? It is all a ruse?
Cameron Watson
The saddest thing is that OP expected Veeky Forums to follow along and agree with him.
Maybe lurk some more OP? I wouldn't recommend posting, even less so making a thread if you don't know the board culture.
Josiah Hughes
Given that this is Veeky Forums I actually DO believe OP. If you're going to find legitimately cringey people with no idea how to socially interact with normal people anywhere, Veeky Forums is the place to find them. Veeky Forums is usually free'er of it than some of the other boards here, but unfortunately it's not completely immune.
Lucas Perry
>Given that this is Veeky Forums I actually DO believe OP Then you are either an autistic retard who cannot detect when someone is being within the line of probability and without it—or you are now rusing me.
Obviously he is aware of everything he says. Obviously he knows that it will not be taken well. He would be much more offhand if he thought it was a good idea.
Jace Foster
>On Veeky Forums >Finds it unbelievable that some people here have no idea what's socially acceptable >Finds it unbelievable that some people here are flatout stupid
Gabriel Mitchell
That is not what I said at all.
Logan Moore
This is where OP pretends he was joking and not being serious at all. Nice damage control, OP.
Brayden Ortiz
It's possible he's rusing. But speaking as someone who's had his character locked in room with another player's character and been forced by the GM to explain exactly how the satanic mind control suddenly effecting my character made me deflower her, I can no longer give people like OP the benefit of the doubt.
Jacob Allen
You are misunderstanding me. It's not what he said, it's how he said it
For example, you do not say these things repeatedly, showing it off and as the OP, unless you are trying to bait. You wouldn't say "I have a 10 pages of gruesome descriptions pre-written that describe their physical and emotional damage".
Aiden Parker
Every time. EVERY TIME this happens it always veers on magical realm or the DM deliberately kicking the PCs down. It's the reason why the modus operendi of your average party is to fight to the death rather than be taken prisoner, because better to reroll than get stuck in a boring time-out box. Which is what a prison is.