Hey Veeky Forums, how do I bring up prejudice in games? Inb4 Tumblrina. I want to make my characters uncomfortable effectively, not protect them. What, you think I'm gay or something?
I'm running a game set in the early 80s, one of the players made a super black voodoo practitioner. I like to keep my games with a mix of supernatural hijinks with unsettlingly normal problems.
As the party went to an Elementary school for an investigation, I realized the kung fu Korean of the party might be alright as they wandered the halls aimlessly, but Flava Flav should probably raise an eyebrow or two.
As I had the Dean of students look upon him with disdain and open disgust as he walked by the darkie in question started approaching him to see what's up. I got caught off guard he didn't "get it" and wound up going full spaghetti before they just went along their way. I mean, I assume if you make a character like that you're expecting, even hoping to get some shit about it. [Spoiler] Almost like were Roleplaying or something. [/spoiler]
Also, I'm black and dont want to come off as bitter or accusatory
tl;dr How do I have an NPC be racist and have the character feel ostracized/out of place without players feeling picked on?
Ryan Adams
>>>/reddit/
Dominic Cook
If I wanted to fill it with trigger warnings and gently interview him about what he finds appropriate, I just would. I just want to know how to call a spade a spade in a way that makes rakes feel uncomfortable
Evan James
>I'm running a game set in the early 80s 1880s?
Landon James
Honestly, the best way to do it is to talk to your players beforehand and let them know that they may encounter racists in your game and get their input on what level of racism they're comfortable with in the game. Maintaining clear and open lines of communication with your players is key to good GMing, especially when dealing with mature or sensitive themes.
Grayson Foster
/v/ermin leave
Dominic Young
Simple. You make it realistic. Instead of just 'bringing prejudice' in the game, you make what they will see happening irl, but can't openly voice, thus the relief of background tension causes them to laugh. Specicially: > have PCs encounter an npc > npc hangs around with pcs for whatever arbitrary story-related reasons > npc starts off strangely tense, brooding or even mad about something they refuse to name > npc accuses pcs of being prejudiced against them at random occasions between normal interactions. And then just naturally let things go from there.
William Peterson
Just have one NPC bring up that the other NPC is racist.
That or have the racist literally say "I find your race inferior, so make your business quick before you threaten the purity of my students."
Jaxson Bailey
This if you want a lot of racism in your game. This if you want at most one character to be racist.
Henry Taylor
>This if you want at most one character to be racist. >at most one
wut
James Bell
"at most" is an idiom that means "not more than"
James Parker
>I'm a nigger Well that explains your utter retardation.
bye!
Parker Carter
Why does it only work with only one racist?
Parker Brooks
...
Nathan Evans
because racism is a mature theme and many players arent ready to deal with it. especially if the player made their character without knowing he would be prejudiced against once two characters are racist, it becomes a minor theme of the campaign that many players would be unprepared for
Ryder Harris
Works for me.
Nathaniel Perez
...
Ryder Ramirez
>many players arent ready to deal with it
wut
Robert Price
"deal with it" is an idiom that means "to confront something," as in "enjoy playing a game that involves it"
Gavin Johnson
>How do I have an NPC be racist and have the character feel ostracized/out of place without players feeling picked on?
Have you tried not living in America/not playing with Americans?
Anthony Anderson
or Europe.
Robert Lopez
1. Elementary schools don't have a "dean of students". 2. Any adults wandering the halls of an elementary school should be raising eyebrows, not just flava flavs. 3. Ostracization and picking-on is the end result of most if not all racism.
Racism IS a series of prejudices and assumptions based on apparent race. It's NOT a personality trait that simply causes you to be mean to be people for no other reason. If you want an NPC to be racist then imagine what set of life experiences and situations and socializations could cause them to make assumptions about certain types of people. Maybe a cop is racist against black people because he keeps arresting them and just starts to assume that out of a group of people the black guy is the most likely to be causing trouble. Maybe a school kid assumes asians are all smart because the kids with the highest grades in his class are generally asian.
It's generally hard to apply qualities like deeply-seated racism (or any belief really) to NPCs unless you're willing to invest time into figuring out why specifically they have those beliefs. I don't consider it worth it generally for throwaway NPCs, but for recurring ones I personally find it important to address. As you start breaking down the reasons an NPC believes something it should be no mystery why they act certain ways, up to and including being racist. That action makes SENSE for them (in their eyes). Pic related fell so flat because the audience understood the character's experiences and couldn't figure out how that added up to his actions. It felt forced and spaghetti ensued.
Jace Mitchell
I'm pretty sure anybody without a badge or an escort wandering around an elementary school will cause trouble
Justin Davis
Don't ask Veeky Forums about this, you might get maybe one decent answer and a lot of bullshit.
Luis Morris
But that one answer will be utterly real and profound, making it all worth it
Jacob Robinson
Early 80s? Aure racism existed in the 80s, but not much more than it exists now, or in the 90s. Not systemically.
Would suggest early 70s, or late 60s, where people are still VERY reluctant to adjust to equality.