Twisted Sicken: An RPG of mind-bending depravity

[haze]

As usual, John, eloquently stated.

[ethan_greer]

Wow. That's some inspiring stuff, John, and as Haze has pointed out, very elequent.  Thanks for sharing those thoughts.

And gadzooks, I see I misspelled "pretentious." Oh well.

[Kirk Mitchell]

I agree completely with John. However, also, a slight undercurrent of humour, admittedly exceedingly dark and nasty humour, is needed in my opinion. Emphasis on slight. Black comedy and satire can be some of the most powerful tools when analysing an issue. Maybe what John said could go into an afterward of the game.

Ethan, what are you planning on doing with this game? Publishing? Online freeby? I find it intriguing, but I will never find someone to play it with. Except maybe Oliver... hmmm... Yeah, that sick fucker might play it with me...

Ehem.

Kirk

[ethan_greer]

I've got some bitchin' artwork from Andy Hopp for it, and I'm planning on selling it in PDF format through RPGNow.

The final draft will go out for playtest and review by Monday. Look for the announcement on the SimplePhrase Press forum. After that, figure maybe a couple weeks for gathering feedback, tweaking the text, and layout.

So, Kirk, do you think I've got the right level of black humor? The current draft tones things down a bit (I took out some things like, "Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you people") but maintains that perilously serious tone that borders on the absurd.

I'm planning on having quotes in a sort of "what people are saying about Chamber" format in the marketing literature for the game, and John's comments are definitely going in there.

[Doctor Xero]

I've got some bitchin' artwork from Andy Hopp for it, and I'm planning on selling it in PDF format through RPGNow.

One thing I would like to emphasize : please make it clear in your content warning that this RPG is genuinely emotionally disturbing.

Phrases such as "depravity" have been sugar-coated through overuse in humor to having all the potency of words like "wacky" and "debauchery", so you need something more specific.  Actually, simply warning that "this RPG can be genuinely emotionally disturbing" should work, now that I think about it.

For what you are looking for, I think this RPG would work for a properly forewarned audience.  (It's just not what I'm looking for.)

My torturer-character shows me stripped of my moral center, my compassion.

Actually, I've read studies of professional torturers, made during the overthrow of several police states in South America and Africa, and the studies show that professional torturers are trained through peer pressure and experiencing torture themselves to steadfastly dehumanize and "thingify" their victims.  (The most recent study occurred under Bishop Desmond Tutu, in part out of a desire to understand torturers rather than vilify them as he and his people had been vilified -- the Bishop is an uncommonly noble man.)  When those former professional torturers were confronted with the fact that they had tortured human beings, without the system to distort and dehumanize their victims for them, many of them had nervous breakdowns and such.  Once they lost the capacity for dehumanizing these people, they lost the capacity for torturing these people.

As I understand it, this is not unlike the dehumanization process done in some militaries (or all?) to enable soldiers to commit atrocities again "the enemy", dehumanized and objectified and therefore removed from considerations of compassion and conscience.

Doctor Xero

[Alf_the_Often_Incorrect]

That is an extremely amusing concept which I have to try sometime. I hardly see how it is a roleplaying game, but email me nonetheless and tell me if I can get permission to link to it on my site. =D

[Kirk Mitchell]

At the moment it is a little excessive in terms of the humour. Maybe a sicker joke to start off with would provoke a bit more of discusted response rather than a humourous response.

How about

Q. What is red and white and screams
A. A freshly pealed baby in a jar of salt

(It wasn't me! It was my grade 11 math teacher! He made it up!)

Or something of the sort. Would you be able to get some stuff from Parking Lot is Full? (I checked it out over the weekend, it is awesome!)
Toning it down overall sounds good because things like "Players take turns describing a hideous way in which their characters have tortured an innocent victim. (And the victims are always innocent, not that any of you care.)" is a bit over the top.

Can't wait.

Kirk

[ethan_greer]

Man, that's one sick joke. The problem I have is that it's not so much funny as it is just wacko-bizarre sick.

I've contacted the PLIF people in the past and didn't get an answer, so I don't have much inclination to try this time.

[ethan_greer]

Phrases such as "depravity" have been sugar-coated through overuse in humor to having all the potency of words like "wacky" and "debauchery", so you need something more specific.  Actually, simply warning that "this RPG can be genuinely emotionally disturbing" should work, now that I think about it.

Done. Thanks for suggestion.

[Mike Holmes]

As Demada pointed out, given the similarity of the games, I'd rather play KPFS. For one, I prefer structure over freeform play. As I read it, this has no real mechanics with the possible exception of a formalized rule for exiting the game.  

Also, I can't remember, but how far is this from the game Violence?

Mike

[ethan_greer]

Near as I can tell from reading blurbs and reviews, there are no similarities to Violence.

P.S. For those interested, I've released the playtest version of the game. The announcement is here.

[Jody_Butt]

The Point:
The point of this game is to alarm yourself with your ability to envision atrocities, and your capacity to enjoy that envisioning. The point of this game is to get in touch with your inner bastard. After all, you laughed at the joke.

Actually, no I didn't.

How low can our society sink?

Scum.

[Kirk Mitchell]

Jody_Butt. Have you read John's statement?

There is a terrible beauty in all of this that I find very attractive. It goes like this: "Look at what I am capable of imagining. Look at the horrors I can conceive of. Look at all of this inspiration for evil inside of me. Now. Watch as I never, ever actually do any of them." It's a powerful argument for mankind as something more than an animal. Something more than a sum of our desires and urges.

We have such powerful choices in life. The decision to never harm another human being means a lot in the context of such potential for evil. My torturer-character shows me stripped of my moral center, my compassion. The acts he describes highlight just exactly why I need that center, why compassion must be an active choice. In short, the torturer is the signpost, pointing at something greater and good.

Have you even followed the thread?

You also might want to check the Forge Ettiquette sticky in the Site Discussion, where it clearly states

4) understanding that to disagree with someone does not mean disliking or insulting them. We are talking about ideas, not about one another

D. "Flaming"

The Forge has its own standards for what constitutes a "flame." They are strict - including any dismissal of another's point without fair consideration, any expression of hostility even in response to perceived hostility, or even multiply posting to someone before they have a chance to get back to you, and anything similar. In other words, politeness and rudeness at the Forge follow the rules of conversation, not the general standards of the Internet.

As your mother inevitably said "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all..."

Kirk

[Ron Edwards]

Hey - do not respond to content-less posts. This is a Forge thing that's been getting lost lately.

If a person obviously hasn't read some of the material or is clearly not posting constructively, then do not respond. It's very simple.

Best,
Ron

[Kirk Mitchell]

Sorry Ron. My apologies.

Kirk