Things you want to avoid

[dunlaing]

What do you do if there are things you (and by "you" I mean your gaming group as a whole) want to avoid in Capes? The answer is definitely not "put it in the Comics Code" because things being in the Comics Code make them more likely to appear in play.

I think this is a Social Contract issue, but it also seems like it would be a good idea for Capes to have a place for this sort of thing so that people don't fall into a trap of putting that stuff in the Comics Code.

For instance, let's say you're playing in a group with someone who's really squeamish about rape. He definitely does not want any rape in the game, but he also doesn't want scenes of supervillains pulling their pants down and getting ready to rape people, either. He might think "No rape" would be a good addition to the Comics Code. But if I see "No rape" in the Comics Code, my first thought is "I can get story tokens by providing him opportunities to stop rapes from taking place." Next thing you know, there's a "Event: Captain Power drops the soap" conflict on the table.

What would be a good name for a seperate list of things we want to avoid, since the Comics Code name is taken?

[Vaxalon]

You're thinking too limited for the comics code.

"Nothing that even so much as hints at rape."

[dunlaing]

"Event: Dr. Light taunts Elongated Man about what he did to his dead wife"

Anything in the Comics Code becomes something you are incentivized to put on the table.

[Vaxalon]

The mere presentation of that event could be seen as a violation of the CC, if it's seen as even hinting at rape.  Either that, or the resolution of it would HAVE to involve something nonsexual (where he buried her, how he reanimated her, whatever).

You set your CC boundaries where you need them.  Yes, they attract play TO THE BORDER but if you place the border intelligently, that border becomes a place for interesting play, and the area beyond it is off limits.  The problem isn't the CC.

[dunlaing]

The mere presentation of that event could be seen as a violation of the CC, if it's seen as even hinting at rape.  Either that, or the resolution of it would HAVE to involve something nonsexual (where he buried her, how he reanimated her, whatever).

You set your CC boundaries where you need them.  Yes, they attract play TO THE BORDER but if you place the border intelligently, that border becomes a place for interesting play, and the area beyond it is off limits.  The problem isn't the CC.

There's no rule that says you can't introduce events that would violate the Comics Code. Quite the contrary. The restriction is that the things prohibited by the Comics Code cannot happen in-game. As I introduce "Event: Dr. Light taunts Elongated Man about what he did to his dead wife", nothing has happened in-game that hints at rape.

You're free to introduce conflicts that, if resolved in one way, would absolutely violate the Comics Code, so long as there is another way it could be resolved that does not. If I win "Event: Dr. Light taunts Elongated Man about what he did to his dead wife", then I get to Gloat,...not about rape, but I get to gloat ("Dr. Light says 'I've got you where I want you, Elongated Man! Soon your gingold juice will wear off and you'll be trapped! Forced to listen to whatever I want to say! Hahahaha"). If Ralph wins, he gets to narrate something else unrelated to rape ("ok, Dr. Light, after being knocked on his ass and hitting his head, says 'you know, I spray-painted Sue's gravestone with my name yesterday' and then passes out') and the Event goes away. The threat of the event was that someone would hint at rape in-game.

There's no way using the Comics Code to keep from having people hint at rape out-of-game by introducing conflicts that would hint at rape in-game if resolved without Gloating.

The Comics Code encourages players to consistently attempt what it forbids.

So while the issue won't come up in the game itself, it will come up in the game session.

[Andrew Cooper]

I've thought about this issue a bit because there are certain things that we don't want showing up in our Capes Fantasy game and then there are certain things we don't want to actually happen but we do want people to be able to pursue them.  For example...

1.) No non-fantasy components added to the game.

We don't want this to ever happen.  We don't want to see this at all.  No Goals that threaten this.  No narration that includes this.  Nothing.  But then there are things like this...

2.) No spotlight characters may be killed without approval of all players.

We emphatically do want this type of Conflict to be pursued.  We just don't want to see it actually happen.

So, what we have are two separate types of items in the Comics Code.  I've decided to mark certain items that are like #1 above as special items.  These items cannot enter into play, period.  They earn no Gloating reward.  In fact, they can't even be put down in a Conflict to earn any reward.  They can't be narrated.  Nada.  Everything not so marked is subject to the Gloating rules.

That's how our group is handling it.