Introducing potentially sensitive topics in your game to your players is an important step to take if you intend to skirt around the edges of more serious themes. Regardless of system, being able to establish a theme for your game that is suitable for your players, and for the length of games you wish to run is something to take great care in.
For example, some people (like myself) enjoy horror games. However, there are other people out there who do not like to prance around the dark side of storytelling. This could be due to not enjoying the content, the tone or the anxiety that may be triggered with games that are more immersive.
What's most important is to make sure you tackle the main elements of your game - some to watch out for (especially if your themes may be more mature) can be found below.
Darker Themes
A good place to start if you are wanting to do a game is to address the darker themes of your games with players. Even if you have a game that is gruesome in nature, knowing how sensitive players me be to these themes can really help you explain the narrative in the right amount of detail needed.
For example, a Call of Cthulhu game I ran for all new players went really well - everyone was excitied to see some monsters and get scared. However, one player who joined the night of the game turns out to particularly sensitive to violent or scary content. Knowing this player was particularly squeamish helped inform what elements of the horror I should focus on. While this meant cutting out some of the more gruesome creature features, it let me indulge more in atmosphere and suspense building for the game.
While this person was squeamish to the more violent theme present in many Cthulhu games, others may be averse to murder mysteries, serial killers, body horror, or even murderous clowns.
Genre
The first place to start and get player buy-in is the genre of your game. This can make or break games if a group of players are disinterested in the genre. I run a mix of genres regardless of system, but many times I have horror themes sprinkled throughout.
As I personally find them easier to setup and run, I often go for serious games as it allows me to drop in scary elements at the big moments, but when downtime or lighter activities occur, I can lighten the game up. Starting off in Call of Cthulhu meant I have practised enough to be able to run strictly serious and horror themed games for lengthy periods, so dropping these into other games isn';t much work.
When your players agree to the genre (and we'll stick to horror for the purposes of this post), this doesn't mean you couldn't include fun elements, or comedic moments! If you are running a serious or nasty genre, then having these moments of lightness not only gives your players a rest from the misery, but it enhances the horror too!
Topics
Potentially tightly tied to your Themes, various topics for your games can be controversial for players. It's important to be transparent with players when approaching topics which might be a sensitive subject - especially if you are exploring more "realistic" games that tackle current topics or reflect recent real life events. There has been plenty of video games that have come under fire due to this exact thing - rightly or wrongly.
For example, a crazy ultra-violence W40K campaign will likely be less controversial than a sadistic ritualistic torture scene based on a true story in a Kult game. Buy-in from your players regarding the topics you'll cover can be really important - especially if you have completely new TTRPG players, or just new players to your group.
Details
Setting a general theme like horror is easy though, as most people aren't immediately turned off by horror games - what's more important is your approach to the topics within the game.
Even in fun D&D games, there may be elements and themes that are more adult in nature - like investigating murders or finding missing villagers (who may or may not have been murdered!). An example of this could be a standard Witcher contract, that usually involves following blood trails to find the remains of a normal villager. While this in itself its scary, the detail you indulge in when running your games may be a factor that is off-putting for some people.
A couple of tools
The X Card
A simple but effective tool to allow players to express discomfort to what is happening at a table is offering a 'X' card which can be raised to let the GM know that a line is, or has, been crossed for a player. Using this prompt for a GM can help make it clear to move on while not making players (especially shy ones) feel like they are interrupting.
Cut to black
Cut to black, or the curtain call, can be a way to elude to events happening and allowing the players mind to make up the rest. For example, a scene-setter focusing on sex or other more explicit events does not need to be played out at the table. Ensuring you tackle these scenes tastefully, then leaving the "gory details" out by cutting/ fading to black can be a good way to keep adult themes in your games without revelling in them. This also applied exactly to unpleasant scenes that may be in your games.
Buy in
Players will almost always appreciate being given a heads up about the sort of game you'll be playing. GMs can let their players know the sorts of topics that may be covered, giving players a warning about the potential adult nature of a game without exposing them to unsolicited graphic scenes. For the most part, a group of friends playing games may not need the formal "buy in" speech, but its worth always running even a small agreement before a game that tackles unpleasant or dark themes - especially if they are central to the game.
Encourage the conversation
Ensuring your players can talk to you about the content of your games will keep everyone happy. Some people may buy in to a game with darker themes, but once they come along may decide they might have underestimated how challenging these topics could be. As a GM, encourage conversation about the topics of your games, and don't be afraid to prompt people to highlight their thoughts - especially if you have tackled a subject recently that is unpleasant or explicit.
The "And breathe"
Sometimes its easy to get carried away, but my rule of thumb is always allow players time to breathe - especially after tough games. For example, after a string of dark and challenging events in a dungeon my players were stuck in for several weeks, once the players returned they were hailed as heroes by a small group and got to indulge themselves in a festival. This let players get their heads out of the dirt and enjoy light hearted role-play, rewarding their characters with not just XP, but easy challenges to solve.
I also often have funny scenes or topics purely to entertain - even in my horror games. Slapstick characters, funny hijinx and off-the-wall downtime activities can allow players time to enjoy role-play without always needing to keep their heads down in the dark stuff. Allowing ample time for levity can let players enjoy the FUN part of their characters instead of continuously hitting them over the head with the hard bat of misery all the time.
From a story telling point of view, it's important to allow moments for players to take a breath away from the dark stuff all the time. Even purely to stop them from becoming desensitised to your content! If you want dramatic hooks to surprise, and tough topics to oppress, then use them wisely. As they say, too much of a good thing (in this case a bad/ dark thing) is still bad. My best scares have been usually when players' guards are down, usually after some relaxing.
So that's all for this topic - for now at least! What are your thoughts about running challenging topics in your games? Have you had any experiences you regret including? Please get in touch to let us know, we'd love to hear your experience.
Thanks for taking the time to read this today, and wherever you are, good gaming to you and catch you next time!
-KJ
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