Managing Violence

Almost all Role Playing Games deal with violence and fights and it's not rare that a "good" game can be sum up by an efficient slaughter. These kinds of game can be attributed to young Players who find "fun" with powerful Characters and everybody knows that the greatest power is the power of life and death over his neighbour. We won't  linger on this kind of games which can be described as tiresome and a normal Game Master will prefer to think that this behavior is the attribute of young Players (However...). Alas, this attitude is pernicious. Frequently, Game Masters see their campaign fails because one of the main NPCs has been killed by Players who wants to show how strong and powerful they are. Yet, this is the Game Master's fault : His Players lost the basic referential. The Game Master musn't be led by his Players and he must remember that even in an oniric world, laws exist and they may be more harsh than in the normal world.  We exclude RPGs where violence is the main topic and we can assert that even if it is not written in the rules, killing somebody is reprehensible and a Player, as powerful he is, may be sentenced to jail or death for killing an innocent.  Let's go deeper now.

The Different Kinds of Violence

When we talk about violence, we think about given or received punches. It's wrong! Violence may have many and various faces : 

        _ The physical violence :    by hits, wounds and tortures

        _ The moral violence :        by being keyed up, shouts or tortures

        _ The sexual violence :       obvious example come to your mind

These are few examples among many. Physical violence is planned in every RPGs, but the moral and sexual violences are treated by Game Masters for realism. We won't contradict them and our speech is not to denounce those who use violence, but it's necessary to control it, especially for young Players.

The "Necessary" Violence 

Dans le Jeu de Rôles, la violence est présente (et pas forcément omniprésente! La diplomatie peut également avoir de l'effet.) Toute intrigue de Jeu de Rôles repose forcément sur une opposition. Cette opposition peut-être entre PJ et PNJ ou par fois même entre PJ. La seule exception est souvent appelée le "Hors-scénario", c'est à dire les moments où chaque Personnage va gérer sa famille et ses activités économiques.

Pour simplifier, un PNJ va être qualifié de "Grand Méchant". Il est éventuellement entouré de "Lieutenants", eux-mêmes contrôlant des "Soldats". Ce "Grand Méchant" ourdit un complot qui vise à mettre en danger tout ou partie de l'univers dans lequel évoluent les PJ. Ces derniers seront évidemment les seuls recours pour mettre fin aux exactions du "Grand Méchant" : la meilleure façon possible de mettre fin à ses méfaits dans la plupart des JDR est la mort! Nous qualifierons cette violence de "nécessaire" : même si des alternatives sont envisageables, il ne faut pas perdre de vue que le but final est de rétablir (généralement!) l'ordre, l'équité et la paix troublés par ce Personnage. Il arrive même parfois que dans une région de leur univers très violente, les Personnages Joueurs se livrent à des massacres de masse, mais là encore, leur but n'est pas de faire de la violence pour la violence. Ils perçoivent cela comme une manière simpliste de mettre fin à une source de maux.

Dans d'autres cas, des scènes de violences sexuelles ou leurs conséquences vont être dépeintes. Par exemple, dans les scénarios à vocation policière (la victime ayant été violée et parfois assassinée). Dans des ambiances médiévales-fantastiques, des scènes de violences sexuelles, comme des scènes de sabbat, vont souvent être décrites de manière crue, par le Maître de Jeu. Mais là encore, le but est simple : cette scène n'est pas censée réveiller la libido des Joueurs, mais bien de les mettre face à une vision d'horreur et de débauche à laquelle ils voudront mettre fin (à noter qu'à ce moment, la violence sexuelle sera remplacée par la violence physique!).

Cette violence est qualifiable de nécessaire car elle permet de confronter les Joueurs à des limites sociales et de stigmatiser leur morale (attention toutefois, toute forme d'excès est préjudiciable à l'être humain!).

The Excessive Violence 

According to us, villence is excessive when a game can be summed up by a sequence of fights. Most Players think that it is entertaining. However, if it is systematic, this way to enliven a game involves the problem of violence as a reflex!

Then, a Game Master will be confronted to a tremendous problem : how to create a campaign on an intrigue? Let confess that these games are sometimes entertaining, but all the time, it's boring. Players will prefer a fighting video game to a tabletop RPG where they only have to roll dices and substract hit points. Indeed, if you present your world with violence as an institution, Players won't seek for explanations and will draw their weapons before talking. You may forget inquiry scenarios!

While reading this page, if you realize that your Players only roll dices for initiative, attack and dodge, it's too late! You've been in the wrong way! But you can react : change of RPG during one or two months and prefer an inquiry RPG. When you'll come back to your old RPG, your Players will have lost the violence reflex.

The Useless Violence

Violence become useless when it brings nothing to the atmosphere or to the scenario. Describing piles of corpses musn't last more than one minute or two. Moreover, describing these situations during an hour kills the effect : instead of being scared, your Players will be blasé. You know if you uses useless violence when your Players are unable to describe the walls that surround them but can describe precisely the tortured and mutilated corpses hung on them.

Too Violent Players

You may have to cope with violent Player Characters! Maybe it's not a problem, but when the Character's violence is a problem for the Game Master you must discuss of it with him. If you can't convince a Player to stop being violent, act through the scenario : threaten him by remembering that killing is a crime. As a warning, a Militiaman may force him to pay a penalty, but if he doesn't understant, send him to jail for a scenario : the Player will have an awful evening, but he may understand. If not, sentence him to death by a powerful NPC.!

Correcting a Deviation

Excessive violence is useless, from GM as from PCs and it's a deviation which corrupts the scenario. The Game MAster is the most difficult to correct. If the GM is too violent in his scenarios, tell him and if he doesn't want to change, boycott him! He may feel that as a sanction but it is! Any GM must evolve for his Players so as to adapt to their desires. From a Player, it's more easy to rectify. A Player never be the strongest being osf a whole universe and you may punish him through a more powerful NPC than him. Warning! Don't forget that the violence can qualified as excessive and useless if the Game Master or the Players don't entertain anymore while playing!

Violence & Social Referential

The most important is the relation to reality. Don't forget that consciously or unconsciously, RPG has educational virtues. A Character reveals the deep temper of a Player (and you will always hear the contrary : "emm! Well, no! My Character is totally different from me!". That's false unless the person is schizophrenic) in a world where the social systems and the relationship equilibrium are radically different from Earth. Letting him be too violent may alter his perception of reality and he may integrate this attitude in his own normal behavior, especially for young Players.. As a conclusion, it's dangerous to make commonplace of violence, even in imaginary worlds that are RPGs! The Game Master must be responsible for it and forbid his table to a Player who seems to lose his references to reality.

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