"Screw you guys; I'm going home!" [Worst Gaming Experiences of your life]

[Traab]

I also agree that desecration of a corpse being evil is entirely a social construct. That being said, I wouldn't argue with the DM once he has made a judgement.

Unless there is an in game reason to claim that keeping the bones of a murder victim and feeding their flesh to your pet isnt evil I would just go with general societal norms. Yeah there may be a few rare groups somewhere out in the world that wouldnt find that evil, but ask the nearest 100 people what they think and unless you explain carefully you will get pepper sprayed, the cops called on you, and thoroughly investigated. Because thats freaking messed up.

[Anxe]

Unless there is an in game reason to claim that keeping the bones of a murder victim and feeding their flesh to your pet isnt evil I would just go with general societal norms. Yeah there may be a few rare groups somewhere out in the world that wouldnt find that evil, but ask the nearest 100 people what they think and unless you explain carefully you will get pepper sprayed, the cops called on you, and thoroughly investigated. Because thats freaking messed up.

"Would you like to participate in a survey? Yes? Good. Okay, first question. Would you feed a dead body you found in the woods to your cat? NO WAIT! I need this for my statistics course!"

[Mr Beer]

"Would you like to participate in a survey? Yes? Good. Okay, first question. Would you feed a dead body you found in the woods to your cat? NO WAIT! I need this for my statistics course!"

This dialogue fits well with your avatar.

[Anxe]

This dialogue fits well with your avatar.

Excellent...

[DM Nate]

If someone came along and fed parts of my body to their pets instead of giving me a proper burial I think I'd return as a ghost to wreak revenge. Probably I'd possess their pet and make it eat them or something.

I'd personally feel honored that my proteins had become a part of an alpha predator instead of...I dunno...a tree or something.

[JetThomasBoat]

Personally, I think I would be annoyed about the feeding the dead to a cat as a fellow party member. I mean nine times out of ten I play a character that's semi-serious and follows normal social mores. And I haven't been in a lot of situations where there were mutilated victims of monsters in my campaigns, so I feel like I would think that would be something of an atmosphere thing the DM is trying to accomplish, you know? So then I'd feel like it was ruined a little by someone being like "Lets feed these dead bodies to Professor Mittens".

And I'd be a bit paranoid walking around with someone who kept a baby skull on their person. If we got captured by town guards or something, it's not going to look good.

[ComaVision]

Unless there is an in game reason to claim that keeping the bones of a murder victim and feeding their flesh to your pet isnt evil I would just go with general societal norms. Yeah there may be a few rare groups somewhere out in the world that wouldnt find that evil, but ask the nearest 100 people what they think and unless you explain carefully you will get pepper sprayed, the cops called on you, and thoroughly investigated. Because thats freaking messed up.

In my games, the religions of the real world are not present so I don't see any reason why the societal norms derivative from those religions would be present. Some beliefs are understandably universal (theft and murder are evil because they directly infringe on someone else) but messing with dead bodies does not conform with that.

EDIT: I'm willing to concede it's a difference in philosophy though. I like gameworlds where things are neutral except for setting specific alterations. As stated, you like things to reflect the real world except for setting specific changes.

[satcharna]

An argument could be made that in a world where the undead are seemingly abundant, "respecting the dead" would be impractical at best. A religion in such a world would likely emphasize cremation, and feeding a dead body to animals would be an equally practical method of disposing of it. The character was certainly acting oddly when he insisted on feeding the bodies to his pet, but in the absence of a method of establishing a pyre, his actions would be the most practical way to prevent necromancy. Not that a house cat would be able to devour any significant quantity of meat in the time the party apparently spent at the site.

[The Glyphstone]

Thought societal norms from different religions could end up looking the same thing. A region where the True Neutral goddess of Death is widely worshiped might consider desecration or disrespect of corpses to be incredibly taboo. This possibly results in a problem for the barbarian worshiper of the Chaotic Good nature god who believes that returning to the cycle via consumption by a predator is the highest honor, and both would get into arguments with the Neutral Evil priest of the god of the undead, who wants intact bodies to make zombies out of.

More than 'it's like RL', or 'it's nothing like RL', I think the most verisimilitude-breaking thing is widespread monolithic cultures in the absence of cheap, rapid and effective communication/transportation. Variations in custom/belief should be the norm.

[Angel Bob]

I once wanted to take a break from DMing, kick back, and enjoy playing a PC. We decided to play a joke campaign with utterly ridiculous characters. For some reason, we allowed the most impulsive, most spontaneous, and, when we're talking rules, most clueless member of our group to be the DM. This was off to a bad start already. It only got worse.

A few hours before the meeting, she finally broke up with a neglectful girlfriend, and was absolutely heartbroken. She arrived forty minutes late, ****faced drunk, and proceeded to lay out the most nonsensical encounter I've ever seen. It had something to do with a Stargate transporting us to the lair of a vampire king, which was stocked with both a hot tub and a pile of dead bodies.

Needless to say, we got absolutely nothing accomplished that night, and we promptly ended my brief attempt at relaxation. Next time we met, we returned to my campaign and proceeded to put that horrible incident out of our heads entirely. I only remembered it because it came up in conversation earlier today.

Next to that, all the distractions and dirty jokes and general foolishness of my players are quite tolerable indeed.

[Beige]

An argument could be made that in a world where the undead are seemingly abundant, "respecting the dead" would be impractical at best. A religion in such a world would likely emphasize cremation, and feeding a dead body to animals would be an equally practical method of disposing of it. The character was certainly acting oddly when he insisted on feeding the bodies to his pet, but in the absence of a method of establishing a pyre, his actions would be the most practical way to prevent necromancy. Not that a house cat would be able to devour any significant quantity of meat in the time the party apparently spent at the site.

I actually agree here - in a world made of necromancy, where bodies are the type to walk around after death, chances are there would be a culture of bodily destruction. think about it, would you rather have your body destroyed, or animated as a shambling mockery of life to work as a slave for some dude?

the players description sounds creepy as well...

afterall, despite most of the west having a culture of burial and sanctity of the body, it is entirley a taboo - for many cultures in the world cremation is the norm, and burial is seen as weird and crazy.

[Sidmen]

I actually agree here - in a world made of necromancy, where bodies are the type to walk around after death, chances are there would be a culture of bodily destruction. think about it, would you rather have your body destroyed, or animated as a shambling mockery of life to work as a slave for some dude?

the players description sounds creepy as well...

afterall, despite most of the west having a culture of burial and sanctity of the body, it is entirley a taboo - for many cultures in the world cremation is the norm, and burial is seen as weird and crazy.

That depends on your world and how death works in it. Sure, necromancy might bring Aunt Sue back from the dead to feast on the flesh of the living. But if you don't bury her intact then her soul is consumed in the fires of damnation. Or maybe it takes time for your soul to leave the body - and the exact timing isn't known. Maybe Aunt Sue's ghost will come back and punish you for burning her instead of planting her on the hill with that peach tree she loved.

In general, though, treating the dead with respect is a universal trait. Callously feeding someone's remains to a mangy beast is never going to be considered OK, or even neutral. Giving it to the sea, burying it, or burning it all have the underlying thread of respect and solemnity - even ritually eating a bit carries the same connotations. Disrespecting the dead is a really easy way to label someone as a villain without resorting to the other emotional pulls (rape/torture/etc.)

[Spindrift]

I think in a world where people fear the dead rising up, disrespecting those dead would be a big no-no. Some undead rise up cause they've been offended, just like when you rob tombs and a mummy gets up to reclaim what's his and dish out some revenge. Not all undead have to be animated with spells, unless it's a setting where that is the case.

Also the baby skull thing reminds me of
http://www.theonion.com/video/report...violenc,14402/

[Spacebatsy]

Well the thing one really should ask is whya character is doing something rather then what when trying to figure out if it’s evil or not.
Sure, the eating of human flesh exist in different culture and I wouldn’t judge the very act itself as evil. But ask the character why. What is the character trying to accomplish?
"The cat is hungry". Okay, why does it have to be human flesh? You do have food with you etc.
In my opinion this serves as both making the player reflect on his/her actions and put them in a context (avoiding lol random), and finding out the characters moral compass.

Is she trying to get her per used to the taste of human flesh?
Is her pet in fact an evil god that will only be bound in its current form if fed human flesh?
Is she trying to scare the other people in the team?
Is she from a culture where feeding the flesh of murdered humans to felines a way to put their souls at rest?
Have these people murdered her father and this is the only revenge she can take out on them since their already dead?

In my opinion, not really knowing how good-evil work in this game, there are both good and evil intentions that could rise the need to feed human flesh to a pet. Taking a life could also be an act of evil or good, depending on why it is done. Ask the why.


However, I get the opinion that the player just wanted to do weird stuff, and arguing that this would be perfectly acceptable in real life creeps me out.
And on a personal note, I’d rather let my most beloved pet die of starvation before feeding it human remains, and blame myself for getting my pet into a situation where it could starve.

[Tanuki Tales]

Who-boy.

I thought this thing died a while back and then I got buried in school work and other stuff. Lot of fun stuff to catch up on, I presume.

[Rater202]

Why yes there is, oh Genie of the Lamp.

[Tanuki Tales]

And I'm all caught up.

Could we please move away from the "Where on the alignment chart does feeding Salem the flayed flesh of Joe Schmoe" discussion, as it's taken a few steps close to territory we're not allowed to discuss? And is something an entire thread by itself could be devoted to?

[Ravian]

My worst gaming experience was definitely the first one I had with peers. I was in like early middle school and just gotten all the core 3.5 books. Only problem was I didn't have a ton of my own friends but thought I needed at least five or six people to play. So I invited a couple of my own friends and my younger brother invited some of his friends. The thing I should have realized though is that my brother is far more mature for his age than his friends were, and were more like a bunch of off-the-wall monkeys than any semblance of a civilized game. Didn't help that one kid forget to take his ADHD medications that day. The whole thing devolved into total chaos after another one ended up locking our bathroom door from the outside. (Took us close to a year to get it open again.) Eventually I decided to settle for a smaller group with just my friends and my brother.

It took us close to five years before we started to invite people in his circle of friends again. Ironically though most of the games I run nowadays when I'm home involve mostly his friends. (Largely because my friends tend to have complications from jobs and differing college breaks)

[Sith_Happens]

one ended up locking our bathroom door from the outside. (Took us close to a year to get it open again.)

Protip: Sometimes kicking in the door really is the correct course of action.

[DM Nate]

I'm just wondering where they went in the mean-time.