Heavy Session Yesterday

[Ophidimancer]

So I just had something of a heavy session yesterday.  My players are playing high schoolers and I introduced a Selkie as a new student.  Only they didn't know she was a Selkie and after they investigated a bit, it looked to them like her "dad" was molesting her.  In the end they finally did find her skin and free her from bondage, but there were some pretty emotionally charged scenes, especially when she leapt to the defense of her rapist.

Have you guys had any heavier sessions?

[arete]

Not in dresden, but with the help of a friend have made games so intence the GM had to take a break.  It is not a bad thing, but requires mature players.  What kind of feedback did your players give?

Ps I might steal this plot idea.

[Richard_Chilton]

You have to be careful with games like that.  There's nothing worse than having a wonderful game, then finding out later that one of the players was freaked by it but didn't say anything because he/she didn't want to ruin things for other people.

Having a game in the modern era means you can tackle modern, relevant story lines - and somehow the "get the teenager off the streets and away from her pimp" type plot will work with players whose PCs always hit the brothels in the fantasy worlds.

Butcher doesn't usually deal with things like that, but a few other authors have.  A very few - it takes effort and skill to work that type of thing into a plot and make it work.  Lackey did some urban fantasy a few years ago where the Seelie wanted to help children and the Unseelie sold B&D kiddy porn (with spells on it so if you tried to copy the VHS tape it would self destruct).   The good elves would try to save kids and not all of them would get saved... If memory serves she had 3-4 books in the Serrated Edge series which overlapped with some of her other modern fantasy novels.

I could easily see a plot based around a changeling or scion whose mystic parent was a negative sort.  A sort of "Help? I didn't eat your mother - what more do you want" type thing.  Maybe a Yellowbeard with his "No woman ever slept with me and lived" vibe going on.

But again, make sure everyone at the table is up for a theme like that.

Richard

[devonapple]

Nothing like that yet. We were forced to abandon a young woman to a Red Court Vampire because we'd been outnumbered and I ran out of Fate Points to buy off the Compels to get the hell out of there ("I'm Not That Guy," an Aspect stolen from Tony Shalhoub's character from "GalaxyQuest"). That was pretty heartbreaking.

This reminds me of a similar plot element from "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,"

(click to show/hide)

in which the main villain had hired an actress to pretend to be his estranged daughter, and was caught having "incest" with her.

[Ophidimancer]

What kind of feedback did your players give?

They liked it, especially one of my players.  He plays a swim jock (his high concept is Spawn of the Black Lagoon and the selkie joined the girls swim team, so they hit it off) and was the one character who wanted to save this girl really badly.  He said it was kind of an emotional roller coaster, especially when the victim seemed to defend her rapist.

Ps I might steal this plot idea.

Steal away!

[arete]

Sounds like your doing it right because you and your players had fun.  I resently nailed a player with the idea her denarian husband has their daughter, and she was a little off put.  I left enough room that it could be a trick of the light if she is uncomfortable with the idea.

[MacShidhe]

I'm running a game where the players are taking on a human trafficking ring run by House Skavis.  We've had some really intense sequences though not a whole session.  I wouldn't try anything heavy if I thought any members of my gaming group weren't mature enough to handle it.


Sam