Witcher RPG Writer Wisely Advises Fans to Avoid Sexual Themes
A tabletop RPG based on The Witcher series was recently released in limited numbers at GenCon, with more copies expected to be available online shortly. R. Talsorian Games, the same company which published the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG, is publishing the game. During an interview with Polygon at the event, the game’s lead writer, Cody Pondsmith, offered some advice to players about the Witcher franchise’s sexual themes.
Cody Pondsmith’s Advice to Players of the Witcher RPG
The Witcher series is, without a doubt, a very mature series. Of course, there’s plenty of combat and monster-hunting. However, the franchise is also known for its sexual encounters. When it comes to the tabletop RPG, however, Cody Pondsmith wisely recommends that players avoid those themes.
“I wrote a whole section called ‘Romance and How Not to Make It Weird,'” stated Pondsmith; “It goes over things like, How do you run a romance with somebody and not have that bleed over? How not to have people get uncomfortable about it. Most of the intimacy should happen off-screen, unless every single person in your party is okay with it. If people at your table aren’t having fun, and especially if they’re feeling uncomfortable, then you’re failing to run a good game.”
Any amount of romantic or sexual content in a tabletop RPG can make plenty of people uncomfortable. In general, it’s not the sort of content that most people are looking for in a tabletop game. Few people are comfortable role-playing the sort of intimacy it would require without any emotional leakage out of the game. Pondsmith recommends that players pay close attention to separation in such instances.
An Extract From Pondsmith’s Advice in the Core Rulebook
An extract from his section on Romance in the Core Rulebook reads thusly:
“A really good first step to set up romance in a roleplaying game is to establish how good all of your players — and indeed you — are at separation. Often, very deep “character roleplayers” who really enjoy playing and getting really deep into their character have a hard time separating themselves from the character, and this can make romance uncomfortable. I once found myself running a romantic scene with a friend and realized halfway through that it felt a hell of a lot like theywere flirting with me. Needless to say it made things a bit awkward. Good separation also means the players won’t get as upset when things go wrong in a fictional relationship.”