Mature themes you'd like to see in the game

[Badmojo]

one thing, I would like them to explore the dark side of nobility in mideval times. Nobles where always trying to assassinate each other, parents trying to kill children, children trying to kill parents, relatives..etc. All to raise in status, get wealth, land, slaves/serfs...etc. Then there was the decadance, living a life carefree having parties with feasts, while their own parties starved, then we have the infamous incest between nobles (brothers marrying sisters/cousins..etc)'keeping the line pure' before DNA was fully understood and these offspring and sometimes the mother were sent far away to keep this black sheep secret, then we have arranged marriages which basically made noble children chess pieces or living contract between two groups. Would be forced marry (against their will) and were expected to sire a child. Not to mention the abuse many nobles took on its own people that were treated no different than slaves...etc

[BasaltineBadger]

How about a dark side of people being able to bring down whole cities walking around. One highly experienced adventurer can destroy villages after villages and face no consequences because unless he'll encounter other high level characters is untouchable. Most DnD campaigns should look like Hokuto no Ken, not LOTR.

[crazyrabbits]

A realistic (well, as realistic as a game can be) exploration of child labor/slavery. If nothing else, it should be done to show other companies how mature themes can be handled in a complex and respectful way.

 

Let's say you come across a town that openly and flagrantly allows children to be sold for housework and/or indentured servitude. You come across an open auction where a group of children, including one or more that appear to have been injured on the job, are being "resold" to other clients. You can handle this situation multiple ways.

 

1) You can walk up and break them out, which has the effect of making you lose your reputation within the community and/or lead to a chain reaction that results in you having to kill guards/residents who try to attack you, with the end result being that you ask yourself whether the loss of life was worth it.

 

2) You can bargain for some of the children and release them, at the cost that the one(s) you weren't able to save end up being sold to a trader/merchant who takes him somewhere outside of the in-game world, and you are left wondering if you could have saved them all.

 

3) You bargain for all of the children, release them all, then have to deal with the consequences - you end up having to pay more money to cover their recuperation/shelter at a local orphanage, but you get a rep bonus and there's additional content down the line (one of the children was stolen from a noble in a far-off city, who welcomes you in and gives you discounts when s/he learns that you rescued their child).

 

Something like that.

Edited October 9, 2012 by crazyrabbits