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Comment by stolenmerch | Hacker News Reader

A problem with the X-Card concept is that it can only be used within the pre-existing Overton Window of the group anyway, so you might as well ditch it in favor of normal social negotiation. For example, X-Card guidelines always tell players they can use it to block anything they're uncomfortable with. However, you'll quickly learn you can't use it to block political ideology from the DM, even if you legitimately find it triggering and distressing.

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> you'll quickly learn you can't use it to block political ideology from the DM

That's like, not true at all. The X card is exactly for that purpose, the GM doesn't get a special exception from the effect of the X card.

As a GM, if a player reaches for the X card for any reason I'm obliged to stop and listen.

I'm curious what exactly you mean by "political ideology" in this context. Can you give a concrete example of the kind of thing that makes you uncomfortable?

I believe you, but that's not the case everywhere. I've had DMs who have put drag shows in our game as part of tavern entertainment, for example. Even though I have no problem with them in real life, I have no desire to see them in my fantasy game because it just reminds me of contemporary culture war shenanigans. When questioned on it or asked if we could not do that, I've received nothing but pushback. Stuff like that.

Not every group is right for every person.

But the big thing is this: it's not your fantasy game. It's the shared fantasy game of you, the other players, and the DM.

> Not every group is right for every person.

In the context of an X-card discussion, that's hilarious.

"Touch the X-card, but only if the group agrees on why the X-card was touched. Otherwise, find new group"

turns out the real x-card was the group itself :)

This is true of every voluntary social thing.

yes, exactly, that's why the X-card thing is just useless performative theatre

I find the X-Card most useful at conventions. When I sit down at a table I have no idea where strangers' lines are. It provides a more frictionless way to let people tell you how to be courteous, without knowing them very well.

I think guidelines and an equivalent of a trigger warning is a better solution. It's really hard to modify a campaign on the fly if for example someone is uncomfortable with cults but that's the primary driver of the storyline.

It's another means of communication, ultimately. If your desires and needs for the game are incompatible with others in the group, it's not going to work out (and the more rigid this is, the smaller the set of people you're going to be able to play with).

The general point makes sense, the GM is has a lot of social power and there are risks to publicly calling them out on anything really.

But I'm having a hard time imagining this specific example. What would be an example of political ideology from the GM that you'd want to block?

Mostly political agendas that spill over from the real world, often surrounding themes of social justice and left-wing activism but sometimes right wing fascist themes as well. I just find it infuriating to have the DM shoehorn their extremist political views into a game. Especially with the leftist DMs, I've found that I'm usually expected to reinforce their beliefs and not question them, even with provided X-Cards or the like.

But what is an example of this in a game? How would this come up in a way that you'd feel uncomfortable with? I'm just struggling to see concretely what this would look like.

Examples elsewhere in this comment section like eg sexual assault I can easily see how that would both come up in a game and interact with player experience to make them uncomfortable in a way they may not want to have to explain in the middle of a session.

I'm getting downvoted simply for giving examples, thus proving my point. But if you need a concrete example, I once had a DM include a drag show in-game.

Did you know straight men have been doing drag for centuries? It’s called theatre.

That’s pretty disingenuous. There’s a very big different between theatre and a drag show.

I’m sure the player in question wouldn’t have minded an old timey theater production of all men playing women. Drag shows are pretty modern and I’m sure entirely took them out of the setting, just as if the DM had the bad guys have Uzis and AK-47s.

And a better solution for this is to not run campaigns at conventions or public games that have sexual assault.

I know a number of otherwise pleasant people who have as a political/philosophical view that it's not rude to insult certain identity groups.

I wouldn't say I find it triggering when someone says something about men, just annoying, but I can imagine someone who is more easily upset feeling that way.

That being said, if you have friends willing to say things that they know upset you, you probably need better friends, not a card.

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