Player versus player
[TW: Brief discussion of fictional forced seduction / rape in RPGs.]
Role-playing is a team sport. Even the Storyteller is on that team, with the collective goal of telling an entertaining story that everyone has a good time interacting with. But sometimes part of that story involves player characters acting against each other.
Most of the time, PCs engage non-player characters in contests and combats, and the rules are clear and well laid out. However, when player characters begin challenging each other, the rules can get muddier and have a negative out-of-game impact.
So when is player versus player action okay? When is it problematic?
In short, it’s fine when everyone at the table is okay with it. Player versus character (PvP) and its limits should be a part of the table talk. Everyone should express their comfort level with it. For some people, role-playing games are their safe place in an unsafe and difficult world. They’re looking for a team to belong to and PvP might make them feel excluded, picked on, or even turn that team feeling into something antagonistic. If somebody isn’t having fun at your table, that’s something that needs attention.
If the PCs have a reason to fight and everyone at the table is fine with that sort of thing — whether they’re engaged in non-lethal sparring or a more serious conflict — then the combat rules of any RPG are fine. May the better (or luckier) warrior win.
Other PvP conflicts, like stealing from another character, can also impact a player, even if it’s not as involved as a fight scene. In some game systems, there is some built-in competition and some players may just enjoy butting heads with other PCs instead of fighting aliens or monsters. If that’s the game, that’s the game — as long as everyone has consented to it without social pressure or fear of punishment.
There are some gray areas, though.
Say a character lets something slip in game, a muttered lore drop, or letting a faked accent or identity slip. Another player notices, but their character is a thick-skulled bruiser who is chronically and comically oblivious. Maybe having the two players settle it with a dice roll is the right move — putting what was figured out by who in the hands of the characters’ stats.
Sometimes the players might invite some PvP themselves. I don’t mean just throwing a punch at another character, though. Say something happens — an NPC mentions a name — and a PC has a strong reaction to it. The player might invite everyone to roll to see if they notice their character’s hands ball into fists and their jaw clench. They don’t want to come out and say it, and their character is actively trying not to visibly respond, but the player might want the party to notice. Or maybe two characters are trying to woo the same person and their players want to have a hilarious roll-off as they engage in ever more wild shenanigans.
If the players are offering rolls, then they’re likely okay with whatever kind of conflict they have put forward. Players don’t really invite others to do something to their character that they don’t want done.
But there are things that players absolutely do not want done to their characters. No player should ever have their agency taken away by another player character.
This time, let’s say that a PC wants to seduce another PC instead of an NPC partner. If the whole thing is role-played, then it hopefully unfolds according to everyone’s comfort zones and established table rules. But there are all too many horror stories of characters using magic or making rolls to seduce or persuade another PC against their will. That is rape. Fictional, yes, but still rape. Don’t ever do it. Full stop.
In a role-playing game, the Storyteller has all the power. They control the game world, the monsters, and all of the NPCs. The one and only thing that a player gets power over is their own character. Taking away that control is complicated and fraught. Magically charming a PC and making them attack the rest of the party is one thing — and even that can push boundaries — but forcing a player to do something or to make a decision gets dangerous quickly.
Alright, let’s look at another and less painful scenario. What if one character wants to persuade another one to put down that cursed object before it kills them? A charismatic character wants to talk them down, so do they role-play it or start rolling dice? Personally, I don’t think that a randomly-generated number on a lump of polyhedral plastic should force a player to do something like that. But maybe do the roll and then ask the player to take that into account when they decide to put the cursed helmet on or put it down. If a player elects to utterly ignore the other player’s rolls and persuasion, that’s on them.
The dice are a way to introduce some unpredictability into the game, an element of chance. They are not there to bully uncomfortable players. Between the story that the dice tell and the one that the players and Storyteller are creating, I believe that the dice should be a secondary part. Important, yes, but secondary. They add some surprises and excitement, but probably shouldn’t take over the entire narrative.
If you and your players consent to give the dice the power to override players, that’s okay, too. Adapting to those randomly-generated surprises can lead to some truly amazing role-playing. But whether the narrative or the rules come first at your table, fun has to be at the top. Because if players aren’t having fun, they’re going to stop showing up to play, and are right to do so. If a player tries to infringe on someone’s agency and enjoyment — forcing something to happen that another player doesn’t want, a seduction, having a trinket stolen, or getting talked out of putting on the helmet that they know is going to curse them — then all the rest has to be set aside. Because the rules say so is no excuse to make another player miserable.
