When nature calls..,

[Nexus]

No, not a thread on converting the character and world of Ace Ventura to an rpg setting, which I hope doesn't disappoint too many But about the universal and most banal equalizer: Bodily functions (aside from eating/drinking/breathing). You know number 1 and number 2. This bit of house rules I ran across brought it to mind as it struck me as particularly amusing way to handle it.

BLESSED RELIEF
Ok, I admit, maybe I am taking realism a bit too far this time. Nevertheless here we go. Using the bathroom is something we ALL have to do, and quite often it happens at the worst possible moment. This section isn't intended to suggest that you force your characters to use the restrooms on a frequent basis, instead, every time a Player gets up to use the bathroom, simply have him state that that is what his character is doing as well. This can create some interesting situations. If he gets up to go to the bathroom in the middle of a fight, well the rest of the characters are going to be looking at him kinda funny as he scurries into a corner to relieve himself. On a long road trip, the characters have to find a place to stop, or pull over on the side of the road and wait for him to finish. Moments like these can be good personality builders for the characters, and add that extra sense of conversation that often lacks in game sessions. After all, what's more normal than talking shit about the guy who everyone keeps having to pull into gas stations for. Sitting outside the car bullshitting, while waiting for the guy to get done shitting himself. Ok I'm done with this now, you can relax.

Does it ever come up in play or is it one those sometimes unpleasant details that's hand-waved or assumed to happen during downtime, safely offscreen? Ae PCs like characters in movies and TV shows that never have to 'go' unless its a excuse for something else, can be, for example, locked in cell or room for days and be fine and clean if they're fed and given water (which leads too, well you know... and sometimes that's hand-waved as well). How do you deal with this one prolonged dungeon delves, for instance? There is actually an article discussing the possibilities of using this subject for plot hooks, clues, and other types of fodder on rpg.net but I'm not able to look it up.

Thoughts?

 

[Simlasa]

Not something I've thought about much... except for noting the absence of any sort of toilet/drainage/sewer/trash removal system in dungeons.
There's a big mine in my state where I know the dug a system of sub-tunnels under the tunnels for drainage and such.

 

[Nick J]

Unless it was in a very, very lighthearted kind of game I think I'd be rolling my eyes if a GM asked me to make a stamina roll to keep a character from shitting himself. On the other hand the opportunity to have some kind of "black pudding" type monster lurking in an outhouse presents some interesting possibilities.

*Shrug* I dunno, this kind of thing just doesn't strike me as the kind of thing I'll ever want to keep track of in a systematic sort of way.

 

[Nobby-W]

Unless it was in a very, very lighthearted kind of game I think I'd be rolling my eyes if a GM asked me to make a stamina roll to keep a character from shitting himself. On the other hand the opportunity to have some kind of "black pudding" type monster lurking in an outhouse presents some interesting possibilities.

*Shrug* I dunno, this kind of thing just doesn't strike me as the kind of thing I'll ever want to keep track of in a systematic sort of way.

 

[David Johansen]

I firmly believe that Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay PCs should get dumped in the midden at some point in their careers.

Most of my dungeons have a midden and I'll often put an Ogythuh in it. It's generally talkative and curious but wouldn't be above eating a bit of fresh meat if it came to it.

Lower tech space ships recycle the stuff to grow algae.

 

[AsenRG]

I'm pretty sure my players did assassinate some noble in his midden, once.
But generally, I thought the title is reference for "the Referee needs a couple minutes to consider the implications of really unexpected actions by the PCs".

 

[soltakss]

We mentioned it a few times in our RQ2 game, especially when in dangerous areas.

Then, one of the GMs gave out a portaloo as a joke item, basically an ENC 1 box with a button on the side that expanded into a fully functional portable flush toilet, complete with always refreshed toilet paper. I took it as my first treasure pick, as I knew the GM hadn't thought it through properly. The waste just disappeared, so we used it to flush away the butchered remains of Lunar patrols, ripped-up walkatpi and various cursed items. I picked up a cursed gem that was haunted and kept being attacked by a ghost, so I threw it down the portaloo, so every time it got flushed the ghost went Whoo-oo-oooh". It became a standing joke for a useless item that became useful.

 

[Ladybird]

I'm pretty sure my players did assassinate some noble in his midden, once.

I've just finished a quest in Divinity : Original Sin 2 where you had to make a man shit himself so you could murder him in private.

(Great game, by the way. It's obvious why the developers were picked to do BG3, they've got the skills to do it justice.)

 

[TristramEvans]

Thoughts?

I roleplay to have fun.

 

[Winterblight]

Most of my better thought out dungeons have some sort of midden or large smelly hole in the ground, normally home to some creature like a gelatinous cube placed there to mop up. I don't think I ever want to roleplay individuals going to the toilet. I like to roleplay stuff I can't actually do, like cast spells, hit a moving target in melee with an arrow, hold my breath for a ridiculous amount of time, wield every weapon I find like I was born with it in my had or just keep walking despite being down to my last hit point.

 

[Séadna]

I know some in the mod community modified survival games for the PC for this back in the mid-2000s?

 

[Moracai]

Can't remember pissing related related RPing happening, but I'm pretty sure that it has happened. I remember two cases at least when defecating has been an issue in RPs. One, I'd imagine that ambushing someone when taking a shit is quite a common tactic even in real life. That has happened. Then there's slipping powerful laxatives into someones food or drink. Yup, has happened.

Once my Cyberpunk character was ambushed by another PC while he was taking a shower. There was a bounty on my character, if captured alive, and the bounty hunter character decided to ambush him when they were in the same hotel room waiting for something.

From then on that character never showered again and gained the name Lucas "Dirty" Sanchez. That was before the time I knew that there's a real-life person Filthy Sanchez. I even now don't know who he is exactly, and won't bother to find out

Furthermore, Lucas was never captured.

 

[Nobby-W]

Can't remember pissing related related RPing happening, but I'm pretty sure that it has happened. I remember two cases at least when defecating has been an issue in RPs. One, I'd imagine that ambushing someone when taking a shit is quite a common tactic even in real life. That has happened. Then there's slipping powerful laxatives into someones food or drink. Yup, has happened.

Once my Cyberpunk character was ambushed by another PC while he was taking a shower. There was a bounty on my character, if captured alive, and the bounty hunter character decided to ambush him when they were in the same hotel room waiting for something.

From then on that character never showered again and gained the name Lucas "Dirty" Sanchez. That was before the time I knew that there's a real-life person Filthy Sanchez. I even now don't know who he is exactly, and won't bother to find out

Furthermore, Lucas was never captured.

One of the Stainless Steel Rat stories has a sequence of his family being kidnapped while he's in the shower but he still has a gun on him in an ankle holster.

The Stainless Steel Rat was one of my formative influences in science fiction.

 

[Nexus]

I roleplay to have fun.

Who doesn't? most of the stories of the stories people have shared here have been fun (or funny) for them. Folks idea of fun is going to be different. If you don't find something fun in game why do it? I wasn't saying anyone had to bring it up, I was wondering if they had and/or had idea to make it fun. Like i said most folks (myself included most of the time) just handwave it, like sex, but the exceptions can make for fun moments and 'war' stories.

 

[Nexus]

Most of my better thought out dungeons have some sort of midden or large smelly hole in the ground, normally home to some creature like a gelatinous cube placed there to mop up. I don't think I ever want to roleplay individuals going to the toilet. I like to roleplay stuff I can't actually do, like cast spells, hit a moving target in melee with an arrow, hold my breath for a ridiculous amount of time, wield every weapon I find like I was born with it in my had or just keep walking despite being down to my last hit point.

Understandable, but I like that bit of world/verisimilitude (Sorry Voros!) building attention attention to detail. I've forgotten the necessity of such things myself. In my games its generally not an issue that comes up, unless circumstances make it an issue or its a side matter or detail to other things, generally not something that needs to be played out in detail, but as far as I'm concerned, fights don't need to played out in detail all the time. But the partial or even full on exceptions to those moments can be entertaining (IME) and that's what we're here for.

 

[tenbones]

I do it in my games to keep people grounded. Especially the PC's that like the be paranoid and wear their plate-armor everywhere. I'm keen on making sure PC's understand spending two-weeks or more in the field dungeon-diving, getting sprayed with their enemies innards, slogging through swamps, huffing it across blistering deserts, tromping through woods - what they actually look and smell like. Players doffing their armor to take a dump, etc is usually narrated, but it certainly comes up during the discussion of "waking/pre-sleeping activities" - with nothing more than a "I shit, shave and do <XYZ> then mount-up/bed down" once they establish their routine.

I leave it to my players to describe those routines. Which is funny - because they feed off one another. Cleaning kits, shaving kits, soap, weapon oil, whetstones, some might even buy cologne/perfume. And loinclothes. My longtime players *always* bring extra skivvies... because when I ask, that "return home to civilization" description will be brutal. hahaha

Of course with the proliferation of Magic in D&D... the smartass Mage just casts Cantrip and goes about their business.

 

[Nexus]

I do it in my games to keep people grounded. Especially the PC's that like the be paranoid and wear their plate-armor everywhere. I'm keen on making sure PC's understand spending two-weeks or more in the field dungeon-diving, getting sprayed with their enemies innards, slogging through swamps, huffing it across blistering deserts, tromping through woods - what they actually look and smell like. Players doffing their armor to take a dump, etc is usually narrated, but it certainly comes up during the discussion of "waking/pre-sleeping activities" - with nothing more than a "I shit, shave and do <XYZ> then mount-up/bed down" once they establish their routine.

I leave it to my players to describe those routines. Which is funny - because they feed off one another. Cleaning kits, shaving kits, soap, weapon oil, whetstones, some might even buy cologne/perfume. And loinclothes. My longtime players *always* bring extra skivvies... because when I ask, that "return home to civilization" description will be brutal. hahaha

Of course with the proliferation of Magic in D&D... the smartass Mage just casts Cantrip and goes about their business.

This brings up what I meant earlier more. Some "nitty gritty" things don't have to be detailed to effect RP and have effect, though perhaps, even likely not in the mechanical sense,

 

[ffilz]

About the only way this has come up in my games is that when a player was absent, we used to joke that their PC was "taking care of business" to explain their non-involvement in an encounter.

 

[ffilz]

We mentioned it a few times in our RQ2 game, especially when in dangerous areas.

Then, one of the GMs gave out a portaloo as a joke item, basically an ENC 1 box with a button on the side that expanded into a fully functional portable flush toilet, complete with always refreshed toilet paper. I took it as my first treasure pick, as I knew the GM hadn't thought it through properly. The waste just disappeared, so we used it to flush away the butchered remains of Lunar patrols, ripped-up walkatpi and various cursed items. I picked up a cursed gem that was haunted and kept being attacked by a ghost, so I threw it down the portaloo, so every time it got flushed the ghost went Whoo-oo-oooh". It became a standing joke for a useless item that became useful.

Oh, that's a good one!

 

[tenbones]

This brings up what I meant earlier more. Some "nitty gritty" things don't have to be detailed to effect RP and have effect, though perhaps, even likely not in the mechanical sense,

But it *does* matter if they do nothing about it. That's kinda the point. If one of my players thinks they go dungeon-diving and spends two-weeks or whatever traveling cross-country slaughterhousing their way to their goal and think they can just traipse back into the local Duchies keep and walk amongst "high society" without cleaning up and dressing the part, without getting penalties to any social-checks, even in pure RP form as a reaction from the NPC's, is in for a rude awakening.

Yeah this kind of transcends the pooping point, but it's a detail that's rolled into the overall intent of the exercise. I turn the act of hygiene into potential RP material. I've had players pursuing their goals of cleaning up - at a local bathhouse, turn into adventure opportunities. Overhearing conversations in the Caldarium/Tepidarium between people doing business, or meeting contacts there became a thing. The whole cleaning up aspect was fun narrative RP exercise while doing actual important game-stuff.

I've likewise used "when nature calls" out in the field for random encounters. I've had PC's going to a good locale near camp to "do their business" catch enemies likewise "doing their business". I've had PC's kick off a whole big adventure by finding "dragon pellets" consisting of missing rogues that the PC's were hunting - and like greedy PC's knowing these rogues had gear, sifted through the dung for loot. Yeah.... ugh. But hey! The things we do for the Shiny! (it paid off too).

I've had players rebel against the whole thing altogether - a player of mine had his dwarf fighter pride himself on *never* bathing. He believed it made you weak. It made all his social interactions **hilarious**. His flies were his travelling companions. He made pooping while mostly armored an artform.

Long story short: Everything is RP fodder. It's up to you as the GM to make it game-worthy. Or not.

 

[Stevethulhu]

If you're using it to screw over players, that says something about you as a GM more than it does about your players. Me, I don't find that having players describe their toilet habits helps play. But ymmv and all that.

 

[Voros]

The first PC game I ever bought was The Sims. After I installed it I started playing and realized it seemed to want me to make my characters go to the washroom. I instantly stopped playing it and uninstalled it. 'I don't have time for this shit,' I thought.

 

[Stevethulhu]

The first PC game I ever bought was The Sims. After I installed it I started playing and realized it seemed to want me to make my characters go to the washroom. I instantly stopped playing it and uninstalled it. 'I don't have time for this shit,' I thought.

I see what you did there!