Content Warning?

So the farther that I get into making Extinction the more a certain kind of concept keeps coming up. What kind of content is too far for players? 

I’m a horror fanatic, I watch all kinds of horror movies & play all kinds of horror games. Now I’m no “absolute degenerate” of a person, but there’s not a lot of horror aspects that bother me. I joke and say my skin is made of concrete, not much gets to me & I have a strong stomach. 

However, when it comes to writing about zombies & knowing the kinds of zombie stories I have consumed over my lifetime (which is quite a bit if you couldn’t tell) you see the darker side of humanity. Which arguably is the draw of zombie films, seeing not just the dead revert to their animalistic instincts but also the living.

So I’ve often wondered, what’s too far? In a horror game where gore is at the forefront, shouldn’t there be a level of expectation that players should have when they sit down to play? I mean, I have no issue with cosy ttrpgs…but Extinction is not one. So at what point am I breaking someone’s expectations of what they are about to play and go too far? I mean, in the second scenario I ever released for Extinction the party gets trapped by a pair of cannibals. Is that too far? How much farther can I go? 

There’s elements now that exist in tabletop gaming that allow people to know what they’re walking into & what they’re uncomfortable with playing. Is this even a thing that should be allowed for Extinction? Or should I put a “Content Warning” at the beginning of everything that will hopefully inform those that are interested in playing what they’re about to walk into?

I guess that is something that I’ll have to navigate going forward, because in my mind I originally had no thoughts about this. But then I began writing a scenario that might end up being a little too far…so I guess that I’ll just have to finish it as it was originally intended & then edit it back in case its content is too uncomfortable for players. Because regardless of the horror setting, my plan for Extinction is not to make people uncomfortable. The plan is to have people survive the zombie apocalypse together, but that also means that they must face the horrors of humanity together…

I would love to hear your thoughts on this one, any advice is welcome & appreciated!

Until next time!

Cory, Gridlock Studios