Disclaimer: This happened about seven years ago, so please take this story with a grain of salt. My memory isn't perfect, and I've definitely forgotten some details over the years. I also wasn't a perfect player by any means, I was pretty immature at the time.

All names have been changed.

The people involved are:

• Andrew - the DM
• Carl - Human Cleric
• Leon - Human Fighter
• Me - Human Sorcerer

Session Zero

Before the campaign began, Andrew explained the setting. It was meant to be a very dark fantasy world with a realistic take on medieval society. Necromancy didn't exist, combat was extremely lethal thanks to his brutal homebrew critical hit rules, and he emphasized that the world was harsh, grounded, and unforgiving.

Everyone agreed to that premise.

Looking back, I probably should have asked more questions about what he meant by "realistic," but at the time I was just excited to play D&D with my friends.

My Character

I decided to play a female sorcerer from a noble family.

The idea was that she was the firstborn child, but because women weren't allowed to inherit positions of power, she had to prove herself worthy if she ever wanted to become the head of her noble house. That struggle was supposed to be the core of her character.

I had discussed most of these ideas with Carl while we were creating our characters.

Without telling me or asking for my permission, Carl spoke to Andrew and they changed my backstory. Carl's character was now a member of the same noble family, and our characters were siblings.

I wasn't happy about it, but I convinced myself it wasn't a big enough issue to argue over.

Looking back, I had no idea that this small change would completely derail my character's story.

The First Session

The campaign opened with our party returning home after a successful military campaign.

Before we could make it back, enemy soldiers who had slipped behind our front lines ambushed us. We were captured and taken prisoner.

While the rest of the party was thrown into cells together, my character was separated because she was the only woman in the group.

She was then sexually assaulted by the guards.

This had never been discussed during Session Zero. I had never consented to anything like it, and it wasn't handled with a fade-to-black. Instead, Andrew spent roughly thirty minutes graphically narrating what each guard did to my character.

The session ended not long afterward.

I was already thinking about leaving the campaign.

Talking to the DM

Instead of quitting immediately, I decided to talk to Andrew privately.

I explained that I wasn't comfortable with the scene and that I hadn't agreed to sexual assault being part of the campaign.

His response was that I had agreed to it by choosing to play a woman in a realistic dark fantasy setting.

Eventually, we reached a compromise. The assault would be retconned, and my character would simply become a man so "it wouldn't happen again."

Looking back, I honestly have no idea why I stayed after that conversation.

My Character Stopped Feeling Like My Character

The next session was fairly uneventful. We escaped from captivity after digging our way out of the mines.

A session later, we finally made it back home.

That's when I was informed, not asked that Carl's character and mine were brothers who had grown up together since childhood.

This was the first time I had heard about it.

Again, my character's backstory had been changed without my input.

Several sessions passed that I honestly don't remember very well.

Eventually, we discovered that Carl's character was a direct descendant of the previous king, making him a prince and potentially the rightful heir to the throne.

Naturally, that also meant he was destined to become the head of our noble house.

At that point, my character's entire motivation had disappeared.

The whole reason I had created the character was to overcome the prejudice against women and eventually earn the right to lead her family. After being changed into a man, then turned into Carl's brother, and finally learning that Carl was destined to inherit everything anyway, there was nothing left of the story I had wanted to tell.

So I decided to kill off my character and leave the campaign.

What Happened After I Left

A friend of a friend let's call him Astarion, joined the campaign after I had left.

Later, Astarion told me that the sexual content in the campaign had only gotten worse.

One example Astarion shared was that the party was affected by a Geas, this version couldn't be resisted or avoided.

Leon's character had been replaced with a female fighter, and Astarion's character was male. The spell forced the two characters into a sexual relationship, requiring them to have intercourse at least once every day for thirty days.

There was no saving throw.

There was no way to avoid it.

By the end of those thirty days, Leon's character became pregnant and had to retire from adventuring.

Hearing that made me realize leaving the campaign was one of the best decisions I could have made.

Final Thoughts

Looking back now, I realize there were warning signs almost immediately.

Changing a player's backstory without asking them was frustrating enough.

Using graphic, non-consensual sexual assault in the very first session should have been the point where I walked away.

Instead, I convinced myself things would improve.

They didn't.

From what I've heard, the campaign only became more sexually explicit after I left.

There are plenty more horror stories from this campaign, but those are stories for another time.

If people are interested, I might post a Part 2.