I have had at least one npc who had and would at least commit sexual assault (being fundamentally wrong in the head), and who the PCs were encouraged to think of as an ally (without knowing this fact). I wanted to introduce some moral ambiguity into the game (effectively, it put a major PC into a conflict with his neighbours, in a situation in which he was essentially morally in the wrong), and also had a nice little morality play subplot with an appropriately exciting and grim denoument. It played on their bias against Yelmalions - despite being told that the NPC was guilty of sexual crimes, they just assumed this meant 'looking at naked elbows' or some such, as they assumed all Yelmalions were irrational prudes. I never actually played this particular subplot out more than halfway - the campaign ended before the NPCs true nature had been fully revealed.
I think this sort of plot (adult in theme, morally complex) is appropriate material for my gaming group, your mileage WILL vary.
I've just been reading some old published Over The Edge scenarios, incidentally, which contained some really nasty stuff. Some very dark themes do get covered in some peoples games, and I see no reason why that couldn't include some peoples Glorantha games.
Cheers David ------------------------------
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