D&D 5E CoS: Full of child peril and death, but lacking...

[Rhenny]

And while there's certainly a place for any of these in storytelling, and even in RPGs, that place is probably not in a product aimed at the mass-market. Indeed, it's probably best just to leave these themes out almost entirely, and let groups add them as much as they want.

Yup. I'm pretty sure this is what WotC thinks.

Like others have said, it is easy to put in sexuality if that's what a group wants even if the baseline is more or less neutral. There is not need to stir the pot with the published material when individual groups can stir the pot and flavor as they wish.

 

[Valetudo]

The few times that sex has happened in my campaigns, ive always played it off kinda campy. Ive played with a pretty diverse range of players and that is definitely an area that you can offend witgout meaning to.

 

[77IM]

I think there's a big difference between portraying sexual tension and portraying actual sex. In fact, they are opposites! Instead of adding more sex and sexual encounters to the adventure, I think it's better to examine existing relationships and add sexual tension.

Think of it this way: nobody in Barovia is getting laid and they're all wound up about it and it makes them do cRaZy things.

...Except Strahd, who gets as much as he wants and slyly brags about it and so everybody hates him.
...And the Vistani, who are not so repressed and so everybody distrusts them too. Except maybe some of the crazier Vistani; I like to think Arrigal and Madam Eva both have huge crushes on Strahd.
...And maybe the werewolves, who are running around behaving like animals, so everybody hates them too. Good thing we have some stern, dour wolf-hunters to chase them down and stab them repeatedly.
...And I'm not sure about the druids. I like to think of them as "married" to the absentee Strahd, and they're a bit wound up about it too, so they erect giant wooden edifices up on their hill.

Examples of relationships that can display sexual tension:

• Lady Wachter and the Burgomeister of Vallaki are both "married," but boy do those two need to get a room.
• Poor Doru in the chapel basement. His distraught father just wants Doru to keep his hands clean of any wrongdoing.
• Van Richten had to send Esmerelda away in order to keep her safe from his curse.
• You can't tell me that the Abbot is going to all that trouble for Strahd just because he thinks it's going to help people.
• Blinsky's a creepy loner and he's so much happier now that he has a monkey.

Does any of that imagery disturb you? That's kind of the point. Monsters eating people or hacking them to bits or grinding them into pies or whatever no longer disturbs us because violence is commonplace. And ordinary sex is not disturbing to us either (the way it might have been to Victorians reading Dracula). For a more "gothic" horror experience, probe the boundaries, the ones people don't even like to think about.

 

[Shasarak]

Of course, it's also worth noting that CoS is the first adventure WotC has done in house in like three years and they're still learning how to do adventures again. Paizo walked into Pathfinder with three Adventure Paths under their belt and years of adventure experience.

If only Chris Perkins had years of adventure experience under his belt.


oh, wait.

 

[Valetudo]

Perkins personal campaigns are actually alot better than the advetures he has done for retail.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

I point out that several of the Vistani and Strahd's consorts are ample incentive for putting in seduction or subtle senuality. Gertruda is practically a metaphor for a young woman discovering sexuality (and a great opportunity to make twilight jokes if a bit of humor is needed), and one of Strahd's motivations is tempting Ireena. There's also nothing saying Ezmerelda can't be used for some subtle senuality (a bad ass vampires layer in a leather corset and thigh high boots, need I say more?), and for the ladies, let's not forget Ismark the lesser (a brooding man with a dead father and concern for his sister who himself is described as quite the looker), or even Strahd himself, who's entire motivation is that he loves to corrupt goodness and love (one of the players perhaps? That LG female paladin in the party?)

As for sexuality in games in general, my previous groups have been mixed. I run a strictly pg-13 game, with a bit of the seduction replayed and sex jokes or flirty players/npcs are certainly present, though we tend to offscreen any actual sexual shenanigans. I've had mixed groups as far as players go (both men and women), though to date I've had human bard sleep with a priestess of death thst was a major villain of the game, and an eleven rogue who got around, sleeping with a drow spider witch (that was married to a blight druid), several permiscuous npcs. Hell I had one session that happened out of the blue where the entire party got laid in character, the female Draconian (dragonborn sorcerer) seduced the minotaur wife of a general they just fought, the elven druid slept with an emo Shakespeare obsessed black dragon, and the elven rogue and sea elf alchemist had a threesome with a flirty mercenary captain who never put down her drink that they were travelling with...at least until they get ambushed by velociraptors...it was an odd few sessions.

 

[Jester David]

If only Chris Perkins had years of adventure experience under his belt.


oh, wait.

Perkins is an amazing DM, but writing published adventures is a skill of its own and he's likely out of practice. After all, he's primarily been an editor or producer (i.e. a manager) at WotC not a writer. As far as I can see, his last writing credits in adventures are back in the 2e era.

 

[delericho]

Perkins is an amazing DM, but writing published adventures is a skill of its own and he's likely out of practice. After all, he's primarily been an editor or producer (i.e. a manager) at WotC not a writer. As far as I can see, his last writing credits in adventures are back in the 2e era.

He co-wrote "Lost Mine of Phandelver", and he also wrote "Life's Bazaar", the first part of the Shackled City Adventure Path in Dungeon. Granted, that was a fair while ago, but a bit more recent than 2nd Ed.

Edit to add: Also "Sons of Gruumsh", which is a decent but not spectacular low-level 3e adventure. It's from 2005, so a little more recent than "Life's Bazaar", though perhaps not much.

 

[Jester David]

He co-wrote "Lost Mine of Phandelver",

Which I was also pretty critical of...

and he also wrote "Life's Bazaar", the first part of the Shackled City Adventure Path in Dungeon. Granted, that was a fair while ago, but a bit more recent than 2nd Ed.

Edit to add: Also "Sons of Gruumsh", which is a decent but not spectacular low-level 3e adventure. It's from 2005, so a little more recent than "Life's Bazaar", though perhaps not much.

Thank you. As I said, "as far as I can see". Finding great lists of RPG credits can be tricky sometimes.