Fantasy Sex Roleplaying Game Releases October 2003

[Harlock]

I still question if that was from Anthony himself or written by the reporter that posted the story. Indeed, the story does not read like a press release at all.

Here's the quote directly from the release on gamingreport.com

"This book reveals the erotic side of the high fantasy genre (elves, dragon, fairies etc.) and contains roleplaying rules that are compatible with the best selling Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

This product will bring new levels of realism to the roleplaying genre. Rather than illustrations, photos of models were taken. These images were then run through Photoshop to create a realistic fantasy world."
Anthony Valterra, Valar Project, Inc.

No emphasis is added by me. It is treated as a direct quote from Anthony Valterra.

 

[Harlock]

Originally posted by Ghostwind quoting some other lady from some other site.
While I'm on the subject, not everything in the book is going to be cheesecake. Some of it is horror-based, some of it just realism, etc. And no, there's no pornography. This stuff is going to be a hell of a lot less pornographic than, say, Playboy. And it's not fetishistic, either. Doug CAN photograph other things, y'know...

originally posted in the press release news blurb thingy at gamingreport.com
Some of the erotic fantasy images that will be in the upcoming product are available to be viewed, used in articles, or previews of the book at request. Some of these images contain no nudity and would be acceptable to mainstream publications.

The use of some of these images indicates that some others do contain nudity. I know everyone has differing tolerances and definitions of pornography but the first litmus test I use is, "Does everyone have on clothes?" An yes, this is a definite two way street for me. I'd prefer no bare chested men. Does that say I am ashamed of my body? Quite the contrary, I'm perfectly okay with my body, I just have a high regard for modesty and self control and being clothed is an indication of that rather than an immature view of sexuality or the beauty of the human form. Am I offended a whole lot by having these morals in this day and age? Heh, yeah, I am. Does that make you better than me? I dunno. Excersising self control and self-mastery is a pretty individual and spiritual experience. It's also very satisfying to me, but I understand it is not for everyone. You can judge however you choose.

 

[Green Knight]

Does anyone have the right to tell one side or the other to ignore it? That's censorship and I am pretty sure neither side on this issue is fond of that.

That's NOT censorship. Censorship is when you're forbidden to say or publish something under penalty of law. Someone refusing to buy your work and telling their friends not to buy it, either, ISN'T censorship. Am I censoring WoTC when I tell friends not to buy Sword & Fist because it's an error-riddled piece of crap? Hardly. And to say otherwise is to say *I* don't have the freedom to speak my mind about something and the freedom to protest something. They have as much right to publish what they like as I have to say "It's crap, I won't buy it, and I suggest you don't buy it, either".

Anyway...

A generation of fantasy roleplaying game enthusiasts grew up wondering what the elf maiden looked like without those gauzy robes. They read "Lord of the Rings" and fantasized about Arwen. They read Conan and wondered if other fantasy heroes compared to the prowess of the legendary barbarian. In 2003 all the curiosity about sex in the realms of fantasy will be satisfied.

WTF? Whoever wrote this needs to speak for himself. I never once said to myself "I wonder how Arwen looks naked?" or "I wonder who's got a bigger penis? Aragorn, King Arthur, or Conan?" The hell?

Anthony Valterra helped found a fetish club (Oregon Guild Activists of S/M) and an occult church (Church of the Blood Red Moon) as well as engaging in a wide variety of other unusual adventures. He has used these personal experiences to guide him in the creation of this product.

Let's file this under the "WAY Too Much Information" category. And if these are the experiences he's used to help him create this book, then as someone else pointed out, it's safe to say the sorts of things we can expect from this book. Case in point:

The photographer for "Book of Erotic Fantasy" is Doug Safford a well-known fetish fashion photographer. Some of his work can be viewed at http://www.hypnox.com.

And...

Some of the erotic fantasy images that will be in the upcoming product are available to be viewed, used in articles, or previews of the book at request. Some of these images contain no nudity and would be acceptable to mainstream publications.

Ah. "Some". Not all, apparently.

With the release of the Harry Potter books and movies and the release of The Lord of the Rings movies the fantasy genre is undergoing a renaissance.

Wasn't the Marquis de Sade alive during the Rennaissance? If so, it's an appropriate comparison.

If someone wants sex in their game, I don't see why they need a game supplement to somehow integrate it into their games. But the argument's academic because as I said, before, they have a right to publish what they like. Likewise, I have the right to accept it or reject it for whatever reason, and suggest to others to do as I do, and THEY have a right to accept it or reject it, WHATEVER my opinions of the product are.

Not a fan of Dragonlance, so when I don't buy it and tell friends Dragonlance sucks and make fun of the Knights of Salamy am I censoring it? No, even though I'm rejecting it because of content, as I will this. Yet rejecting this for its content is somehow censorhip when rejecting a Dragonlance book for content ISN'T censowship? Had I known just how much Sword & Fist was packed full of errors at the time, I would've rejected it, too. Again, because I don't care for its content. Same goes for Rifts books, which has a rules set which I feel is totally out of whack, something which I tell people all the time. Is THAT censorship? The Lord of the Rings and Farscape RPG's I rejected not out of dislike for the content but due to their price and lack of need. Any censorship taking place, there? As I said, censorship ONLY occurs when, BY LAW, you're punished for saying or publishing something by the state. When a consumer makes a choice, WHATEVER the reason for that choice, that's not censorship. The same freedom that allows Anthony Valterra to publish this book allows me to say what I like about it to whomever will listen, and allows me to refuse to put up money for it.

Sorry, but I'm not a fan of the whole "Saying bad things about something or someone is censorship" argument, which is completely BS.

Anyway, I just hope to God one of the posters over at Gaming Report is right. I do NOT want to see people LARPing this at Cons!

 

[Angcuru]

Excersising self control and self-mastery is a pretty individual and spiritual experience.

Very true. Why only be proficient with yourself when you can specialize? But seriously though: It helps to do a good bit of soul-searching.

 

[Felon]

You don't need to know the content to criticise a theme, and that theme is made pretty clear by the press release.

No, you just can't be all that open-minded to do so.

Swords and sorcery fantasy without these themes is bland?

Depends on what's replacing it, I suppose. If it's replaced with a lot of gully-dwarf-and-tinker-gnome-filled adolescent garbage, then I'd have to say yes. I have to ask you out of morbid curiosity, if nothing else: what exactly would you describe as the good qualities that works like the Dragonlance saga replaced R-rated sexual and violent content with? Are you going to say those stories are more imaginative, better-crafted than, say, Fritz Leiber's spicy tales? More cerebral, with all those 12-year-olds reading them? What are the strengths of those books, whose sole purpose seemed to be to capture readers who were just outgrowing Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, introducing one sy lame cutesy one-note-joke critter after another? Tell me fantasy is just as rich with Tasselhoff Burfoot than it was with Karl Wagner's Kane.

I know it's theme, though, and I can criticise it on that level.

Sure, and forfeit any right to accuse other people of ignorance and hot air.

 

[Harlock]

That's NOT censorship. Censorship is when you're forbidden to say or publish something under penalty of law. Someone refusing to buy your work and telling their friends not to buy it, either, ISN'T censorship. Am I censoring WoTC when I tell friends not to buy Sword & Fist because it's an error-riddled piece of crap? Hardly. And to say otherwise is to say *I* don't have the freedom to speak my mind about something and the freedom to protest something. They have as much right to publish what they like as I have to say "It's crap, I won't buy it, and I suggest you don't buy it, either".

Yes, I knew on a second through of my post someone would misunderstand that because I misstated myself. I meant to say it is near to endorsing censorship which I know no one here wants to do. I also very nearly added this line directly after that: Because if censorship were allowed the Jack Chickites, PMRC, or some other ultra intruding group would likely have gone after D&D back in the heyday of the fallout from the Satanism reputation. I do know what censorship is, but thanks for calling it out in spite of the fact that I had hoped it would be apparent what I had meant to say.

 

[Simplicity]

As far as what Anthony Valterra does in his bedroom, you're right, it's completely his business, but he is the one that made it a matter of public record with this press release. ...[snip]... Anthony Valterra did not keep this to the privacy of his bedroom, had he done so, none of us would be having this conversation right now.

Does he have a right to publish this book? Certainly. Do I have a right not to buy it? Certainly. Do we have a right to debate it's merits in the D&D community? You betcha. Does anyone have the right to tell one side or the other to ignore it? That's censorship and I am pretty sure neither side on this issue is fond of that.

So, it's okay to have an alternative lifestyle, as long as no one
ever discovers it? It's one thing to criticise someone's work (which by the way, doesn't exist yet). It's another thing to say
that someone deserves criticism because they made their sex life
public.

As for the photographer being graphic:
1) Most of those pictures were not bloody, animal-head-filled, or violent. Most were just straightforward pictures. But if you have some problem with artists who cover such topics, then I guess Pablo Picasso wouldn't measure up to your standards either... Guernica)

2) Even if the pictures were overly violent... Haven't you noticed after killing hundreds of monsters and people that D&D is ALL ABOUT violence? Violence IS the solution to most of your problems in D&D. Why not have someone who understands the subject matter?

I was never arguing that you didn't have the right to speak up
against this product. I don't think anyone was. However,
I have the right to speak up against you speaking up against
this product

 

[Green Knight]

Yes, I knew on a second through of my post someone would misunderstand that because I misstated myself. I meant to say it is near to endorsing censorship which I know no one here wants to do. I also very nearly added this line directly after that: Because if censorship were allowed the Jack Chickites, PMRC, or some other ultra intruding group would likely have gone after D&D back in the heyday of the fallout from the Satanism reputation. I do know what censorship is, but thanks for calling it out in spite of the fact that I had hoped it would be apparent what I had meant to say.

Well, I don't think it's near to endorsing censorship, either, but nevermind. As long as we can both agree that we don't want to see people LARPing this at Cons, then it's all cool.

 

[Angcuru]

Even if the pictures were overly violent... Haven't you noticed after killing hundreds of monsters and people that D&D is ALL ABOUT violence? Violence IS the solution to most of your problems in D&D. Why not have someone who understands the subject matter?

Thing is, violence and gore have no place in a book about eroticism.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Well, I won't be buying it since I doubt Borders or Barnes and Noble will carry it.

Maybe it will be sold at convenience stores, in a plastic cover and kept behind the sales counter.

After this comes out, can Bondage Fairies d20 be far behind?