Fantasy Sex Roleplaying Game Releases October 2003

[Alzrius]

No no, he's talking about the episode where George swears off sex in all forms, and he suddenly becomes super-intelligent. Not to mention articulate, charming, and witty.

The rationale there is that when men stop concentrating on sex, a huge amount of brain-power is then freed up for other things in life.

Ironically, this rebounded on Elaine when she swears off sex, since the rationale is the opposite for women: sex for them is like taking out the garbage, the longer they go without it, the more it builds up and impedes everything else.

It was excellent. Thank heavens for reruns. That show will never die.

 

[John Crichton]

The rationale there is that when men stop concentrating on sex, a huge amount of brain-power is then freed up for other things in life.

Ironically, this rebounded on Elaine when she swears off sex, since the rationale is the opposite for women: sex for them is like taking out the garbage, the longer they go without it, the more it builds up and impedes everything else.

It was excellent. Thank heavens for reruns. That show will never die.

That's the ticket. Thanks for summing it up, Alzrius.

And now that I've (unintentionally) derailed this topic for a half-dozen posts, I now digress...

 

[William Ronald]

I think Edmonton Boy has hit the nail on the head. The press release, which I thought was BADLY written, does seem to be angling towards mainstream publications. (That said, I suspect many writers at mainstream publications are going to have a field day with the Book of Erotic Fantasy.) I have seen some good press releases, and this is not in my top 10 list.


I am not entirely sure what to make of the book. I doubt I will have much need for it, as sex and romance have been part of my campaign from time to time. (In one instance, a couple at the gaming table brought their characters together. There was both humor and a few touching moments. A lot of things were left to the imagination.) I tend to use rules for some aspects of my games but not others. (Whoever said that having a DC role determines the actions of

That said, I think the book will be a matter of personal taste. I do have some concerns, such as whether it will be done in a manner that I find tasteful. Also, I have some concern about the flack that some gamers may take over it. (Not so much for myself, as I have been gaming for 21 years. More so for the younger crowd.)

MEG_Hal, as Anthony Valterra has not posted yet , maybe you could shed some light on the book? What is its philosophy and approach? (Obviously, don't betray any confidences. It still might be helpful to clarify a few concerns.)

I suspect that Anthony Valterra will have a lot to say when he reads this thread. I am willing to give him a fair hearing. We should afford the same courtesy to everyone else on this thread.
So, let's try not to make the moderators shut this thread down.

 

[Corinth]

Since when do press releases have to abide by the terms of the OGL or the d20STL? Only the products that actually employ those licenses have to abide by the terms; press releases don't.

 

[Fenes 2]

I have yet to hear a reason for wanting D&D, of all games, to set this precedent. Yet there are many reasons for opposing this. To note a few:
(a) the reputation of the game
(b) the danger of creating irreversibly bad first impressions of the game
(c) the danger of creating an uncomfortable, sexually-charged dynamic at adolescent gaming tables around the world

Sorry to burst your illusion, but the reputation of the game has been shot to pieces already in some circles, some among them the "mature" roleplayers from WW fame, who consider D&D a puerile hack & slash fest for pre-teens. Others consider it a threat to the very souls of children, leading them into the darkness of pagan worship ("It has multiple gods in it").

Maybe only you care about the reputation the game has in other segements of the population, but if I cared about D&D's rep I would worry more about the hack&slash, childish power fantasy rap it got among some fellow gamers - people I am much more likely to interact with in a gaming enviroment than others.

The "danger of creating an uncomfortable, sexually charged dynamic at adolescent gaming tables around the world" is laughable. Teens will be teens, boys will be boys, and adolescent male teenagers will generate such an atmosphere without any book if their hormones rise. This book will not add anything their imagination (and a stack of girly magazines) did not already add to their game (or not).

As far as creating "irreversibly bad first impressions" I could not care less. The definition of what is bad is already contested - what would turn me off a game would attract others, and vice versa, and the people you play with matter more than what you play anyway.

So this book will not harm D&D.

Personally, I oppose the attempt to keep D&D PG-13. I don't play with minors or immature people. Besides, if you really care about PG-13, the the very good SL sourcebook "Shelzar, City of Sin" has already crossed that line, and no one made a fuss about it.

 

[Felon]

I'm going to release a kids show with a press release with equivalent themes to those for this book. You'd say that the parents who'd object would be closeminded. That's a whole truckload of nonsense in my book.

There are shows on TV just for kids, there are shows for the entire family, and there are shows just for adults. For your premise to have merit, you would have to presume that there is no room for a strictly adult audience. Just happy meal fantasy.

I wasn't even discussing the books, nor their "literary merit". Dragonlances' modules offered enough progression for the state-of-the-art of AD&D (which includes artwork and the mistakes made in the railroading), and your petty attacks on how well written the Dragonlance books are is just more hot air.

**snip the remaining inflammatory dreck**

I responded to your open-ended question "is sword & sorcery fantasy without these [lurid] elements bland?" And rather than try to mount a defense, you want to act like you were specifically discussing something else.

Your debating technique appears to as follows: instead of providing any kind of substantial rebuttal, adopt a haughty attitude and keep throwing around the words "hot air" and "ignorance". If that fails to advance your position, become increasingly more hostile and resort to petty personal attacks while at the same time condemning the other side for displaying bad form. Repeat and rinse.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

*slaps forehead*

BOOK OF EROTIC FANTASY = OPTIONAL PURCHASE!

If you don't want to include it in your game, don't buy the book and leave the rest of us alone.

Damn you and your totally correct answer!
Why can't more people realize little facts like this. It's common courtesy at it's most basic level.

It's not mature content, it's about nekkid elves. It's lame content, IMO.

Ah, so you've read it already? Kindly give us a preview.
I think we've all seen how futile it is to blast a product that has not yet been released. You know next to nothing about this product, just like the vast majority of the people on this planet. Sure, one can make assumptions about what the tone of the book will be, but it's just a time-waster. Besides, we all know what happens when one makes an assumption. You make an ass out of u and mption.
--
Why is it that so many people have a right to an opinion, but other people seemingly don't have the right to buy what they want to? If you don't like it/want it don't buy it. The don't wants always say that a product shouldn't be published rather than just saying, "Well, I won't be buying it, but if other people want it they can go ahead and waste their money." I said this same thing about Deities & Demigods. The 'Don't Wants' kept demanding that the book not be published, ignoring the fact that if they don't want it, all they have to do is not buy it. They would have rather kept the book out of the hands of people who did want it. That's just selfish. I understand that some people are worried how this will tarnsih the image of RPGs and their players, but I honestly doubt that the impact will be that bad. How many people outside of the RPG community even know about most of this stuff? It would only (in their minds) confirm what they already assume about RPG players anyway. That's right, they already think it...
--
In all honesty, I probably won't be buying this. There are a slew of D&D and D20 Modern books coming out this year and I only have so much money. If this book ends up anywhere where I can get a look at it, I'll check it out. There is a real possibility that it could contain some crunchy, useful, and thought-provoking mechanics/rules. If it looks more useful than immature I may actually get it. Other people have already gone over what kind of cool rules this book might contain. I must say though, I think most people would prefer drawn artwork.
--
Hehe. Balsamic Dragon has the distinction of being the person here whose name I've been familiar with the longest (from the WoTC 3E boards pre-release). I've never asked, how do you pronounce your handle? I've heard Balsamic pronounced so many ways...

EDIT: Besides, this book couldn't possibly be a bigger embarrassment to the RPG community than LARPing is.
I mean, have you seen some of the movie clips that have been posted here?

 

[Mindcrime]

This book is for a really narrow niche market. If it was intended for a wider audience, I'm sure the press release would have been given to Morrus first.
And while I have zero interest in the subject matter (sex+gaming), I can see how there is this market for it. Roleplaying (outside of dice games and even larps) is a very common element to a lot of peoples' sex lives. This book will probably see more sales coming from the back pages of Heavy Metal, or from fetish stores, s/m and bondage stores, or even regular porn stores, than from the average gaming store.

I think it's cool someone stepped up to the plate to do a project like this. Because AV is involved, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he will handle the subject matter tastefully, if it gets into the hardcore s/m (which can, believe it or not, be presented tastefully and maturely, I believe. Ever see those fantastic HBO documentaries 'Real Sex'?) Being that he's personally involved in stuff like that, you can be sure he's all too aware of how it's perceived by people who are not.

Chris
http://www.bombshellstudios.com

 

[jdavis]

Oops I just erased a huge post on the subject and I really don't care to retype it so I'll just hit the highpoints.
--
Book of Vile Darkness: Not terribly vile or dark just a book with a marketing strategy on making it sound adult. The content was no worse than what was covered in the movie Conan the Barbarian and nobody complains about it being "vile".
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D&Ds bad rep: The more mainstream D&D becomes the less cool it becomes. Controversy of any kind helps to keep it seeming cool and cutting edge. If anything D&Ds reputation is a little too mainstream and accepted right now anyway, it's not the cool thing to do because it is accepted as ok now.
--
Adult games: Just go into a Spensers gifts store in a mall and you are sure to find all sorts of stuff on the shelves to make this look tame.
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The Photographer: Wasn't really impressed. It wasn't really disgusting or vile or anything it was just sort of overdone and pushed to try and make it look artsy and cutting edge. You want disgusting you can Google up stuff 100 times worse on the internet in a matter of minutes.
--
The Book: I'm not really interested in a book of doctored photos, erotic artwork is fine but this seems to have more in common with pasting celebrity heads on nude photos than it does with erotic expression. As far a rule book goes, I don't need these rules in my game as I game with 30 year old males who don't want to simulate sexual situations in our game as that would be sort of wierd for us. Erotica and fantasy go a long way back and that's fine but by what I've read this really doesn't get my attention as a must have item.
--
A.V.'s personal life in the blurb: thought that was a little unessessary. I mean to each his own and it doesn't bother me, but it was just poorly done and seemed to only be there to generate controversy.
--
The "Press Release": That was just silly, sounded like the WWE wrote it. Matter of fact the whole thing sounds like a bad Pro Wrestling angle to gain mainstream attention. Very Poorly done.
--
This thread: Seems people get uppity quick around here. One thing that bothers me is that people get all bent out of shape about what should and shouldn't be in the game. Please don't tell me what should or shouldn't be in my game of D&D. I have been gaming for almost 25 years now I will put whatever content I want into my game. If you don't like a product then don't buy it, but don't tell me I can't buy it because you don't think it belongs there. There is nothing wrong with adult content for the game, yes it may have to be screended for children but most things in the modern world should be screened for children. I have children myself, they hate D&D and think it is childish and silly and they think that people who game are stupid, but hey they like NSINC. Just because there are books with adult content out there it doesn't mean you are forced to use them, so just don't use them. This game may be able to be played by children but it isn't a childrens game.

For those people who said they were going to quit gaming over this book, that's like saying you are going to quit driving because you don't like Hondas. Get a grip, you are free to game how ever you like regardless of what material is published.

It's sort of funny that a two paragraph blurb could generate so much feedback so quicky, of course that was probably the point. two or three months from now this will be basically forgotten, I doubt it will have any major long term affect but it is crazy that one badly written press release could generate 8 pages of post. I figure the news release will generate more feedback than the actual book will. That's what happened with the Book of Vile Darkness. What is actually going to be in this book will probably be tame compared to what people are imagining will be in it after reading the press release.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

I think... -SNIP-
The real question is: how long before this hits slashdot, and then how long before a mainstream new source picks it up?

Very interesting. Very interesting indeed. Also, it's nice to see someone using more than just the knee-jerk section of the brain.


On another note people; are you familiar at all with the idea of sensationalism?
We all saw how futile it was to try and predict what the BoVD would be like from the info released about it before it was on the shelves. Speculate all you want, but remember that that's all it is, speculation.

And because I'm on medicine for the cold that's kicking my butt...
Scare your boyfriend, entertain at parties, confound your physician! For a mere 2000gp we'll teach you to cast Illusory Phallus! Call now and we'll throw in a pouch of Peasant Repellant for free. Never be bothered by pasty commoners again! Settle for nothing less than a go-getter with his eye on the dragon's hoard!
Warning, peasant repellant may also attract stirge and cause premature limb loss, not for use if you're pregnant, nursing, or undead.


EDIT: Ah, there we go. Snipped almost like on Usenet...