D&D 5E Free 60+ page Guide to Sword & Sorcery for 5E D&D

CapnZapp

Legend
No. The NSFW tag for a legit gaming product is good enough, from the owner’s own words.

The point was that reposting the link after it had been removed was...risky. But the boss is letting it pass.
Just as a friendly note: I totally believed it was that a picture was previewed that you removed the link, not that the link itself was dodgy. Maybe I'm daft, but I did not get it from your red-text replacement language in the OP. Sorry. Anyway, I can't speak for Smon, but my guess is he reposted the link in good-faith.

And what about my question - is there any way to have the link in the OP? I mean, if it is okay to have it at all? After all, it's only in the OP it does any good. Maybe within spoiler tags like this:

insert link here
 

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S'mon

Legend
Just as a friendly note: I totally believed it was that a picture was previewed that you removed the link, not that the link itself was dodgy. Maybe I'm daft, but I did not get it from your red-text replacement language in the OP. Sorry. Anyway, I can't speak for Smon, but my guess is he reposted the link in good-faith.

Yeah, I thought the issue with the OP was that the link showed a preview image. So I copy/pasted the link as plain text without using the 'Insert Link' script box, and checked that no preview image appeared.
 

CapnZapp

Legend
I love your Cultures of Xoth! They are simple, elegant and spot on to drive home the themes of S&S!
I browsed your site just now, and saw that you have a direct link to Blade of the Iron Throne.

That really made the coin drop - its the same (excellent) idea that every S&S archetype fit into one out of six cultures!

And just like in that game, you really ought to place Cultures front and center, with race/nationality/ancestry/whatevs the secondary distinction! :)
 

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
Yeah, I thought the issue with the OP was that the link showed a preview image. So I copy/pasted the link as plain text without using the 'Insert Link' script box, and checked that no preview image appeared.
For some reason, I’m still getting the same issue as with the initial link. It goes directly to the open pdf. I’ve asked the others to look at it.
 

CapnZapp

Legend
For some reason, I’m still getting the same issue as with the initial link. It goes directly to the open pdf. I’ve asked the others to look at it.
Could you be more specific about exactly what issue you are having, Danny.

It sounds like you don't like/want the fact the link directly leads to the PDF, which then either gets downloaded to your computer/phone or gets previewed on-screen (depending on your browser settings), in which case yes, there would be boobies.

But the link is inside a spoiler tag clearly marking the content as NSFW, so...? Is this insufficient and if so in what way?

Do you, for example, need him to link to a (safe for work) web page instead of directly to the PDF, so it becomes clear any naughty stuff is unrelated to EN World?

Or are you (still) seeing NSFW imagery without actively opening the spoiler and clicking the link?

Help Xoth understand what is wrong and what to do about it
 


JPL

Adventurer
Hah, so typically Puritan to focus on nudity!

I think, from a quick browse, the art is great, if repeated (unfortunately) a tad too much. The b/w style evokes the best from the Games Workshop era (Warhammer, Fighting Fantasy)! High praise coming from me!

Kudos for not gating your free download behind some sign-up malarkey. (Hate it when a supposedly free download sends you to a place where they harvest your email and other info) I clicked the link, and the PDF downloaded. As it should be.

As for nipples, my personal observation is that anyone with his panties in a bunch should realize that Sword & Sorcery is best played as a very mature setting for those willing and able to handle decidedly non-modern tropes of exaggerated stereotypes :)

Men being defined by their physical prowess - heroes are invariably sweaty hulking brutes, whereas physically weak males are untrustworthy or comical relief sidekicks, if not outright bitter, turning to evil and sorcery.

Women are also defined by their bodies, in this case by sexual appeal and allure - heroines are invariably beautiful, and showing some skin is an almost magical ability that defeats most males capacity for rational thought (male heroes not always immune).

A setting that evokes tropes and stories from antiquity.

It is a world with endemic corruption and vice where might makes right. Racism, slavery and prejudice is rampant.

True fantasy literature, that is, where you escape the modern world for a darker less likeable world. By playing in it and not insisting it should be watered down to include gender, racial, and social equality you aren't condoning morally wrong or evil actions; you're trusted to separate fantasy from reality just as you can separate right from wrong.

The prevailing philosophy is that civilization corrupts. If you hail from ancient civilizations you're a degenerate in mind and possibly also in body. In extreme cases (like fantasy-Egypt your folk truck with snake demons and blood sorcery)

At the other end of the spectrum, we find the wholesome barbarians most heroes come from - the fantasy Scandinavia or Scotland perhaps.

In this light, a little bit of harmless nudity to indicate that your barbarian queen of a player character might fight topless is certainly not near the top of the list as regards what really is NSFW about Sword & Sorcery, if y'all ask me! ;-)


PS. This is why I personally was satisfied when John Carter of Mars bombed: I think the idea of disneyificating S&S is oxymoronic and stupid. It tells me the exec saw S&S as just some rollercoaster adventure setting, completely shedding all that makes the genre valuable and interesting (as listed above). S&S needs the premium cable treatment, dammit! DS.

Oh, I'm no Puritan. For my part, I don't think that approaching swords & sorcery from a different gender/racial/social perspective necessarily means "watering it down" . . . I read your post and think, well, what if that wholesome barbarian was an African instead of a Celt or a Norseman? What if that barbarian queen wore appropriate armor (like Conan did in the stories) and was the hero instead of the hero's prize? Are we really losing "all that makes the genre valuable and interesting" by taking those approaches?

I guess to me, a big part of the genre is not just the corrupting influence of overcivilization . . . it's the opposite possibility of a culture or bloodline degenerating into bestial savagery. The hero is someone in between --- equal parts strength and cunning, free but answerable to his own code. Lots of different heroes can fit that niche without looking like Conan.
 

JPL

Adventurer
But y'know, this discussion about the genre as a whole may be a little unfair to the creators of the product, who did nice work and provide all the tools to play anything from a more traditional take on the genre to something a bit more PC. For my taste, I would've dialed the nipples down a notch or two, but YMMV.
 

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