"Perils of GOR" RPG?

[War Golem]

It seems there is a d20 RPG being developed for John Norman's GOR, which will be marketed under the name "Perils of Gor."

Here's a link to a thread with more info.

I came across this thread a couple nights ago; this was the first I'd heard of this project. Does anyone here know anything about it? Are they working in conjunction with any of the better-known d20 publishers?

Perhaps this is the still-secret "major licence" due to be released by Mongoose next May?

Cheers,

 

[Xyros]

I read a similar rumor - by the same source, I think, and possibly on the same website - several months ago.

Though horribly lacking in political correctness, I would be very interested in seeing such a game and purchasing it. I'm not sure how much stock to put in the idea, though. The author Norman is notoriously unwilling, by all accounts, to open his works to outsiders. In other words, I doubt he would give his permission for such a game to be created, and if it were, he might sue.

 

[bolen]

Is he still alive? I kind of thought that John Norman was a bunch of authors? Are these books even in print anymore?

Also I read one as a kid, I don't remember it. Is it anymore anti-woman then conan?

 

[War Golem]

As far as I can tell, the message boards where this thread exists is run by the same web site owned by the people who are responsible for the recent printing of Norman's latest GOR novel, as well as the reprinting of the first several books in the series, complete with Norman's personal revisions.

In other words, the people responsible for engineering the production of this RPG seem to be the same ones that have been working very closely with Norman to get his work into print again (after 10 years of his inability to get any publisher to take him on)... so I'm guessing Norman's already given the green light.

Now, as to the quality of the final product, who can say... As with all things GOR, I'm not holding my breath. But if this comes to fruition, I'll be thrilled to get maps of GOR, and stats for so many of the creatures (kurii, sleen, larl, tarn, etc.)!

But, if the whole book is filled with everything and anything about slavery, and is saturated with his personal attitude about female submission, and basically everything that makes the novels hard to get through (esp. the later ones), then I may have to pass.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[drnuncheon]

Is it anymore anti-woman then conan?

In the early books, not really.

Later on, the series pretty much becomes softcore B&D porn, with all of the women believing that their natural state is in slavery to men (except for the ones that don't believe it until the Right Man comes along to dominate them and show them the error of their ways.)

It's a long-standing rumor that the GOR series was written on a bet (between the author and Harlan Ellison), that there was no series so bad it could not be published.

J

 

[War Golem]

Is he still alive? I kind of thought that John Norman was a bunch of authors? Are these books even in print anymore?

Also I read one as a kid, I don't remember it. Is it anymore anti-woman then conan?

Ye, he is still alive. The 20-something book in the series, "Witness of Gor," was just recently published.

I haven't read a lot of Conan books, but I will venture to say that the Gor books are significantly more emphatic about the male dominance/female submission theme.

Funny, though, although I don't agree with or condone Norman's general opinion of women, and the male/female dynamic he advocates, I've never really thought of his message as being "anti-women." I suppose it just depends on what point of view you're taking when reading his stuff.

 

[Buttercup]

I hadn't heard about that bet, but it wouldn't surprise me.

You won't ever catch me rp-ing in the Gor universe. I read a few of the books one summer when I was in high school (must have been terribly bored to read more than one) and drnuncheon's description of them as B&D soft core porn sums it up. Oh, wait. You forgot to say *badly written* B&D soft core porn!

 

[Xyros]

"Is he still alive? I kind of thought that John Norman was a bunch of authors? Are these books even in print anymore?

"Also I read one as a kid, I don't remember it. Is it anymore anti-woman then conan?" - quoted from bolen

Yes, the author is alive - he published 'Witness of Gor' just this year, in fact - though John Norman is a pseudonym, and most of his books are out of print. As for being anti-woman, well, that is open to interpretation. Fans of the series say no, but the science fiction/fantasy community in general says yes.

All the major women characters in the series are slaves and want to be slaves. Though there is no actual description of sex scenes anywhere in the series, sex is implied almost everywhere in it, and it is of the male dominant/female submissive BDSM type.

 

[bolen]

From what I know of Ellison, I would tend to believe this. He seems to enjoy trouble.

 

[Tonguez]

I want to see the Teen Whipping-Boy class!

And to all you Girls blouses who are horrified by Gor can just go and bite the leg spreader!

yeah its sad that Gor eventually devolved into soft-core porn but as a setting it does have some potential. So its a culture totally unlike that which we would approve with its 'willing slaves' who are property that can be used by their Master in any way they choose. None the less it is still a setting with potential and if you don't want to get drawn into the whole hedonistic debauchery which is Gor then you don't have to.

I'm also wondering whether the culture of Gor is that much different to what Medieval and Classical society was her on Earth. Judging from Caligula and other historic figures Gor isn't that much of an anomaly...