Sex and Sexuality in D&D. . .

[lobsterGun]

Here is just a simple thought from the mind of an econ major:
What happens to the drawbacks of an unsafe and unprotected sexual lifestyle in a world where clerics can just cast cure disease? Theoretically, anyone well-to-do enough needn't worry.

hmmmmmm. Funny how magic screws with incentives.

There might not even BE any STDs in a fantasy setting. There were no STDs in Europe prior to Columbus trip to the New World (Syphilis was one of the things he brought back with him).

Somewhat related, there was effective natural birth control during the time of the Roman Empire (link).

So really, (depending on the setting) there may be little reason NOT to be promiscuous.

 

[AnonymousOne]

Interesting. I just assumed that with the number of clerics running around, a sure disease might make for an excellent act of charity.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Ah, the irony in that statement....

I debated about putting a smiley on it, just in case anyone missed the obvious, but then I thought, "why beat on the obvious; that's kinda like self-flagellation." (No comments from the peanut gallery about master debaters, please...that one's so old even I wouldn't whip it out...)

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Most recently, it was in an Arcana Evolved game where a female player running a male faen character became enamoured of a female NPC human magister. Short guy falls for tall girl right? Except I decided to play the NPC as not willing to just jump into bed immediately. So there you had gender role reversal by player and DM with a funny roleplaying twist. Many jokes ensued with the male PC getting encouragement from all his fellows in character. (It was a one-shot convention game, which may just be why the player took a bit more risk. Either way, it was damn funny.)

 

[kenobi65]

There might not even BE any STDs in a fantasy setting. There were no STDs in Europe prior to Columbus trip to the New World (Syphilis was one of the things he brought back with him).

It doesn't look like the scientific community is unified in that theory, btw, though the first major European outbreak did occur shortly after Columbus's return:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphillis

 

[kenobi65]

In most of the groups I've played in over the years, sexuality has played a role, though this has primarily been through relationships between PCs, or PCs and NPCs. My guess is that this is, at least in part, due to the fact most of my gaming groups have been composed of both men and women; the one all-male group I've played with wouldn't touch the topic with a 10-foot pole.

In 95% of the cases, anything above a PG rating is clearly handled "off-camera". OTOH, I've had a few instances in which the players of the PCs were themselves involved, and that would tend to lead to steamy in-character note-passing.

In my campaigns, there's occasionally been plotlines revolving around prostitutes, goddesses of love, etc.; I've always kept anything truly suggestive off-camera, as well.

For us, that seems to work just fine.

 

[Samnell]

When I ran Hommlet in RttToEE, I made Rufus and Burne into a long-term couple. When the party figured out that more than just ordinary Elemental Evil was going on, one of them (I forget which) ended up comforting the other.

My players all know that their DM is gay and they may encounter gay, lesbian, bisexual, and otherwise different people as a part of the normal diversity of the campaign world. If they have some dire objection to that, then other games exist. Some cultures are more tolerant of them, or subsets thereof, than others. It hasn't so far become a plot point, but it very easily could be if a good idea hit me.

I once played a halfling that was the deliberately-inbred progeny of a line of sorcerers. They wanted to keep recombining their sorcerous talent. It worked, but also left the halfling with some genetic oddities. Power had its price.

 

[Joe Sala]

One of my PCs was seduced by a villain's associate, and he was giving her a lot of information about their activities. He didn't know who was her, and when they discovered it...

 

[airwalkrr]

Here is just a simple thought from the mind of an econ major:
What happens to the drawbacks of an unsafe and unprotected sexual lifestyle in a world where clerics can just cast cure disease? Theoretically, anyone well-to-do enough needn't worry.

hmmmmmm. Funny how magic screws with incentives.

As an aside, I houserule that remove disease allows the cleric to make a caster level check against the save DC of the disease in order to successfully remove it. Anytime someone in my campaigns has sex with another character, I give that character a 10% chance of contracting VD, 50% if the partner is a prostitute. Even if the partner shows no symptoms, they chould still be a carrier. Of course I grant benefits as well, such as a +1 morale bonus on all attacks, saving throws, and checks for 24 hours afterwards (as long as the sex is good which I base on the partner's Perform or Profession check).

I also played a gay bard once, although I was not 100% PC as I incorporated a number of gay stereotypes into the character (like making him a bard for one). I've often thought that playing a big, burly, gay barbarian might be an interesting challenge though.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Good timing for a thread on this subject. I've just started DMing for a couple of new people, and one of them is the first specialist player I've ever met: apparently she always plays nymphomaniac elf sorcerers. I'm not quite sure what to do with the openly sexual part of that - I've never really seen sexuality come up in game. (Beyond goofy stuff like ale & whores which we always just fade to black...)
-blarg

Depends I'd say. If she constantly comes on (blatantly) to every NPC they meet, go with the flow and roleplay the NPCs depending on how you think they'd react to that kind of behaviour. Some might take her up on the offer, others might simply kick her out immediately, and everybody who came in with her, again others might simply toy around with her to see how far she'd really go, start sermonizing about her "sinful" or "inappropriate" behaviour, and she might even get arrested for indecent behaviour in some socially more restricted towns/cities. Just stay in NPC-character as much as possible, and don't let your own opinions about that kind of behaviour run every encounter...or talk to the player if it gives you too much of a problem to deal with, and ask her to tone it down a notch.