Wine Women and Song Part three - Adult Content

[Greenfield]

Simple question: How do you handle "Adult Content" in your games?

From in-game romances to chasing the "Tavern wenches", the situations come up. There's a specific item, Elixir of Love, in the SRD (only 150 gp) that seems to be made for this scene.

The Half-Satyr Bard I play has skill points specifically in Seduction. We treated it, in his case at least, as a Perform variant. The argument for that was that there's more to it than "Hey babe, what's your sign?", nor is it merely something you can roll an Endurance check on. It's setting the mood, selecting the music or the wine, knowing the right words.

I've seen games go into intimate detail (usually to the discomfort of most present), while others pretty much play that babies come from the stork.

So what degree of "realism" do you carry your role-playing to?

 

[Dandu]

I demand the PC give an in-depth explanation of his actions, which generates either a circumstance penalty or modifier to his seduction check. And Kord help him if his waterskin is slung about in the wrong way..

 

[the Jester]

It depends on whether I'm playing one-on-one with an attractive she-gamer.

 

[kitcik]

It depends on whether I'm playing one-on-one with an attractive she-gamer.

This is why it's called fantasy roleplaying...

 

[Jackinthegreen]

The Book of Erotic Fantasy has some good guidelines for various levels of "Adult Content."

So far the campaigns I've been in haven't done much in this area, aside from when the elf bard and halfling rogue seduced a guy then knocked him out and took his coin purse.

The campaign I was in longest didn't have any adult content really, since we played at a game store that frowned upon such descriptions and so forth going on.

 

[Oversquid]

As a player who played a romancer type character in the recent past, I've noticed that players don't get to get so annoyed with romancing the NPCs when it adds to the story.

To get into more detail with that, I'll begin by saying that a romance/relationship is a great way to see how someone works, and where it is someone comes from. What I'm getting is that if you do have romance situations, it has to actually get somewhere, be it in perhaps changing the PC's outlook, or overcoming something bothering him/her, or perhaps to reveal stuff about the PC that would otherwise have been unknown to say a few examples. It can't just be hopping around in the bedsheets exchanging each other's fluids, all that does is test the patience of the players and the DM, and it impresses no one.

Even then, be careful with romances, as a situation that involves a romance tends to take up a good chunk of game time, and it is especially nerve wracking to the other players who most of the time aren't interesting in your wooing the bar-maid.

Like what someone suggested before, the Book of Erotic Fantasy does go over how to handle sexual situations in a game in an adult manner, and I would suggest going through it at least once.



How I handle "Adult Content" is that I go and tell the players beforehand, "Would you like the sexual themes being of a PG, PG-13, or R rating?" PG being perhaps the odd innuendo here and there, and R being nudity, but no detail during sex. I have no G rating, because I'm too crude to not have sexual innuendo, and nothing above R, because I feel that if its anything above that, the game should centralize around sexual escapades, and I don't want to DM a game like that.

The most I do even on an R-rated setting is, "You guide the barmaid upstairs into your room, and then close the door behind you. The next morning, the barmaid leaves your room with a contented face, while you look to your side to see your money-purse is missing."

I don't need to say at all that the character and the barmaid are getting jiggy-wit-it, because I've already implied it above. Also, most of the time, the players are just a bunch of guys sitting in a circle, and talking in detail about how to grab the elven princess' chest is more than a little awkward, at least in all the circles I've seen.

I hope this all made sense...

 

[Empirate]

Are you asking for degree of realism, or for degree of explicitness? In my game, we're pretty realistic about the romance thing, although we leave a lot of the physical details to imagination. We've had quite involved romantic plotlines, though, and played through the dialogue, at least, in detail.

We've had:
PCs falling in love with each other,
PCs falling in love with, marrying and having children with NPCs (looong campaign...),
PCs being hit on in the most insulting manner by NPCs and vice versa,
PCs taking brutal advantage of seducable NPCs,
PCs happening on NPCs engaged in the act and vice versa,
PCs having vicious in-relationship fights,
PCs being hit on by homosexual NPCs,
PCs being raped by NPCs (didn't DM this one, and wouldn't),
PCs being seduced by NPCs using enchantment magic and vice versa,
asexual PCs.

Romance is an important part of most good stories. We'd never dream of not having it in our games. But even good friends aren't necessarily comfortable discussing the details of the act of love at the gaming table, so we curtail descriptions here.

 

[was]

We dont go into depth..the player would make a roll, and if successful, the DM would just say fine, she spent the night with you and leave it at that. Most of the people I game with really don't want to subject themselves to other peoples' lurid little fantasies.

 

[Greenfield]

We tend to deal more with the consequences than the details.

While visiting a mountain town in time for mid-winter festival, specifically a Bachanal, my Bard made the, erm, acquaintance of a young lady while using his magic and talents to add life to the party.

The next morning the Innkeeper's younger daughter comes to the Bard's room... looking for her sister. Seriously uncomfortable moment.

Father was upset, and wanted to know whether the Bard was planning on making an "honest woman" of her. He'd seen my character use a spell called Transmute Beverage to turn water into good wine, and kind of had an eye out for a son-in-law who could do something like that.

The Bard replied that, should their "meeting" bear any fruit, he would certainly live up to his obligations. However, he also argued that her father had been the host of the Bachanal, had known his daughter was attending, and had certainly known what happened at these events. The fact that she ended up with someone shouldn't have been a surprise or shock.

As for being a promising son-in-law, he pointed out who and what he was, and he pulled no punches.

"I sing and I dance, I drink and I pursue the company of beautiful women. I haven't a callous to my name, and I doubt that I've ever worked a full day of 'honest labor' in my life. Am I really the man you want in your family?"

He promised, solemnly, to return in three month's time, and if the young lady was with child he would stay and marry her.

Fortunately for the situation, a messenger had arrived from the Emperor specifically calling us all to service in Rome, and he couldn't refuse such a summons.

He did revisit, as promised, and there was no need for a wedding.

Considering the mood of the Innkeeper before a high Diplomacy roll, the situation was a classic case of "Wife or death".

So the "adult situations" can, and probably should be dealt with in an adult manner (as opposed to most "adult content" which tends to be aimed at teen aged boys with hyperactive hormones.)

 

[Elf Witch]

We often have romance in game. Sometimes it is PC/PC or PC/NPC. I once played a married adventurer where the other player was my character's spouse. The other player's wife was the DM.

Sometimes it is a matter of a romance in the character background. Several of my characters have had spouses waiting at home for her.

In the game we are playing right now one of the character makes money on the side as gigolo.

We keep it rated PG the actual physical part of the relationship is implied and kept off screen.

Since we tend to have long running campaigns it adds a certain depth to the game just like the PCs having friends and family outside of the party.