D&D 4E Women in 4E

[Dacileva]

Oh, wow. That is some of the most annoying writing I've ever seen. Seriously, who the hell can read that without rolling their eyes? It's like the kind of thing my mean-spirited friends and I would discover on some fanfic-writing virgin's website, and make fun of for days. And (unless there was more than one novel called Silverfall) this was by freaking Ed Greenwood? Man, I'd be deeply bothered by this if I was a Forgotten Realms fan.

Now... I wasn't particularly impressed by that book, and I dislike Ed's writing style and the Forgotten Realms in general, so this isn't a fanboy rant/response...

But the first of the Silverfall passages was taken out of context. The character in question, Qilue (one of the Seven Sisters, a drow, a priestess of Eilistraee, very sexual, and highly rash and audacious), was dressing specifically to be over the top, to get everyone's attention, and to hide in plain sight (IIRC). This was at a costume party of some sort, and she wasn't the only one in a racy outfit.

I don't remember the context of the second passage, and therefore I assume it's unforgivable.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

1) American society. Violence is okay, sex is sinful. It's part of the culture's roots.

I still don't think its rational though

2) Marketing. Remember, D&D is supposed to be "kid friendly". If it had nudity, that would isolate it and it would likely not be sold in Barns & Nobles and such. It'd be bad PR, because soccer moms would react to it badly, not let their kids buy it. See: GTA: San Andreas and the Hot Coffee situation.

I don't see how nudity is not kid friendly, any more then crushing skulls is.

anyway, i hope you didn't take any of my as posts snarky.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

I still don't think its rational though

Tradition and Belief win over rational thought. To explain this we would have to go deep into History and Religion. But EN World is not the platform for this.

 

[Rechan]

I still don't think its rational though.

How much of anything that people do qualifies as "rational"?

 

[Rechan]

Now... I wasn't particularly impressed by that book, and I dislike Ed's writing style and the Forgotten Realms in general, so this isn't a fanboy rant/response...

Gotta tell you, the opening sequence where a wizard plays Neo and slaughters an entire warehouse of drow in hand to hand combat shattered my sense of disbelief so fine you could put the remnants in an hourglass.

Cormyr: A Novel was some of Ed's best, I think. Of what Realms books I've read, I must say that Elain Cunningham is my favorite, and is far less prose-y in her writing.

 

[Klaus]

Have a hunt through the thread for the pics posted by Voadim and Klaus. I was impressed.

:bow:

Thanks!

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Gods, no. What sort of idiot wizard would create a spell that turns your enemies directly into treasure, but only for a second? Back to the drawing board, Merlin! The poor sap has to stay gold long enough for us to spend him!

Low level wizard did it?

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Getting to the thread title, though, what sort of balance do you think WotC will strike with 4E in regard to fantasy femmes? Has the art so far leaned in a direction different to previous incarnations?

Given their inclusion of Astrid's Parlour, the recent publication of Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress, etc, I'm guessing they are trying to get more females into the game.

Given the huge number of women in the fan-fic communities, it doesnt seem an incredible leap to get some of them into role-playing. We just need to clean up the stereotype of the unwashed sausage fest. Actually this would go a long way towards geting more men into gaming as well.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

See: GTA: San Andreas and the Hot Coffee situation.

That made me laugh.

A: "So, in this game, you basically murder your way into dominance over a city that is loosely based on Los Angeles. And by loosely, I mean that they changed the name to San Andreas. Pretty much everything you do involves brutalizing innocent people, and the game trivializes this violence by making it into something of a comic situation."

B: "Speaking as a parent and upstanding citizen, I have no opinion on this."

A: "Also, if you hack the game you can unlock a section that involves sex, and which is obviously just something that the programmers were doing for yuks in their spare time, but which somehow got left in the code even though it was removed from the game. Of course, to get at this content, you have to be a programmer, know what to look for, and know how to unlock it, or else find a hack someone posted on the internet, either of which will violate your terms of use agreement. Also, the unlocked content is fairly tame compared to using Google image search with the filters turned off*. It's also essentially cartoon sex, so no actual naked people are seen."

B: "Speaking as a parent and upstanding citizen, the moral foundation of America faces a threat akin to a meteor hurtling toward the earth. The depraved lunatics responsible for not actually putting porn into the hands of the over-18-year-olds who are allowed to buy this M-rated game should be flayed and dragged through the streets as an example to all who would write sexual content for a video game that they later remove."

* I suggest trying "cucumber".

 

[GreatLemur]

isn't this were the road started from?

Definitely. And I think the road should go somewhere better instead of leading us all in a circle through the same insular, maginalized backwater.

I think games need more nudity. I never understood why violence is ok but nudity is not. Why are people so uncomfortable with their bodies? Why is sexuality so scorned but crushing someones head is perfectly acceptable? I'm not trashing violence, I think both are fine in a fantasy context, I just don't understand the bias.

I would say that the issue isn't so much including nudity and sexuality as putting them in the wrong damned place. There ain't any reason in the world for an adventurer to be dressed for sex appeal over practicality. It's illogical, and it just looks dumb.

Furthermore, I'd say that that chainmail bikinis and naked chicks tied to altars in RPG books give off a really loud "THIS GAME IS FOR MALES WHO HAVE NEVER HAD SEX AND ARE TOO YOUNG TO BUY PORNOGRAPHY" signal. That was annoying enough to me when I actually fit into that category. Now that I'm 30 and married, it ain't even a little bit acceptable.

Given their inclusion of Astrid's Parlour, the recent publication of Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress, etc, I'm guessing they are trying to get more females into the game.

Yeah, they'd basically be fools not to do this. The time is absolutely right for it, and God knows the game itself will be better as a result.