Wow! I can't believe this! Thanks to all the reviewers!

[Hairy Minotaur]

Thanks, Jeremy! Though I think this time, I'm going to try not to have so much material packed in there. There were a couple of comments about how there was actually too much in too tight a space!

Are you going to keep the hand drawn maps? I liked those made describing the buildings easy since they were all drawn differently.

 

[Ed Cha]

While I think there's probably room for all sorts of products (properly labeled), I think the best are sort of like James Bond movies - lots of innuendo, but very little actually happens on screen.

(Well, maybe not as many double entendres)

That is a very good idea! I think that's the approach that I've been leaning towards. However, I've been trying to write text like that and it is not easy.

For example, how do you tone down this?:

"She enjoys sex with both genders and likes to devour them during intercourse."

The following would sound awkward:

"She enjoys intimate relations indiscriminately and likes to devour her partners like prey."

 

[Buttercup]

Ed, I think you should keep your evil demon woman exactly the way she is. As you say, she's supposed to be loathsome.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

That is a very good idea! I think that's the approach that I've been leaning towards. However, I've been trying to write text like that and it is not easy.

For example, how do you tone down this?:

"She enjoys sex with both genders and likes to devour them during intercourse."

The following would sound awkward:

"She enjoys intimate relations indiscriminately and likes to devour her partners like prey."

How about this:

"Fueled by demonic lust, anyone and everyone can beccome her prey."

 

[Ed Cha]

Well, I have been known to describe combat graphically, and the swearing isn't an issue for me. The sex, well it depends what you mean. At my table it is more implied than described. I might very well have a BBEG who engaged in unsavory sexual practices, but I wouldn't go into much detail.

What is a BBEG? Sorry...

Do you think the words "sh*t and piss" are okay for children? If not, how else would you describe dialogue from a foul-mouthed halfling who's been hiding in a barrel and had to "sh*t and piss" in it for the past few days while avoiding bounty hunters?

Is it possible to make these elements optional? You know, in some computer games these days there is a slider bar in the controls that allows you to control violence and language. Obviously you can't put a slider bar in a book, but Could you provide alternate passages of text for those who feel uncomfortable, or who have children in their games? That would make your product useful regardless of the purchaser's tastes on these matters.

That's an interesting idea, but the mature content text would still be viewable by anyone. After all, it's often the children who are buying it directly and unsupervised.

I'll be buying it whatever you do. But I commend you on considering the issue. I agree that it's important to provide game material that can be used by anyone.

Thanks so much, Buttercup! I sincerely appreciate your support and input. I'll keep in mind everything you've said while finishing this thing up. I am leaning towards trying to make it available to all ages. The teen rating idea may be an option, too, though.

Edit: I may be out of touch. Is demon worshiping still an issue? I didn't realize that. I bought Fiend Folio for my library, and put it in the teen section, with all the other D&D stuff. I haven't heard a single peep about it. Book of Vile Darkness, on the other hand, I decided not to buy, because I thought it was a materials challenge waiting to happen. As someone who deals with teens and their parents in an informal setting every day, I'd say sex is a problem, but demons, violence and language aren't so much. At least not in the arch-conservative midwestern city I live in. The people who think, for example, that Harry Potter is satanist, won't be letting their kids play D&D anyway.

Well, I'm probably more out of touch since I don't know what BBEG is.

Anyhow, I'm trying to deal with Satanism from a more medieval perspective that actually has Christian undertones. If you look at a lot of necromantic lore, there are a lot of references to figures in biblical text (including the Holy Trinity) in the incantations.

Yes, sex is probably the most controversial of the three topics in America (less in some other countries). I think that if it's done "tastefully", then mentioning it is okay, but the problem is that doing it tastefully is challenging without seeming improper.

 

[Ed Cha]

Congratulations Ed! You deserve it.

Thanks, Hairy Minotaur! You've been so kind with your words. It's people like you who make this worthwhile for me.

And of course, the millions of dollars I'm making from the book so I can buy another boat and get that diamond cell phone I've been wanting.

 

[Ed Cha]

Ed, I haven't read your book, but I have an opinion on the mature themes. I guess the people who have the money to buy much (non-core) RPG stuff are in their late teens or are adults anyway, so I guess you shouldn't sacrifice your story's integrity for a minority of customers.

In my gaming group, the youngest is 22, so we can pretty much do games as we like. While the mature themes are not the main focus of our stories, I have no problems describing succubi acts or gory combat. Text (or speech) has never the same impact as pictures, so I guess if there's no explicit pic people won't complain. Personally, if the BBEG I'm facing acts like a BBEG from the old batman series, I won't get much into the game.

I live in Quebec, and we don't have the same issues with sex / swearing as in the states (we kicked religion out of our moral lives some 30 years ago), so maybe that's why I think that way.

Thanks, Cybern! I'd like to have more freedom in the creation process, but these are serious matters to take into consideration.

I just think back to when I was eight years old and buying modules. What would I think reading about this kind of "mature content"? I remember how shocking it was for me to even read the word "penis" or "vagina" in a book, for example.

I do appreciate your words of support though!

 

[Ed Cha]

Are you going to keep the hand drawn maps? I liked those made describing the buildings easy since they were all drawn differently.

Of course! I love working with Clayton Bunce, aka "Scorpio"! He is a fantastic cartographer and I absolutely adore his maps. He's already developing a Leonardo da Vinci-style tower layout for this next book. This was an idea he came up with!

We will try to do more detailed dungeon maps, but I thought the last one for the burrow was pretty good.

 

[Ed Cha]

Ed, I think you should keep your evil demon woman exactly the way she is. As you say, she's supposed to be loathsome.

Really? I'm surprised you think it would be okay. Are you sure that that kind of text is acceptable for most everyone?

I don't intend on going into too much detail, but the descriptive text on how she "places a hand across her breasts in a feint attempt at modesty" is a bit risque, don't you think?

Maybe I should try to bring some more text samples from the manuscript in.

 

[Ed Cha]

How about this:

"Fueled by demonic lust, anyone and everyone can beccome her prey."

Wow! That's good! Maybe you should be writing this stuff. Tell me how I should do the breasts thing.