Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

 

I have no trouble touching on / incorporating adult themes into the games I'm currently running or playing in, because I know and trust the players and they know and trust me.

 

For most of the games, it's not the main thrust of the game, just an occassional "spice." For example, in the Champions game I co-GM, my namesake character (Dr. Anomaly) is a scientist-sorcerer, though he's more on the 'science' end of things rather than the 'magic' end of things. Even so, though, Dr. Anomaly has come to the attention of Isis (the goddess) who has hinted (broadly) on several occassions that she'd like to convert him to worship of her, that she could teach him a lot about magic, and that there are certain "other benefits" (ahem!) that would go along with taking her up on her offer. To date, the good doctor has refused, politely...partly because he's taking things at his own speed, and partly because, frankly -- he's afraid to get involved with a genuine goddess, afraid of "getting in over his head" or losing who and what he is. This has caused a considerable amount of amusement for the other characters in the team.

 

On the other hand, there's a D&D game in which I'm a player. My character is multi-classed, but thinks of himself primarily as a priest, and that's how he usually introduces himself to other people. The 'twist' is that he's a priest of Sireene -- the setting's goddess of Sex, Lust, and Hedonism. So, yes, he does "hit" on a lot of women, and has no lack of bed partners. He's not just about his own pleasure, though...in the game session two weeks back, his best friend had finally decided to ask a particular woman to "get physical" with him, but their watch and duty schedules on the caravan didn't mesh well; at the point Dante decided to ask Sari, it was during the evening meal. Sari was on "kitchen duty" until late, and Dante had the late-night guard shift, so they wouldn't really have any time if something couldn't be arranged. My character, Santiago, just stepped up and "took over" Sari's kitchen duties, even though it wasn't his duty shift, so she'd be free to take Dante up on his offer if she felt like it. It turned out that she'd been secretly lusting after Dante, and so was all too happy to take him up on his offer. The rest of the evening, other caravaners kept giving Santiago funny looks about the langorous, satisfied smile he was wearing while he went about food preperation and serving tasks. The smile was there because Santiago gets very nearly the same "charge" out of helping or facilitating other people in finding their own pleasure -- even if he's not directly involved -- as he does from his own pleasure.

 

And for those who are wondering...yes, I took some ranks in "Craft: Draw/Sketch" so Santiago could illustrate his spellbook, which he does. In the margins he has sketches of naked or scantily-glad women "presenting" the spells on the page (think the sort of poses and gestures Vanna White did to "present" the letters and phrases on Wheel of Fortune), and some just-for-the-heck-of-it sketches of couples "engaged" in sexual activities.

 

Even saying that, though, the campaign does not resolve around adult themes or sex. For example, we just found out last game session that Dante and Santiago's parentage isn't what they believed it to be...and that Dante's real father has been building up an army of humanoids with which he can conquer the most culturally-advanced kingdom in the land, and install Dante on the throne -- whether he wants to be there or not! We're currently racking our brains about how we can put a stop to this without touching off the very war we want to avoid...

[tetsujin28]

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

 

As soon as the general populace realised that roleplaying was more than just wargaming and wish fulfilment for the unconfident

What hooey

[tetsujin28]

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

 

80% or thereabouts of gamers are people who I find utterly distasteful. Sadly' date=' that probably includes a lot of people in this thread and this forum.[/quote']Wow. I'm hurt.

Gamer geeks are just sad pathetic anti-social deviant-sex obsessed often drug abusing people...

Oh, please.

So, yeah, I probably don't like most of you, and that's just the way it is...

And self-justifying, too.

If I wasn't addicted to gaming, I'd give it up.

Please do.

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

 

I confess when I first started gaming back in grade school, some of our games were fairly juvenile, especially in how they handled sex. What can I say? We *were* juveniles.

 

Since then, I've only seen that type of behavior a handful of times, mostly committed by NPCs, mostly against other NPCs, mostly off-camera, always portrayed as something evil, not something erotic. A female PC of mine was once captured by a demon and subjected to some pretty demonic torture, including sexual torture. But again, it all happened off-camera. The DM went into about as much detail as I did just now, and that was really all that was needed. There was nothing erotic about it, and the focus was much more on the event's effect on the character's psyche.

 

Only once have I seen a rape committed by a PC: the PC was evil and the victim was an NPC. While it was arguably "in character" for the PC, it was still the last time I gamed with that player - I think he enjoyed it too much.

 

On a brighter note, one of the funniest lines I ever heard was from a gadgeteer in a pulp game who, upon being seduced by some Femme Fatalle asked "What do I need to roll to invent a condom?"

[bigdamnhero]

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

 

...the focus was much more on the event's effect on the character's psyche.

 

For the record, I should probably state that "effect on the character's psyche" did NOT mean turning her into 1) a nymphomaniac, 2) a subservient sex slave, or 3) a man-hating lesbian. But she did develop a few "issues."

[Blue]

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

 

Wow, I haven't been in this forum in a while so I'm kinda surprised to find such an energetic thread going on.

 

I've had two groups of gamers over the years.

 

In the first one, I was somewhat sex obsessed. There were usually elements of it in my games, but then I was in my teens (and wasn't gettin' any). But you grow out of these things.

 

And in my second group, sex may be a peripheral part of a storyline (Such as the character last game, an awakened solar in Exalted, who became a womanizer; but nothing graphic was ever described).

 

And in all my years I've never met a gamer who was an addict of any kind. Not even alcoholic. Whereas I've met a great many alcholics and a small sampling of drug addicts in all other venues.

 

I tend to think it's a matter of the quality of people you choose to associate with, not some strange quirk of fate that throws freaks at you. Common sense carries the day.

[tetsujin28]

Re: Adult themes in gaming, a rant of sorts

 

I confess when I first started gaming back in grade school' date=' some of our games were fairly juvenile, especially in how they handled sex. What can I say? We *were* juveniles. [/quote']Well, that's you. I can say that I've been gaming since '75, and I've never seen behaviour even remotely like that. Grain of salt, ignoring Arcady, &c.