Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Sherman]

The gender thread brought up a question I've often wondered, that being, does sex really have a role to play in Role-playing? It's obviously important in real life, but do you really feel like you've ever incorporated it into a game and had it advance the story in a meaningful way? I don't mean bonding the character to the world with marriage or a girlfriend, but actually just sex or sex scenes? I have one scene I ran years ago that I think fits the bill, but would love to hear other's stories.

Mine was a Pendragon game. In Pendragon the characters are all Knights serving in mythical England under King Arthur. Ostensibly they are virtuous souls, but always damaged in one way or another... I crafted a scenario where the characters traveled to the keep of a powerful wizard to undo the curse of some witches they'd inadvertently set loose on the land.

Anyway, the wizard set about testing the characters from the moment they arrived in various ways. In Pendragon you test Personality Traits all the time, is the character Energetic or Lazy, Valorous or Cowardly, etc. One of the tests in this case was the character's Chastity.

The characters had an extended dinner scene where they asked lots of questions, got lots of answers and got to know all of the wizards staff. During the entire scene I was passing various notes, several of which involved the busty serving girl. She'd make eyes at the various knights and grin. If that didn't get a response she'd "inadvertently" lay a breast on one of their shoulders while reaching for a wine glass or clearing a dish. Ultimately whispering directions to a secret rendezvous after dinner to anyone who seemed interested.

Only one of my players decided he'd take her up on the offer, meeting her in a room and enduring her endless giggling which always ended in an unpleasant snort (this was not easy to role-play and I'm fairly embarrassed to say I did it... for the love of the game!) Ultimately I closed the scene about the time her top came off, I like to think I run a fairly classy game and wasn't about to get into more detail than that.

Needless to say that character was out of the running after that encounter, one of the things I love about Pendragon is how they really made an interesting system to deal with situations that are not all about killing stuff.

At the end of the session I had the joy of revealing that all of the wizard's staff were actually transformed animals. The vigilant guard was his faithful blood-hound, the clucking kitchen staff were returned to the roost and the buxom serving girl could be found snorting about in her pen.

The look on the player's face who's knight bedded the pig still makes me laugh to this day!

So does anyone have any stories they're not too embarrassed to relate? Anything that's actually made a game more fun and not just awkward? Awkward is funny too, so feel free to share...
_________________
Gryphon Games & Comics
2020 S College Ave, Suite B
Fort Collins CO 80525
www.gryphongamesandcomics.com

[kreider204]

I was thinking about this as well. Sex, love, and romance have never played much of a part of any RPGing I've ever done. It may be in the background a bit, perhaps as part of a character's backstory, but that's about it. As a GM, I've never had the sense that my players were interested in exploring much of that - maybe because they play RPGs to escape real-life difficulties such as relationships.
_________________
"It only takes an extra second to be courteous."
- Constable Benton Fraser

[Stonewolf]

Characters having sex in an rpg has been very common in my games, going all the way back to OD&D! There's no better way to manipulate a PC(or player) than to entice them with a "romantic" interlude, in my opinion.
I couldn't imagine playing any sort of espionage encounter without some opportunity for seduction.

We've been utilizing the Dramatic Interludes in our games for a while, and you can guarantee when a heart card is dealt the interlude will include sex. (Interludes are a little more managable now, thanks to the SWD revision).

So I think that sex does have a place in our games, but it is up to each group to handle it in a way that everyone is comfortable.

[Merlin_Sylver]

Depends on the game... obviously sex isn't a major feature in the games I run that include children in the player group (though they are all old enough to at least know what I mean when I mention that the barmaid is quite well endowed).

I've ran many, many games for my wife, and those sex scenes often led to.... well... you see where I'm going with that one.

But as far as running a sex scene for my other players, if the player feels it's important, then I will do a TV cutaway, basically, describing the scene as tastefully as I can, just to the point of nudity, and then cut away.
_________________
Yes! I have captured your cat and placed him in this box where he will either flourish or perish as chance dictates!

[Thasmodious]

[Merlin_Sylver]

[Dylan S]

There were a few references to sex scenes in our low-fantasy and Fifty Fathoms games, usually in the context of, "You've traveled for three months through cruel wilderness. Having arrived at the Lord's castle, he throws a great banquet for your entertainment. How do you spend the evening?" Well, you can guess.

So, I'd have the players roll dice to see if they found that special someone for the evening, and then again to see if that special someone got pregnant (0 on a d10 seemed fair for this, though in hindsight I suppose it could have been based on Vigour). One of the adventurers was a lady, and she was particularly concerned when I sprung this roll on them.

At any rate, you may call me stuffy but I've never felt the need to RP a sex scene with my geekiest friends. I wouldn't prevent my players from pursuing romance, but it's understood that the action happens 'off-camera'.

[canology]

Pariah, even before I got to your GWAR reference I was thinking "I'm in love, I'm in love with a dog named Pookie!"

[77IM]

[cormac]

In the 23 years I've been roleplaying sex has cropped up a more than a few times. How and whether it should, like most things in rpgs, is down to the GM and players and what they are like.

There is one GM I play with (that sounds wrong) who I'd reluctantly bring up the idea of sex in a game with, due to awkward experiences in the past. He has insisted players describe in detail what's going on and in my opinion has deliberately tried to embarass players.

The other group I play in and run for is a different matter. All the players learnt to role play and GM in games I've run so somethings are dealt the way I do it. In the case of sex 'off screen' and through innuendo.

In a Star Wars campaign I ran, one of the characters was computer nerd with delusions of being a space samurai. His player decided the character probably only got laid by paying for it. So when in various spaceports if nothing major was going on the character would go find a brothel. It became so regular that the player would just say "I'm off to find a brothel" and hand over a 20 credit note (we had prop money). I'd reply "You do. In the morning you return to the ship feeling pleased with yourself." After a while the 20 credit note became known as whore-money.

We are currently playing a non-Deadlands type western game GMed by someone else. One of the other characters is obsessed by pulling any female NPC the group meets. The GM usually asks for a persuasion check. And gives replies like: "she isn't interested," "You notice she is married," "You're in there mate," or "She drags you off upstairs."
The character has gained the nickname "The Syphilis Kid."
The phrase "You spend a night upstairs" and similar phrases are used to mean you had sex. Every one knows what is happening and no one gets embarrassed.

[inlife9]

In my years of gming I have used sex three times to great effect, and once where it was an uncomfortable fail, that was quickly stopped .
I only use it if it carries the scene. I do not do "sex on a whim" like the Party looking for harlots when they get back to town. That stays in the background.
So just like in real life sex is hit or miss
_________________
Eastwood Saves! The rest of you take Full Damage.

[Thasmodious]

[The GIT!]

Sex has been used a few times in my games to move the storyline forward. I find that the what isn't described is actually what sticks in the players minds more. One unfortunate incident was in a James Bond game in which the party had been captured and had to endure the major villain explaining, in detail, his plans for world domination. Once he finished he had the female character removed and given to his guards to do with as they saw fit. Nothing further was described but the rest of the party managed to escape and found the female character in a cell; her appearance and demeanour was all that was needed to be described to let the players know what had happened. Needless to say not many of the guards survived that mission and the female character had some psychological issues to deal with.

I've also had to run a number of seduction sequences (James Bond again) but all done with taste.
_________________
Ejector seat? You're joking!

[VonDan]

In our D&D games in High School our PC might have had sex with bar maids off screen for no other reason than to have a legacy PC that started at first level with 3/4 of our dead PC equipment. Of course how the baby our PC sired earlyer in the campain was old enough to start as a first level PC when the original PC died was never explained

[Clint]

Hi gang,

If this thread is going to stay around, everyone has to stay within the lines of tastefulness. We have kids on this forums, and graphic posts are unacceptable.

Keep it clean, so I don't have to.

Thanks.
_________________
Clint Black
Savage Worlds Core Rules Brand Manager

www.peginc.com

[Cryonic]

In most of the groups I've been in, sex has rarely happened "on screen". If it does happen, it is handled by a "fade out, fade in" effect (i.e. a few minutes/turns/hours later...) or via out of game time between players or player/gm.
I think I've only had one in game interaction of this sort and that was with a single group of players who specifically mentioned to me before I joined the group that the typical rating of their games was R and not PG (unless the younger kids were in the house).
Frankly it doesn't add or subtract anything from the game as long as the players are all on the same page about it. Same thing with the character sexuality thread.

[The GIT!]

[Thasmodious]

I would guess that the now deleted post (or posts?) were what brought Clint to the thread.
_________________
There's more than seventy earths spinning 'bout the galaxy and the meek have inherited not a one.

[VonDan]

[Thasmodious]

I see what you did there...
_________________
There's more than seventy earths spinning 'bout the galaxy and the meek have inherited not a one.