NeoGrognard

D&D has grappled with sex for a long time.  

It’s not surprising. Players usually find the game when they are rather young, and grapple with their own sexuality and the rhythm of relationships. I’ve had people come out of the closet during a campaigns, I’ve seen relationships come and go, often dramatically; sometimes marriages come together and crumble.  

There is nothing that can break up a gaming group faster than the inexplicable maze of sexual politics. Back in my youth, when fewer women played the game, the temptation of one at your table was too much for some geeks. Strange things happen, but I typically stayed out of it.  

“We’ve all wondered about it at some time or another, perhaps while studying the fetching portrait of the succubus in the Monster Manual or that wonderful sketch of Loviatar in the DEITIES & DEMIGODS™ book (I know more guys with characters that worship Loviatar than any other evil deity).” – From “Everything We Think You Need to Know About Sex in the AD&D World” by Roger E. Moore, Dragon #72

Personally, I found that emotional sea somewhat easy to navigate. I’m a strong believer that people should live the life they want to live. That and I’m a bit of a prude, which does make it a little weird sometimes.  

But sex is something that D&D dealt with long before I came along. The early rulebooks had a fair amount of breasts, some cruelly drawn and some presaging the rampant proliferation of breast implants. You may not be surprised to learn that there was a Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, with its own “scene.” While I am no expert on how this scene and TSR scenes melded, I’m sure there was some bleed. Roger E. Moore’s hilarious and flippant take on sex and AD&D in Dragon #72 tackles the subject like a mischievous uncle entertaining the fumbling curiosity of young men drawn to the worship of Loviatar for inexplicable reasons. Phil Foglio’s What’s New strip played at sex and D&D for years, often with the frustrating teasing that its audience felt in their first fumbling attempts at sex. Oh, and you can’t tell me that Dixie didn’t work at the Playboy Club.  

After Gygax there was a “noble” (some might say “white knight”) attempt to scrub out the sex in D&D. It was one of the things giving D&D a bad name back in the 80s’. After all only Satan-worshiping pagans had those ideas about sex. It wasn’t like boobs left D&D. Many artists love to draw and paint boobs just as much as some young men and women like to look at them. Hell, Caldwell introduces us all to the concept of shaving down there. Many of the guys were pretty cheesecake as well.  

And even with the toned down sexuality, it was still a matter of controversy. Some people don’t have my liberal attitude on other people’s sexual proclivities, but all of my prudishness. Calls for the end of the chainmail bikini and objectifying woman in art regularly pop up even today. There is a clear cult of Seoni in Pathfinder, along with those people who criticize the art as too whatever from time to time. That is the strange duality of sexuality in fantasy RPGs.  

But some of the funniest reactions I’ve seen lately has to do with the male physiology.  

I love the miniatures at Otherworld Miniatures. They fantastically capture a lot of classic d&d monsters and icons. But many of them feature an anatomically correct feature that gives many gamers pause. Otherworld Miniatures are not afraid of the penis. From axe swinging minotaurs, to cheeky little kobolds, the monsters at Otherworld have a pants-are-optional approach to dungeon crawling.  

I’ve had people ask me if Otherworld penises are difficult to shave off? What I am I the Vatican? The wangs stay. Just deal with it or don’t buy ‘em.  

A couple of my bugbears with junk (one's so tiny!). On a critical hit, you can smack them in the junk instead of doing increased damage, when you do they are knocked prone, and become easier to intimidate. Wouldn’t you be?

That said, I was not a fan of The Book of Erotic Fantasy, though must admit I’ve never read it, and some really good designers put that tome together. That’s not really why I play fantasy RPGs. See, told you, I’m kind of a prude. At the same time, Pathfinder deals with sexuality in an adult and complex manner. The sexual politics in the backdrop of Edge of Anarchy is phenomenally well done. Pathfinder in general has a great way of not skirting sexuality, while not objectifying it. I would say the same thing about Otherworld, though their scope is more limited. Wizards, on the other hand, has the sensibilities of an East Coast game company, and maybe for some good reasons.  

But sex and the game marches on.  

I have to admit, I cringed a little when I first found out about the blog Playing D&D with Porn Stars and the video follow-up I Hit it With My Axe hosted on The Escapist. I was working for Wizards at the time, and while I was the juvenile delinquent of the staff, I was both amused and afraid. More afraid.  

It seemed a bit too much for me, obviously crossing the strange line between my liberal and pruddy self, but now, some time later, curiosity got the better of me and color me a fan. I love Zak Sabbath’s approach to D&D. It’s fluid, often rough and tumble, and very artistic. I like Zak’s no-nonsense fusion of 1e and 3.5e rules. It’s also very authentic. Watching I Hit it With My Axe is like watching any game that could be running in your town right now, especially if you live in Southern California. It’s all people being themselves, playing a fun game. The side conversations and the proposed solutions to game dilemmas are eye-opening, to be sure. You know how your work spills into the game and vice versa? Zak gets props for truth in advertisement. This shit’s not for kids!  

Personally I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the D&D brand team found out that one of the players—Kimberly Kane—mentioned the game in her acceptance speech at the 2010 AVN awards. I just found this out a few days ago when I came across its mention in Episode 30 of I Hit it With My Axe. There was enough gnashing of teeth when some folks at Wizards found out that a strip joint was opening nearby. The more things change….  

Personally I thought it was fucking cool. I’m not very familiar with Ms. Kane’s work, though I did watch some clips on her website. I found them well done and more than a little uncomfortable at times. But what I see in I Hit it With My Axe and in the acceptance speech is a geek geeking out on her geek success…in porn. It’s strangely cute.  

And I think I’m cool with it.  

Mileage may vary.