Freaking the Norms, Redux
I'd like to start this editorial off with a little bit of a story - one that most of you probably already know, being Advanced Dungeons & Dragons players from "way back."
Once upon a time, a game - our game, based in historical miniatures wargaming which was at the time the purview of the true Grognard - came under attack. After a cursory examination of the gaming supplements that were released for Dungeons and Dragons (and later, Advanced D & D) as well as other role-playing games, a group of individuals led by Pat Pulling decided that the whole of fantasy wargaming was somehow, in a psychological manner, a gateway to evil and aberrant behavior.
In Ms. Pulling's case, her son (who was as much involved in the hobby as one could be at the time) committed suicide. Ms. Pulling, obviously distraught, focused her attention on her deceased son's hobby and discovered that her son had shot himself shortly following a Dungeons and Dragons game wherein a /curse/ had been laid on his character.
Instead of focusing entirely on what factored in her son's suicide, she wrong-headedly
attacked fantasy role-playing, decrying it as a gateway for occult practices, a path to obsessive behavior that could culminate in depression, anti-social behavior (don't ask me how that one works, unless everyone was supposed to have just been playing the M-solo series of modules...) and even suicide.
Of course, there was absolutely no hard evidence linking any of this and FRPGs specifically the Dungeons & Dragons game, and eventually Pulling was "found out" and her flawed research did not survive the harsh light of detailed scrutiny.
But the damage was done.
The efforts of Pulling and her grassroots organization, BADD (Bothered About Dungeons And Dragons) threatened the hobby as a whole. Indeed, the "PC-ization" of 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is likely due in no small part to the pressure from Pulling or Pulling-inspired groups to "clean up" - or face the wrath of parents (who ultimately, it was deemed by these groups, controlled the purchasing dollars of those who wanted to play the games).
So out with Succubae, Malirith, Eyrines, Demons and Devils. In with "Baazetu" and
"Tan'ri" (I apologize in advance for mangling those last two names, gentle readers).
Out with pulpy, hack-and-slay romps where (character) death awaited at every turn like S1: Tomb of Horrors, and in with modules produced under the direction of the infamous TSR Standards and Practices memo.
So Dungeons & Dragons suffered for it.
Now, with "d20 Fantasy" in full bloom, Devils, Demons and all the associated "bad guys" are back in the swing of things.
This is a Good Thing(tm).
One of the greater influences upon Dungeons & Dragons are, without question, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. In the stirring chapter "The Bridge of Khazad-Dum" from /The Fellowship of the Ring/, Gandalf describes the Balrog as a "...demon of the ancient world."
Not "Baazetu", not "Tan'ri" - /demon/.
Tolkien, it merits mentioning, was a devout Roman Catholic who through discussion and fellowship convinced C.S. Lewis to change his philosophy from one of atheism to one that embraced Christianity.
But, you might say, all of this is familiar ground! We know all of this! BADD was foolish! Pat Pulling was willfully ignorant of many facts!
I must apologize in advance, gentle reader, because now I'm going to switch gears on you.
For, you see, just as Pulling was pointing at things that weren't there, the wrongly-titled Valar Project have decided to give these dormant but not gone groups a real, honest to God (!) target to shoot at.
The d20 "Book of Erotic Fantasy", due out in October of 2003 is to quote the authors:
"the first role-playing game, compatible with the best selling Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, that deals directly with sex and sexuality."
The mind boggles.
Upon hearing about this project, I decided to be circumspect. What, I wondered, would the book cover? Or uncover, as the case may be? Would it be a mature, frank look at the subject of sex and sexuality in a
pseudo mideval paradigm - perhaps addressing "delicate" issues such as pregnancy, gender roles and the like?
Hardly.
After having perused the various web-boards, the only thing I can say of this project is that it's porno with stat-blocks. It's a fetish book that requires dice.
The main goal of the authors appears to be to try to (and here we rope in my editorial title!) "Freak the norms!"
This kind of garbage, Dungeons & Dragons can do without. Yes, it's garbage. Anyone who brought such a book to /this/ Dungeon Master's table and even suggested it's use - even retro-converted to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons! - would be asked to pack it up and leave.
Why the strong reaction?
Simple. Re-read the once upon a time story. There are groups and individuals out there /dying/ to find another reason to put the thumbscrews on the hobby again. To "Valar" Projects:
THIS ISN'T HELPING. THIS IS JUNK. IF YOU NEED PORNO AT THE GAMING TABLE, BRING A COPY OF PLAYBOY. IF YOU NEED SEXUALITY WITH DICE, GAME NUDE.
Now, dear readers, I'm sure /someone/ is going to get on my case about this, so let me see if I can catch most of it here before you click "Send".
"Why do you care? It's a d20 product and you're always on about how you don't like 3rd Edition or d20!"
It is, above and beyond it's rules a /role playing game product/, not just a d20 product. If it has the potential to damage the hobby (and it does) then it concerns me.
"Well, your beloved Advanced D & D was full of this kind of thing, too!"
No.
It wasn't.
Because I have better things to do, I shan't enumerate the various semi-nude and nude female drawings (DRAWINGS, people, NOT PHOTOGRAPHS) that are in the /Dungeon Master's Guide/, /Deities and Demigods/ and /Monster Manual/. Oh, plus one chart of city encounters that mentions prostitutes.
But nowhere in any of those books were highly detailed rules about satisfying "all the curiosity about sex in the realms of fantasy..."
"I can't believe you want to censor this!"
Good. You shouldn't. I don't. I don't advocate that anyone stop them from publishing it - I advocate that no-one buys it.
"You're so uptight!"
No, I'm not. I'm not about to discuss my proclivities on a public forum, ever. But the fact of the matter is that despite what the folks at "Valar" Projects might wish to believe, a large segment of the Dungeons & Dragons community /is/ of the younger persuasion and quite frankly if I were a parent unfamiliar with the hobby and even /heard/ of such a book, I would encourage my child to find a different outlet for their creativity. In other words, things like this *hurt the hobby as a whole*.
"Why don't you just not buy it and lay off people who want to?"
See the previous statement. It's a BAD IDEA, done BADLY. I want people to SERIOUSLY reconsider buying this book.
"Other mediums survive so-called 'pornographic' elements - television didn't die because of the Playboy channel, you know."
Television, film, and other forms of media entertainment have /billions/ of consumers. Not millions, not tens of millions but /billions/. Role-playing has, perhaps, a few million. Perhaps. I'm sure it waxes and wanes. There is no force driving the hobby forward like there is with other mass media, and certainly no market like the print magazine market (for example). If three hundred people are turned off of role-playing as a result of this book (or others like it) that could very well mean the end of a small press or two. Three hundred potential customers could constitute an entire print run
sell through for some publishers.
"Well, Wizards has the OGL license, so there's nothing you can do about it anyway."
I never said they couldn't, I'm not a "d20 Lawyer" - however, as a matter of /taste/, Wizards of the Coast, thank God, agrees with me and not with the "Valar" project.
To quote:
"Wizards of the Coast is in no way associated with the product, "The Book of Erotic Fantasy," referenced recently on [websites]. We find the subject matter distasteful and inappropriate and do not endorse, condone, or approve of its use with the Dungeons & Dragons game. While the OGL license allows anyone, even our employees, to produce products that are compatible with Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards does not approve or control the theme of any third-party D20 product."
Good on Wizards of the Coast. I just /might/ forgive them the d20 /Deities and Demigods/.
But that's a different rant altogether.