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I did a read on FATAL's book in a Discord VC not long ago, and it just keeps going and going and going and going...the jokes about rolling for anal circumference actually do it justice. Would be hell to play, though, there's definitely better horny RPGs to try
any RPG is a horny RPG if you try hard enoughOn an actual comment, mom could really be player 4 there, they clearly need someone to tank those hits
Yeah the issue with F.A.T.A.L. isn't just that it's text and mechanics are horrifically racist and misogynistic, it's also a terrible game. It's clunky and clumsy and it's difficult to play because it's poorly written. The author spent more time thinking about his rape fantasies than figuring out how to roll them out in any coherent way.
Also, very minor in comparison, but the food section is batshit wild. It's like written by someone who never ate before, the ideas of what makes cuisines in F.A.T.A.L. is hilariously bad.
"If you want to make a racist and misogynistic game, at least make it fun" - Gygax, probably
Was this Genesis or Deuteronomy?
Penisis and Neuteronomy.
How many gonads did king Soloman request in Neuteronomy? I'm struggling to remember, and want to ace my next Sex Bible Study.
the issue ... isn't just that it's ... horrifically racist and misogynistic, it's also a terrible game
It's funny, but it seems like I read this phrase a lot, and not just about games (book series, movies, shows, etc). I can't think of any other good examples off the top of my head, but it seems that every time an artist takes a really cool or interesting concept and fills it with bigotry, they also fill it with poorly written mechanics, potholes, clunky dialogue...
Sure, there's media with language that doesn't age well, but it seems like 9/10, when something is made with blatant hate, there isn't even an incentive to try to push past or ignore it; the content is garbage with or without the drivel. The initial concept is just good enough to get people to want to give it a shot.
I think that what's happening here is that
- The vast majority of any <thing> is poorly made, but because there are better alternatives, the poorly made ones rarely see the light of day
And
- The more specialized or niche something is, the more likely it is to stand out despite being poorly made
This includes racist garbage and weird fetishes, yes, but also any other game whose main selling point is its uniqueness instead of its quality.
A lot of old stuff is super racist and well made. The Birth of A Nation was revolutionary in film and influenced many future movies despite literally being a movie about how awesome the KKK are. Lovecraft was famously racist as fuck and a lot of his "Eldritch horror" was sort of a metaphor for his fears of "primitive" religions and miscegenation. Even Lord of the Rings has racist elements - JRR Tolkein said in multiple occasions that he based the dwarves on Jews, which is pretty rough to modern readers given that the dwarves are more obsessed with gold and treasure than anything else.
Tolkien's "inspiration" for Dwarves pulling from Jews is fascinating, as a Jew. I read that his thoughts were that Dwarves were a strong, resilient people who had been displaced from their homeland but maintained a strong attachment to their traditions and their craft. He saw this as a deferential depiction of Jews and was purposely trying to move away from European depictions of Jews as goblin-like monsters. What's fascinating is how it is still riddled with antisemitic tropes such as the obsession with gold, their "quarrelsome" nature, and also literally making them a different race of short-statured people who lived underground. It speaks to how deeply ingrained antisemitism was (and to an extent, still is) in the European mind while also lightly espousing Zionist ideas in how living in diaspora is somehow less than living in historical Judea.
Even Lord of the Rings has racist elements - JRR Tolkein said in multiple occasions that he based the dwarves on Jews
I don't doubt this, given the era the man was born, but have you got a source? I tried digging something up, and the only things I can find are that Khuzdul is based on Hebrew, and a lot of letters during and post WWII speaking highly of Jews and poorly of Hitler and the Nazis.
There's another all-time-worst game called Racial Holy War, which is exactly what you'd assume from the title. And yes, it's incompetently made to the point where they didn't include mechanics for ATTACKING.
Actually, there aren't any attacking mechanics because Racial Holy War is actually a very pro-peace and pacifist peace of work, didn'tcha know?
Would be hell to play, though, there's definitely better horny RPGs to try
My issue with horny RPGs is that if you can find people to play with that are into whatever kink the book is catering to, why would you bother to play at all? Just have sex.
And on the flipside, if you dont want to have sex with the people you're playing with, why play the sexy game? Just play a regular RPG
It's not always about horniness, per se. For example, I'm trans, and giving birth is something I'll always want but probably will never get to experience. So maybe I want to experience a "power fantasy" of sorts where my trans character performs dark rituals to give birth to eldritch abominations, all so she can experience motherhood.
I'm sure there are other experiences that people would want to rp but not necessarily to experience irl. It certainly overlaps with kink, but it's not like you're masturbating at the table. You're telling a story with adult themes, not (necessarily) writing erotica.
Does that need a specifically developed diceroll mechanic though? Seems like there's a huge roleplaying narrative landscape that doesn't need to use specific gamerules for thinga like eldrich pregnancies. Or it'd be pretty easy to ad-hoc without making it a central theme of the underlying mechanics.
Does anything need mechanics? You could just rp everything, after all.
I'm not saying you need something like FATAL, btw, the system I'm referring to is The Sword, the Crown and the Unspeakable Power. It's a pretty normal PTBA system, plus a handful of moves that let you gain an advantage when you sleep with someone (as you might expect for courtly intrigue in an 18+ setting). There's also one class that lets you give birth to eldritch abominations, but that's less of a 'roll for pregnancy' thing and more of a dark ritual. It doesn't have to be done out of a deep yearning for motherhood - that was just the direction I took it because it resonated with me.
The mechanics are the medium through which players relinquish control of their roleplay. They're sort of what mediates roleplaying, I think, by providing a sort of arbitrary and neutral interface to both limit and move along characters.
I can roleplay all day and use real world knowledge to back up how my character can pick a lock, but if there's a mechanic that made me roll dice and I lost, I have to roleplay why that character just couldn't get the lock picked despite it all.
My main point though was more an allusion to game mechanics not needing to be overly specific or defined by manuals. But then again I like cooking up rulesets and customizing campaigns. Or rather I did in the Ye Olde times when I socialized.
Because I have friends that are fun to flirt with but aren't actually into me, and because I'm too fucked up with intimacy issues to fuck anyone?
🖐️🖐️🖐️ edit: "hear hear" not "fuck me"
...why would you bother to play at all? Just have sex.
Someone's clearly never been in a queer polycule.
Life isn't meant to be chaste! Forgoe your chains for whips!
HA YES
I played a horny rpg at a kink convention that went fairly well. I suppose the nuance to the situation was "I probably want to have sex with you, but I'm not sure, why don't we engage in some nerdy sexually charged situations and find out?"
I've really got to go to conventions more, I hear of so many novel things going on.
That one was specially focused on geeky kink stuff and was pretty good. I really enjoyed the rope classes I took and a kind man welded my glasses together after a mishap in a scene in the hotel room we rented to attend. I've heard it waned in the past years but I imagine there's others like it if you're near any metropolitan area. Nerds love a flimsy pretense for sexually charged situations.
I have thought about this in embarrassing depth.
The first reason I can think of is when sex isn't an option. Maybe you're in a long distance relationship or something. It gives a good structure to what is essentially phone sex.
The second reason is as a form of foreplay. We already have sexy roleplay in the sheets to help set the mood, and now we're just using character sheets instead of bed sheets. Then your "what would you like to do" can be followed by a demonstration.
This is why I think sexy RPGs should be designed for couples.
Theres a bunch of people in my life I definitely don't want to have sex with, but I love being horny with
I don't personally fill that niche by playing horny RPGs but I imagine they'd be a great time with these people
Sexually charged, though otherwise usual situations are also just a lot of fun.
I would argue that just flirting around with friends is like, a top 10 experience ever.
Yep, it’s entirely possible to enjoy sexual situations and content as a group without actually engaging in sex. 100% agree with the “flirting around with friends” sentiment.
My issue with horny RPGs is that if you can find people to play with that are into whatever kink the book is catering to, why would you bother to play at all? Just have sex.
Because the point is role playing. You might as well ask what's the point of any kink, fetish or sexual situation that isn't two married adults having sex for the purpose of procreation. Building up trust and eroticism is the point for a lot of people, even in plain porn¹
¹all porn media has a story, even if people like to joke that its pointless, but that's a bigger topic for a very different conversation
Today we learned about Bliss Stage which sounds a lot better than F.A.T.A.L in some regards.
There's also Thirsty Sword Lesbians which focuses a lot on consent.