Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.gurps
From: [v--c--a] at [eskimo.com] (Tim & Christine Morgan)
Subject: Rules for sex, Part One (Intro)
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 21:33:22 GMT

Sexual advantages, disadvantages, and skills for GURPS
        by Tim and Christine Morgan
        [v--c--a] at [eskimo.com]
        comments welcome

Part One -- Introduction

        Sex is a topic that has been infrequently brought up in roleplaying 
games, and it is high time that the matter was dealt with in a bold, 
straightforward manner.
        In games, violence is glorified and excruciatingly detailed. Each 
rulebook for an RPG has pages and pages of combat rules, damage rules, and 
creative ways to really mess somebody up. The example comes to mind of 
Arduin's critical hit charts, which were graphically descriptive.
        But few games address the issue of sex. Why? Lingering Victorian 
sensibilities? A desire to protect the minors from moral corruption, while 
at the same time encouraging combat? Who knows.
        In GURPS Basic, we are given the skill Sex Appeal, defined as "the 
ability to impress the opposite sex". It is a Mental skill, based off of HT, 
which leads one to believe that it has something to do with physical action. 
This becomes slightly more noticeable as one reads further and comes across 
a reference to harems. But overall, the skill appears to be merely what it 
was defined as: the ability to impress through good looks, charm, and 
attitude. The image that comes to mind is that of a pretty girl hiking her 
skirt to show a bit of leg and flag down a taxi, or a dashing bandit giving 
a wink and a grin at the lonely old widow to get her to let him sneak out 
the back door of the inn. It may be the precursor to getting someone into 
the bedroom, but where are the rules for what to do once they're there?
        The Basic book also includes three disadvantages that are sexual in 
nature. One of these is Eunuch, which has the briefest description of all 
the disads. It does not differentiate between loss of manhood before or 
after puberty, which can have different game effects. Lecherousness appears 
as a disadvantage, a sort of compulsive behavior, but it could be taken a 
step farther. And last but not least, there is a reference to a vow of 
chastity under the Vow disadvantage (which is considered a minor vow worth 5 
points). All of these could stand a little modification and enhancement.
        In GURPS Cyberpunk, there is a reference to the "geisha" or 
"cowgirl" chip under Occupational Chips. All of the other chips give 
detailed listings of the ads, disads, and skills that the chip possesses, 
but this one clearly states that "this chip includes skills not detailed in 
the GURPS Basic set." So what does it let you do?
        In GURPS Callahan's, there is the skill Erotic Art (P/H), which 
defaults to Acrobatics and is defined as a "general knowledge of advanced 
sexual techniques", with "the exact game effects left to the GM's 
discretion." Where are the basic rules?
        These examples all have one thing in common. They are all written in 
a way that is rather vague and carefully worded, and can be confusing. The 
time has come to quit dancing around the topic and take a serious look at 
sex in the roleplaying game.

        Now, some people might wonder exactly what kind of game you would 
have to be playing to need these sort of rules. But any dynastic game, where 
marriage and continuing a family line, will have a great emphasis on 
conceptive ability. Any modern game, if it is any reflection at all of our 
modern culture, will be riddled with sex because it fills every aspect of 
our media. And, basically, any game with a real emphasis on character 
interaction will have some sort of sexual activity going on. How many times 
have characters tried to seduce a barmaid?
        It is, admittedly, a difficult thing to handle in a game. It's hard 
enough for a male player to have his character flirt with a female NPC run 
by a female GM, but when both the involved parties are male or both are 
female, there may be a certain awkwardness. But we're roleplayers, darn it 
all, and if we can threaten villains without taking it personally, we ought 
to be able to have an intimate conversation with a lover in the same manner.
        In GURPS Witchworld, we find the disadvantage of Parthenomania, a 
phobia involving loss of virginity. A note follows that the GM should use 
great care "to insure that this is not used to harass players", and that 
"adult subjects should be handled tastefully, not viciously". That same 
guideline should be used for all of the rules suggested by this article.
        Any GM feeling that sexual content is inappropriate in his or her 
game should feel free to ignore these rules. And players should be 
discouraged from taking all manner of sexual disads in a game in which
they will not come into play. That should go for any sort of disadvantage 
anyway. Nobody should be allowed to get away with taking  fear of oceans in 
a game set on a desert world where the largest body of water is the size of 
a small swimming pool.

continues in Part Two -- Skills