Truth in Advertising
I’ve only seen a “house of ill repute” visited once during my time as an adult playing D&D. Brothels were a regular stop in my junior high and high school sojourns to lands of imagination and fantasy. This was in no small part due to the fact being touched by a girl at that age was as fantastic as any dragon. But now I’m married and play with equally grown up people, whore houses have diminished in their use. I think narrating sexual conquests (even for money) has almost become more uncomfortable. As grown ups, sex lives have become a more private topic compared to the all-encompassing subject of interest for our pubescent selves.
I also wonder if 3rd Edition had an impact on whoring. Because gold was equated with combat power level, fewer people were willing to sacrifice their efficiency in battle to get their character’s imaginary rocks off.
I remember an old Dragon Magazine article, based on an old rule by Dave Arneson (when D&D was still in development), that made no bones about prostitution. In the official (1e) rules, characters automatically gain XP form treasure found (1xp per gp), and this usually made-up the majority of acquired XP. Dave’s rule on the other hand, originally required players to spend the money to get the XP, and it must got to things unrelated to adventuring, like leisure, charity, religious offerings, academics, and the like. It was meant to get characters broke or in-debt so they’ll have to brave another dungeon-crawl, and to also reflect the “YOLO” mentality that comes with being an OG Murder-Hobo. Although players could be altruistic with their money, more often than not, it went to wine and women.
Prostitution has been ingrained in D&D from the binging, but was largely downplayed due to the PC culture since the ’80s. You can see this with how the old DMG list a random Prostitute Table. Although not advertised outright, Forgotten Reams features Scared Prostitutes and sex-gods. And that is a shame, as D&D lost a bit of its charm when they made it “family-friendly.” After all, despite what TSR tried to sell people on the ’90s, D&D was never meant to be just about virtuous “white knight” heroes on grand, world-saving quests. It is just fun to play the drunken, womanizing, orc-baby-slaying bastard. Its all about catharsis.
Huh. Point of inquiry, under a ‘expend gold to get XP’ rule, what happens if PCs invest the gold? Buying farms, buildings, etc, being a moneylender…or maybe, hiring rangers and forming an expedition to establish a base in an area with something valuable (a river, a mine full of valuables, etc)?
Sorry, I forgot to list the source of the article. It was Orgies, Inc., by Jon Pickens from The Dragon #10. Were you can find Dave Arneson’s notes on GP to XP, called Special Interests, is form The First Fantasy Campaign, by Judges Guild.
The article notes that you can only convert the gold gained through adventuring into XP. It notes that: “Funds spent for general maintenance, upkeep, advertisement, hireling salaries, and equipment yield NO experience.”, and “Neither do luxuries (fine accommodations, castles, etc.) or investments, though income from the latter may be used to increase experience.” This system limits the amount of money for an given activity per level, but is open-ended to a wide-range of possibilities, like investments and business.
Dave’s notes are more restrictive on how it is spent, based on class and personality type. There is nothing about investments, but “Wealth” only notes hoarding and how you can loose XP (and level) if they are are stolen, once the theft is discovered. Although, I have read in interviews how his players used their acquired gold in business ventures to the point were they sometimes actively guard their investments in-game (traveling with the ship or caravan), where at least one character died before he could gain the level-advancement than would come of the investment.
Oh, and as for the topic of sex, prostitution and orgies in fantasy RPGs. In my experience, it quit often this amounts to passing descriptions of drunken revelry and debauchery by the DM, with the “adult stuff” happening “off-camera”, if not awakening to something akin to The Hangover.