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Gaming: Serious Fun (Part 2 of 3)
The second part of Phil Brucato's excellent series. If you want to see Part 1, you'll find it here on Facebook.
(Here's the second installment of my three-part essay about magic and RPGs. The series originally appeared in newWitch magazine, and is copyright(c) Phil Brucato 2006-2007. Permission is granted for links and reposting with attribution, denied for repriting for profit or reposting without rightful attribution.)

[Last installment, I wrote about how roleplaying games ― RPGs ― brought magic to both my life and American pop culture at roughly the same time.]

“It’s all yours. We don’t have the slightest idea what to do with it.” So spoke Ken Cliffe, my boss at White Wolf Game Studio, as he handed me the advance copy of Mage: The Ascension, first edition. This was 1993, and my introduction to game design.

From summer ’93 until winter ’98, I helmed this purple-cloaked beast. Since then, I’ve managed other game lines, notably Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade and Deliria: Faerie Tales for a New Millennium. In that time, I’ve journeyed from part-time Pagan gamer to full-time Pagan author, learning volumes about magic, gaming, publishing and myself.

I could fill a book with the observations of a Pagan game designer. (1) One of the biggest, though, concerns the seductive magic of the roleplaying medium. First-hand, I watched the “satanic panic” of the 1980s (2), and as absurd as that fiasco was, I’ve also recognized that roleplaying can manifest a gamer’s inner landscape. I feel that’s usually a good thing ― it certainly was for me. All the same, there’s a distinct intention involved when you manifest imagination. If you’re a serious gamer, it’s healthy to check in occasionally with your world. And if you’re an RPG designer like me, I believe you’re somewhat responsible for the invitations you extend to your audience.

Although gamers often sit on their asses, roleplaying itself is active. If your imagination does nothing, your character does nothing. Moreover, your world demands collaboration. A “game master” may set the stage, but in a true roleplaying situation (3) , all players contribute to the experience. In turn, these contributions mirror the loves, fears and desires of the gaming group in question. On all levels, then, a roleplayer manifests her active imagination. Sound like magic? It kinda is.

Until Mage, RPG “magic-users” bored me. The complex mathematics and limited potential of wizened spell-chuckers never seemed very “magical.” Mage, however, changed that perception. In its bewildering first edition, Stewart and Steve Wieck presented magic as a metaphysical extension of the mage. Running with that premise, I turned Mage into a manifesto: Join the battle for reality! In a very real sense, I wanted my players to get up from their tables, go outside and change their world.

Ah, yes… change it into what? I’ve pondered that question throughout my design career. To answer it, I’ve talked, listened, read, meditated, prayed, and looked overall at the world I see, then used that interactive medium to reflect its most desirable and undesirable aspects. In Mage, I asked: “What if you had the power to change the world? What would you do with it… and what would it do with you?” (4) I left the answers to my fans’ discretion, but showed where extremity and carelessness can lead.

Heading a line about magic in a “World of Darkness” (5), I felt wary about the doors I opened for my fans. After all, undead vampires and towering werewolves do not exist (6); magic does. And since I was inviting people to play with magic, I also wanted to be careful about what I invited them to do with it. Thus, no book under my tenure endorsed “black magic” from a player perspective, (7) and there were moral and metaphysical consequences built into Mage’s systems and setting. In that world, as in ours, actions and intentions mattered.

Roleplaying channels a gamer’s imagination. That’s a license to safely remake the world in your image. Such reinvention can, as Andrew Rilstone wrote for Inter*Active Magazine, inspire you to ask questions and learn answers about your world. (8) Considering that conformity and obedience are prized social attributes, however, such questions and their answers can seem ― or even be ― dangerous. Talk about subverting the dominant paradigm!

(Recently, I met a guy who’d been born with Multiple Sclerosis. When I asked him how he coped with his limitations, he told me that Mage had helped him realize how ephemeral those limitations were. How much more subversive can you get?)

There’s a shadow side to this potential, too. Folks who’ve “lost” loved ones to the SCA or “Evercrack” (9) understand how seductive roleplaying can become. Again, it’s like magic: what you get out is what you put in… plus a little extra. Sure, an RPG can help you find your inner self. “But,” as Bill Cosby asked about cocaine, “what if you’re an asshole?” (10) RPGs can unlock that element, too. Does each “evil” character mask real-life murder? Of course not. Still, if all your characters are psychotic killers, you may want to ask yourself what’s going on inside.

Working at White Wolf could be disconcerting. While most of the fans we encountered were cool, there’d be the occasional nut who wanted to know if The Book of Nod (11) was real. Generally, a firm “It’s fiction!” set those folks straight. Still, such moments kept me honest. If I wanted Mage fans to question ― even remake ― reality, I had to be sure the reality I offered them was constructive, if not always pretty.

Creativity, by definition, is constructive. But as any magician knows, you can create all sorts of unpleasant things. That’s especially true with RPGs, which ― thanks to their wargame origins ― often focus on violence. As Mark Rein•Hagen wrote in Vampire: The Masquerade, RPGs excel at shadowplay, too. (12) By assuming a monstrous persona (13), a player can learn more about her monstrous side. What she does with that learning (if she does anything at all) becomes her responsibility, not the designer’s. Still, if I said, “Be EEEEE-villlll!” without structure or consequence, I’d be somewhat responsible for the aftermath. As much as I value the Shadow and its blessings, I’m careful about the kinds of Shadows I invoke. That goes double when I’m inviting someone else to invoke their Shadows, too. Sometimes, designing RPGs feels like casting spells by remote control. You’ve gotta trust stra ngers not to screw things up.

I’m not the only RPG designer to view the medium from an “intentional” perspective. While D&D’s originators resisted “meaning” (14), other designers plumbed the potential of roleplaying games. Greg Stafford invested his Pendragon and RuneQuest with cultural and shamanic significance. Steve Jackson defied the Secret Service. (15) Greg Costikyan’s Paranoia subverted socio-political paradigms, while Croc’s In Nomine Satanis/ Magna Veritas overturned conventional theology. While Christian designer Tracy Hickman delved into spiritual concerns in his Dragonlance work, “preacher’s kid” Mark Rein•Hagen introduced romantic shadowplay. Since Vampire: The Masquerade appeared in 1991, designers have employed simulated people (The Sims), virtual theatre (Façade), Jungian psychology (Wraith: The Oblivion) and morality-driven game systems (Fable) to broaden the roleplaying experience.

So are RPGs magical? I’d say they are, though in a creative, not occultist, sense. Are RPGs healthy? That’s an old debate. At one extreme, opponents blame the medium for antisocial behavior; at the other, advocates insist that RPGs are good for you. (16) My view spans a spectrum. Most gamers I know are unusually sane, if only because they flex their imaginations. Still, I’ve seen folks flex those imaginations a little too far. And just as careless athletes can sprain their muscles, I feel that careless gamers can “sprain” their realities when the imaginary lives they weave seem more welcoming than their own.

Sure, roleplaying is play, but it’s serious play. I suspect the unconscionable behavior and detachment of gamers who “forget themselves” manifest when folks ignore their responsibilities in this world. If you invest energy into an activity, even a “game,” you metaphysically bring aspects of it into being. Folks who really believe in magic understand this principle fairly well. It’s folks who believe in nothing that you need to watch out for! (17)

In gaming, magic or both, creativity demands responsibility. To create means “to give flesh” (18), and while the idea of “summoning” your Anti-Paladin is absurd, there’s a definite bond between a roleplayer’s psyche and the characters she creates. As a gamer, designer and Pagan, I adore the creative and destructive elements of RPGs. That said, I have issues with the careless mentality behind many games… and gamers. Like the saying goes, “As above, so below.” If you view roleplaying characters as avatars of your Self, check the mirror occasionally and ask yourself what you see.

[Next installment, I’ll reveal a bit of nuts-n-bolts design lore. See ya then!]
Phil “Satyrblade” Brucato has worked on roughly a dozen RPG lines, and taught game design at the Art Institute of Seattle. His online sites include: http://satyrblade.livejournal.com/, http://myspace.com/satyrblade, http://philbrucato.facebook.com/ and http://www.philbrucato.com/.
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FOOTNOTES
1 - None of which involve the mythical “conspiracy of satanic game designers!”
2 - See previous issue.
3 – In which players invest significant energy and imagination “role-playing” original characters, as opposed to “button-mashing” with superficial or pre-generated ones. D&D often involves roleplaying; Tomb Raider does not.
4 - The Book of Mirrors, p. 10.
5 - The name for White Wolf’s world setting.
6 - presumably…
7 - My Renaissance supplement, Infernalism: The Path of Screams, addressed dark wizardry from a sympathetic but doomed perspective.
8 - Issue #1, “Editorial.” Due to legal claims, the magazine’s title became Inter*active Fantasy with the next issue. Sadly, the periodical lasted only four issues, from 1994-1996.
9 - The Society for Creative Anachronism, and the sarcastic nickname of Everquest. 2011 update: Yeah, this reference is outdated. Does Everquest even exist anymore? Substitute World of Warcraft to bring the reference into the current decade.
10 – (A guy said cocaine) ‘intensifies your personality!’ And I said ‘Yeah, but what if you’re an asshole?’ From Bill Cosby ― Himself.
11 - The “bible” of Vampire: The Masquerade.
12 - V:tM (first edition), pps. 4-5.
13 - The root of monster, incidentally, means “to behold or reveal.” See Webster’s.
14 - I have done my best to separate actual belief systems from my RPG work… I used none… To think of the RPG as anything more than a game for entertainment… seems pretentious to me. ― Gary Gygax; see Lynch/ Gygax.
15 - The Secret Service sacked Jackson’s offices in 1991; in 1993, he won damages against them. See Wikipedia: Steve Jackson Games.
16 - See last issue, Hurley and Holmes.
17 - I wish more folks would consider the energies they invest and manifest in “mainstream” sports like football, hockey or wrestling!
18 - Again, Webster’s.

Thanks, Phil! One more to go...
~ SPF (04-21-2011)

My dear friend, Phil Brucato, immediately responded to my recent call to folks to share their gaming advice, observations, and "cool stuff." Unfortunately, his first entry is a bit too mature-leaning for me to include in the newsletter. Nonetheless, it definitely bears sharing, so here's the text of his essay about - yeah, you guessed it - Sex and Gaming.

~~~~~

Satyr’s Mighty FantiSex Gaming Spectrum

Let’s face it: Fantasy is kinky. Even without the overt eroticism of bondage death–traps and chainmail bikinis, the Fantasy tradition (and its incestuous cousins Horror, Romance, SF, and Badass Action) brims with sublimated sex. Swords, wands, cups and caves, virile heroes and hungry heroines, vile wretches and lusty wenches – the tropes and characters of Fantasy provide exciting exorcism for our carnal urges. For obvious reasons, these elements crop up (so to speak…) in various forms within Fantasy-based roleplaying groups.

Like sex itself, however, overtly erotic roleplaying is never truly “safe.” While Fantasy books and films are (like other erotic pastimes) essentially solo acts, roleplaying is (like still other erotic pastimes) interactive. And whenever stupid primates gather around erotic subjects, the stupid and primitive elements often win out.

Is that the ways things always go? Of course not. Like any other art form (and yes, RPGs qualify as an “art form”), Fantasy gaming can address sexuality in all its myriad contradictions. It can be cheesy, playful, tragic, offensive, sensual, comedic, and often a mixture of all of them and more. Toss in the subtle sublimation and balls-out kinkiness of various Fantasy genres, and all potentials go through the roof. Although most groups prefer to apply some self-imposed element of “taste” to the proceedings, the line between “tasty” and “tacky” is very much in the eye (and other body parts…) of the beholder.

Though young men present the obvious Erotic Fantasy fans, anyone who’s read Jacqueline Cary or gamed with many of the female gamers I’ve met (including my partner, first wife, and most girlfriends) can attest that girls can beat boys (literally!) when it comes to imaginative carnality. The old saw that Fantasy-oriented females prefer chaste scenarios simply isn’t true. Anyone with a libido might want to explore their urges through Erotic Fantasy; gay men, straight women, try-sexuals of all potential gender configurations – Fantasy has room for everyone… at least in theory, anyway. For the most part, sadly, FantiSex remains het-based with occasional girl-on-girl action. When other genders are rightfully factored in on a large scale, someone inevitably throws a Dragon Age tantrum. Sometimes, we can be such children!

Mass-consumption Fantasy hovers between a Some Adult Content, No Sex, or Cheesecake City approach. Gamers, though, like to tailor our worlds to personal tastes. And so, as with most forms of real-world sexuality, Erotic Fantasy gaming plays out across a spectrum of explicitness and consent. Pondering such dynamics at Stupid O’Clock this morning, I conceived of Satyr’s Mighty FantiSex Gaming Spectrum: a reflection of my personal experiences and observations about sex, gaming, and the way things go when eros and Fantasy gamers collide.

Not limited to the range between Harry Potter and hairy hentai, the Mighty FantiSex Gaming Spectrum depends on the desires and boundaries of all participants. At the top end, everyone’s on board for high-octane fun; at the lowest extreme, one or two group members traumatize the rest until the group implodes. Ideally, the balance should be easy to maintain; in real life, things often slide along the spectrum, hopefully asserting a comfortable dynamic wherein good times are had by all.

And so, we reveal Satyr’s Mighty FantiSex Gaming Spectrum. Feel free to comment, link it, re-post it with attribution, and generally meme the fuck out of it. Sex usually works better when we understand what we’re doing.

Enjoy!

SATYR’S MIGHTY FANTISEX GAMING SPECTRUM

CARNAL PARTY

Generally common within adolescent all-male gaming groups (maybe adolescent all-female ones, too), the Carnal Party presents an erotic free-for-all wherein participants happily live out whatever sexual fantasies they please. Huge-cocked barbarian dudes pound away at melon-chested wenches (or perhaps other huge-cocked barbarian dudes) while nubile slave girls scrub one another’s carpets clean. Real-world consequences like pregnancy, disease and gravity are pretty much ignored – save for jealousy or betrayal, which make lovely plot devices. Everybody's nekkid and nobody cares.

The traditional dynamic within large segments of the Sword-and-Sorcery and Action Badass genres, Carnal Party is consensual, explicit, and in no way realistic. Typified by the Eros Comix approach, such Fantasy can be straight, queer, kinky, or whatever flavor floats the common boat. Unlike dynamics at the other end of this spectrum, this erotic threshold is absurd yet mutual. The key word here is “party.” If someone in the group feels offended, this dynamic slips toward Cheesecake City… or worse.

MUTUALLY CONSENSUAL
Intentionally erotic but often more serious than Carnal Parties, a Mutually Consensual dynamic assumes an explicit “fantasex” atmosphere. The realm of Merry Gentry and Gorean roleplay, this style favors a more traditionally “feminine” approach than Carnal Party. Everyone knows what they’re here for, but emotions, relationships, physics and consequences do matter. This style often favors a stronger kink element than Carnal Party and is, in fact, the “default setting” for lots of actual BDSM play. Again, though, the key word is “consent”; regardless of the genders or preferences among its participants, a Mutually Consensual group fits the tastes and boundaries of all members.

NSFW
Playfully risqué and frequently explicit, the NSFW dynamic crops up a lot in mixed-gender groups from adolescence onward. Erotic content is common but not pervasive, frequently amusing, often absurd, and generally mutual. In my experience and observation, it often features a lot of half-serious (or all-serious) flirtation between players. Typical in certain manga, anime and romance-fiction genres, NSFW sexuality dynamics often revolve around misunderstandings, cheese- or beefcake, unrequited love/ lust, and “Oops!” moments where clothing and propriety wind up on the floor. Characters tend to be randy but not erotically obsessed, and the atmosphere favors comedy with occasional serious undercurrents.

MATURE AUDIENCES
More “adult” than NSFW but not as pervasively erotic as Mutually Consensual, a Mature Audiences dynamic presents sexuality within a complex framework of emotions, relationships, violence, and other “gritty” subjects. Erotic content, though often exaggerated beyond real-life levels, appears as part of a larger world… in most cases, a dystopian one. Emotional and physical anguish are common in this setting, and participants often need to “sign a waver” when joining this type of dynamic. Explicit moments frequently fade to black, but don’t always do so… sometimes provoking real-life emotional responses, willingly or otherwise. The default position for Anne Rice or World or Darkness-style fantasy, this dynamic doesn’t have to be a downer. In the hands of a serious-minded group, it can be lots of fun. Still, it’s volatile territory, with a larger chance of sliding into offense than other safer or more playful options.

SOME ADULT CONTENT
A middle-ground between MA and No Sex, Please, SAC features the occasional hot kiss or wild romp. Explicit eroticism, though, is left to the imagination. Cheesecake might appear – but if so, it’s tame. Kink, if present, winds up sublimated. There might be hookers, hook-ups and busty bar wenches, but no “dirty deeds” to speak of. Most comic books and fantasy films stick to this territory, ripe with exciting imagery but essentially kid-friendly.

NO SEX, PLEASE – WE’RE GAMERS
The safest option on the list, this dynamic assumes that – with the occasional exception of mild genre tropes – erotic content is pretty much absent. Characters do not have sex, act sexual, or encounter erotic situations. They might experience romantic relationships, but naughty bits remain offscreen and emotions stay minimally complex. Star Wars, Star Trek, Narnia and other “kid-itional” fantasy works fit this dynamic, as do serious-minded works by Professor Tolkien and other pre-Sexual Revolution fantasists who stashed their freak flags in the closet where they felt such things belonged. The preferred dynamic for kids under 16 (although younger kids tend to run higher or lower on the scale when adults aren't around), NSPWG can get rather boring if adult fantasists prefer to get... adult.

CHEESECAKE CITY
The Boris Vallejo school of Fantasy, Cheesecake City features stagy amounts of erotic exaggeration. Melon-chested warrior wenches pout and sweat-thewed swordsmen preen through adventures that would fill Freud’s notebooks three times over. Lots of folks wind up chained to walls, but there’s little actual sex to speak of. Though tame on the erotic scale, Cheesecake City can offend certain participants, especially ones who share an objectified gender or slandered ethnicity. The realm of Conan and his ilk, it’s a tradition with timeless adolescent appeal.

YKINMK
Short for “Your Kink is Not My Kink,” this dynamic veers toward non-consent. One or more participants explore/ indulge their erotic preferences while their companions wince and shrug. Erotic content usually favors light fetishes or offscreen carnality on the part of one or two characters as the rest seek the No Sex, SAC or Mature Audiences dynamic. While not typically destructive, this sort of thing can be annoying; Your ‘Umble Satyrblade and a few of his partners-in-crime have stepped into this dynamic occasionally, to the accompaniment of rolled eyes and heavy sighs from fellow group members. The film Gamers: Dorkness Rising features several examples of YKINMK in action, one of whom is occasionally played by the lovely Jen Page.

EWWWW…
Here, things go wrong. One or more participants verge off into Not Okayland… and then stay there while the other members cringe. Unlike YKINMK, this erotic dynamic’s pervasive offensiveness winds up damaging the group. The realm of dudes who roll three 6-sided dice to determine cock size (and then have their characters run around naked, hugging people), this end of the spectrum is usually Boys’ Town. That said, I’ve seen the occasional girl gamer or female author (*cough* LKH *cough*) run loose at the turboslut-and-tentacle-rape end of Tropeseville while her companions groan, recoil, and eventually quit.

FANTASY RAPE-PLAYING
At the squickiest extreme, an erotic dynamic can turn into psychological assault. Thanks to players (or Game Masters) who either don’t know or don’t care about other players’ limits, erotic content becomes grotesque, unsafe and occasionally traumatic. Players can and do feel psychologically assaulted within such games. This dynamic can trigger flashbacks to real-life violations; in the hands of a cruel player or GM, it might even be intended to be so.

Sadly, this dynamic crops up more often than it should; worse, it’s occasionally done on purpose. My all-time favorite gaming group formed back in college when one male player, jealous because a female player stopped dating him but continued dating someone else in the group, conspired with the Game Master to rape his ex-girlfriend’s character, kill his “rival,” and paralyze the other characters into watching the scene. Next game session, that player, his best bud and the GM had that particular game all to themselves; the rest of us had quit and formed our own group (with a Mature Content dynamic that occasionally veered into YKINMK), which gamed together for roughly five years. This sort of thing happens a lot with Fantasy Rape-Playing dynamics. Quite often, players leave such groups with feelings of real-world pain and fury. In short, don’t do this. Ever.

So, yeah - a range of possibilities. Like all things either gaming or sexual, it's not definitive... but then, what ever is, anyway?

Cheers!

- Satyros