All this yapyap about that Satine 'gamer personality/influencer/WTFE' (Honestly never heard of her till very recently, but I'm not into the big D or WW) and the fact she's mostly famous for doing porn and claiming she's big into gaming just got me to wondering about PCs who are partly or mostly 'sex workers'. (Prostitutes would be an acceptable term, but 'whore' in really negative, I reserve that for corrupt politicians mostly.)

I'm sure WW has gone there,  but find it unlikely DnD has.  Still, I wondered what games have had sex worker character types available and how they dealt with them.  Just gamer curiousity. I could see some traveller games at least hinting at it.

As I think on it I see that sex workers could have potential. Fuedal Japan had geisha spies and assassins, after all. In occupied France more than a few Nazis were hustled off to hell by a 'poisoned tart.'

Nah, I don't think I'd play one, in fact I know I wouldnt. But all this yipyap about a 'gamer personality ' who seems to be mostly known for fucking for money just started buzzing around in my synapses until I had to ask about it to shut it up.

I can't bring myself to look but I have this feeling someone will post a link to a WW game called 'Whore, the spreading' or something... 

Good god, rule 34 gets everything, doesn't it?

This old article might be relevant: https://web.archive.org/web/20080223003826/http://www.rpg.net/oracle/essays/censor.html

Okay. Grim Jim's "Machinations of the Space Princes" has a Sex Bot class. It's not in the main game, but is available as an add-on. Have not looked at it, so I cannot comment on its qualities.

Modiphius' "Kult: Divinity Lost" most definitely has this in spades, but it's more up to you how it works. The Deceiver archetype includes concepts like Escorts and Porn Stars. The Doll archetype also includes Escorts and Sex Trafficking Victims. The Fixer archetype could be a Pimp, or a Porn producer/director. And so on. Sex (including non-consensual) is very much embedded in the insanity of the Kult setting... BUT it's not necessarily required in the setting, as anything really can be the breach point between worlds. There are more specific sex skill/advantage rules here than in other games. However, Kult casts a very wide net as far as gaming goes. It's not just about the sex and the pornstar, although it can be.

Free League's "Coriolis: The Third Horizon" includes Courtesans under the Artist archetype. There are the sex priests/priestesses in Ahlam's Temple. (Think: Companions in the Firefly universe, which then applies to any Firefly RPG as well.) Sex rules? Not really there like  Kult. It's more the seductive aspects of Ahlam's priesthood, or the courtesan in general.

Going back to antiquity... "Tribe 8" from Dream Pod 9 includes the Tribe of Magdalen ("the Lover"). They are the decadent hedonists of the 7 tribes. If the tribes exist using barter, Magdalites use sex as their primary currency. It's how they achieve political power as well. Again, the rules are not explicit. They just are. It's not meant to be an explicit sex game.

Now, for more weird stuff...
Grim Jim's Postmortem Studios has the "Courtesans" game (about roleplaying courtesans in historical England, mostly intended for the Georgian & perhaps the Regency periods) as well as "Doxy" (which would be the street trash gutter whores & doxies, mostly set in Georgian England). If you don't want to play a whore (or a higher class Courtesan), then don't play these games at all.

"Courtesans" is quite interesting, and very much researched. There's a lot of history there. Courtesans have a very significant place in English history, especially as a means for women of limited birth to achieve fame & fortune.

And... I'm sure there's more, but this is a pretty long list as it is.

SPI's Dragon Quest had a Courtesan skill with special abilities like being welcome everywhere from the lowest dive to the king's castle.

Rolemaster School Of Hard Knocks had an Escort training package.

It seems prostitute would be a fairly apt cyberpunk archetype.

I don't play much Cyberpunk stuff, but that's an area where it seems they go out of their way to avoid talking about sex work... escorts, whores, prostitutes, strippers. That mostly doesn't exist in the "gritty" world of Cyberpunk. LOL.

It is pretty remarkable how sex-less some worlds are. For the most part, you don't need sex in a game. Some games, however, go out of their way to AVOID any mention of sex at all. It's bizarre.

The "Spire" RPG by Rowan, Rook and Decard, for example. The game involves the Drow. Not just Dark Elves, but Drow. And they are entirely sexless. No slaves, no sex workers, nothing of the sort. Puritanical Drow. Amazing.

Okay, there are some kind of sex workers, but they're arena gladiators or super ninja assassin gladiators (and maybe they make DEATH BY SNU SNU, but there's no mention of sex anywhere in there).

The entire game is very spotty about commerce, in general. Commerce doesn't exist (and the reason for sex work is commerce. A world without commerce? Of course there is no sex work). The game is just about an ILLEGAL OCCUPATION by the High Elves. And REVOLUTION. (And the revolution is a kind, gentle, bloodless revolution because you're the good guys and you can't revolt by destroying things... unlike actual insurgent movements or actual revolutions.) Progressive Ace Drow wankery (if Aces can do that at all).

It's just such a weird setting. Asexual Drow in a bloodless, Puritanical revolution. I just can't like it. It's like the Lawful Stupid of Drow.

Quote from: Battlemaster on July 04, 2022, 03:44:45 PM
All this yapyap about that Satine 'gamer personality/influencer/WTFE' (Honestly never heard of her till very recently, but I'm not into the big D or WW) and the fact she's mostly famous for doing porn and claiming she's big into gaming just got me to wondering about PCs who are partly or mostly 'sex workers'. (Prostitutes would be an acceptable term, but 'whore' in really negative, I reserve that for corrupt politicians mostly.)

I'm sure WW has gone there,  but find it unlikely DnD has.  Still, I wondered what games have had sex worker character types available and how they dealt with them.  Just gamer curiousity. I could see some traveller games at least hinting at it.

As I think on it I see that sex workers could have potential. Fuedal Japan had geisha spies and assassins, after all. In occupied France more than a few Nazis were hustled off to hell by a 'poisoned tart.'

Nah, I don't think I'd play one, in fact I know I wouldnt. But all this yipyap about a 'gamer personality ' who seems to be mostly known for fucking for money just started buzzing around in my synapses until I had to ask about it to shut it up.

I can't bring myself to look but I have this feeling someone will post a link to a WW game called 'Whore, the spreading' or something... 

Good god, rule 34 gets everything, doesn't it?

You really don't know shit, do you?

For Cepheus Engine by Michael Brown, Career: Sex Worker

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/271693/Career-Sex-Worker?manufacturers_id=9030

For MegaTraveller by hemdian.com, Courtesans

https://hemdian.com/traveller/book1/courtesans/

For Mongoose Traveller 1e Book 8 Dilettante under Aristocrat: Paramour and several iterations in Classic Traveller Apocrypha.

A sex worker as an NPC can be an invaluable source for adventure seeds. They can be victims of crime, sources of rumors, patron encounters, or manipulators of nobles/politicians. As PCs, a sex worker can range from a belter brothel worker a la The Expanse to a high class Ccompanion a la Firefly/Serenity. Not to mention, the fact that sex workers are not just a profession but also people with all the possibilities therein. If you can't think of adventure ideas for a sex worker, then you should hang up your GM's hat.

It should be noted that prostitution is not illegal in every country of this world and in a science fiction setting, that can be applied to all worlds.

I've played a limited number of rpg fields, I don't get the 'hot new thing everyone gets' because I like what I like, not what 'everyone' likes.  I don't go for games that are based on shock for shocks sake.

It was interesting to see how many games at least touched on this topic.  It's been mentioned in a few wh40k products, a major character had a close companion who was a former prostitute. Oddly enough they loved each other despite the face he and she could never do it.

In another story there was a prostitute who turned out to be a genestealer hybrid. If you know shit about 40k you know that was a real ''EEEEYYYYYYEEEEEEEWWWWW!!! '' moment.

Out if curiousiy I looked at jeffy's reply, which confirmed my wisdom is not reading his shitposts, but was slightly surprised to see traveller games had them. I like traveller as an idea and a setting, not in love with the oldd school rules.

Quote from: Battlemaster on July 04, 2022, 08:16:48 PM
I've played a limited number of rpg fields, I don't get the 'hot new thing everyone gets' because I like what I like, not what 'everyone' likes.  I don't go for games that are based on shock for shocks sake.

It was interesting to see how many games at least touched on this topic.  It's been mentioned in a few wh40k products, a major character had a close companion who was a former prostitute. Oddly enough they loved each other despite the face he and she could never do it.

In another story there was a prostitute who turned out to be a genestealer hybrid. If you know shit about 40k you know that was a real ''EEEEYYYYYYEEEEEEEWWWWW!!! '' moment.

Out if curiousiy I looked at jeffy's reply, which confirmed my wisdom is not reading his shitposts, but was slightly surprised to see traveller games had them. I like traveller as an idea and a setting, not in love with the oldd school rules.

Nice to know that I am living rent free inside your head.....

Your statement, "Oddly enough they loved each other despite the face he and she could never do it." tells me that you don't know the difference between eros and philia. Not surprising, really. Just another example of your shallow thinking.

Quote from: David Johansen on July 04, 2022, 07:18:12 PM
It seems prostitute would be a fairly apt cyberpunk archetype.

Good ol' Mr. Studd!

Quote from: Thornhammer on July 04, 2022, 11:08:58 PM

Quote from: David Johansen on July 04, 2022, 07:18:12 PM
It seems prostitute would be a fairly apt cyberpunk archetype.

Good ol' Mr. Studd!

That and the Midnight Lady mod led straight to Cybergeneration!

Quote from: bromides on July 04, 2022, 07:40:07 PM
I don't play much Cyberpunk stuff, but that's an area where it seems they go out of their way to avoid talking about sex work... escorts, whores, prostitutes, strippers. That mostly doesn't exist in the "gritty" world of Cyberpunk. LOL.

While Shadowrun is more technofantasy than Cyberpunk I recall there being in the world description (page 42 in Shadowrun 5) mentioning that prostitution being legal in 99.998% of the known world.

Being or having been a prostitute is no more special than being a bus driver. Probably less so on account of the poor history of the US when it comes to public transport.

No big deal. It's not as if you're going into explicit detail in the game.

Fantastic playing a prostitute if you're a Vampire. A limitless supply of simp blood.

Other instances where prostitution is mentioned in various rpgs I've encountered is in Golarion the goddess Calistria in particular having "sacred prostitutes" while there is also a few other goddesses whos clergy practices it as well.
Seeing as Calistria is the also the favored deity of assassins, they're about as close you can come to the trope of "Hooker Ninja" I guess.

Pathfinder being a DnD derivate its probably as close you can get to "sex workers in a DnD game" in the current climate. I wonder how that managed to slip by the SJWs.
Just about any game that has a (profession) skill for PCs to earn money between adventures can be said to have rules for prostitution if that is what the player wishes to write down on that line.

In the same vein GURPS have a list of professions for the players to earn money by and I'm pretty sure I've seen different variations of prostitutes across different social levels and TLs in all kinds of settings.

As actual character classes/archetypes for players to pick, the Saloon Girl template exists in various games about the Wild west like Deadlands (1st ed) and swedish rpg Western 4th ed

In my opinion, wanting to play a sex worker is running right up to the line of 'magical realm' fetish bullshit.

But hey, do what you want in your campaign.

Never said I wanted to play one, shithead. It does open up some possibilities tho. Blackmail, getting a dna sample, covertly getting something out of a guys pocket or wallet, etc.