It strikes me as funny that oftentimes when something says it is "Mature", it means there's going to be gratuitous sex, nudity, violence, and other subjects that are not appropriate for children. Yet especially in gaming, it also means that these subjects will be handled in the most immature fashion possible. I chose the image for this post because it is an excellent example of sexuality for the sake of sexuality, pure titillation with no real reflection on the material contained within.
This isn't an attack on Exalted, nearly every gaming company has been guilty of pumping out cheesecake from time to time. I'm not really concerned with these images making otherwise appropriate games inappropriate for younger players, or turning off female players. Those can certainly be real issues, but here I want to address one aspect of this problem. Sexuality can indeed be a powerful tool to make for great games.
Many people are no doubt cringing at this thought. We gather together with friends to have adventures and create fun stories in this hobby, and most of us don't relish the thought of roleplaying out flirtations at the table, or worse someone giving a blow-by-blow of an encounter. You don't need rules here, like the laughable Book of Erotic Fantasy that has equipment lists of sex toys and special character classes for prostitutes. That isn't something I'm interested in.
What I am interested in is conflict, as you'll know if you've read this blog or gamed with me. Sex can bring about a lot of conflict and make for some interesting stories. But we don't want it to devolve into creepsville. So how can we get some good conflict and story out of a sex or love based subplot and keep it from being creepy?
I read something on a forum for writers one time, and I think it applies here. "Never let two of your characters sleep together unless one of them has a jealous lover." Obviously with RPGs we don't 'let' our characters do anything. But the principle still stands. Bob really likes Alice, but she's with Dave. Bob might try to convince Alice to leave Dave, or try some plot to make Dave look like a jerk. Dave might get wind of this and punch Bob in the face. Carol might see all this and decide Bob is a great guy and try to help him get Alice, even though she really likes him.
The point is that all this is interesting and could be great fodder for a game. Bob's player awkwardly flirting with the GM is not, nor is a description of Bob having sex with Alice. Consider that much of flirting is body language anyway, and don't bring too much of it to the table. A little bit goes a long way. As for graphic scenes, a simple fade to black is sufficient.
Once you get into the fantasy realm most of our games take place in, you can use the conventions of the genre to still get the same kind of stories without going all graphic. In my current World of Darkness game, the vampire PC met a vampire fan. He let her feed from him, making her a ghoul and blood bonded to him. This isn't a free NPC extra character though. The ghoul behaves exactly like a crazy, clingy partner. She's no doubt in love with him, but that doesn't mean she doesn't cause problems. She demands to know where he was, pops up at the wrong time, and generally makes the PC's life difficult. He puts up with it not only for the daytime help but because she lets him feed when he needs it. It works wonderfully and she's been one of my favorite monkey wrenches.
I also think this works best if the player in question is interested in the plotline. Don't try to force it, but if a romance comes up it can be a great opportunity to introduce drama and conflict into the character's life. If they aren't interested in that sort of story, so be it. There are plenty of other sources of drama.
