Street prostitutes and Erotic Arts

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Speeding through the process sounds like a valid Erotic Art Technique to me (albeit one unlikely to win much repeat business, outside of the crudest "pulling a train of soldiers as quickly as possible" scenario).

With regard to the somewhat off-topic higher-end prostitutes, the sky's the limit for skill breadth and levels, really. One of my regulars at work is a top-notch call girl who specializes in convincing the close family and friends of awkward rich men that she is of similar Status and his actual girlfriend, won over with nothing but his charms. Some people will pay a whole lot for that. She's poised, articulate, charming, and college-educated, and she pulls in $200/hour if she doesn't sleep with the guy. In addition to (probably high levels in) the Erotic Art, Sex Appeal, and high Appearance you'd expect on a high-end prostitute, she also comes equipped with Acting, Savoir-Faire (High Society), and enough points scattered around Connoisseur and Current Events that she always has something at least semi-sophisticated to talk about.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Well, skill bloat leads to unhappy players, which disincentivises GMs to use such (optional) rules.

I haven't run into that with other games. I guess I've mostly played with people that like lengthy skill lists. Erotic Arts vs ****ing *(It really needs a better name, maybe just Sex or Carnal Performance) seems like a reasonable skill divide given what they cover in a game with a tight focus on such activity. Though they overlap enough that they'd probably have fair defaults to each other. Though I guess you could make ****ing a Technique based on Erotic Art if you'd want to cut down on skills.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

With regard to the somewhat off-topic higher-end prostitutes, the sky's the limit for skill breadth and levels, really. One of my regulars at work is a top-notch call girl who specializes in convincing the close family and friends of awkward rich men that she is of similar Status and his actual girlfriend, won over with nothing but his charms. Some people will pay a whole lot for that. She's poised, articulate, charming, and college-educated, and she pulls in $200/hour if she doesn't sleep with the guy. In addition to (probably high levels in) the Erotic Art, Sex Appeal, and high Appearance you'd expect on a high-end prostitute, she also comes equipped with Acting, Savoir-Faire (High Society), and enough points scattered around Connoisseur and Current Events that she always has something at least semi-sophisticated to talk about.

That, however, is the modern equivalent of a courtesan, practicing a variant of the art of courtesanry. You're sort of doing the equivalent of comparing a skilled neurosurgeon with a paramedic—or a medieval barber-surgeon. And the character would be built on way more than 75 points! (To start with, that's a Very Wealthy job. . . .)

Bill Stoddard

[Anders]

Vanilla sex is covered by PS: Prostitute. I have spoken.

Next profession: Charcoal Burner. I love Warhammer, but sometimes the templates get a tad bizarre... :)

[vicky_molokh]

I'd rather stick to Techniques for detalization. Keep it at 4-12 Techniques total (no more!), so that people would pick up to 3. Anyway, this probably better belongs in Two Strange Questions.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Keiko

I haven't run into that with other games. I guess I've mostly played with people that like lengthy skill lists. Erotic Arts vs ****ing *(It really needs a better name, maybe just Sex or Carnal Performance) seems like a reasonable skill divide given what they cover in a game with a tight focus on such activity. Though they overlap enough that they'd probably have fair defaults to each other. Though I guess you could make ****ing a Technique based on Erotic Art if you'd want to cut down on skills.

The basic techniques shouldn't require a skill roll. There are all sorts of "skills" that it makes sense to define as "generally available," and represent by an attribute roll—or by a skill roll with a bonus high enough so that the default skill roll is equal to the attribute roll. For example, doing arithmetic would be a roll vs. IQ, Mathematics (Applied)+6, or Accounting+6. And in the same way, ordinary sex should require no more than a DX roll—and even a fail would still get tab A into slot B; it just wouldn't be especially memorable.

Bill Stoddard

[Anders]

Should you get a -2 familiarity penalty for (a) new partner(s)? :p

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Should you get a -2 familiarity penalty for (a) new partner(s)?

Probably not, unless they've got a new variety of equipment.

Bill Stoddard

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'm also wondering about adapting the One-Task Wonder perk.

OTW does require it to be a simple task, not the main focus, and since it is a roll against Erotic Art+5, it sounds like a perfect perk, effectively making it a DX+5 roll for a perk.

It also sounds like an acceptable average technique, maybe +4?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Keiko

The skill seemed appropriate for an experienced but low level prostitute: the purely physical acts of sexual intercourse, nothing emotional or mood about it. How to do it effectively and quickly to a certain degree since success effects how quickly the act draws to a close.

Or just make all those extra skills either Techniques or Perks. I'm not going to play in a game were Kissing is a skill that takes 200 hours of classroom study to learn or 400 hours of personal book learning. It doesn't make any sense. If somebody wanted to use either GURPS Sex or Naughty and Dice in a game, I'd really try to talk them into using Techniques and Perks instead of skills.