Festhalls? [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Festhalls? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ardashir
11-27-04, 12:07 PM Just glanced through an old copy of one of the Volo's Guides, and read quite a bit about the FR 'festhalls'. Pardon me for asking, but don't they sound erm, kind of like high-class brothels?

Just struck me as a bit odd, is all. (Not necessarily bad, mind... this is another world with its own morals.) Or did I read them wrong?
SammasterT
11-27-04, 12:14 PM Just glanced through an old copy of one of the Volo's Guides, and read quite a bit about the FR 'festhalls'. Pardon me for asking, but don't they sound erm, kind of like high-class brothels?

Just struck me as a bit odd, is all. (Not necessarily bad, mind... this is another world with its own morals.) Or did I read them wrong?

Indeed!

These festhalls actually sound like some fairly clean and safe places compared to what we have in our own world. And we certainly have no less of that trade! Not by a long shot.

So, yeah, different morals indeed!
Kuje31
11-27-04, 12:55 PM Just glanced through an old copy of one of the Volo's Guides, and read quite a bit about the FR 'festhalls'. Pardon me for asking, but don't they sound erm, kind of like high-class brothels?

Just struck me as a bit odd, is all. (Not necessarily bad, mind... this is another world with its own morals.) Or did I read them wrong?

That's basically what they are. :) TSR wouldn't let Ed fully detail them though because it was against thier Code of Ethics. :)
WizO_BigSister
11-28-04, 01:45 PM I've come across Fest Halls in various novels, and in both 2nd and 3rd ed material. My impression is that are much more than a brothel .. they are more like a high quality large inn where the host (or hostess) offers a wide range on entertainments including food, drink, music, performing arts (such as juggling, tumbling, dancing, recitals, acting etc), dancing for patrons ... and yes, the more fleshly entertainments. Within the festhall are huge halls and ball rooms, small and intimate sitting rooms and all sizes of rooms in between. You can have a private party or be entertained in a public room. A festhall can cater for individuals and any size of party ... the entire establishment can be hired!
Kuje31
11-28-04, 02:14 PM I've come across Fest Halls in various novels, and in both 2nd and 3rd ed material. My impression is that are much more than a brothel .. they are more like a high quality large inn where the host (or hostess) offers a wide range on entertainments including food, drink, music, performing arts (such as juggling, tumbling, dancing, recitals, acting etc), dancing for patrons ... and yes, the more fleshly entertainments. Within the festhall are huge halls and ball rooms, small and intimate sitting rooms and all sizes of rooms in between. You can have a private party or be entertained in a public room. A festhall can cater for individuals and any size of party ... the entire establishment can be hired!

Not originally. TSR basically changed them from brothals to festhalls. Ed has also said as much in old mailing list replies. :)

Ed's words from yesterday, "One correction to the above: Jeff Grubb applied the term “festhall” to Ed’s “brothels.”"
AJA
11-29-04, 12:34 AM Re: Festhalls;

A quick CTRL-F "festhall" through Kuje's ed.doc should bring up plenty of responses to your query. Most of which I do believe are outside of WOTC guidelines, unfortunately.

For a quick sanitized take, consider the following:

"The wildest festhall in Tantras, Warm Wondra’s, is also on Roardragon Way (the main street running along the southern edge of the docks), and it truly is a festhall: nightly shows are held there from dusk until dawn, beginning with contortionists, comedians, jugglers, and players who perform short bawdy works, and progressing through minstrels who put on rousing sequences of drinking and ‘slay the dragon’ songs, to a farce play involving maidens who get disrobed by monsters or villains (the audience is encouraged to boo, hiss, cheer, and even help deliver lines if they buy drinks for the actors), and finally to out-and-out exotic dancing and sex-for-coin activity (all of which is legal; the masked, cudgel-wielding Watch of Tantras are there -- just as they are on their frequent street, dockside, and tavern patrols -- to keep order, arresting persons who draw steel, wound others, or start fires, and ejecting the unruly onto the street)."

and;

"Remember the editorial fits I caused just mentioning brothelsXXXX ahem, “festhalls.” My view was that I was just reporting, a la National Geographic: ‘The native women have long, floppy . . .’ and the TSR editors disagreed violently. BTW, the very existence of all those brothels point to the number of men and women in the Realms who want casual sex, or who don’t get what they want at home, or who don’t want to wait until they get home. Sex IS alive and well in the Realms."

And thank Sharess (and Sune and Liira) for that! Gives my old swordsman something to do whilst his steel is being sharpened in town....

...errr...I mean....:embarrass
Ardashir
11-29-04, 12:33 PM I've come across Fest Halls in various novels, and in both 2nd and 3rd ed material. My impression is that are much more than a brothel .. they are more like a high quality large inn where the host (or hostess) offers a wide range on entertainments including food, drink, music, performing arts (such as juggling, tumbling, dancing, recitals, acting etc), dancing for patrons ... and yes, the more fleshly entertainments. Within the festhall are huge halls and ball rooms, small and intimate sitting rooms and all sizes of rooms in between. You can have a private party or be entertained in a public room. A festhall can cater for individuals and any size of party ... the entire establishment can be hired!

That was kind of the idea I got, that tey were decent and clean places, save for the odd house being run by dopplegangers or the like. I also think that the 'entertainments' you find in places like Menzoberranzan or Thay get much nastier than what you'd find in Waterdeep, for example.

And I imagine that, much as in the real world, you have some festhalls that are run as 'fronts' for various power groups (i.e., the Harpers, the Zhentarim, whoever and whatever else.)

And does it ever strike some of you that a few of Ed's characters are decidedly randy? Not a problem with me, as it's always very tastefully handled, but some of the Seven Sisters do seem of a decidedly amorous nature (mainly Storm, though Dove and Qilue seem happily married and loyal). Though I do wonder if any of their enemies ever tried using that route to get close and theoretically past their defenses.
Kuje31
11-29-04, 01:23 PM And does it ever strike some of you that a few of Ed's characters are decidedly randy? Not a problem with me, as it's always very tastefully handled, but some of the Seven Sisters do seem of a decidedly amorous nature (mainly Storm, though Dove and Qilue seem happily married and loyal). Though I do wonder if any of their enemies ever tried using that route to get close and theoretically past their defenses.

Because this is how the Realms is. :)

"My concept of Alustriel as de facto ruler of Silverymoon has always been glossed over by TSR (and now WotC) for Code of Ethics/Code of Conduct reasons, because I see her as the Realms equivalent of ‘the Queen of Courtly Love,’ presiding over a Court that amuses itself (along with delighting in wit, new songs, new inventions or clever craftsmanship, and fashions) with dalliances, courtship, and lovemaking. Er, lots of lovemaking. :}"

The Realms doesn't have earths, er let's leave it as America's, problem with free sex, love, etc. And I believe that thier enemies have tried that in the past.

Being married doesn't follow or sometimes even mean the same thing as it does here on Earth. Some marriages only last a day, a tenday, a month, or years. See my file where Ed discussed this 2 years ago on the Mailing List. :)
WizO_BigSister
11-29-04, 06:44 PM Ardashir I think I wasn't clear enough in what I write. My impression is that festhalls provide a MUCH wider range of entertainment and services than a brothel would ... but many festhalls do provide that kind of "fleshly" and more naughty entertainment.
Ardashir
11-30-04, 12:21 PM Because this is how the Realms is. :)

"My concept of Alustriel as de facto ruler of Silverymoon has always been glossed over by TSR (and now WotC) for Code of Ethics/Code of Conduct reasons, because I see her as the Realms equivalent of ‘the Queen of Courtly Love,’ presiding over a Court that amuses itself (along with delighting in wit, new songs, new inventions or clever craftsmanship, and fashions) with dalliances, courtship, and lovemaking. Er, lots of lovemaking. :}"

The Realms doesn't have earths, er let's leave it as America's, problem with free sex, love, etc. And I believe that thier enemies have tried that in the past.

Being married doesn't follow or sometimes even mean the same thing as it does here on Earth. Some marriages only last a day, a tenday, a month, or years. See my file where Ed discussed this 2 years ago on the Mailing List. :)

In other words, it differs from place to place, culture to culture, and faith to faith, like it does on earth. (Oh yes, and if you think America is restrictive, then please, go to Saudi Arabia or Southeast Asia or most of Africa, and then tell me how bad it is...)

I will add that while I'm not sorry to know and read all this, I can understand why publishers & many players are just as happy leaving it all off stage, as I've known /way/ too many guys who RP'd just so they could indulge some truly sick sexual kinks in front of a captive audience. (You don't wanna know what.)

I'm going to drop this here before I maybe wind up saying something that just causes trouble.

Peace.
Kuje31
11-30-04, 01:23 PM In other words, it differs from place to place, culture to culture, and faith to faith, like it does on earth. (Oh yes, and if you think America is restrictive, then please, go to Saudi Arabia or Southeast Asia or most of Africa, and then tell me how bad it is...)

I will add that while I'm not sorry to know and read all this, I can understand why publishers & many players are just as happy leaving it all off stage, as I've known /way/ too many guys who RP'd just so they could indulge some truly sick sexual kinks in front of a captive audience. (You don't wanna know what.)

I'm going to drop this here before I maybe wind up saying something that just causes trouble.

Peace.

You know what I meant about America. Never mind but again its the plain honest truth that America is uptight about sex and so that was my example. And as a citizen of America I can say that. :)
GothicDan
11-30-04, 01:46 PM as I've known /way/ too many guys who RP'd just so they could indulge some truly sick sexual kinks in front of a captive audience. (You don't wanna know what.)

I'm glad to say that in my 9 years of gaming, I've never encountered a D&D game like that. Vampire, on the other hand...

Anyway, as a bisexual American who has numerous friends in Canada, Sweden, and the UK, I can safely agree that America is indeed uptight about sexual things that other Western cultures would just smirk at and move on.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ardashir 11-27-04, 12:07 PM	Just glanced through an old copy of one of the Volo's Guides, and read quite a bit about the FR 'festhalls'. Pardon me for asking, but don't they sound erm, kind of like high-class brothels? Just struck me as a bit odd, is all. (Not necessarily bad, mind... this is another world with its own morals.) Or did I read them wrong?
SammasterT 11-27-04, 12:14 PM	Just glanced through an old copy of one of the Volo's Guides, and read quite a bit about the FR 'festhalls'. Pardon me for asking, but don't they sound erm, kind of like high-class brothels? Just struck me as a bit odd, is all. (Not necessarily bad, mind... this is another world with its own morals.) Or did I read them wrong? Indeed! These festhalls actually sound like some fairly clean and safe places compared to what we have in our own world. And we certainly have no less of that trade! Not by a long shot. So, yeah, different morals indeed!
Kuje31 11-27-04, 12:55 PM	Just glanced through an old copy of one of the Volo's Guides, and read quite a bit about the FR 'festhalls'. Pardon me for asking, but don't they sound erm, kind of like high-class brothels? Just struck me as a bit odd, is all. (Not necessarily bad, mind... this is another world with its own morals.) Or did I read them wrong? That's basically what they are. :) TSR wouldn't let Ed fully detail them though because it was against thier Code of Ethics. :)
WizO_BigSister 11-28-04, 01:45 PM	I've come across Fest Halls in various novels, and in both 2nd and 3rd ed material. My impression is that are much more than a brothel .. they are more like a high quality large inn where the host (or hostess) offers a wide range on entertainments including food, drink, music, performing arts (such as juggling, tumbling, dancing, recitals, acting etc), dancing for patrons ... and yes, the more fleshly entertainments. Within the festhall are huge halls and ball rooms, small and intimate sitting rooms and all sizes of rooms in between. You can have a private party or be entertained in a public room. A festhall can cater for individuals and any size of party ... the entire establishment can be hired!
Kuje31 11-28-04, 02:14 PM	I've come across Fest Halls in various novels, and in both 2nd and 3rd ed material. My impression is that are much more than a brothel .. they are more like a high quality large inn where the host (or hostess) offers a wide range on entertainments including food, drink, music, performing arts (such as juggling, tumbling, dancing, recitals, acting etc), dancing for patrons ... and yes, the more fleshly entertainments. Within the festhall are huge halls and ball rooms, small and intimate sitting rooms and all sizes of rooms in between. You can have a private party or be entertained in a public room. A festhall can cater for individuals and any size of party ... the entire establishment can be hired! Not originally. TSR basically changed them from brothals to festhalls. Ed has also said as much in old mailing list replies. :) Ed's words from yesterday, "One correction to the above: Jeff Grubb applied the term “festhall” to Ed’s “brothels.”"
AJA 11-29-04, 12:34 AM	Re: Festhalls; A quick CTRL-F "festhall" through Kuje's ed.doc should bring up plenty of responses to your query. Most of which I do believe are outside of WOTC guidelines, unfortunately. For a quick sanitized take, consider the following: "The wildest festhall in Tantras, Warm Wondra’s, is also on Roardragon Way (the main street running along the southern edge of the docks), and it truly is a festhall: nightly shows are held there from dusk until dawn, beginning with contortionists, comedians, jugglers, and players who perform short bawdy works, and progressing through minstrels who put on rousing sequences of drinking and ‘slay the dragon’ songs, to a farce play involving maidens who get disrobed by monsters or villains (the audience is encouraged to boo, hiss, cheer, and even help deliver lines if they buy drinks for the actors), and finally to out-and-out exotic dancing and sex-for-coin activity (all of which is legal; the masked, cudgel-wielding Watch of Tantras are there -- just as they are on their frequent street, dockside, and tavern patrols -- to keep order, arresting persons who draw steel, wound others, or start fires, and ejecting the unruly onto the street)." and; "Remember the editorial fits I caused just mentioning brothelsXXXX ahem, “festhalls.” My view was that I was just reporting, a la National Geographic: ‘The native women have long, floppy . . .’ and the TSR editors disagreed violently. BTW, the very existence of all those brothels point to the number of men and women in the Realms who want casual sex, or who don’t get what they want at home, or who don’t want to wait until they get home. Sex IS alive and well in the Realms." And thank Sharess (and Sune and Liira) for that! Gives my old swordsman something to do whilst his steel is being sharpened in town.... ...errr...I mean....:embarrass
Ardashir 11-29-04, 12:33 PM	I've come across Fest Halls in various novels, and in both 2nd and 3rd ed material. My impression is that are much more than a brothel .. they are more like a high quality large inn where the host (or hostess) offers a wide range on entertainments including food, drink, music, performing arts (such as juggling, tumbling, dancing, recitals, acting etc), dancing for patrons ... and yes, the more fleshly entertainments. Within the festhall are huge halls and ball rooms, small and intimate sitting rooms and all sizes of rooms in between. You can have a private party or be entertained in a public room. A festhall can cater for individuals and any size of party ... the entire establishment can be hired! That was kind of the idea I got, that tey were decent and clean places, save for the odd house being run by dopplegangers or the like. I also think that the 'entertainments' you find in places like Menzoberranzan or Thay get much nastier than what you'd find in Waterdeep, for example. And I imagine that, much as in the real world, you have some festhalls that are run as 'fronts' for various power groups (i.e., the Harpers, the Zhentarim, whoever and whatever else.) And does it ever strike some of you that a few of Ed's characters are decidedly randy? Not a problem with me, as it's always very tastefully handled, but some of the Seven Sisters do seem of a decidedly amorous nature (mainly Storm, though Dove and Qilue seem happily married and loyal). Though I do wonder if any of their enemies ever tried using that route to get close and theoretically past their defenses.
Kuje31 11-29-04, 01:23 PM	And does it ever strike some of you that a few of Ed's characters are decidedly randy? Not a problem with me, as it's always very tastefully handled, but some of the Seven Sisters do seem of a decidedly amorous nature (mainly Storm, though Dove and Qilue seem happily married and loyal). Though I do wonder if any of their enemies ever tried using that route to get close and theoretically past their defenses. Because this is how the Realms is. :) "My concept of Alustriel as de facto ruler of Silverymoon has always been glossed over by TSR (and now WotC) for Code of Ethics/Code of Conduct reasons, because I see her as the Realms equivalent of ‘the Queen of Courtly Love,’ presiding over a Court that amuses itself (along with delighting in wit, new songs, new inventions or clever craftsmanship, and fashions) with dalliances, courtship, and lovemaking. Er, lots of lovemaking. :}" The Realms doesn't have earths, er let's leave it as America's, problem with free sex, love, etc. And I believe that thier enemies have tried that in the past. Being married doesn't follow or sometimes even mean the same thing as it does here on Earth. Some marriages only last a day, a tenday, a month, or years. See my file where Ed discussed this 2 years ago on the Mailing List. :)
WizO_BigSister 11-29-04, 06:44 PM	Ardashir I think I wasn't clear enough in what I write. My impression is that festhalls provide a MUCH wider range of entertainment and services than a brothel would ... but many festhalls do provide that kind of "fleshly" and more naughty entertainment.
Ardashir 11-30-04, 12:21 PM	Because this is how the Realms is. :) "My concept of Alustriel as de facto ruler of Silverymoon has always been glossed over by TSR (and now WotC) for Code of Ethics/Code of Conduct reasons, because I see her as the Realms equivalent of ‘the Queen of Courtly Love,’ presiding over a Court that amuses itself (along with delighting in wit, new songs, new inventions or clever craftsmanship, and fashions) with dalliances, courtship, and lovemaking. Er, lots of lovemaking. :}" The Realms doesn't have earths, er let's leave it as America's, problem with free sex, love, etc. And I believe that thier enemies have tried that in the past. Being married doesn't follow or sometimes even mean the same thing as it does here on Earth. Some marriages only last a day, a tenday, a month, or years. See my file where Ed discussed this 2 years ago on the Mailing List. :) In other words, it differs from place to place, culture to culture, and faith to faith, like it does on earth. (Oh yes, and if you think America is restrictive, then please, go to Saudi Arabia or Southeast Asia or most of Africa, and then tell me how bad it is...) I will add that while I'm not sorry to know and read all this, I can understand why publishers & many players are just as happy leaving it all off stage, as I've known /way/ too many guys who RP'd just so they could indulge some truly sick sexual kinks in front of a captive audience. (You don't wanna know what.) I'm going to drop this here before I maybe wind up saying something that just causes trouble. Peace.
Kuje31 11-30-04, 01:23 PM	In other words, it differs from place to place, culture to culture, and faith to faith, like it does on earth. (Oh yes, and if you think America is restrictive, then please, go to Saudi Arabia or Southeast Asia or most of Africa, and then tell me how bad it is...) I will add that while I'm not sorry to know and read all this, I can understand why publishers & many players are just as happy leaving it all off stage, as I've known /way/ too many guys who RP'd just so they could indulge some truly sick sexual kinks in front of a captive audience. (You don't wanna know what.) I'm going to drop this here before I maybe wind up saying something that just causes trouble. Peace. You know what I meant about America. Never mind but again its the plain honest truth that America is uptight about sex and so that was my example. And as a citizen of America I can say that. :)
GothicDan 11-30-04, 01:46 PM	as I've known /way/ too many guys who RP'd just so they could indulge some truly sick sexual kinks in front of a captive audience. (You don't wanna know what.) I'm glad to say that in my 9 years of gaming, I've never encountered a D&D game like that. Vampire, on the other hand... Anyway, as a bisexual American who has numerous friends in Canada, Sweden, and the UK, I can safely agree that America is indeed uptight about sexual things that other Western cultures would just smirk at and move on.