Finlam Elman runs the indie publisher Purple Lizardman and describes themselves as a 6th level Jokemaster.
As it happens, there’s some credibility to the Jokemaster claim as Finlam’s first D&D product So You Want to be a Slime? is a Copper best seller over at the DM’s Guild.
The latest D&D supplement from Elman is Toilet Paper and it costs $0.72. That, according to the designer, is how much a single roll of 3-ply paper (the good stuff) will cost.
Including cover and the required legal clauses, Toilet Paper is a 10-page PDF and contains a host of TP-themed D&D ideas.
There are a few monsters in the supplement, including:
- Sewage Golem that attacks “when you’re at your most vulnerable.”
- Hygiene Slime that gobbles up germs and bacteria it touches thus making it a sometimes helpful ooze
- Toilet Mimic which is evil
- TP Golem that comes about when too many hygiene products are hoarded in a single space
There are also PC options as well in the shape of The Clean One, a new Warlock Patron and the Arcane Tradition: Decontaminator.
Previously, I’ve touched on the complexities of marketing during and about a pandemic. No one wants, I presume, to build a brand known for capitalising on people’s fear. That doesn’t mean responsible Covid-19 marketing is impossible and Astral tabletop going entirely free until the end of April so people can game and social distance themselves at the same time is one example where, I think, they got it right.
Has Finlam Elman crossed a line? Personally, I don’t think so. Toilet Paper is clearly a joke product and it explicitly pokes fun at no one. Implicitly, it’s existence is a snark in the direction of toilet paper hoarders and I think I can live with that.
I’ve had another quick scan through the Open Gaming License and didn’t get any hits when I searched for the word ‘Bathroom’. There was a time, however, when D&D 3.0 has quality standard rules that banned any bathroom activity.
Bathroom activity, which you could argue toilet paper implies, was banned after the ‘rise’ of the Book of Erotic Fantasy as an attempt to mix D&D with erotica. Wizards of Coast were not happy and issued the Quality Standards as a condition to using the d20 logo.
Geek Native, known back then as GameWyrd, immediately broke the rules with Sapphire College for Elf Maidens and depicted an elf girl brushing her teeth.
Wizards didn’t care, and I don’t think they’ll care about Toilet Paper either!
You might not be able to find any toilet paper on Amazon today, but there is now Toilet Paper at the DM’s Guild.
What do you think? Measured observations are welcome and you can leave them in the comment section below.
