In the second season of the hit Dungeons & Dragons actual play series Critical Role, Laura Bailey’s character Jester Lavorre visits a bookstore and walks out with a copy of Tusk Love, a popular smutty novel about the romance between half-orc Oskar and human merchant’s daughter Guinevere. The story became a running gag on the show, a way for Jester to navigate her crush on Travis Willingham’s half-orc character Fjord. The concept also titillated the show’s fans.
“Everybody wanted to turn this book into a real book,” Critical Role’s official Lore Keeper, Dani Carr, told Polygon in a video interview. “It was not a matter of if, but when, so it was really about finding the right collaborator.”
Carr thought about writing a short-story version of Tusk Love for the cast to perform during a COVID-19 lockdown, but the team decided it deserved to be a real novel. So they turned to Penguin Random House’s public relations team, who suggested they work with Thea Guanzon, a Critical Role fan with plenty of experience blending fantasy and steamy sex scenes in her romantasy series The Hurricane Wars.
“I have always gravitated to the romantasy genre, because for me, it’s the best of both worlds,” Guanzon told Polygon in the same interview. “It provides you a means of escape, disappearing into a different world with a completely different set of rules. But at the same time, it allows you to really track the experience of falling in love, which is a very human thing, and relatable for all of us.”
Guanzon’s Critical Role tie-in Tusk Love was released on July 1. She says she started writing the book by listing everything Bailey made up about the contents on the show. Oskar and Guinevere had to meet on the Amber Road (which the Critical Role party the Mighty Nein spent plenty of time traveling), Oskar had to spend time rowing a canoe, and the book had to end with Oskar carrying Guinevere across a field of wildflowers.
“I liked all the little bits of canon that I had to string together,” Guanzon said. “It reminded me of doing writing prompt exercises.”
Beyond integrating those plot points, Guanzon had the chance to make the story her own. Oskar became a blacksmith’s apprentice who is mourning his mother’s death. Guinevere was given a deep secret: She was born in a wildfire, which gave her power to summon a flame spirit and burn everything around her when she’s angry or frightened. Guanzon saw that as a way to add a fantastical element to a classic story about breaking free from the weight of family and societal expectations.
“Fire is the element of change,” Guanzon said. “It’s very destructive, which gave her a reason to be afraid of her own powers. But fire can also give light in darkness. It can provide warmth when you’re cold. So she had to learn that there were positive aspects of her magic as well, and that was how she learned to stop being scared of her own true self. Also, fire is the element of passion, so I really liked playing with that concept during the spicy stuff.”
Guanzon hopes Critical Role fans will appreciate all the Easter eggs she’s sprinkled throughout the book, and that romantasy fans who come across it without knowing its backstory might be inspired to delve into Critical Role. Carr would like to see the crossover work both ways.
“I’m really hopeful Critters who haven’t had the chance to dip their toes into the romantasy genre, or even think ‘That sounds silly!’ will read this and [realize] this genre is really fun, and can be really deep, and have a lot of really interesting themes and character interactions,” Carr said.
Before drafting Tusk Love, Guanzon looked for inspiration by rereading all her favorite historical romance novels from Julie Garwood, Lisa Kleypas, and Judith McNaught. She also drew on her own experience running Dungeons & Dragons.
“Critical Role is actually what got me into Dungeons & Dragons in the first place,” Guanzon said. “I was so intrigued by the game and just the whole idea of roleplaying that I strung together a group of people who wanted to try a tabletop [RPG] out for the first time. No one wanted to be the Dungeon Master, so I had to step up and learn the rules.”
Oskar and Guinevere’s journey down the Amber Road to is repeatedly interrupted by a party of mercenaries looking to kidnap Guinevere. As with any good D&D game, the battles combine Oskar’s martial prowess with feats of magic, like a gnome illusionist hiding Oskar and Guinevere from their allies, and a devious use of a disguise potion. Their travels are filled with hazards and ambushes, but the characters still find time for plenty of steamy sex.
“I had to let go of my tendency to be kind of a neat freak,” Guanzon said. “Every time I wrote them getting down and dirty in the forest, I was like, ‘But they haven’t bathed! The first [sex] scene, they take a bath before doing, it because Guinevere was still in her prim-and-proper-lady phase. But toward the end, they’re just doing it in the woods, and she doesn’t care. That’s how she embraces her wildness.”
Tusk Love is available now in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook formats.
The post How Tusk Love, the most popular romance novel in Critical Role’s D&D setting, became a real book appeared first on Polygon.
