Anyone read Book of Erotic Fantasy?

[Bendris Noulg]

Being that I still use the PO: S&P Subabilities, BoEF's Appearance score fell right into place. I don't agree with all of VP's choices of what it affects (particularly Appearance modifying Disguise, since Disguise is all about your attempt to portray something you aren't), but I did adopt many of the newer uses they provide.

 

[dvvega]

And that is why I rarely buy many addendums and try to make the rules up on my own. I have a dislike for many companies producing material that is essentially a re-hash of an old set of rules that hopefully is obscure enough for most people not to notice.

I am NOT accusing the people involved in this instance of such practice, however the minute I read the information regarding appearance I thought comeliness. Since back in 1st Edition there was no real skills/feats comeliness only really affected reactions, the additions inherent in 3rd edition would make it different to some degree.

But so far, no one has made anything very clear as to what is so special about the book that anyone with half a brain could come up with on the spur of the moment.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Well, the benefits in that regard are that (1) you don't have to come up with the stuff on the spur of the moment and (2) the Core Classes, Prestige Classes, new Magic System, and so forth aren't things that one would produce on the fly, being designed and playtested by folks very familiar with the d20 Engine. In addition, it's a superior product over Naughty & Dice, which is almost all fluff with a poorly designed d20 section written by a couple of GURPS designers with little-to-no experience with 3E/d20, and presented in a much more mature package than GUNK or Nymphology. Add to this an active fan-base that openly share material related to it at the Valar website (nearly 1700 members to a message board for only one product) and a Mail List.

(All of which, btw, would seem to indicate that the material isn't particularly obscure; hell, the bloody thing's preview sold out at GenCon Indy and two shipments of the final product sold out at GenCon SoCal!)

Overall, there are now an abundance of new Classes, Prestige Classes, Skills, Feats, Spells, and Items Magical and Mundane, all of which are to make romance, love, sexual relations, STDs, seduction, and even chastity/celebacy have some effect on the outcome of a scenario and/or plotline outside of an on-the-fly decision of the GM. After all, there are many players out there that cry without end when they disagree with a judgement call of their GM no matter how minor (or correct) the call was because it isn't a quantified mechanic and thus they feel that they can whine like babies until the GM changes his mind. Yet, these same players will gladly accept the result of a defined rule, no matter how horrible the result is, simply because it's a written rule. ( )

So, it's more of a set of questions you must ask yourself...

1. Is such material appropriate for your game and your group.
No: Don't worry about it.
Yes: Proceed to Question 2.

2. Do you want a rules set for sexuality that is written for mature Gamers?
No: Get GUNK (Free) or Nymphology (Cheap PDF).
Yes: Proceed to Question 3.

3. Do you want a rules set that is well designed for d20 mechanics?
No: Get Naughty & Dice.
Yes: Proceed to Question 4.

4. Are you willing to spend the money for these rules?
No: Write them yourself or make judgement calls on-the-fly.
Yes: Get the Book of Erotic Fantasy.

 

[Kesh]

Now, now, play nice.

The point is, with this book you don't have to come up with such rules 'on the spur of the moment'.

Personally, I'm interested in seeing some of the spells and the Pleasure domain for use in my homebrew world. There's one particular god in my world dedicated to making life better for mortals, specifically through helping them in their everyday work and providing pleasant rewards to soothe after a hard day (food, drink and, yes, sex). I'd like to see what the writers and playtesters involved in this product came up with, rather than trying to balance it all in my head for this world I'm making.

 

[SJE]

The reason I thought this book was worth buying was because someone else had gone through the possible inter-species breeding possibilities and made some reasonable assumptions about whether race X could inter-breed with race Y.

Why is this important? Well in my last game, two of the PC's (from different species) fell in love and eventually consummated their desire, creating a child of prophecy. In their case it required a miracle for conception to happen, but if something similar happened in another D&D game, I'd be more prepared and have some mediavael tech contraceptives to add to the equipment list.

I do agree that some of the stuff is reminiscent of early Gygax-era D&D, such as Comeliness or the random Prostitute table. But lets face it, not all post dungeon celebrating in a tavern is going to be violence and alcohol and BoEF covers that as well.

SJE

 

[jessemock]

Being that I still use the PO: S&P Subabilities, BoEF's Appearance score fell right into place. I don't agree with all of VP's choices of what it affects (particularly Appearance modifying Disguise, since Disguise is all about your attempt to portray something you aren't), but I did adopt many of the newer uses they provide.

Actually, I thought that the use of Appearance as the key ability for disguise was an interesting innovation: at the very least, it suggests that an Appearance score represents more than raw physical beauty; it also has to do with make-up, dress, grooming, etc.--skills that seem relevant to the skill.

What would a forceful personality have to do with costumery, on the other hand? A talent for acting, perhaps--which, would, in fact, have parallel implications with Appearance for the nature of these two abilities...

 

[Bendris Noulg]

What would a forceful personality have to do with costumery, on the other hand? A talent for acting, perhaps--which, would, in fact, have parallel implications with Appearance for the nature of these two abilities...

Consider that dress, make-up, costumery, and so forth, is a deliberate attempt to portray something that you may or may not be. In this, you are purposely portraying a personality or group of traits.

On the other hand, using Appearance to modify Disguise means that a modelesque character (let's say Britney Spears look-a-like, just to keep things simple with industry standard beauty) gains a +4 (for an 18 Appearance) to her attempts to look like an ugly orc. Just doesn't make sense in that (and many other) situations.

Aother effect I've applied to Appearance (even back with 1E Comeliness) was cultural factors. For instance, let's say a Germanic woman of exceptional beauty during the Dark Ages ("strong women make strong babies") finds herself in China (where "dainty" is the preferred female form), her Appearance is going to be drastically effected by the perception of the locals (at least, the perception of those not with a fetish for big-boned women, which would likely be a majority).

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Now, now, play nice.

Huh? What I say? I was being nice. At least, I meant it to be nice...

Sorry if it doesn't come across that way. Kids are acting up today, so it might have effected my wording at the time.

 

[Mirth]

But so far, no one has made anything very clear as to what is so special about the book that anyone with half a brain could come up with on the spur of the moment.

Don't forget about the beautiful elf pr0n.

 

[jessemock]

Consider that dress, make-up, costumery, and so forth, is a deliberate attempt to portray something that you may or may not be. In this, you are purposely portraying a personality or group of traits.

Yes; and what I'm getting at is that this application of Appearance implies that natural, purely physical Beauty is something a character with a high Appearance score may not have: Appearance, in other words, may already be a disguise.

As to the question of personality traits, behaviours, etc.--indeed; that's definitely a part of any disguise, and this, in some way justifies the use of Charisma as the key ability for the skill, but there remain a couple of difficulties:


1) This suggests that a person with a strong, charismatic persona is always a good actor.

2) This suggests that it's more important to act like an orc than to look like one. An elf with no cosmetic training, perhaps even with no cosmetics, can waltz into an orc camp, growl around, eat something raw, punch a couple of guys, and get away with it (cultural problem, too: she can do this, because, among elves, she's known for her extraordinary wry wit--wha?).

On the other hand, using Appearance to modify Disguise means that a modelesque character (let's say Britney Spears look-a-like, just to keep things simple with industry standard beauty) gains a +4 (for an 18 Appearance) to her attempts to look like an ugly orc. Just doesn't make sense in that (and many other) situations.

Unless you want to recognise that Ms. Spear's look lies decidedly on the wrong side of natural. We may even take this a bit further and (strange turn for an internet discussion) actually suggest that certain aspects of Ms. Spear's assets have been enhanced by precisely the same prosthetic means one would use to replicate, say, the odd mass of an orc.

In short, try for a moment to consider that one arrives at one's appearance through Work and that it's not too crazy to suppose that creating one kind of beauty isn't too far from creating another.

Aother effect I've applied to Appearance (even back with 1E Comeliness) was cultural factors. For instance, let's say a Germanic woman of exceptional beauty during the Dark Ages ("strong women make strong babies") finds herself in China (where "dainty" is the preferred female form), her Appearance is going to be drastically effected by the perception of the locals (at least, the perception of those not with a fetish for big-boned women, which would likely be a majority).

This is also another effect that the BoEF has applied to Appearance, except that they continue with the D&D/Tolkienesque tradition of identifying culture with race.

Myself, I'd be interested to see developments of reaction tables based on appearance and then on charisma. Appearance would determine the intial reaction and Charisma would either profit from or have to overcome these first impressions.