mistergone said:
What I haven't seen yet is an explaination why a book like this is needed.
Why not?
Seriously, the genre (sub-genre?) of Erotic Fantasy has been around for a long time: Conan, Den, Velajo and Frazetta art, Red Sonya... Even Xena, despite being scrubbed for WGN TV, has more than a few episodes that seemed more aptly placed in the pages of Heavy Metal than on TV (especially if you've seen some of those uncut versions... Yowza...). Personally, it was indeed Erotic Fantasy that got me into D&D to begin with.
Generally, these rules would support that aspect of the genre. In addition, the rules regarding pregnancy, birth control, and the like will also relate to the flip-side: The reprocutions of such acts, from STDs to illegitament children.
In addition, there are other elements: The benefits of sex-slaves and/or harems (a new spin on Leadership?), sex magic, the creative chakra, etc. For instance, was the orgy scene in Conan the Barbarian just a frollicing of wanton lust, or was Thulsa Doom channeling the energy into some greater working?
Sure, a DM could make his own rules, but this is more time taken away from development of setting and plot (which is rarely a good thing), or he can simply be arbitrary about it (which can easily bring complaints from the players regardless of how fair the DM is being about it because there are no rules for it).
For instance, last night, my wife and I had a long talk about how, in 3E, the chainmail bikini is indeed a viable option (based on the fact that high Dex and magic would provide protection, optionally along with Defense Bonuses and Defense Rolls, with the chainmail bikini being nothing more than decoration). People will still decry such an outfit even though such is far more viable in 3E than it was in any edition. This led on to a thourough look through my good ol' Heavy Metal and Richard Corben collection, going over how, even though the actual act of sex isn't
often portrayed (disclaimer: outside of the Druuna books, of course), it was often occuring. Reason being? Much like the justification for the whole-sale slaughter of entire races in D&D is based on "it's not the real world", so too is the idea that sex need not be taboo, shameful or sinful in such a world.
For instance, there was some complaint about a prestige class in BoVD requiring a sexual ritual, insinuating that the book implied that sex was evil. It seemed all too easy for the complainers to overlook the fact that the requirement was a "humiliating" sexual ritual, which is definately related but by no means the same thing.
This appears indeed to be the angle that this book is aiming for, recognizing an entire facet of the fantasy genre with rules to support it, making these rules in a manner to allow them to be ported into a standard game (in total or piece-meal), and likely as an OGL product rather than hanging it's "image" on the d20 logo.
I
think that's part of the reasoning behind what Anthony is implying when he indicates "compatible" in the press release. The d20 logo indicates, more or less, some degree of compatibility in that certain key elements of balance (character creation, leveling, etc.) are identicle to the Core Rules (and thus everything else must be written to match well enough to be deemed "balanced"), while an OGL-only product can indeed break from that standard without any justification (assuming the product is self-balanced, else today's fan base will demand a certain degree of explaination). So perhaps, just this once, AV let that "slip" as a matter of indicating that, while an independantly produced OGL Game, it will be written with the same numerical standard many of us have become familiar with (either as the default we use or as the standard the we home-brew/alter d20 material from).
Of course, this assumes that it's OGL, not OGL/d20STL, as the press release pointed at the OGL several times but never mentions the d20STL at all.
I'm just saying that it's possible that this sort of content DOES hurt sales in a primarily escapist market, whether it be aimed at children or adults.
