New review of the Book of Erotic Fantasy

[hunter1828]

Hunter, you're stretching here.

*snip*

--The Sigil

All I can say is I disagree with you. We will just have to agree to disagree and go on our way.

hunter1828

edited: I failed to *snip*, and have corrected it.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

2. As stated above, my wife wants erotic fantasy in the game. There is at least one other female on this thread that wants erotic fantasy in the game. The two authors of the book (Gwen Kestrel and an as-yet unannounced author) are both female and they want erotic fantasy in their games. Also, Valar has noticed that far more positive attention for the BoEF has come from women than from men.

hunter1828

Hunter, bud. The second author is a male and Anon will never be released. He intends to stay Anonymous forever.

 

[S'mon]

If even the Lawful Good alignment doesn't prohibit sex outside of marriage, what's the point of characterizing sexual mores with alignment?

I think it reflects more the author's sexual preferences (free sex is good, duh) than any real reflection on the nature of alignment and sex.

And let me anticipate an objection, that chastity might be promoted by a particular religion that holds to LG. Ok, fine. We might assume that the religion will state that "sex outside of marriage is evil".

"Oh yeah", says the radical priest, "I cast detect evil on those fornicators over there and i didn't get any evil".

God: "Well, its disorderly, then"

"Nope, detect chaos isn't active either"

God: "umm. you shut up now"

An excellent case could be made that the lawful part of lawful good would particularly disallow fornication as being harmfull to society and institutions like marriage. But since Anthony "Vile Darkness" Valterra is coming from his Chaotic Neutral perspective on sex, he only addresses the LG alignement from the perpective of a "personal alignement", rather than seeing the Paladin as part of a group.

Fascinating, really.

I think that's a bit harsh. LG implies concern for the welfare of others & society in general, so it would likely be against rampant promiscuity as detrimental to society*. I didn't think Valterra was saying LG was compatible with casual sleeping around, but if he is I'd agree it seemed like a somewhat biased viewpoint. I don't think LG would necessarily demand absolute ban on sex outside marriage though. Sex as part of a faithful relationship with a possible view to marriage (and possibly immediate marriage if children are produced) could easily be compatible with LG I think.
Taking it further, the characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation seem to sleep around a fair bit, and don't get married, and some of them seem characterisable as LG. The nature of the society presented seems to have LG behaviour compatible with a pretty high degree of promiscuity.
Admittedly it's a society that seems pretty alien to real human societies and is the product of west-coast Californian scriptwriters.
IMC the (Arabic) Marrakeen are polygamous and can be LG (most aren't, but their ideal demigod Kostar is). If you can have polygamy & be LG I'd think you can have serial monogamy and be LG. YMMV

*Assuming a humanlike society. Elves might be different, but they're CG anyway.

 

[S'mon]

If you plan to use detailed sexual themes in your d20 RPG's, this work is tailor made for you; it covers almost all bases.

If you are a "fade to black" type of DM or player, this work will likely NOT be for you and your group.

Can't you have sexual themes and still fade to black at the appropriate moment? My game is very much 'fade to black', but I need to do some thinking about sexual themes when building the in-game societies & religions, for instance. This lets me know whether the LG religious female knight NPC will sleep with the CG dashing rake PC, for instance.

 

[S'mon]

The U.S. is still very culturally closed about issues of sex, and will probably remain that way for another couple generations (it is, actually, becoming a problem as our reproductive rate is too low!)

Completely OT: all the evidence suggests that being prudish about sex goes hand in hand with a _high_ reproductive rate. The least prudish countries tend to have the lowest reproductive rates, and vice versa. The USA has one of the higher reproductive rates in the developed world AFAIK, and historically has had an _extremely_ high reproductive rate. This combined with continuing high levels of immigration means that the USA is the only 'first world' country likely to grow substantially in population over the next century or so.

Of course if y'all stop being so prudish this could change...

 

[S'mon]

Valar has really marketed this a 16-20 year old males with the allure of "D&D Playboy."

Funny, I got the impression it seemed marketed mainly at women. I'm sure it's trying to capture that big 16-20 male demographic too, though.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

There is no need for eye-rolling. It was not obvious to me. If you had have answered that "yes" you had bought it I would have wondered about the level of hypocrisy. However, since you did not, I can respect your opinion, and I do respect your opinion.

The eye-rolling was for your self-admitted assumption of hypocrisy. The question was so loaded, so transparent, so prejudicial, it was almost rhetorical; I wasn't sure you intended it to be answered at all.

No need for the BOVD at my game, either. Although I have far more real-life experience with sex than with gore, I'm perfectly capable of the level of description and rules necessary without paying someone to pander to me.

Wulf

 

[hunter1828]

The eye-rolling was for your self-admitted assumption of hypocrisy. The question was so loaded, so transparent, so prejudicial, it was almost rhetorical; I wasn't sure you intended it to be answered at all.

NO, it wasn't. I was trying to clarify things, be nice about it, and not "assume" anything at all. Thank you for accusing me of things I did not do, would not do, and have not done. I would not have asked the question if I did not want an answer.

And please do not assume things about me, such as me being transparent and prejudicial. I don't think any single post I have made here has given anyone any reason to think such things. Yes, I am a fan of Valar and eagerly await the BoEF and defend it vigorously, but I do not think less of those that do not want it just because I try and convince them their assumptions of the book are unfounded, IMO.

hunter1828

 

[hunter1828]

Hunter, bud. The second author is a male and Anon will never be released. He intends to stay Anonymous forever.

Dude, you're right...my bad...still operating on old information.

hunter1828

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Hunter, bud. The second author is a male and Anon will never be released. He intends to stay Anonymous forever.

Something in me tells me it's Peter Adkison. I love that man's panache.