Nymphology

[Messageboard Golem]

This is truly the book we could never print. Ever. It is just too full of naughtiness and innuendo to appear on the shelves of your local retail store. As such, this instalment of the Encyclopaedia Arcane, Nymphology, is only available from RPGNow.com, where you must be old enough to possess a credit card in order to purchase it. If you are easily offended by humour of a sexual nature, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. It will offend. We promise. Written by Grim Jim (Slayer’s Guide to Rules Lawyers and Female Gamers), Nymphology is a humorous look at the most secret arcane talent of all – that of Blue Magic, or Sex Magic. In the yards, lavatories and dormitories of the various colleges of magic young students swap tales and cobbled together spells developed by other students of magic over the years. Some famous names in the field of magic have a history that is only told in notes passed in class and some of their early work is . . . enlightening to say the least, shedding light on their particular obsessions. Some drop out entirely to pursue this aspect of magic with complete devotion and clarity of purpose. Covered within are original uses for existing spells in the field of Nymphology (including a few surprises for grease and enlarge spells. . .), new erotic spells, travels to the Elemental Plane of Lust, prestige classes you will never see anywhere else (the Agony Mage, Mystic Pimp, Seduction Mage and, of course, the Peeping Scryer), magic items, creatures of lust and a whole range of special tricks you can try when mastering this mighty magic. Everything contained within this tome has a practical use in all fantasy-based d20 System games. But then, Grim is known to play some pretty strange games. . .

 

[Messageboard Golem]

The label on the cover prompted me to purchase this PDF book.  I've been fond of the Phil Phoglio 'Sex in D&D' comics and thought I would get a cheap laugh. What I got instead was a decent look at various aspects of sex in D&D.  Definitely with a light tone to it but there actually was some solidly useful material there...and some stuff that was pure off-color humor. 

It delivers a good coverage to the role-playing topic of temptation, the cost to the one who gives into it and the cost to those about you.  The Positive effects posable as well as the look at how a 'Blue Mage' (A practitioner of the erotic arts) fits into the world around them.
The look at the schools of magic and how they break down into sexual pursuits is well done and amusing giving a Games Master and players several ideas (some better than others) for a mage to play around.
The erotic spells are imaginative and humorous in slant though there is a mix for the serious *ahem* blue mage.  From being able to actually see everyone naked (not just imagine it) to conjure up your own magical nighttime companion it has the bases covered.
The plane of Lust section is a weak spot.  Its a running joke that's given 4 pages.  Poorly conceived and executed they it adds very little to the book. 
The prestige classes section addresses how the blue mage fits into your fantasy city setting. Each a 5 level class.  The classes aren't terribly underpowered giving unique abilities but allowing spellcasting to continue to progress.
The Agony Mage, the master of aching hearts, gossip, 'special' problem solvers.  Not very useful in a campaign that travels they would make excellent NPC's or a PC in a single city game.
The Mystic Pimp,  well its all in the name, what more needs to be said? Though they do give him some interesting abilities.
The Seducer, A bit overpowered if you include sexuality in your game it isn't totally appropriate for PCs.  Now if a Succubus needed a class...
Peeping Scryer, again its class title sums it up.  A master scryer he could actually be quite useful.
The naughty skills section works smoothly giving logical adaptations for existing skills and feats.  Some of them are easily adaptable to any game and quite useful.
The magic items section varies from slapstick to silly, with the Flattering enchantment for armor my own favorite.  Now you too can be cheesecake with little clothing but good armor! 
The creatures section doesn't have anything terrifically useful in there but its good for a laugh.  Perhaps you could throw one at the players just for amusements sake sometime...but in general it is a fluff/joke section.

The art bears special attention, it is all recycled as near as I can tell from other products.  Disappointing but I suppose with a project like this budget was very tight. 

I would recommend getting it for the amusements sake and for the few tidbits that shine through.  Also if you are trying for a more gritty game some of the concepts on how magic might be corrupted by desire will prove valuable. Even though the weak spots are very weak I am still rating it at Average because of the price and overall quality.

 

[Capellan]

The issue of 'adult' content in d20/OGL products has recently become something of a 'hot potato'. When Mongoose released Nymphology, some months ago, this by no means the case, and I don't recall the product generating much in the way of controversy (though it is possible my memory has simply been eclipsed by the more recent events).

Nymphology is intended to be three things: humorous, adult, and a gaming supplement.

The author begins by specifying that the book is intended to be played for laughs. It's worth noting that these are laughs of the kind you get in movies like 'Dumb or Dumber', or 'Revenge of the Nerds'. It's not subtle, and it's sometimes crass. Some of it is genuinely funny, but how much of it raises a laugh will vary widely, depending on the reader.

As for the adult content ... well, it definitely doesn’t meet the current rules for the d20 license, but if you're buying it for the rude bits, I think you'd be better off with something from the local newsagent, instead.

So it's more-or-less amusing, and mildly titillating: but is it any good as a gaming book?

Nymphology begins with an overview of the subject of 'blue magic' - magic used for physical (and possibly romantic, but mainly physical - gratification. It discusses how each of the standard schools of wizardry can be applied to 'blue magic', how 'blue magic' gets learnt and taught, and the attitude of 'typical' wizards to blue mages (and vice versa). This section is actually quite well thought through, with some interesting observations on the potential uses and misuses of 'blue magic', and the effects on both the caster and the subjects.

We then have a short chapter discussing 'alternative' uses of existing spells - you'll never look at grease the same way again - ranging from the obvious (you can use planar binding spells to get yourself a sexual partner? Who would have thought?) to the relatively subtle (wizards who hold regular false vision shows, and charge subscribers to scry them).

There are also a fair number of new spells. If people really could do magic, these are probably the first spells they'd learn. They vary from mildly amusing to ridiculous to wincingly crass. A small number might actually have some non-sexual uses, but the focus is very much on body parts and their intersection.

The book also discusses the Plane of Lust, where everything is eternally suggestive, and the many denizens are ready to 'get busy' with any passing planewalker. I find it hard to imagine anyone seriously using this in their game, and I suspect any attempt would be doomed to failure. It's essentially a setting where everything and everyone is an excuse for innuendo. Or something even less subtle than innuendo. This is a chapter that seems more for reading and sniggering like a schoolboy over, rather than actually using.

The monster section - at the end of the book - is similarly over the top. If you take every animal related euphemism for a sexual organ, and try to stat them for D&D, you've essentially got what has been done here.

Squeezed between these two sections are a handful of prestige classes. As a gaming product, this is one of the stronger sections of the book. An 'agony mage' with the flavour text changed would probably make for a very workable character, as they are highly skilled at making others trust and respect them: they could be the sly power behind the scenes, for instance. Some careful attention would need to be paid to the balance of the classes used, however. For instance, the 'seducer' has the ability to pay a small XP cost, and permanently charm any target whom they have previously seduced, apparently without recourse to any saving throw.

Overall, Nymphology is most successful as a work of humour. Its gaming value is marginal, unless you enjoy a great deal of smutty humour and silliness in your games, and the score above reflects this.