Do we need a book like the Quintessential Temptress? A book about the women of the night, about those who tempt men? To those who think it’s silly and has no place in a RPG, I quote Citybook II, Deadly Nightside, published in 1987. “The House of Infinite Dreams is a specialty establishment providing a man of means with the feminine companionship most suited to his physical or emotional needs.” Such characters and themes have long been a part of RPGs and even longer in fantasy fiction. If you’re unfamiliar with sexual favors being exchanged for favors, ranging from services to cash, you’ve grown up reading a whole subset of fantasy that I’ve never seen, as this is a something that’s happened in books written by authors varying from Raymond Feist, Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock and even from female authors like Jennifer Roberson, who actually wrote the House of Infinite Dreams for Citybook III.
Let me get the things I didn’t like about the book out of the way. First, it only focuses on women. If you’re going to do a book about a subject like this, why leave out the men? After all, didn’t Sienfield give us the “Mimbo”? Didn’t the movie LA Confidential show us men could just as easily sell out? Didn’t Shrek 2 show us that when our Ogre hero turns into a man that women would knock themselves out for a shot at him? And who could forget Prince Charming in the same movie, another example of a “mimbo” if ever there was one.
Next thing I didn’t like was that the book doesn’t take itself seriously all the time. It’s funny at points and there’s no problem with that. Not taking itself seriously though, seems like a cop out. “Well, people may be upset so we better make a joke of it.” This ranges from some of the items to the game mechanics.
Last, there are a lot of references to other Mongoose books. Since this is a PDF, and one that’s not even a full length Quintessential one, clocking in at 97 pages, perhaps it could have included those chapters that it refers to from the Quintessential Rogue?
Now what do I like about this book? Well, perhaps I’m telling my age a little here, but when AD&D 2nd edition was being developed, one of the developers ideas was that the assassin should be dropped as a core class because anyone who kills for money is an assassin. Sure, the skills of a rogue were a great help to performing those functions but were not vital. In a similar vein, the Temptress is not an actual class per say, but rather, a way of getting things you want. In that vein, they call it a ‘metaclass’ and built up on those foundations.
It starts with character concepts. This section reminded me of a lot of old Savage Sword of Conan magazines I’d read in addition to various older novels. Temptress concepts included actress, assassin, courtesan, madam, rebellious princess (a Conan theme if I ever saw one!) rising star, servant of the goddess, slave, spy, streetwalker, thief, and wench. While too many of them had a prostitution theme, each one includes information on typical member, suggested class, adventuring reasons, roleplaying notes, bonuses and penalties.
My favorite part of this section was the non-human character concepts. The Dwarven Matron who sets up marriages with little thought to “foolish notions of love” or the half-elven fantasist who helps other races indulge in elven fantasies, noting in the text that it’s similar to when “woman might dress up as a schoolgirl to excite someone’s nostalgic fantasies.” The one part here where they dropped the ball was in giving dark elves the typical pain master in the dark elf pain mistress. Not too original there.
The prestige classes are a good mix. In any game where this subject is going to come up, or when players insist on following through with certain descriptions, the GM has some new toys he can throw into the mix. Some of these are specialists in their field like the guild enforcer, a protector of streetwalkers (why do they get 5 skill points per level?), to matrons like the lady of the house who run their own brothels. One of the things I thought interesting is that these are ten level PrCs while most of those found in the print books are only five levels.
The section on Tricks of the Trade includes some new uses for old skills as well as some new skills. It’s a mixed lot. For example, I thought using Appraise as a way to see what wealth a potential mark may have innovative, and craft perfume a good example of using an existing skill to create a sub skill, but thought that Nookie, a new skill that shows how well you please your partner, stupid and should have been folded into the Perform skill as a specialty.
The notes on the various types of sugar daddies, (another example of stupid terminology, couldn’t possibly say something like “Patrons”), presents some interesting ideas to mull over. For example, it mentions that while adventurers are often thought of as a good source of coin, that they are unreliable and can often get the same type of services for a lot less gold and that the only way to insure that you’re going to get what you should, is to join them on the adventure, but that’s not getting money, but earning it. Instead, clergy, merchants and nobles are good marks, as are some crimelords. The pros and cons of each is briefly touched on.
I wasn’t impressed by the feats. Some could have game use outside of sex but most are well, stupid. The new weapons on the other hand, include fingernail and mouth blades and add some new types of armor, which can be used for surprise or shock value. Most of the items, both mundane and magic, focus on the sexual side of the book and were done a little better in the Book of Erotic Fantasy.
Other sections, like Streets of Gold, the Honey Trap and Dens of Iniquity, provide the reader with ideas on how to make day to day profit in the profession and even open up your other brothel. The section is fair, but lacks maps. Some example maps would be a good thing as not everyone has access to the old City Book series and could use some examples.
Now, one thing that I was shocked at was the quality of art. There are some fantastic illustrations in this book that put the standard Quintessential books to shame. Storn Cook, long of Champions fame, Ronald Smith, Chad Sergesketter, Martin Handford, Jesus Barony, Vebjorn Strommen, Chris Quilliams, Jason Rosenstock, Nathan Webb, Alejandro Vilen, Andrew Dobell, and J Walton all do a fantastic job. I hate to say it, but this is probably one of the best-illustrated books that Mongoose has put out. My only complaint is that sometimes the background is too dark and it hides the details.
But for fantastic, how about the guild enforcer on page 28, lifting a two handed sword or the illustration on page 46 with another female warrior using a greatsword in an overhand position? Now if you’re offended by nudity, this book does include some so keep that in mind. If only Mongoose could put this type of talent on their print books.
Well, overall, I found something to think about with this book. In my hands, I’ll use some of the ideas to expand upon those role playing areas that I gloss over but some of the mechanics, like putting together your own brothel, could be useful and act as a template for other organizations. The book isn’t vulgar but often comes across as humorous. I was surprised that they didn’t put a ton of bad sexual related stories in the text as many of the Quintessential books include fiction background. That was a good thing.
If the book handled the issues I mentioned at the start of the review, it’d get a higher score but it’s reliance on the Q. Rogue for some things, it’s lack of men as sexual objects and its inability to take itself seriously, lower it to a three.
