D&D 4E Who has rights to BoEF, and are they in on the 4e OGL

[Green Knight]

If I remember correctly, they actually provided a boost to Concentration checks. How on earth THAT is supposed to work is beyond me, but there you go.

LOL! Priceless!

 

[RangerWickett]

If I remember correctly, they actually provided a boost to Concentration checks. How on earth THAT is supposed to work is beyond me, but there you go.

Don't knock it 'til you try it.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I liked the BoEF, I use the BoEF to great extent. Sure its not for every game, but its an option thats out there.
Yes, I've made my character have the (guess the part) Ring of perform sex +5
I've also just used one or 2 of the rules when the subject came up (My succubus's actually seduce people! hooray!)
But then again there are adventures where I didn't even think to look at the book at all.

I for one support the idea of BoEF 4e, or BoEF 4play as I would name it, but thats just me (Whoever owns the BoEF may use that name for free if they so wish)

 

[Alzrius]

Honestly, I liked the BoEF. It wasn't the greatest supplement ever made, but it did pretty well, especially compared to the few other "sex in RPGs" books out there.

The fact that the 4E OGL is being tailored to disallow such a thing from ever being created is rather sad, in my opinion. I wanted there to at least be such an option out there, but at the risk of sounding like a hater, 4E's credo is definitely not the "options, not restrictions" motto of 3E/3.5E.

Of course, someone could still do a 4E BoEF as a fan project, but they wouldn't be able to sell it. It'd be a sort of "4E Netbook of Unlawful Carnal Knowledge."

 

[Henry]

If I remember correctly, they actually provided a boost to Concentration checks. How on earth THAT is supposed to work is beyond me, but there you go.

Well, let's not forget that WotC is not above a little nipple clamp action themselves -- or do we so soon forget the "Nipple Clamps of Exquisite Pain" from Book of Vile Darkness?

 

[Lord Zardoz]

...Statements regarding how appealing to youth is potentially harmful to D&D. Statements of general disagreement with my previous statements...

Ok, I think I am still doing a poor job of making my point. Let me make one more, probably absurd generalization.

First part of the point I have been trying to make:
In the long term, if Wizards of the Coast fails to attract new gamers to D&D, the current customer base will eventually die off. People who are born after the original customer base will eventually replace them. I am pretty sure that at one point, they will be children.

Second part of the point I am trying to make:
Content such as that found in the Book of Erotic Fantasy, and to borrow a term from Clockwork Orange, 'Ultra Violence', is not what makes D&D an appealing past time. Both forms of content can actually be quite entertaining, but they are not exactly exclusive to D&D. Furthermore, such content is often more effectively delivered through other mediums. I know that I did not start playing D&D simply to get access to that kind of content. I presume that most of the current customer base of D&D got into the hobby for reasons similar to mine, a general enjoyment of fantasy fiction.

The point:
Getting people into D&D while they are young is not in a bad idea. I am not talking about accomodating 1% of a potential new player pool while alienating 90% of the current player pool. What I am talking about is taking steps to make sure you do not alienate 1% of a new player base by letting a 3rd party produce content that would harm the brand image. It may not seem like much, but I am sure there are a number of people on this board who may have had friends that had parents who were overprotective of this sort of thing.

If some nutjob out there decides to score points on D&D again by declaring it evil, I would rather not give them ammunition like the Book of Erotic Fantasy when that book does not even really add much to the game for most players.

Anyway, thats enough on this particular point for me.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Shroomy]

Did the BoEF run afoul of WoTC because of its content or because of its presentation (i.e. the pictures)?

 

[Neil Bishop]

I always found it funny that the BoEF was the one (and only) OGL supplement that I could always find at Borders, no matter where I went.

Strangely enough it was available at Border's here in Singapore (and may well still be) despite the fact that I think it may be in breach of some of the censorship laws.

Anyway, I'm glad BoEF and similar products are not permitted under the existing d20 licence and also under the new licence.

 

[Lanefan]

Out of curiosity, how old were you when you started playing?

21, I think...that was a lot of beers ago.

I'm not sure I know anyone who started playing under age 17 or 18 other than relatively recently, where we've had long-time players' children join the games.

Lanefan

 

[Lanefan]

I'd say that the BoEF looks more like work of 6th graders who desperately want to show the world how grown-up they are. Magical nipple clamps and Perform (Oral) checks aren't something I or any of my college-age friends want to be associated with.

OK, I'd better clarify: the game needs something like this only done well...

Some earlier posts point out things that were useful. Some others that'd be handy:

1. Chance of pregnancy by race per x-amount of time for sexually active females
2. Chance of infertility by race and gender
3. Tables by race to determine what a pregnancy will result in, covering gender, number (twins? triplets?), stillbirth or miscarriage, deformity, etc.
4. Charts determining how the base stats of the parents affect the base stats of the offspring
5a. Charts and tables defining once and for all what can interbreed with what, and why; and how genetic taints work (if Human Grandpa slept with a Dryad and they had Mum, and Grandma's Elven mother had a dalliance with Zeus producing Grandma who then got together with part-Orc Grand-dad and had my father; then what is my racial makeup and how does it affect me as a played character?)
5b. Tables by race giving chance of being tainted, with what, and by how much

For my own games I've already had to do some of 3 and all of 5a and 5b above; I usually wing 1 and ignore 2; I've never had to worry about 4 but I know a fellow DM who has. But it'd be nice to see in a well-written book; it'd have saved me a boatload of time and effort.

Lanefan