[YA BoEF thread] Usefulness of BoEF in your campaign?

[Psiblade]

I have the feeling a lot of people will buy it because of the artwork.


-Psiblade

 

[MerakSpielman]

"No, honestly, I got it for the articles. Really...."

 

[ArielManx]

If it's anything like the GUCK as in pregnancy factors, in terms of spells and possible complications, it'd be very useful. It may not be useful in all campaigns, but every now and then something comes up where you wish "DAMN I wish I had rules for this situation." One rule from the GUCK that could be useful for all female PC's is the so-called b*tch rule. I.E. roll 1d6 to see if you're hormones are acting up! Imagine an epic Sorcerer waking up one day and burninating the countryside 'cause she's having her period.

Before everyone gathers to burn Angcuru at the stake for saying this - he has a good point!

When my wizard was pregnant she had serious mood swings during the first few months, and we made good use of the b*tch rule (though we modified it a bit). On days Zorra was in a foul hell-hath-no-fury mood, she would storm off to her lab and make extra progress on her spell creation research (game terms: she'd do a day and a half's worth of work in just one day). On those days she would have been a force to be reckoned with in battle. Other days she was depressed and mopey, and barely stumbled out of bed. Had the party been attacked they would have found their battle mage useless.

The b*tch rule also has rules for other characters to try to influence the female to change her mood. The halfling would always bake pies for her when she was sad (usually helped). We never got the opportunity, but it would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if the other's had gotten her good and pissed right before battle, then turned her loose on the Zhents.

Using the b*tch rule made for a fun role-playing challenge, both for me (having to run a full course of emotions in a single session) and the other players (who had to have their characters try to gage Zorra's mood and react appropriately).

(Of course to use the b*tch rule with some accuracy you need to know the female's cycle...rules for which I'm hoping to find in a certain upcoming publication)

I don't think it was out of line for Angcuru to say what he did. Hormone-influenced mood changes are a fact of life for many women. I know they are for me. I don't make excuses for it, nor do I use it as an excuse. It can be an interesting addition to a campaign if you're willing to put a little thought into it.

Trust me, if something out of line is said by Angcuru or anyone else, they'll get it with both barrels from me.

Ariel

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I don't think it was out of line for Angcuru to say what he did. Hormone-influenced mood changes are a fact of life for many women. I know they are for me. I don't make excuses for it, nor do I use it as an excuse. It can be an interesting addition to a campaign if you're willing to put a little thought into it.

Trust me, if something out of line is said by Angcuru or anyone else, they'll get it with both barrels from me.

Ariel

With all due consideration to Eric's Grandma, bullhockey! What the little [ehem] said was that such a rule was needed for all female characters and indicated that one could expect psychotic behavior from any female "having her period". Which is just sexist drivel no matter who tries to back him up.

I'll say this once per thread, ok? yes, for many women, hormone influenced mood changes are a fact of life. And for many people food allergies and stomache problems are a fact of life. For many people recovering from injuries, physical and emotional problems are a fact of life. All of these are what we would call DISADVANTAGES. And guess what? D20 doesn't have a disadvantage system. So just like no one has to go worrying about what their character is allergic to, just because they know many people with food sensitivities, no one has to worry about medically noteworthy PMS for their characters just because they or someone they knows suffers from it.

Once people grow up and realize that many women have no problems whatsoever of that nature, and HEY LOOKIE, the better overall shape a woman is in the less problems she is likely to have, such considerations can be safely relegated to the domain of trollish teenagers with problems with women.

(I'm not even going to go into the fact that we're talking about a system where you can be a papercut away from death and acting at full mental and physical capacity.)

Now if you really like giving your characters disadvantages, and for whatever reason YOU want to play a character with that problem, have a blast. But don't do it with a fighter type character or a monk cause thet would be unrealistic... and really a druid or cleric you could just lose one orison four days a month and cover the disadvantage completely... probably the same for a wizard... or for a bard or rogue, toss two skill points in profession herbalist and alocate a silver or two a month... ok, so what I'm saying is, if YOU want to play a character with a physical disadvantage, and YOU want it to be PMS, and YOU happen to be playing a sorcerer, I guess that rule MIGHT be useful... or you could just roleplay.

Kahuna Burger

 

[hunter1828]

With all due consideration to Eric's Grandma, bullhockey! What the little [ehem] said was that such a rule was needed for all female characters and indicated that one could expect psychotic behavior from any female "having her period". Which is just sexist drivel no matter who tries to back him up.

Really? That's what he said? Let's see...

One rule from the GUCK that could be useful for all female PC's is the so-called b*tch rule. I.E. roll 1d6 to see if you're hormones are acting up! Imagine an epic Sorcerer waking up one day and burninating the countryside 'cause she's having her period.

I'm not so sure we read the same post...

I think he said that the rule could be useful. Could implies that it also could not be useful.

And I sure don't see anything in his post about "psychotic behavior". Or maybe I just can't read (darn public schools!).

Are you suggesting that it would be impossible for a female sorcerer on her period to lay waste to a large area because someone said the wrong thing to her that morning? Because what Angcuru is saying is that it is possible. While I don't think it is likely to happen, it could happen. Why do I think this? Because of my wife, who can be set off by the wrong phrase or comment during her period. Does she lay waste to the countryside? No, but then she isn't a sorceress. Could she if she were? You better believe it!

So, am I calling my wife a "b*tch?" Well...all I will say to that is what she says to me..."I'm not a b*tch. I'm THE b*tch...and that's Ms. B*tch to you."

 

[ArielManx]

So, am I calling my wife a "b*tch?" Well...all I will say to that is what she says to me..."I'm not a b*tch. I'm THE b*tch...and that's Ms. B*tch to you."

So you have been listening to me! What a good hubby...

 

[Tiefling]

I'm not so sure we read the same post...

I think he said that the rule could be useful. Could implies that it also could not be useful.

KB was probably set off by "all female PC's." (emphasis added.) The post could be reasonably interpreted either way, really.

Edit: 500th post. W00t. Or something.

 

[EricNoah]

A warning folks: if this topic cannot be discussed tastefully and without profanity, it will not be discussed at all.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

And I sure don't see anything in his post about "psychotic behavior". Or maybe I just can't read (darn public schools!).

amusingly you say this right before you say (in reference to his post)

Are you suggesting that it would be impossible for a female sorcerer on her period to lay waste to a large area because someone said the wrong thing to her that morning? Because what Angcuru is saying is that it is possible.

I think you can chart from "laying waste to a large area" to "psychotic behavior", especially when I say he indicated it not that he used the word.

While I don't think it is likely to happen, it could happen. Why do I think this? Because of my wife, who can be set off by the wrong phrase or comment during her period. Does she lay waste to the countryside? No, but then she isn't a sorceress. Could she if she were? You better believe it!

you know, I'm sorry to hear that your wife has a hormonal problem, not uncommon but neither universal to women. Not to mention apparently poor impusle control and a temper. If she were a Hero or GURPS character, she could have a nice 5 or 10 point disadvantage from it. Maybe 15 if you aren't exagerating. If I were a GURPS character, I could get even more points for various physical/psychological problems I have which again are not at all uncommon, nor universal to people in my demographic group. But if your wife or I was a D&D character, we would get to completely ignore all those unless we choose to roleplay them.

Now it could be useful to come up with dozens of disad rules for every problem we can think of. The fact that no one ever does except for one purely female issue which they then try to apply in highly exagerated form to all women (which the original poster was, all your silly semantics aside) says far more about the people bringing it up than the system or women.

Kahuna Burger

 

[jdavis]

Not to jump to defend Angcuru, who has made several pretty off-color statements in the past, I don't think this one was all that bad. This "could" be used by people who "wish" to use it in their games, and this does apply to the discussion around this particular book. This topic in general is going to walk a fine line between good taste and harmful opinions, and these threads are dropping like flies around here. It will take some care in posting to keep a decent discussion of this topic going.

My personal opinion on the book and the rules is that I don't know enough of what will be in it to make a decision on whether it could be useful to my game or not. Trust me if I find it offensive or useless when it comes out I'll be the first to scream it from the mountain tops, but I can't make a call on whether the information covered in the book will be useful or not because we really don't know what will be covered in the book besides a few snippits of information here or there (I'd love to even see what the table of contents would be before deciding anything.). Now based on what I've heard it really won't be all that useful in my game, and I'm not big on touched up Photoshop pictures so the artwork won't get me to buy it either. Could there be something useful to my campaign in there, well there could be, being a adult I don't mind more adult content in my game, heck I welcome it, I just don't think erotic content would be all that useful to my group of 30 something males with wives and children at home, erotic content would seem sort of odd in our group. Still there could be some useful information in the book, I just really don't know enough about what will be in the book to definitively say "I will have no use for this book ever" at this time. As far as the game needing this rulebook, well this game really doesn't need any rule book but the Players Handbook and to a lesser degree the DMG, other than that all material is optional material.