The Book of Erotic Fantasy Review

 

From White Wolf

This review is one that was made as a request.  I talk about it in my censorship article, and one of my players said I should give it a proper review.  So, I bought it from Drivethru and read through it, as fast as I possibly could.  It was written by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel and Duncan Scott.  The project's manager was Anthony Valterra.  Who used to work for Wizards of the Coast.  It was published by White Wolf's Art Haus.  White Wolf (Paradox Interactive) owns and publishes the book through Drivethru.

Disclaimer

This is not a book for minors.  At least, not a book for the immature. It contains photos with depictions of the naked body, sexual congress, and fetishes.  While the pictures do not affect me, some are clearly pornographic in nature and some aren't.  Since the subject matter is sex, there are pictures of people having sex (only two, mind you).  Reader discretion and parental guidance is advised.

Sex

Okay, disclaimer aside, lets talk about this very controversial book.  The book is controversial because it talks about something our culture doesn't like to talk about.  That is, as you guessed, sex.  I'm a married man, so I enjoy sex with my wife (as much as I can get it, we're currently separated as of this review).  As a nudist (as if you couldn't guess), I can talk about this openly without restraint. This review only contains a picture of the cover, and not any pictures of people -- both real and imagined, having sex.

Sex is an important part of our lives.  But our repressed culture doesn't like to talk about it. It's something discussed behind closed doors.  In roleplaying games, it's hardly something to talk about.  You make a pass at the barmaid, and the GM either has the barmaid hit your character, or if she likes you, go into a room and things fade to black.  However, without sex, none of us would be here.  Sexuality is important for us as a species to reproduce ourselves.  It's a physiological drive to have us mate.  Most of the time, it's with the opposite gender (Adam knew his wife); however there are some that seek sexual congress with the same gender.  With today's politics going about how one can change their gender, and other topics, we have to talk about sexuality some time in our games.  So lets talk about it.

This book is the result of Wizards of the Coast making a change in their d20 logo guide.  This was done long ago, and I didn't like it.  I liked seeing naked bodies in my RPG products for the d20 system.  However, Wizards of the Coast made the change in order to increase sales.  They would try to change the OGL this year for the same reasons. Yes, this book talks about sexuality, but in the context of a roleplaying game.  And this book doesn't pull any punches.

The book begins with an introduction to what the book covers.  It then goes into a discussion of Sexuality.  And boy, it has a lot to talk about.  Most of the material covered in this book is in the first chapter.  It talks about including sex in your game, and why you should include it.  It also talks about marriage, sexual taboos, the consequence of love and sex, handling sex in a mature way, and how sex fits within a roleplaying game. Given how most of this book is written for Dungeons and Dragons third edition; this chapter has good advice for any roleplaying game.  Including GURPS.

After that, rules for the d20 System is covered, including new skills and feats. All appropriate for a game that includes sex. (remember, feats are important resources within a d20 OGL game). One of the new skills included is Perform (Sexual Technique), a very good skill for everyone to have actually.  Although this skill is apparent when I do my Central Casting: Heroes of Legend review.  And I like the new feats -- some feats are described as sexual and others general. My favorites are the Kundalini feat and the Tantric feat.  As both feats give a bonus to your wisdom and your intelligence respectively -- after twenty minutes of sex.  Also, the chapter talks about crossbreeding and other matters of sex.  Also, a new ability score -- Attractiveness -- is discussed here.

The next chapter talks about introducing new classes and prestige classes into the game.  These include the imagist, which is a sorcerer that uses her attractiveness as a font for magical power.  The kundala, which is a monk that has a sexual code of conduct.  They also gain spells from sexual congress.  The Kundala works well in campaigns based off of Indian mythology.  Last new class is the Tantrist, A mixture of divine and arcane spellcaster -- and she turns sexual energy into spells.

After that comes the prestige classes, which is usual for prestige classes for games that uses the revised rules -- they are all focused on a theme.  Some of which can be useful in a game that includes sex.  These include a prestige class that is devoted to a life of Chastity.  And another for temple prostitutes.

The next chapter goes over spells.  And there is some new domains introduced for the d20 system.  And includes new spells for each spellcasting class.  Some of these spells are questionable -- plus it talks about new uses for old spells -- and the ethical ramifications for using certain mind control spells  for getting what you want.

Gods are described in the next chapter.  And there are a lot of gods having to do with sex.  Although you don't really need them, you could adapt Forgotten Realms gods to these rules easily.

The next chapter discusses magical items.  And there are some interesting ones. From sexual items to weapons, they are all discussed for use in a d20 game.  Like Pathfinder.  Then the next chapter talks about creatures, and there are no shortage of interesting creatures.  Some creatures do best as a race, while others are special in their own way.  The final chapter talks about certain adventures that can happen. And also provides about one hundred adventure seeds for use in a campaign. Finally there are two appendices and an index.

Conclusion

This is a book that really talks about IT!  If it weren't for mature readers, I suggest you get it.  It contains frank pictures of naked humans.  While not particularly attractive, all of the pictures are tastefully done and not very explicit.  There are pictures of humans having sex, but there is like two of them (also one of a human masturbating).  But it's expected in a work like this.  The book is the seminal work on sex in a roleplaying game. It is one hundred and ninety pages long and came out in a time when Wizards of the Coast got repressive to protect their sales.  Although it's a double standard since Wizards of the Coast did include a naked succubus in their revised Monster Manual for 3rd edition.