There be *Sex* here! And marriage, pregnancy, STDs, piercing, tantric magic, and other things that might happen when a fantasy princess calls off a royal engagement.
Post originally by Ezekiel Black at 2004-10-08 06:40:37
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Why do you need rules for this?
Why do you need charts and tables and character stats for sexual performance?
While I might seem like I'm saying "sex in RPGs is bad", what I'm really saying is that if you're going to have sex in a game, why do you need rules and die rolling involved in it?
I'm not intending to belittle the book in any way. I would really like an honest answer.
Post originally by DJ kidc4 at 2004-10-08 07:47:27
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I must confer with Ezekiel on this point. I would think that as gamers, we all have a decent amount of imagination. However, I have been proven wrong at times. That said, why would anyone want to purchase a book on "how to role-play erotic fantasy"? If someone really wanted to know all this info, they could easily look it up on the net, then transfer a simple rules format from said game.
Perhaps the authors had good intentions on writing this book, but to be honest; this is a waste of good ink and a tree. Sorry if this is belittling a product, but I think it needs to be said.
Then again, I would write the same thing, stick some damn good art in it and sell it.
So...If the authors make any type of decent money on this book, you guys are just as brilliant as Abercrombie for selling pre-ripped jeans!
Post originally by The Old Geezer at 2004-10-08 08:01:31
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Okay, first, how about to determine if pregnancy and/or STD occurs?
If the sexual activity is with an NPC, what way DO you use to decide the reaction of the NPC?
To "get on with it"? The reviewer clearly states, and I agree, that time enters into it. If somebody else's handsome knight is romancing the NPC princess, I don't want him to spend an hour detailing the sexual encounter. "Okay, you're doing your best to make the princess happy and be considerate and all that, let's roll some dice and get THE OTHER FIVE PLAYERS A CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING."
To play with other players? If Sir Brave is boinking Princess Happybottom, the other five PLAYERS are going to be sitting around bored if the entire encounter is role-played in great detail. Or, they're a bunch of voyeurs.
Post originally by DJ kidc4 at 2004-10-08 08:24:20
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Sorry, that is not a good enough reason to buy this book. You can determine such things, by role-playing it out in ten minuets, or by giving a generic percentage roll.
I don't need some wiz bang chart or whatever, to figure out if Sir I have a big lance O'lot is going to bang the hottie elf chick. It's ridiculous.
Post originally by Calithena at 2004-10-08 08:43:39
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I agree, this is a great review. I still don't know if I'm ever going to buy the BoEF, but this is the best discussion of it I've seen. I'll look forward to future reviews from this writer!
Post originally by AJLC at 2004-10-08 08:46:43
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DJ -
You have a right to your opinion, but just to point something out to you here, Ezekiel didn't ask for a "good" answer, he asked for a honest one.
Geezer's post has validity as much as yours does. Whether or not to use the BEF is a matter of personal taste and group preference.
As a note, strong opinions in favor or opposition to a product without actually having read the product (regardless of the quality of a review) are pretty ignorant. I mean no offense but the product and the work of the authors is essentially being flamed.
..and no I'm not affiliated with the product. I'm just not as hyped up about it.
Post originally by Ezekiel Black at 2004-10-08 08:46:45
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Ok, my arguement isn't as anti-this book as DJ's, but I believe I can answer the following
The Old Geezer wrote:
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Okay, first, how about to determine if pregnancy and/or STD occurs?
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If it advances the story, the GM decides. Nuff said, no need for die rolling.
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If the sexual activity is with an NPC, what way DO you use to decide the reaction of the NPC?
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Yet another fairly arbitrary reaction that could be easily supplied by a GM in 20 seconds less than it takes to roll a die and reference a chart or character's characteristics.
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To "get on with it"? The reviewer clearly states, and I agree, that time enters into it. If somebody else's handsome knight is romancing the NPC princess, I don't want him to spend an hour detailing the sexual encounter. "Okay, you're doing your best to make the princess happy and be considerate and all that, let's roll some dice and get THE OTHER FIVE PLAYERS A CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING."
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Simply enough, giving this sort of thing a die roll is sorta demeaning to the players actually attempting useful things with dice. This should be easily and quickly gotten over with, and every time I ever saw sex in a game, it equated to less than 5 sentences on the part of the GM and Player.
Most of the time, they didn't even bother to roll Charisma.
This is because, and I'll defend this to the last, sex is not even close to the point in D&D.
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To play with other players? If Sir Brave is boinking Princess Happybottom, the other five PLAYERS are going to be sitting around bored if the entire encounter is role-played in great detail. Or, they're a bunch of voyeurs.
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Actually, I've had the "boinking" player be the bored one, because the GM would say "ok, you're upstairs fu%#ing, what does everybody else do?" You'd be surprised how many times the Theif picks pockets, the Fighter starts a brawl or looks for a quest-giver, the Cleric or Bard tells a story, and the Mage sets someone's hair on fire. I've also seen dart throwing and arm wrestling competitions, a brawling arena out back, dwarf tossing, and other events with cash prizes. The guy upstairs hears about all this as a player, but his character is too busy off screen doing the nasty to participate.
And then, like all other characters, that character later takes a vow of chastity, because he missed out on the fun, experience, haggling the price of a quest, story advancement and/or a magic item, simply because the character had a sex life.
Any GM who places the sex scene center-stage definately has some issues, if you ask me, and if I were a player, I'd quit the group in a heartbeat.
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