Customer Reviews

Book of Erotic Fantasy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a book that caused a lot of controvery when it came out and, frankly, it shouldn't have. I've read it, and this book is probably less offensive than the Book of Vile Darkness was.

[Of course] you don't want this book for your underaged role-player; what do you expect from a book with this title? But if you're legal, and are interested in introducing sex and romance to your games, you couldn't find a better resource for d20-based games.

The BoEF handles sex and eroticism in a mature fashion, rarely if ever degenerating into the silly, somewhat immature approach other books on the subject take. Sex and love are topics handled from a variety of angles, differing by race, alignment, and other factors. There are new rules that are actually (sometimes more) useful outside the boudoir, and the artwork within uses generally tasteful photography and photo-manipulation.

All in all, if you intend to use sex in your d20-based games, you need to get this book.

This book has a lot to offer to any D20 campaign with mature players who recognize that sex and romance are legitimate motivations and interests for their characters.

If you want such activities to take center stage in your campaign, you'll find everything you need here, with a new Appearance ability score, several very well-thought-out base classes, a variety of specialized prestige classes, and new skills, feats, and spells.

But even if you have a more conventional campaign (such as the one I DM) and want the sex to occur "off screen", there's an awful lot you can use. I don't use Appearance, or any of the feats and spells that depend on it. Nor am I using any of the classes, but plenty of useful substance remains. My players enjoyed their encounter with my seductive Bard (a conventional archetype, if there ever was one!), whom I could have created with standard D20 rules and careful role-playing, but who was that much better with a smattering of feats and spells from this book.

The text and pictures are generally tasteful and well done. The spells and feats are mature and game-balanced, as opposed to some of the sophmoric efforts I've seen in other books supposedly addressing this theme.

The book does assume that the reader (and by extension, her characters) considers sex to be a natural and normal aspect of human relationship, and that whatever the participants consensually agree is fun is all right. If you are comfortable with that viewpoint, there should be nothing here to offend. Otherwise, perhaps you'll agree with other reviews I've seen that seem to think this book is somehow encouraging "perversions" in a role-playing campaign.

If the thought of a female bard hitting on a paladin (who, living up to her alignment, will not proceed with a liaison without ensuring that each participant is getting exactly what she expects) creeps you out, stay away!

I, however, found that refreshing - and highly recommend the book.

It is entirely appropriate that this book should close with a "What's New with Phil and Dixie" cartoon; "Phil and Dixie" have been a charming staple of the D&D magazine Dragon for years, and they have been promising a "how to add sex to D&D" comic for almost as long. Kestrel and Scott have finally written a sourcebook for it.

For almost all games/gaming groups, sex will be only be an occasional element; most gaming groups are, after all, "mixed company." Because of this, I expect that very few players will opt to spend their valuable character resources on the prestige classes, spells, and magical sexual items presented in this tome ("How often would I get to use my abilities if I took the 'Sacred Prostitute' prestige class?").

Because of its limited utility, I would consider this book a whimsical addition to your gaming library; something to giggle and blush at, but not something you would actually use. On the other hand, when a player dares to venture into sexual territory ("I flirt with the shopkeeper to get a better price"), it might be nice to have a resource to cover the situation.

I cannot give this product 5 stars because of some cramped typesetting reducing the legibility in some places; and because of some gaps, like the fact that half-elf/half-elf offspring is not explicitly addressed (are they elf? human? half-elf? random pick? I wrote a paper on it).

The majority of players will probably not use this resource unless the campaign is of a particular nature (which might be too creepy a game session for most players, especially younger gamers...). Creative, matured players will be able to use the material as a means toward greater character depth. This book is an excellent resource for adding elements of eroticism and sexuality to a d20 fantasy campaign (D&D), specifically for DMs who might utilize it for enhancing the perversions of NPC, monsters and especially demonic elements (cf BoVD from WoTC), storytelling and portraying monstrous or celestial/fiendish unions, or adding spice/intrigue between NPCs and PCs (I personally would never recommend a DM play on the affections of actual players, at least not in most gsme groups). The production value is very good, echoing the best of the WoTC supplements, including quality binding, presentation, and logical flow of concept. The art work is simply stunning, and I can't remember a single RPG supplement using this book's particular art technique, a collection of photoshopped models; but, as with the Books of Vile Darkness and Exalted Deeds, not of the subject matter most would expect to see in a FRPG supplement. There are no graphic photos, and no straight-porn (scenes of intercourse), but where your typicle WoTC or GR supplement might have the painted subject cross her arms over bared breasts, in this book the photographed model bares all. As an aside, who reading this review is old enough to remember when the various spells from the 1E Players Handbook were actually the subject of enormous media attention because they mentioned human sacrifice as a way to appease demons? In particular, Spiritwrack and Cacodaemon, among others, were even excluded for the 2E rules because of the controversy. Now, 20 years later, not only do we have excellent supplements like _The Book of Vile Darkness_ and the Fiendish Codeces, but this outstanding supplement on the use of eroticism in an RPG. The 1st Amendment shines on, RPGs continue to grow...and how in the world does D&D escape the media and Bible Thumpers nowadays???

wvell for any DND er out there its a realy good thuing (long as yoru old enough).

the 'new' magic items are great!

The pictures are awful CGI and the prestige classes are poorly balanced. The Appearance stat adds a fun new flavor to the game - but it also creates a source of strife/competition between players and is way too malleable to actually base anything off of (as they propose to do with the Imagist prestige class).
All of that aside, this book does offer an interesting new element to the D&D table gameplay. It brings a more mature aspect into the game, and with it a lot of new roleplaying opportunities (characters with a sexual side tend to, from my experience, be a lot more interesting to play as well as to interact with - they feel more realistic).
Some players may feel uncomfortable with some of the material presented, others will embrace it with enthusiasm. Some may take it too seriously and get a little creepy. Others may take it too lightly and get a little annoying. Tailor to your players - if you have a mature, reasonable group, this book is a great addition; if you have an immature, boisterous, middle-school aged group, you may want to reconsider.
Worth a try in most cases - it certainly does change how you play D&D (in the case of my group - for the better/more interesting).
Content is basically crunchy (though much of it needs polishing to be usable in a serious game). There are a bunch of new spells (many of which are rather on the weak side - but interesting), several new prestige classes (typically not well balanced, but interesting concepts that could be transformed into something more usable), a handful of new deities (with brief descriptions), some new monsters, etc. There is also an appearance chart in the back of the book, which is useful (if you are using the appearance stat) but not constructed in a very organized fashion. On the whole, this book is more useful for inspiration than anything - but for that it is very useful.
This book is kind of like a serious version of the Nymphology (by Mongoose). It might take itself a little "too" seriously though...

I picked this book up by word of mouth a few years back as I was playing a "perverted" character and I've found it to be rather handy for when a campaign dips into even slightly sexual content. The Prestige Classes are fun and quirky and sometimes quite rewarding. My only complaint with this resource book is the "artwork." The real-life pictures were rather bland in some places and could have benefited from using at least using a few drawings instead of photographs.

There's not a lot here that hasn't already been said. I was unsure about this book for a while. I had been hearing mixed things, but finally some friends on the forums recommended it to me. I'm glad to say that I'm rather pleased with this book. I really, -really- think they could have done better on the illustrations. Something from the Kama Sutra would not only have been more authentic, but just more attractive. The prestige classes and base classes were flavorful, fitting to the subject matter. That's another good thing about this book, the flavor text. It never gets into anything too explicit, but it gets the point across in an entertaining fashion. The monsters were okay, being mostly an amalgam of half-breeds and 'whatever-touched' races. I have to agree that the Greater Succubus probably could have been done by just advancing a regular Succubus, but as a DM, I'm not one to look a stat-block gift-horse in the mouth. The spells were half-and-half on relevance, but that seems to be expected. The flavor text pulled through to make each cantrip a bit more erotic or comical. The items were... meh. Generically, they were great! Erotically... not so much, just kind of average. The book's major strong-point comes in with the cultural, racial, and religious views. This book is very much about the culture, taboos, and social interactions of sexuality. All the while, it remains open enough so that any DM can adjust the material for his campaign. My players love this book, especially the little bonus section of erotic adventures in the back. Overall, I wholly recommend this book for DMs or PCs.

There is much to recommend this book. It tells you how each alignment views sex. It gives you new prestige classes to use, and it gives you lots of new spells. However, it pales in comparison to the book "Naughty & Dice", which is far more useful in other campaigns. Buy BoEF and it is generally only useful in D&D campaigns where perversion is encouraged. BoEF is a nice addition to a gamer's library, but there are better options.

I was really looking forward to this book. Really. A book that takes sex seriously? I'm all for it. Once I got my hands on it, I spent a week pouring over the thing. It was during my second read-through that I noticed several things.

Firstly, I remember thinking, "This is it? Where's the rest?"
Secondly, I highly disagree with the way Nymphs are portrayed as fickle teases. There's a disease named after them, it's called nymphomania, look into it before you go pronouncing a creature known for it's sexual appetite a cold, p***ktease.
That brings me to my third point; Sexual deviance. The subject was barely touched on. It's like the authors covered their mouths and mumbled it really quick in order to gloss over the subject. If you're not going to devote yourself to ALL the aspects of a project, don't start it in the first place.

Where are the tables on Sexual Orientation? Where's the list of fetishes? Sexual Psychoses?

Instead of hard crunch we get three limp (sorry, no pun intended) Core Classes (Imagist, Tantric Mage and Kundalini Monk). None of these classes are worth the time. The Imagist is not, as it sounds an Illusionist. The other two are dependent upon the fact that your character is having sex regularly (otherwise you lose your spellcasting ability or your feats use). Also included are a dozen or so Prestige Classes that teeter between relatively useless and highly interesting.

I don't need to know THAT much about mating habits. a good third of the book is taken up by this sort of info. The templates included were actually things that could have been put in the Monster Manual series without causing any waves at all. Too little crunch, way too much fluff.

The best thing this book has to offer is naked pics. Yeah, that's right, they use REAL pictures of people naked or otherwise posing sexily. I'm way too old to get a thrill from seeing a naked girl in my gaming stuff, so that's only a minor plus.

I don't recommend this book. At least the Mongoose pdf, Encyclopaedia Arcane: Nymphology took the easy way out with humour. The ball was severely dropped with this book.