Review of The Book of Erotic Fantasy

There are two very good reasons why I am unqualified to present a completely fair, informed, and educated review of this book.

1. I have played in a D20 game exactly once, for less than six hours. I also have no prior experience reading or running any other D20 material.

2. Hey, they're the competition! As the author of "Naughty and Dice" (and the infamous online article GURPS Sex before that), I can't help but be a bit more favorable toward my own project. Still and all, I did read over the Book of Erotic Fantasy. I was quite curious to see what it was like. To see how it differed from Naughty and Dice, and more, to see how it was similar.

And I like to think that this town is big enough for the two of us. After all, there are multiple systems and game books for almost every other possible subject and genre.

I still maintain that sexual situations can be as much a part of gaming as can combative or magical situations. It all depends on the players and the specific game, and the tastes and comfort level of all involved.

But I'll hop off that particular soapbox for now. Obviously, I must feel that way, or I wouldn't have been running my game the way I have for the past fifteen years.

On to the specifics! I've broken down my comments into categories:

1. Overall appearance and layout 2. Interior art 3. Writing style 4. Content 5. Rules 6. Chapter by chapter

Overall appearance –

This is a very slick, pretty book. The cover is classy and made to look like it'd fit right in among the expensive hardcovers on the shelf.

Now, as someone who's played GURPS pretty much exclusively since the mid-1980's (nearly all of which are soft-covers) and who only routinely buys the novels of two authors (King and Koontz) in hardback, I can certainly understand being off-put by the hefty price tag. If not for the combined facts of my intense curiosity and my husband's status as a game-store manager, I couldn't possibly justify that kind of price for something I wouldn't use.

The glossy full-color interior, with its accents of golds and purples, does make for eye-catching pages. The physical look of the text is good, very readable (except for the chapter sub-headers, which are done in a font so curlicued that it's a little hard to make out). The borders and corner page numbers are gorgeous. The book did have that new-book inky headache-inducing smell, but that will pass.

Interior Art –

Ooh, boy, now I see what all the fuss was about. The pictures range from eerily beautiful to downright creepy. The quality of them from a photographic standpoint is good, the technique is fairly well-handled, but the subject matter overall was a little too kinky for my tastes. That may sound like a hell of a thing coming from someone who's been informally known as the "bad girl of GURPS" for ten years now, someone notorious for her erotic stories … I like to think I'm fairly worldly in my general views, but much more squeamish on a personal level. Thus, I found the overall "squick factor" to rate at least a 7 on a scale of 1-10.

Writing and Editing –

One of the more vexing side-effects of trying to write for a living is that I've found myself more sensitive than ever to typos and other such little errors. They happen to everybody, it's inevitable, I know … but they still glare out at me. I spotted several while reading the Book of Erotic Fantasy, some of which are common (it's/its, the bane of many a writer) and others that should have been nabbed by the spellchecker. But that's just a nit-picky peeve of mine.

So is the gender thing. I understand it, I know how hard it is to write his/her and she/he all the time, and I agree that it's limiting and sexist to use the global "he," but I really don't like to see the hopping back and forth between the two.

My overall impression of the writing style was that it flowed nicely, and was both informative and clear.

Content –

Some of their fic-bits are a lot more graphic than I was expecting to see. I've been known in my own writing to have a tendency to avoid vulgarities … they do not appeal to me, while on the other hand I find the clinical terms too, well, clinical … and I couldn't help being a little startled each time I ran across certain words.

As I read, I often found myself flinching, blushing, or blinking in disbelief. After all these years of saying that there isn't enough sexual content in RPGs, I suddenly found myself saying "whoa … way too much information!" My impression was that if even I was uncomfortable, what would the rest of the gamers out there think? The ones who've been dubious or downright opposed to a book like this in the first place?

The tables were, for the most part, very good. If there's anything in this book I would consider using in my own campaign, it would be the tables. Especially the quick-100 adventure ideas on pages 173-176.

Rules –

This is where I raise my hands and shake my head and leave it to others to know how well the rules are designed, and how well they actually work. I am entirely unfamiliar with the D20 system.

Chapter by Chapter –

Chapter One: Love, Sex & Roleplaying. I liked this chapter very much, mostly because it expressed many of the same opinions and beliefs that I share about when, how, and if such rules should be introduced to a game. I skimmed over the parts on alignments (alignment is one element of D&D that I have never liked, even way back when). I liked the look at the role of sex, commitment, and childbirth among the various races, though it did seem like overkill to cover so many, especially ones that might not be available as player characters (again, haven't played, don't know).

Chapter Two: Rules, Skills & Feats. Lots of useful info. I was glad to see STDs get a severely warning mention, but thought that the diseases themselves were often excessively silly in name (Azure Balls?) or bizarre and either not fully thought out or else poorly expressed (paralytic poison? if the genitals excrete this, wouldn't the sufferer as well as anyone having sex with the sufferer therefore be paralyzed?). I thought that the pregnancy rules were on the skimpy side, not taking many physical and emotional changes into account – then again, the aspect of character mental and emotional advantages and disadvantages was one reason I so gladly jumped ship from AD&D to GURPS.

Chapter Three: Base & Prestige Classes. I mostly just read the fic-bits here, since the rules meant nothing to me. And the sidebar on Piercing … again, more information than I really felt I needed.

Chapter Four: Magic. It's in the best D&D tradition for spells to have clunky or goofy names, and in that, this book fits just fine. I just can't seem to wrap my head around the idea of hearing someone say, "I'm going to cast Wet Dream!" The stress in Chapter One on how this book is not intended to condone any non-consensual sexual activity is reinforced here with a thought-provoking sidebar on the laws and moralities of the use of magic for nefarious sexual purposes. Though it never happened to me personally, I have known plenty of players – mostly female – who have been told, without so much as a yea, nay, or saving throw, that their characters have been seduced and/or impregnated against their will. Some might argue that the presence of sex rules will only encourage and allow this kind of behavior (“well, see, you couldn’t resist because he was Zeus, yeah, Zeus”); I argue that the presence of sex rules will protect characters from this kind of behavior.

Chapter Five: Items. Some good and useful stuff in this chapter. Sex toys, birth control devices, aphrodisiac potions, fetish gear, and sexual services are all described, and have convenient price tables. The magic items suffer the same traditional drawback as the spells in terms of names – and the fact that the Phallus of the Engorged Satyr is apparently a weapon, well, that's more than a little disturbing. This chapter ends on a particularly humorous note, with the listing of the Book of Erotic Fantasy itself as an artifact sure to cause controversy.

Chapter Six: Gods & Monsters. An assortment of sex-related deities are presented here, with their symbols, alignments, domains, and so forth outlined for easy reference. These seem to be made up for the purpose of the book, and evil ones are represented as well as good. A variety of faeries, angels, demons, catgirls, and other critters rounds out the section.

Chapter Seven: Adventures & Organizations. As I said before, I really like the 100 quick idea adventures presented here. Some of them are quite creative and could throw a little spice into the campaign. The "organizations" consist of a sex club for magic-users, a brothel complete with the only map in the book, and a cult dedicated to the good life.

Appendices: The first of these is a 4-page alphabetical listing of Appearance scores for just about any and every creature (including animals) that adventurers might encounter. The second lists the Challenge Ratings of the new creatures and personalities set forth in the book.

End: After the Index and the OGL … like having your veggies before you get your dessert … is a full page Phil & Dixie!

Conclusion –

This is a book aimed specifically at the traditional fantasy D20 campaign. As such, it serves its purpose as well as could be expected. If that's what you're running, and that's what you're playing, and you want to add sexual situations to your campaign, this book will have all (if not more) of the information you'll probably need.

But it doesn't leave much for the rest of us. Those who play other systems, or focus on other genres, are likely to find the Book of Erotic Fantasy lacking. Basically, this is a book for one specific (albeit very popular) system. It adheres strictly to those rules and that format and that structure, and does not allow for much in the way of versatility or adaptability.

I stated in my introduction to this review that I went looking for similarities and differences between this and my own project, Naughty and Dice. I found both, but far more differences than similarities. Naughty and Dice is, if anything, too much without specific structure, and is meant much more as a sourcebook than a particular set of rules.

But I think we can certainly co-exist peacefully. The Book of Erotic Fantasy will better serve one type of gamer (the D&D-type player), while Naughty and Dice will better serve another (the GURPS-type player). And, as the types can get along in the greater sphere of gaming, I am sure that the books can as well.

Actually, I am grateful to the Valar Project for what they've done.

For years, any and all sex rules for RPGs could be found only in online articles and netbooks – I've examined a few of these, and for the most part was disgusted by the tone, the language, and the attitudes toward women found in them. Gamers have a bad enough romantic reputation anyway, and I shudder to think of them learning about romantic relationships from some of those online articles. It’s like learning about how to please a woman by watching the average porn video. Yeesh. Scary.

Books like these have brought this long-neglected topic into the forefront of the gaming community. Sex can be as valid an element of a game as can magic, or combat. Not every gamer will need or want these rules, but I am glad beyond measure that those who do will be able to add them to their shelves.

I’m grateful for another reason, too. If I hadn’t heard, earlier this year, of the Valar Project’s intentions to actually publish such a book, we might not have gotten around to it either. I’ve been telling myself for the better part of a decade that I should do my own book. I needed to have the fire of a little serious competition lit under me ;)

So, thanks, Valar Project, and good luck!

Christine Morgan