by Morgan Drake Eckstein

Created on: April 25, 2009

There are some roleplaying game supplements that when one encounters them for the first time, one immediately asks "Why do we need a rulebook for this?" The Book of Erotic Fantasy is one such book. Designed to be "compatible with the world's best selling Fantasy Roleplaying Game" (Dungeons and Dragons), The Book of Erotic Fantasy, by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel and Duncan Scott, provides rules for consensual sex for fantasy roleplaying games.

Published under the Open Gaming License v1.0a, by Valar Project, Inc., The Book of Erotic Fantasy is sure to upset some people who view roleplaying games, especially Dungeons and Dragons, as inspiration for sin and Satanism. In fact, this book is rumored to be the reason why the newer d20 System Trademark License includes a clause about "community standards of decency". Ironically, the community standards it violates, preventing it from being published under the d20 STL, is the community that would like to see all roleplaying games disappear, the community that considers all games one step away from Satanism.

This game supplement is meant for adult players of RPGs. It deals with the subject of sex. Occasionally, even kinky and fetish inspired sex.

So is it actually needed? Do RPGers need rules for sex? Do goblins and orcs do the deed?

My first reaction is no. The games that I have participated in where sexual issues were brought up, normally in the form of whether or not a medieval city would have a red light district and if so, does the local guard patrol the area, did not have rules for the subject, nor did we need them. Sex was not the focus of the game. As such I am inclined to joke that these rules are for those who have never had sex.

But given the way that sex permeates the rest of our society, and some of the "normal" people (as in "non-nerd") I have discovered who play RPGs, one has to wonder why there has never been any rules for sex between characters and/or non-player characters. This is especially true when one looks at fantasy and science fiction inspired art, and the graphics of the most popular computer games, which is aimed at the same consumer demographic. In the end, I have to admit that it is the answer is probably in the same category of why it is ok for teenagers to watch beer commercials, but not ok for them to download pornography or engage in sex.

In the end, I must admit that people who play roleplaying games must think about sex occasionally, therefore it is quite likely that their characters will occasionally

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