Compromise can backfire. Sometimes, half your friends want to search tiki bars for chlamydia, and the rest want to explore the original world of Upper Earth. Pick one. Half-measures lead to Book of Erotic Fantasy, which ends your game. For reasons I didnāt expect.
The expected reasons pop up too. Weāve seen sexual boredom warp duller niches than D&D. Idle hands have nothing on industrious ones. Show ten people Sauron, and two say āwould.ā Book of Erotic Fantasy covers logistics for fighting, fucking, or dick-fighting the Dark Lord, while Gandalf babbles about some ring.
And then it gets going.
āValar Projectā made this, and then evaporated. They are very not Wizards of the Coast, and extremely not Hasbro. Wizards built trust by letting third parties publish whatever the fuck they wanted. It worked, because people really do pay for the Nike Swish.
Later, corporate vampires napalmed Eden. A bit like Cracked and Overwatch and news and parody news and crowdfunding and swiping and food and water and shelter and medicine and the Amazon and winter. But letās remember Wizards as it lived.
Book of Erotic Fantasy is the tenth strangest unofficial tie-in, and third funniest.
Third edition D&D is the perfect mix of intuitive and very not to amplify fixations. And requires tight-knit social groups, giving Book of Erotic Fantasy a non-zero chance of leaving you single, friendless, or unemployed. Or even the triple crown, the Linehan.
The Book of Erotic Fantasy dodges a few obvious disasters, and walks headfirst into many more. But the surprise is more mundane. Better for human life, and much worse for sales. That spread offers a structure Iām way too tangent-prone to pass on. Much like the teens too lonely to pass on that cover. Or the adults. The authors scried the future, and saw VTuber shrines.
Letās split this into avoided doom, obvious doom, and surprise doom.
The opening has a whiff of fear, which threw me off. For once, the authors suspect theyāre tap-dancing in a minefield. They sprint to get ahead of trouble, which rarely works out in a minefield. Starting with a simple, sane rule:
Thatās gamer patois. In English, it means āThis shitās on you. Good luck, and keep this from Tim. You know how he gets. And Dave, heās a latent incel. And Joan, sheāll never talk to you again. And Ryanāā
It trickles into the legalese. The disclaimer says:
Now thatās a proper life-annihilation warning. With just the right amount of āabandon all wallet condoms, all ye who enter here.ā And legal cover for any Linehanning.
Blaming my immaturity? Sharp. I only own this because Iām less mature than Drakeās DMs. Valar Project had their shields up before I wrote a word. However:
I only take half-responsibility.
Quarter-responsibility.
Zero reānah, half. Iāve got a high school brain. Skip academia if you ever want to grow past class clown. Or stay, and learn to shoot less embarrassing photos.
The art would, with zero text, fuel 2000 words of punchlines. This is the Photoshop-demo gold technocrats want to steal from us. But in the tug-of-war between porn and encyclopedia, encyclopedia won. Hard. The struggle still makes both weirder. Take this fuck-snake species description, which starts out horny:
And spins out into Imperial Geographic:
Important data. In practice, playing a fucksnake mostly meanssss sssspeaking like thissss. But now you can add flavor with Nick Cannon parenting.
The biggest bullet Valar tries to Matrix-dodge: not everyone thinks consent is sexy/real. Hereās where the tone and content divorce. For a minute, they take a āthere are no frats in Ba Sing Seā approach.
Fair enough. Thereās also a god of noncon, that grants mind control spells. Or, for secular sex pests, a āDominatorā class with minimal interest in play-party rules. Among other bits of premium weirdness, like the ability to cast āSpermjack.ā
A classic āhave your cake and fuck it tooā problem. Though I can relate to tunnel vision. I thought āthe spermjack spell is too wordyā before ācut the spermjack spell.ā
Itās a civil war. The erotica wants everyoneās kink covered, and the encyclopedia wants footnotes. Thatās why the authors come off best when they say āitās on you.ā
I think thereās one more disclaimer:
Now I get it.
Lifeās looking up. Most Tuesdays are willful attacks on humanity. The Book of Erotic Fantasy is closer to face-planting a ski jump. I get the goal, itād be neat if they landed, and itād be worse if I tried. The results are still hilarious. This isnāt the worst version of this idea, just the dumbest. Case in point:
How do spreadsheets change sex? Thereās a Fuckability stat.
Yes, D&D already had stats for charm, triceps, experience, flexibility, endurance, and avoiding dating coaches. But Valar Project added a separate Fuckability stat. I see the logic: D&Dās always been too simple. A seventh stat throws number theory PhDs a bone.
Have some homework:
Sorry, I own a misprint. It says āAppearance.ā Thatās wrong. Itās Fuckability. In lore, tone, and gameplay, only Fuckability fits. Old editions had āComeliness,ā and suits got rid of it. Because it means Fuckability.
There are Fuckability items.
Fuckability gods.
Fuckability abilities.
They ramble a bit.
Chapter Threeās dedicated to Fuckability classes. It shoots early by putting the funniest first. The Imagist is a hotness-powered wizard, and bends reality to reshape nearby deltoids. I canāt decide if Iāll never touch it, or never play anything else again.
Yeah, this is my limit. Itās too stupid to torment my brother with.
Maybe later.
Vogue magic includes buffs, general brain-warping, and crazy shit like (but not including, donāt DM me) fiendish seed. I thought theyād have illusions, because Iām dense. Imagists demand authentic Fuckability. A master of the Hot Arts does not deal in filters.
Do databases get you going? Hereās 1/12th of the monster Fuckability appendix.
Nerd fact: a ten in any stat is an āaverage adult.ā Making air elementals (10), frost giants (10), and dogs (10) as fuckable as your neighbor. Earth elementals (8) are two points less hot than air elementals (10), because Hollywood devalues clay bodies. Similarly, a copper dragon (18) is exactly one point more fuckable than a brass dragon (17), while black dragons (8) are the incels of wyrmkind.
And thatās just mortals. Eye contact with elite angels (27) gives you a new fetish, while Lemures, Hellās interns (1), slack on lust. Succubi (21) keep the brand strong, while Satyrs (12) embarrass an entire mythos. Mummies (3) arenāt doing any better, so Iāve ditched my romance pitch. The world isnāt ready for Embalmed Hearts.
High fuckability has consequences: magic crabs. Chapter 2 stars my favorite spreadsheet anywhere: sixteen magical STIs. The third worst part of Sex & Stuttering is lack of latex. The second is listening to your DM describe the size, color, and severity of your dick beetles.
Christ. Well, healing magicās easy to find, so these arenāt tooā
Magic-resistant gonorrhea. Clearly absent in Baldurās Gate 3, or piles of dead would reach the sky.
In fantasy, you can do anything. Ride unicorns. Raise the dead. Watch your genitals rot after courting the wrong dragon. Or trap unwary sex tourists with your stun-dick:
After promoting sex at the table, this book makes it riskier than provoking giants or playing a Bard. Forget shaftrot; players cling to fake money like they shred real money. Itās easier to be dead than broke, much like real life.
Metaphors terrify me, so vampirism as an STI sounds great. Less thinking, more breathing manually. Letās keep going. How about dragons running hedge funds? Or the X-Men taking on the Klan? The next time Rodan acts up, Godzilla should punt a nuke.
Edge is fun, but I suspect Mummy Rotās photo wouldnāt improve your morning. Itās a topless Roger Ailes blonde, rotting down the left side. Think Playzombie cover model. It would kill your breakfast, or send you to Google Images.
That said, magic STIs have nothing on STI magic. Jilted wizards can cast this anytime:
A spell that makes you buy Twitter. Inventive.
I believe in people. But dead dick doesnāt speed up murder, so itāll never see combat or sane roleplay. Impotency exists to fuck with other players. This gun only fires backwards, and keeping it in the house makes you a statistic.
You might get more out of infestation, which summons combat dick beetles. And has art straight from Pandoraās Box. Slam ads for Victoriaās Secret and a bug zapper together, and youāve got the idea. Iāll forgive living with that image, because you can turn anyone into damn it I blew the Twitter joke already.
Perfection itself. Use this with impotency for the dumbest combo in RPG history.
Now, letās flip the question. How does sex change spreadsheets?
All that shit before? Fine.
The Book of Erotic Fantasy tries topics that misguided, lonely, or red-hot groups trip into anyway. The photography needsā¦reconsidering, but some people only enjoy porn produced at a loss.
The problem with this fuck-manual? Itās OP. Sexual tension immediately gives way to historyās horniest powergaming. The fetish in play isnāt submission, puffy tails, elf ears, or splitting rent. Itās victory. Imagine Conan the Barbarian, except just Conan. He got around.
Well, half of itās broken. The other halfās useless. Still, before you zip up, youāll find something game-breaking. Halfway through, if youāre a fast reader or death grip. Excalibur is made of silicone.
Remember Fuckability? God-stat. Forget dexterity, wealth, or being the DMās little brother. Strap on the Codpiece of Comeliness, roll an Imagist, and shit on mages wasting their lives reading.
At low levels? Cast Disrobe for hi-larious hijinks. It just does what it says. Or, if thereās a hint, a whiff, an atom of tryhard in you, jizzes enemy armor off. By the time jizz-proof gear shows up, youāll be warping reality with kegels.
Your campaignās about fucking now. Because all the monsters are dead.
Low stats? Dislike playing the worldās strongest pervert? Fair, fuckability spreads points thin. Try Mormon steroids. Purity culture is The Book of Erotic Fantasyās Cobra Kai.
Chaste Life is the first kata of Baptist Kenpo. Some tragic innocent thought throwing Satanic Panic types a bone would make life easier. From here, you can take classes and spells dedicated to telling Zeus ānot tonight.ā
Or play a Harem Protector, and turn sexual frustration into stabbing power and immunity to brain magic. Granted, thereās a catch:
Your warrior canāt fuck? Adapt. Carve a dragonbone prosthetic. Volcellus, the Ultimate Eunuch, can turn anything on four legs into ground beef on no legs. I could babble about real eunuchs fucking all the time, and taking over an empire or two on the way. But we can rewrite history from the throne.
Just kidding. Harem Protectorās for suckers. Itās virgin paladin or bust.
Note the magic horse. It teleports, takes less damage, and teleports. That horse, for lack of a better term, fucks.
Remember Rogue? She could fly and punch holes through countries, and all she lost was mediocre sex with a con artist? Thatās the Divine Celibate. Give up stilted sexual roleplay with four other nerds, and you get a teleporting unicorn.
Plus immunity to bang magic, and other niche features that matter less than your teleporting unicorn. For all that sex offers physically, emotionally, and comedicallyā¦give me the unicorn. No act of love or lust is better than a teleporting unicorn. Iām sure never starting a family or courting a Rockette sucks, but I could cope with my teleporting unicorn. This book crushes Eric Ludyās lifelong slut-shaming career with one horse.
Even moderate fuckers are playtest-free. Take this class:
The quoteās a head-fake. Spellshapers have nothing to do with obsessing over/despising sex, or even seducing a spellbook. Theyāre just normal wizards with twice the juice and no taste in metaphors. And wizards were already the best class, even after this added the Superfriends-with-benefits.
So thereās one consistent kink: dildo-slapping Odin. Stealing lube from the gods. Making Yahweh cut the square commandments. I misjudged this bookās authors and audience. Clearly, itās for players whose fetish is winning. People that stiffen every time Shohei winds a pitch.
I could go on. Game mechanics tell their own story. The Book of Erotic Fantasy makes Mormon missionaries and ex-Mormon throuples apex predators. Only desert dicks and dessert-covered dicks survive. Plenty of players have fucked dragons. The Book of Erotic Fantasy asks if youāve fucked one to death.
My diagnosis: this doesnāt need D&D. Crunch and sex go together like skydiving and sex. Valarās survivors should forget the slings of clowns like myself, split Fuckability into four-ish balanced stats (abs/ego/money/dexterity/listening), and make a better, dumber, simpler wizard sex game.
It still has some lessons for us:
This article was brought to you by our fine sponsor and Hot Dog Supreme: Haught Phart, the himbo who put all his points into APP and used INT and WIS as dump stats.