Book of Erotic Fantasy

[Thurbane]

The main issue is that there is a 3rd party (the freight forwarder) involved. The seller at Amazon hasn't done anything wrong.

Finally got an answer back from the freight forwarder: the can dispose of the book for free, attempt to return it to the seller ($20), or send it to another address in the USA ($20).

[Kesnit]

Finally got an answer back from the freight forwarder: the can dispose of the book for free, attempt to return it to the seller ($20), or send it to another address in the USA ($20).

Wait... Because they refuse to do the job you contracted them for, they are charging you more?

[toapat]

more accurately, the fluff is presented really seriously and somewhat maturely (not that sort of mature) but the crunch is all... well... not so serious. i mean they have a prestige class that turns the party wizard into a magical peeping tom. Its like a bunch of adults wrote the fluff, and a bunch of drunken frat boys wrote the crunch.

Its alot different then if frat members wrote the book, if you want something that has the crunch of the homebrew of a frat, thats Portable Hole Full of Beer/Son of Portable Hole/The Bride of Portable Hole. thing is those are delivered as though the editor is himself a fratboy who is just sober enough to organize the material. Makes them very fun

Even Nymphology seems at least to me to present the material in a less Deadpan and serious matter (although its focused almost exclusively on the Erotic and not the comprehensiveness of being a supplement about sex in the Forgotten Realms, although the spell fluff is solid gold)

Wait... Because they refuse to do the job you contracted them for, they are charging you more?

they are asking to throw it away or blackmailing to continue working.

[Windstorm]

The main issue is that there is a 3rd party (the freight forwarder) involved. The seller at Amazon hasn't done anything wrong.

Finally got an answer back from the freight forwarder: the can dispose of the book for free, attempt to return it to the seller ($20), or send it to another address in the USA ($20).

that's highly illegal, and they are required by US law to return it to the seller if they are unable to complete the service as required.

if they continue to refuse to do anything without further payment I would find out what county/state they are in and make a call to the prosecutor there, as they are engaging in fraud.

[Palanan]

Thurbane's in Australia, and the shipper (if I understand it) is in Ohio, so phone calls might be expensive.

That said, I really don't understand why the shipper can't simply return it to the third-party seller at cost. They're overcharging Thurbane tremendously for what should be a $3.50 shipping charge.

Might be worth contacting the Better Business Bureau in Ohio. No idea if either of those groups can help, but it seems pretty clear that Thurbane is being taken advantage of. That sort of thing really steams me.

.

[toapat]

That said, I really don't understand why the shipper can't simply return it to the third-party seller at cost. They're overcharging Thurbane tremendously for what should be a $3.50 shipping charge.

the Amazon seller doesnt live in ohio, but shipped it to ohio anyway., the Freight shipper is holding Thurbane responsible for a double liability they legally cant clear.

[Palanan]

Yes, I got that the third-party seller was different from the shipping warehouse in Ohio. Just not sure why the latter can't send the item back for a more reasonable charge.

For that matter, how did they know the contents of the book in the first place, unless they opened it? Or do they check everything against a master database of potential naughtiness?

I live in the U.S., and I've lost track of the countries I've mailed books to. I've had some frustrating issues and bone-headed mistakes come up--including an international shipment coming to Arlington, Texas rather than Arlington, Virginia--but never had an issue with the item's content before.

[toapat]

Yes, I got that the third-party seller was different from the shipping warehouse in Ohio. Just not sure why the latter can't send the item back for a more reasonable charge.

For that matter, how did they know the contents of the book in the first place, unless they opened it? Or do they check everything against a master database of potential naughtiness?

I live in the U.S., and I've lost track of the countries I've mailed books to. I've had some frustrating issues and bone-headed mistakes come up--including an international shipment coming to Arlington, Texas rather than Arlington, Virginia--but never had an issue with the item's content before.

the guys in Ohio were repackaging the OP's books when one of the people decided to skim through it, a Manager saw, pulled it asside, and flagged it for illegal transit. THeys guys may have had issues with having been exploited for the Silk Road drug trade, and so they are unwilling to violate customs infractions. the original owner of the book did not ship from Ohio and so they are now blackmailing the OP to either destroy it or pay for a surcharge based on transit of illicit goods.

[Slipperychicken]

Aahh, why do you need the BoEF when you have a Grease spell ?

Because Grease only lasts 1 round/level.

[atemu1234]

Because Grease only lasts 1 round/level.

That's all most PCs need.

[Doc_Maynot]

Aahh, why do you need the BoEF when you have a Grease spell ?

Because Grease is only on objects or 10ft squares. Useful for SOME things, not all.

[Poldon]

There is no law against the shipment of material containing nudity from the United States to Australia. As someone employed by the shipping industry here in the US, I can assure you that all of the regulations for this can be found in the appropriate sections of the IMM (International Mail Manual) here.

The link is direct to the US Post Office restrictions and prohibitions for Australia. When and if you contact your shipper, tell them to look up the rules themselves. They are choosing not to ship the item; they are not being forced to do so. Their choice, their cost, IMO. Hope this gets resolved for you!

Edited to add:
Censorship really annoys me! This finally prompted me to create an account after years of lurking!

[Grinner]

Edited to add:
Censorship really annoys me! This finally prompted me to create an account after years of lurking!

Welcome to the Playground.

[cakellene]

Wouldn't this actually be theft and not fraud if they have his property and refusing to give it to him unless he pays a ransom?

[CyberThread]

buy from ebay instead of amazon, things are... "declared" less often for Australia, where allot of us M rated game sellers, sell our things, for you aussies, and simply tell the shipping, that it is a video game, instead of what game it is.

[Phelix-Mu]

Wouldn't this actually be theft and not fraud if they have his property and refusing to give it to him unless he pays a ransom?

It may be fraud if they are misrepresenting themselves in their contracts and otherwise ignoring terms of business agreements or some such. It may also be theft, but I think that is rather a separate issue.

[JimboG]

I must be the black sheep to third party book readers, 'cuz the BOEF is honestly my favorite one out there. Not for the content contained in it directly, but because I have a healthy respect for anyone who's willing to talk about sexual content in an honest, uncensored light without being ashamed of it. The chapters in particular about the bedroom preferences and opinions on pregnancy of the different races have filled a lot of cultural roleplaying fluff that, before reading the book, I just had to sweep under the rug or make stuff up for.

If you ultimately cannot find a way to have the book shipped to Australia but can legally ship it to another address in the USA, I would be happy to pay for the book and its shipping fees through paypal and take it off your hands.

[MadGreenSon]

I must be the black sheep to third party book readers, 'cuz the BOEF is honestly my favorite one out there. Not for the content contained in it directly, but because I have a healthy respect for anyone who's willing to talk about sexual content in an honest, uncensored light without being ashamed of it. The chapters in particular about the bedroom preferences and opinions on pregnancy of the different races have filled a lot of cultural roleplaying fluff that, before reading the book, I just had to sweep under the rug or make stuff up for.

I agree about the chapters on the various races. I've never looked at Halflings or Gnomes the same way again.

If you ultimately cannot find a way to have the book shipped to Australia but can legally ship it to another address in the USA, I would be happy to pay for the book and its shipping fees through paypal and take it off your hands.

I really wish I could offer the same. But my budget is too tight to afford meat on my pasta right now. You're a good guy to offer.

[Zrak]

Is this the book where elves take a different kind of "size penalty"? Because I know there's a book where that happens and I endorse that 100%.

[JimboG]

Is this the book where elves take a different kind of "size penalty"? Because I know there's a book where that happens and I endorse that 100%.

It's been a while since I've looked at my digital copy, but if I remember correctly the only penalties to "size" simply reflected the actual size of the characters, (you got a cumulative -4 to all sexual acts for each size category apart you were from your partner) but they didn't really add up to much as the book regularly reminded you there was more than one way to finagle another's dangly bits.

On a different note, I REALLY enjoyed the book adding an additional ability score (Beauty or Glamor, I don't remember exactly) that separated Charisma's usual assumption that it reflected both your physical looks and sociability. I feel like that was something that could have used a little separation from the very start and it gave players a good base to work with to make that happen.

[MadGreenSon]

On a different note, I REALLY enjoyed the book adding an additional ability score (Beauty or Glamor, I don't remember exactly) that separated Charisma's usual assumption that it reflected both your physical looks and sociability. I feel like that was something that could have used a little separation from the very start and it gave players a good base to work with to make that happen.

Agreed about Appearance being a useful measure, if not terribly vital. However, some modifiers by race would have been nice, just to help with relative beauty and all that. I usually just kinda wing it on who's prettier than who, usually using human perception as a baseline and consider that each race, especially those further from human, see each other without penalties (or bonuses for that matter).

The spellcaster that used Appearance as their casting stat was just silly though. Sillier than a Muscle Wizard in my opinion.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Thurbane
Finally got an answer back from the freight forwarder: the can dispose of the book for free, attempt to return it to the seller ($20), or send it to another address in the USA ($20).

Looking at this again, it seems extremely fishy to me. "Dispose of the book" sounds like they'd be free to keep it or resell it themselves.

Originally Posted by Poldon
The link is direct to the US Post Office restrictions and prohibitions for Australia. When and if you contact your shipper, tell them to look up the rules themselves. They are choosing not to ship the item; they are not being forced to do so.

Yeah. None of this smells right.

Thurbane, I would really encourage you to contact one of the local chapters of the Better Business Bureau in Ohio. You're dealing with a sketchy situation which is potentially mail fraud, and the BBB may be able to help you.

You might also want to check the fine print on the company's shipping policies, which they should have available on their website or on request from their HQ in Brussels. It's entirely possible the issue involves some yokel in their Ohio branch who either doesn't understand their official policy or who's trying to pull a fast one, banking on the fact that someone in Australia wouldn't be able to suss it out.

You might also see if Belgium has a consumer protection agency of their own. The more angles you work this from, the more likely you'll get a resolution.

[Tanuki Tales]

Guys, as bad as Thurbane's situation is (and he has my sympathy), we're getting really heavy into territory that we're explicitly not supposed to discuss (to the tune of giving legal advice and advocating crime).

[The Glyphstone]

I agree about the chapters on the various races. I've never looked at Halflings or Gnomes the same way again.



I really wish I could offer the same. But my budget is too tight to afford meat on my pasta right now. You're a good guy to offer.

It's got the best quote I've ever found in it, in the section about unusual monster relationships:

Love Life of An Ooze: One Ooze. Idiot hits Ooze. Two Oozes.

[Cruiser1]

Actually a few spells are really cool too.

BoEF is fine for fluff, but many of its spells are unbalanced. Example overpowered spells (with spell levels for classes that can cast it in parentheses) include:

• Beauty's Caress (3-4): Gain a 5d4 enhancement bonus to CHA. Maximize it for +20 to CHA!
• Body to Body (6): Easy way to chain all your buffs (even Range: Personal and Target: You spells) on your whole party.
• Fecund Growth (9): Advance a creature's age category. Turn your Wyrmling familiar into a Great Wyrm!
• Kiss of Life (5-6): Now Sor/Wiz/Bard can Raise Dead too, and for only 1000 gp.
• Life Shell (5): Blocks everything except naked bodies and spell attacks, with no save! Nobody can melee you unless they're naked!
• Phantasmal Lover (3): Daze a target for a round even if they make their save.
• Privacy (3): Blocks all divination spells targeted toward you! Much cheaper than Mind Blank.
• Spell Meld (8-9): Cast spells using another creature's spell pool. If you can't break the game with this, you're not trying!

[MadGreenSon]

BoEF is fine for fluff, but many of its spells are unbalanced. Example overpowered spells (with spell levels for classes that can cast it in parentheses) include:
<snip list>

Yeah... When I went over the book to find useable material, the spells were one of those things I pared down to a very few that are things like detecting pregnancy and... I'll check my list. Ok My list included the spells for detecting pregnancy, analyzing ancestry and the "condom" spell and that's pretty much it.
I also just banned the feats magic items because they were silly or redundant in the case of some of the items, the creatures and templates are redundant for the most part, but the fluff was useful!

Still. Those gnomes and halflings are freaky.

[Tanuki Tales]

BoEF is fine for fluff, but many of its spells are unbalanced. Example overpowered spells (with spell levels for classes that can cast it in parentheses) include:

• Kiss of Life (5-6): Now Sor/Wiz/Bard can Raise Dead too, and for only 1000 gp.

1. What's wrong with arcane casters being able to bring people back from the dead?

2. Wizards could already do this. There's no limitation (to my knowledge) on researching and creating new spells that wouldn't allow a Wizard to create an arcane spell that does the exact same function as practically any divine spell.

[skyth]

There are a handful of spells in the BoEF that are useful for worldbuilding purposes. In particular there are spells for contraception, for detecting pregnancy, and assisting with fertility issues. These are unlinely to ever actually be used by the players in most campaigns, but IMHO things which should exist in any world where magic is common and used for daily quality-of-life improvement.

For what it's worth, Rolemaster has an entire spell list devoted to this.

[Tengu_temp]

Is this the book where elves take a different kind of "size penalty"? Because I know there's a book where that happens and I endorse that 100%.

I think you're thinking about FATAL.

1. What's wrong with arcane casters being able to bring people back from the dead?

Because that's one of the precious few things arcane casters weren't able to do.

[Tanuki Tales]

Because that's one of the precious few things arcane casters weren't able to do.

Except, as I pointed out, they were always able to do that in 3.X. At least Wizards could through independent spell research.