Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends: A Review
Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 10:39 am
After having some time to digest the contents of Arthaus' latest Ravenloft, I feel confident enough to give it a fair review.
The book is set into five chapters (plus the obvious intro and DM appendix), each telling a campfire story. What follows the story is an explaination about the truth of the matter, as well as a discussion on how to incorporate it into your game.
What follows is actually a little more complex. Every author has a different style of writing, and the five different approaches to the project are quite obvious. Each chapter has quite a different feel to it, and some feel that they are sticking quite losely to the formula.
Introduction: The introduction to the book explains the hold that the inspiration that Ravenloft takes from our imagination. From Dracula to Cat People to The Hook, Ravenloft seems to be at its best when adapting the frighteningly familiar tales we tell in the dark. It, of course, gives the outline that the rest of the book is to follow.
All "crunch" is kept in the DM Appendix, by the way.
Chapter One: To Inherit Eternity: The first chapter of DTDL was written by Harold Johnson. The story is a murder mystery at a dinner party/ auction, complete with cast of shady characters. It is by far the longest (the story toping out at 31 pages, the entire chapter being 47), but it has good reason. To Inherit Eternity first explains how to play the dinner party with your players (including options for changing key moments in the evening to keep players who read the adventure off their toes).
This chapter also serves the purposes of laying out the formula necessary to run a murder mystery of your own, as well as setting out everything you need to run a campaign based around the being known as Eternity. It lays out the quest for immortality, making suggestions for powers and events, but leaving it up to the DM. It also explains how to use the campaign or even the dinner party with characters from low to high levels.
If I had one problem, the dinner party itself feels like it would be difficult to introduce the character's into. With such a large cast and revelations that must occur at certain times, it would be a challenge for even the most experienced DM to run, and seems to involve a lot of railroading. After the party though, it opens up quite nicely.
Chapter Two: The Curse of Ashington Manor: Steve Miller's story involves murder, a curse reaching its peak, and a house which has suffered some tremendous tragedies. After the truth is explained, Mr. Miller gives the adventure itself. While the first chapter focused on a bar outline, this one is a meatier adventure, complete with map, site descriptions and an interesting use of the Tarokka deck. Of the adventure possibilities presented, I found this one to be my favorite, and can see it becoming a staple adventure of the setting, like Night of the Walking Dead or House of Strahd. It also introduces a new foe for the Vistani, but more on that later. While a DM might not run the adventure, it provides some excellent ideas for use with Sinkholes of Evil or Ethereal Resonence.
Chapter Three: The Brood of Blutkalte:Brett King's story of a family of killers is much more complicated than it first seems. What really shines in this chapter is the outline of serial killer adventures. This can be difficult to run, what with a four to one ratio for the average party, but King warns of common problems and how to avoid them. The particular serial killer involved in the story is quite unique, though it is possible to follow through the adventure and never have your player's learn the truth behind it. The adventure itself is a outline of important scenes and some clues to get them started.
Chapter Four: Noises in the Night: Ryan Naylor expands on an old Book of S_ article to bring this story of Bogeymen. Less an adventure than a how-to-guide, this chapter tells of the destruction of one family, and the truth of Bogeymen. How they are created, the rules they live by, and how they stalk their prey. Learning their stories can make you a target, but also can hold the keys to your salvation. And should the player's really want to, there are ways to change the nature of the bogeyman itself by changing the story. The chapter struck me as a bit of "Van Richten Lite", telling the DM how to best use these creatures and make them memoriable.
I also loved the addition of the Dread Possibility (and the return of my favorite 2e artifact), the Tome of Terror.
Chapter Five: To Honor and Obey: Of all the stories, this one is the creepiest. Madness, murder, voodoo and incest, Steve Marmell's To Honor and Obey was something of a shock. While all of the stories deal with adult themes, this one, the shortest of them, held the most viseral twist of them all. And trust me, it isn't a pretty story to begin with. After the story, there are suggestions on how to get your player's involved, but more time is spent on how to use the story to introduce a family as antagonists. It also points out that one of the character's is perfectly set up for Darklordship and goes so far as to explain his desires and how his curse would manifest.
DM Appendix The Appendix is broken by the chapters, holding the game material for each story.
Chapter 1: 4 artifacts, 14 Characters from the dinner party (the stats are left to the DM) the motives and basic powers of three Uber-powerful characters in the background, 3 monsters and one new cult.
Chapter 2: One powerful new artifact, three stated out NPC's, and the new Vehrteig. I feel that the Vehrteig (and the NPC that makes use of this race) is an excellent monster, and I'm already working on how to add them into my campaign. Anything that the Vistani fear that much has to get used.
Chapter 3: One monster, the unique Sebastian Blutkalte. I can't talk about him without giving the twist away. Suffice it to say, he adds some new abilities to a classic monster.
Chapter Four: 6 bogeymen, each with a unique approach to their work. I would have loved to see the story for each one, but that could have been a book in itself.
Chapter 5: This includes 1 feat, two spells, and the Voodan core class. There is also a sidebar on how Voodan is not Vodoun, but a DnD versioninspired by it. The Voodan is a caster with the ability to hand of spells to others, interact with the spirits around him, and become a mount for his Loa. He has a HUGE list of spells to cast from, but chooses two schools as primary school. Spells that are on the list but aren't in those schools, are memorized as being one slot higher. A well done and unique class.
The Technicals: Each artist captures the feeling of the chapters quite well. One of the best drawn books yet.
As for editing... I really want to tell you that it has improved... but I can't. It isn't horrible, but there are a few glaring errors, especially in the intro and first chapter. Nothing that ruins the book of the material, but... "just as happiness was within his grasp, the hunters camel, and he had to flee..." Just silly little things like that every once in a while. I don't know who needs to be taken to task about this, but I do know that the Editor is the same one from Masque of the Red Death and a number of other editing problems. He's done a better job in this one, but it still needed another read over.
Overall: I found Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends to be a great book, and one that would be an asset in any Ravenloft DM's library. The chapters are interesting and well written, and have enough material to run entire campaigns based on each one.
With the exception of the Voodan class, this book is meant for DM's. It is a guide on how to play in Ravenloft without resorting to dungeon crawling, and there is something here that any DM can find. Heck, if you like Ravenloft at all, the stories make for a good read.
There are a few editing errors, but with the minor exception of a quick stat in chapter two (the actual character is stated correctly in the appendix), the game information is fine. I feel that it is an excellent buy and a great source for ideas.
As a final comment, it is also a rather adult supplement. While not becoming overly descriptive or disgusting, the authors paint some very grim stories, involving murder, the torturous death of children, rape, and incest. The topics are dealt with in a very mature and adult manner which does not glorify or focus on the acts, and the villians generally get theirs in the end. Of course, being a horror based setting, it is doubtful that anyone playing it has not seen far worse in movies or on TV. If you're picking it up for a youger player, take a look at it, but older players shouldn't have a problem.
I give Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends 4.5 severed fingers. Excellent work, but the editing is lacking.
The book is set into five chapters (plus the obvious intro and DM appendix), each telling a campfire story. What follows the story is an explaination about the truth of the matter, as well as a discussion on how to incorporate it into your game.
What follows is actually a little more complex. Every author has a different style of writing, and the five different approaches to the project are quite obvious. Each chapter has quite a different feel to it, and some feel that they are sticking quite losely to the formula.
Introduction: The introduction to the book explains the hold that the inspiration that Ravenloft takes from our imagination. From Dracula to Cat People to The Hook, Ravenloft seems to be at its best when adapting the frighteningly familiar tales we tell in the dark. It, of course, gives the outline that the rest of the book is to follow.
All "crunch" is kept in the DM Appendix, by the way.
Chapter One: To Inherit Eternity: The first chapter of DTDL was written by Harold Johnson. The story is a murder mystery at a dinner party/ auction, complete with cast of shady characters. It is by far the longest (the story toping out at 31 pages, the entire chapter being 47), but it has good reason. To Inherit Eternity first explains how to play the dinner party with your players (including options for changing key moments in the evening to keep players who read the adventure off their toes).
This chapter also serves the purposes of laying out the formula necessary to run a murder mystery of your own, as well as setting out everything you need to run a campaign based around the being known as Eternity. It lays out the quest for immortality, making suggestions for powers and events, but leaving it up to the DM. It also explains how to use the campaign or even the dinner party with characters from low to high levels.
If I had one problem, the dinner party itself feels like it would be difficult to introduce the character's into. With such a large cast and revelations that must occur at certain times, it would be a challenge for even the most experienced DM to run, and seems to involve a lot of railroading. After the party though, it opens up quite nicely.
Chapter Two: The Curse of Ashington Manor: Steve Miller's story involves murder, a curse reaching its peak, and a house which has suffered some tremendous tragedies. After the truth is explained, Mr. Miller gives the adventure itself. While the first chapter focused on a bar outline, this one is a meatier adventure, complete with map, site descriptions and an interesting use of the Tarokka deck. Of the adventure possibilities presented, I found this one to be my favorite, and can see it becoming a staple adventure of the setting, like Night of the Walking Dead or House of Strahd. It also introduces a new foe for the Vistani, but more on that later. While a DM might not run the adventure, it provides some excellent ideas for use with Sinkholes of Evil or Ethereal Resonence.
Chapter Three: The Brood of Blutkalte:Brett King's story of a family of killers is much more complicated than it first seems. What really shines in this chapter is the outline of serial killer adventures. This can be difficult to run, what with a four to one ratio for the average party, but King warns of common problems and how to avoid them. The particular serial killer involved in the story is quite unique, though it is possible to follow through the adventure and never have your player's learn the truth behind it. The adventure itself is a outline of important scenes and some clues to get them started.
Chapter Four: Noises in the Night: Ryan Naylor expands on an old Book of S_ article to bring this story of Bogeymen. Less an adventure than a how-to-guide, this chapter tells of the destruction of one family, and the truth of Bogeymen. How they are created, the rules they live by, and how they stalk their prey. Learning their stories can make you a target, but also can hold the keys to your salvation. And should the player's really want to, there are ways to change the nature of the bogeyman itself by changing the story. The chapter struck me as a bit of "Van Richten Lite", telling the DM how to best use these creatures and make them memoriable.
I also loved the addition of the Dread Possibility (and the return of my favorite 2e artifact), the Tome of Terror.
Chapter Five: To Honor and Obey: Of all the stories, this one is the creepiest. Madness, murder, voodoo and incest, Steve Marmell's To Honor and Obey was something of a shock. While all of the stories deal with adult themes, this one, the shortest of them, held the most viseral twist of them all. And trust me, it isn't a pretty story to begin with. After the story, there are suggestions on how to get your player's involved, but more time is spent on how to use the story to introduce a family as antagonists. It also points out that one of the character's is perfectly set up for Darklordship and goes so far as to explain his desires and how his curse would manifest.
DM Appendix The Appendix is broken by the chapters, holding the game material for each story.
Chapter 1: 4 artifacts, 14 Characters from the dinner party (the stats are left to the DM) the motives and basic powers of three Uber-powerful characters in the background, 3 monsters and one new cult.
Chapter 2: One powerful new artifact, three stated out NPC's, and the new Vehrteig. I feel that the Vehrteig (and the NPC that makes use of this race) is an excellent monster, and I'm already working on how to add them into my campaign. Anything that the Vistani fear that much has to get used.
Chapter 3: One monster, the unique Sebastian Blutkalte. I can't talk about him without giving the twist away. Suffice it to say, he adds some new abilities to a classic monster.
Chapter Four: 6 bogeymen, each with a unique approach to their work. I would have loved to see the story for each one, but that could have been a book in itself.
Chapter 5: This includes 1 feat, two spells, and the Voodan core class. There is also a sidebar on how Voodan is not Vodoun, but a DnD versioninspired by it. The Voodan is a caster with the ability to hand of spells to others, interact with the spirits around him, and become a mount for his Loa. He has a HUGE list of spells to cast from, but chooses two schools as primary school. Spells that are on the list but aren't in those schools, are memorized as being one slot higher. A well done and unique class.
The Technicals: Each artist captures the feeling of the chapters quite well. One of the best drawn books yet.
As for editing... I really want to tell you that it has improved... but I can't. It isn't horrible, but there are a few glaring errors, especially in the intro and first chapter. Nothing that ruins the book of the material, but... "just as happiness was within his grasp, the hunters camel, and he had to flee..." Just silly little things like that every once in a while. I don't know who needs to be taken to task about this, but I do know that the Editor is the same one from Masque of the Red Death and a number of other editing problems. He's done a better job in this one, but it still needed another read over.
Overall: I found Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends to be a great book, and one that would be an asset in any Ravenloft DM's library. The chapters are interesting and well written, and have enough material to run entire campaigns based on each one.
With the exception of the Voodan class, this book is meant for DM's. It is a guide on how to play in Ravenloft without resorting to dungeon crawling, and there is something here that any DM can find. Heck, if you like Ravenloft at all, the stories make for a good read.
There are a few editing errors, but with the minor exception of a quick stat in chapter two (the actual character is stated correctly in the appendix), the game information is fine. I feel that it is an excellent buy and a great source for ideas.
As a final comment, it is also a rather adult supplement. While not becoming overly descriptive or disgusting, the authors paint some very grim stories, involving murder, the torturous death of children, rape, and incest. The topics are dealt with in a very mature and adult manner which does not glorify or focus on the acts, and the villians generally get theirs in the end. Of course, being a horror based setting, it is doubtful that anyone playing it has not seen far worse in movies or on TV. If you're picking it up for a youger player, take a look at it, but older players shouldn't have a problem.
I give Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends 4.5 severed fingers. Excellent work, but the editing is lacking.
), but the way the event runs is quite interesting. In a Castle Forlorn way, the manor areas shift between all fifth time frames, i.e. now, when it started, and the three times in the past when similar events were reenacted.