Café de Nuit

The October issue of Dragon magazine is out, and as usual has a horror theme. Issue #336 has articles on 'Origins of Undead', 'The Ecology of The Spawn of Kyuss' (vital to Dungeon magazines's current Age of Worms adventure path), 'Curios of Corruption' (evil magical items) and a 'template' of various types of haunting sites, all of some use to Ravenloft fans. The feature article details the Demonicon of Iggwilv. While this article details the spells contained within (primarily summoning, binding, and torturing various planar beings, and therefore of limited value to Ravenloft), the editorial piece by F. Wesley Schneider discusses other forbidden tomes. The article is titled 'Forbidden Lore' and features illustrations of the cover of the Ravenloft Forbiden Lore boxed set and six of the original tarokka cards from that set, The Hooded Man, The Traitor, The Raven, The Wizard, The Charlatan, and The Horseman. Wes writes that in his younger years he was searching for all that was not meant to be know: "Ultimately - and quite appropriately - it was a boxed set called Forbidden Lore that most satisfied my tastes; an accessory filled with advice to mislead and terrify, cryptic dice, and a mysterious tarokka deck, all for the darkest world in a game surrounded by taboo. This was exactly what I'd been looking for... and it had only taken me about a half dozen years of blind searching to find it. I suspect that, like me, many D&D players actively seek out those things they weren't meant to know. I suppose that desire is implicit to playing a game largely about exploring dark places crawling with terrible things." Wes goes on to mention the Book of Vile Darkness and other dark articles that have been previously printed in Dragon magazine. While Ravenloft was not mentioned by name in this article, the box cover photo does plainly show it. We had been hearing that one of the editors was a big Ravenloft fan, perhaps it is Wes. Regardless, it's good that Ravenloft continues to be recognized every Halloween issue, especially in light of the recent return of the license to Wizards.

It's a shame they didn't mention Ravenloft, though. The trade back to WotC certainly would warrant it in itself. But hey, maybe it was too close to publication time- let's hope November's issue will give it proper attention.

It's a cool tribute for the October issue. And many of the articles on horror do have a quote to start with...

I browsed through it and it look promising. Possibly a near-must for RL fans?

There a good James Lowder story too (not RLish).

Joël