mhacdebhandia said:
Not really. Or, if you have, you've been phrasing yourself and communicating very poorly, because from where I'm sitting, it looks like you clearly said one thing, and then backpedaled like crazy when you got called on it.
Using D&D to do horror seems kinda quixotic to me, despite mhacdebhandia and Psion's stances. Can I turn my screwdriver around and use the handle to pound nails into my deck? Sure, but why would I, when I can pick up a perfectly good hammer? Can D&D do horror? Sure, but why should I use it, when I've got better alternatives?
To me, it seems
Heroes of Horror is about trying to use D&D to do horror, which is a difficult and--in my opinion--quixotic (I really like that word) task. However, if what you want is D&D, but with a touch of horror, it's a great option.
Darkness & Dread is a good book that I like a fair amount, and much of what it contains
could apply to a D&D game, but it has a very lengthy chapter that provides a kind of d20 version of WFRP rules, and the rest of the book does kind of assume you'll be using them, or something like them. Psion may find it a waste, but I thought it was quite well done, and a charming alternative. I highly recommend it, but you have to recognize that you're not really playing D&D anymore if you use them; rather you're playing a game that's optimized for horror and somewhat resembles D&D. The fear checks are a nice addition that could be used in any game, too--in fact, later chapters are nice bolt-ons, although I still think they work better with the alternate chargen rules presented in the earlier chapters.
d20
Call of Cthulhu has some of the best horror GMing advise (system independent) ever written, and has the added bonus of a lot of d20 gribblies that you can use. Heck, I use Hounds of Tindalos and byakhee in all kinds of D&D games, since why not--here's stats right here. It also has the Sanity rules, but the more I see of them, and other alternatives, the less I like them. They're really kinda clunky; a legacy to the original horror game, but not something that's been cleaned up and updated in a long time. Or ever, really. They
feel obsolete.
Of course, if you really want to go hardcore, you probably need to pick up something like
Unknown Armies, but that's probably more horror gaming than you're looking for.