AHA! 3e got something right! congrats wizards of the coast!

[Rystil Arden]

And what is so good about this Archivist? Is he some kind of sage ... or does he collect bodies?

He's a sagacious divine magic user, similar to the occultists of the middle ages who collected lore of the names of demons and angels and other tidbits, hoping this would give them divine insight or power. You can see them in the free excerpt here, so therefore getting the Archivist is not a reason to buy the book, but looking at the Archivist and seeing how neat it is may well be a reason to buy it

 

[Ranger REG]

He's a sagacious divine magic user, similar to the occultists of the middle ages who collected lore of the names of demons and angels and other tidbits, hoping this would give them divine insight or power. You can see them in the free excerpt here, so therefore getting the Archivist is not a reason to buy the book, but looking at the Archivist and seeing how neat it is may well be a reason to buy it

Well, I want to inject horror into my existing campaign, not remake my campaign to focus on one genre.

I also want DM's tips to scare my players, but I have never been a fan of taint.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well, I want to inject horror into my existing campaign, not remake my campaign to focus on one genre.

I also want DM's tips to scare my players, but I have never been a fan of taint.

The nice thing about HoH is that you can do just that--kind of like Unearthed Arcana is a toolbox for generic variants (with a checklist at the end), you can pick and mix Heroes of Horror elements to inject horror into the game without going full-blown and picking them all. So you could choose to leave out Taint but maybe throw a Dread Witch and Oneiromancy to really play up the psychological aspect with fear and dream effects, or just use some of the advice in the GM tips section. Or perhaps put some of the unknown back into death by using the variants for raising the dead (where the characters can be changed by their experiences on the other side).

Still, it might not be for you--I've seen mixed reactions on HoH, but usually the reactions that are most common are (1) HoH is great or (2) HoH has good stuff but is overshadowed by earlier works such as [names works]. I'm one of those who likes the earlier works (the blue AD&D Complete Villain's Handbook was mentioned, and that was a very good one) and HoH both

 

[BroccoliRage]

Two edition changes a decade is too much to keep up with? It must have been very reassuring to have the president of the United States be named Bush again.

the wave of releif that washed over me...was awe inspiring....

i mean to say that ive gone through well over two edition changes from the threee boxed sets to AD&D 1e to 2e to the lame board game attempt to 3e and now...3.5. i have several conversion books, so i dont even bother keeping up with the editions until its tweaking time.

 

[BroccoliRage]

I too really like Heroes of Horror. But then, I've always felt that the line between standard dnd and horror dnd is very thin- looking back at the ol' 1e FF, especially the penangellan, I've always had a soft spot for horrific encounters and gruesome monsters. I loved the Gates of Firestorm Peak and dubbed it "most Cthulhu dnd adventure evar" (I even plan a Return to the Gates of Firestorm Peak for my game eventually).

The best part of HoH for me was all the dm advice on mood, different types and techniques of horror, etc. Overall, it is a great book (imho)!

I'm glad that a gronard such as BroccoliRage can get so much enjoyment from it!

heres where i embarass myself. whats a gronard? are my feelings supposed to be hurt?
::rolls for intiative for snappy response::

 

[Mouseferatu]

heres where i embarass myself. whats a gronard? are my feelings supposed to be hurt?

Not at all. A "grognard," as I understand it, is essentially an old-timer, a guy who's been gaming since most of these young whipper-snappers were still knee-high to a halfling.

 

[BroccoliRage]

Ah...okay then. thing thats funny is ive been roleplaying since i was knee high to a halfling, which is the only reason i qualify.

 

[Odhanan]

So that's it, HoH is great because of the Archivist alone? :\

I really liked HoB because of the flow-charts, the focus on characters within the battle, etc. I still don't see what makes HoH so outstanding, honestly. The advice for horror are covered at length in books of RV and Cthulhu I've got. I don't feel there's anything here for me. Is there?