BoVD: Your opinions

[Endur]

As a GM...

I like the Arch Fiends section and the possession and sacrifice rules. Even if the PCs never fight an archFiend, its good background material. I'll use some of the more imaginative Spells for NPCs (Love's Pain, Armageddon from the Sky, Psychic Poisons, etc.).

Most of the spells and almost all of the magic items and all of the PRCs and monsters (except Shadow Demons) are things I'll never use.

On the other hand, I could see using some of the vile PRCs from the Player's Guide to the Forgotten Realms (Malar, Loviatar PRCs).

 

[JDJarvis]

i like the book of Vile Darkness. It is very rules heavy but it does cetainly provide lots of unwholesome badness for the game. Most of the art communicates the general unwholesomeness rather well, most of it is fairly goor with a few weak spots-
My wife after seeing the picture of Orcus: "Oh look Orcus has been workign out"

The demon and devil lord write ups are actually useful to me and even moderatley interesting reads.

It is a DMs book that the players should keep thier snouts out of most of the time except of course when you want to provide one of those "I wanna be Evil, I wanna be a dark and gloomy master of doom" players with the opportunity to destroy themselves.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

The mechanics are surprisingly balanced. In terms of being evil to gain power, there's probably a better percentage in becoming a paladin.

The "vile" content (e.g. children's bones as material components) isn't something I'd want to bring in to our games because we tend to play in a more "heroic" style. For example, if I find it necessary for a villian to capture a princess the group will find her in a cell and tied to a chair and nothing more. I wouldn't see the need to carry the details of her imprisonment any further and the group hasn't asked for such details.

The introductory chapter artwork crosses the line. It isn't something I'm going to leave around the house for my daughter to pick up and when she turns three or four I'll be selling my copy on e-bay.

That being said, everyone I've loaned the book to has loved the read.

 

[satori01]

While I find some of the line drawing in BoVD to be a bit more intense than normal in a D&D product, the most disgusting WOTC illustration (imho), is the one adjoining the Illithid Savant Prestiege class in Savage Species.

I like BoVD quite a bit. I have a Plague Worshipping Armagedon cult, and the Cancer Mage worked fine, I also plan to have a destruction bent Armagedon cult, and the Mephostopheles cult looks like it might fit the bill.

The Spells and Magic Items can be quite nice to introduce to gauge the 'true' alignment of your characters. I had a Neutral spell caster, whom was intrested primarily in power, and was very 'results orientieded',(Ie do whatever it takes to reach their goal). I threw in a Vile spell on a scroll, to see how the player reacted, she was throughly disgusted, and came to the character realization that some powers require too much of one's soul and decency to utilize.
The book has come in handy when I have needed it.

 

[DaveMage]

I like the BoVD.

Having stats for the Archfiends is great. Even better is having NPCs that serve them fully statted out.

Also, as others have said, I like the concept of vile damage.

(Although, I did have a humorous moment the other day. I was reading the BoVD when my 2-year old came into the room. He didn't notice the book (and I would not show it to him) but he did bring me a book he wanted me to read to him. It was quite a shift going from reading the BoVD to reading "A is for Apple." )

 

[Snoweel]

For example, if I find it necessary for a villian to capture a princess the group will find her in a cell and tied to a chair and nothing more. I wouldn't see the need to carry the details of her imprisonment any further and the group hasn't asked for such details.

Sorry, this reminded me of this DM I played with a few times - he was such a sicko with his descriptions that we (the players) used to leave his house saying "What about that freak!"

Ahh, to laugh at those less fortunate...

While I find some of the line drawing in BoVD to be a bit more intense than normal in a D&D product, the most disgusting WOTC illustration (imho), is the one adjoining the Illithid Savant Prestiege class in Savage Species.

The one with the Drow-headed spider-demon with the hairy arse about to gut that elf is pretty creepy.

But how hot is the Marilith?

 

[MerakSpielman]

I love this book, but I've just started a new gaming group, and I don't know how well they'd handle such nastiness. So I'll keep it in reserve for a while, and make sure they can handle it maturely.

It actually has some rather good discussion on the Nature of Evil. What it means to be evil, why people do it, and the different things that qualify and how evil people justify them. Even if you think you can come up with perfectly good villians from your own imagination, there's good stuff in the BoVD you probably haven't thought of. Not ALL of it is gruesome or lewd, you know.