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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009993" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Steven Creech, Exec. Chairman d20 Magazine RackSizing Up the Target Denizens of Darkness is a core rulebook for the Ravenloft campaign setting. Published by White Wolf under the Arthaus/Sword & Sorcery imprint, this 184-page collection of monsters retails for $29.95. First Blood Denizens of Darkness contains 90 creatures indigenous to the demiplane of Ravenloft. Anyone familiar with past editions of Ravenloft will recognize some old favorites such as a goblyn, reaver, vampyre, and wolfwere. As one would expect of a Ravenloft monster book, a large share consists of undead and constructs. There are several templates but they lack identification until you actually read the individual entry.Critical Hits The presence of some of the original monsters gives the book some much needed familiarity. Fans of constructs will like the variety of choices (many quite gruesome). The lycanthrope template expands upon the one from the Monster Manual and offers several new form choices such as loup-garou, werebadger, wereleopard, and wereraven. Vampire strains are templates that can be attached to the existing vampire template that allows creation of oriental vampires, nosferatu vampires and the like. Specific racial vampires such as dwarven and elven are created in this manner. Critical Misses The presentation misses the mark badly here. The lack of a guide listing the monsters by challenge rating really stands out as a problem. Also the fact that there is no index listing the templates (or at least assigning them into a separate appendix) really affects how easily the book may be used. The black and white artwork retains a style similar to both Creature Collections but comes across as sloppy in far too many illustrations. Coup de Grace Denizens of Darkness does offer some good possibilities and original monsters for the Ravenloft setting. However, as a whole, it falls short of expectations and hype. With several really good monster books from other publishers being available (such as Privateer’s Monsternomicon), this book becomes a must-have only for the diehard Ravenloft fan or completionist. I cannot recommend this book at full retail price given its lack of presentation and clean layout, especially when there is much better out there. To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments, go to Fast Tracks at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=4" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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