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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ryan Henry" data-source="post: 2685121" data-attributes="member: 31994">Title: Heroes of HorrorCompany: Wizards of the CoastAuthors: James Wyatt, Ari Marmell, C. A. SuleimanPages: 157Format: HardcoverCost: $29.95Basics Heroes of Horror  is a Wizards of the Coast hardcover that "provides Dungeon Masters with a toolkit for adding the elements of horror to any D&D game" (from back cover). The book exhibits WotC's usual high production standards. It is excellently bound, contains a full-color interior, and an attractive, mood-inspiring cover depicting a band of adventurers in a haunted forest, somewhat startled by a horrific incident. It is an attractively functional book. Why My Review? I rushed out to purchase Heroes of Horror  (HoH) on its release date, excited about adding "elements of horror" to my existing campaign, as I've been a fan of the horror genre in film, literature, and gaming for a long time. This review is intended to assist others by providing a clear synopsis of the material included within HoH and a synthesis of my opinions. Overview of ContentsChapter 1: Dread EncountersChapter 2: Dread AdventuresChapter 3: A Horror CampaignChapter 4: Rules of HorrorChapter 5: Heroes and Antiheroes              - Classes              - Prestige Classes              - New Feats              - Dread Magic              - Magic Items and ArtifactsChapter 6: Creatures of the Night              - Villains in Horror              - New Monsters Analysis of Contents "Chapter 1: Dread Encounters" gives DMs advice about how to stage creepy encounters. The advice mostly centers on the "be really descriptive" type. This suggests that the origin of the horror mood must come from the imaginations of the players, which is of course stoked by the descriptions of the DM. There is a two-page table of "creepy events" that can be a springboard for the DM's imagination when attempting to create a horror encounter. Following that is a discussion of how to create horrific villains with a full page table of "villainous traits" to help the villain make a lasting impression on the players. Following this are two short, sample horror encounters. The first is for 7th level parties and uses some of the new monsters found in Chapter 6. The second is for 5th level parties and relies on a traditional horror creature from the Monster Manual used in an unconventional way. After the two short encounters is information about a new demigod that fits with the horror theme. [Really, I don't understand the inclusion of this demigod other than just dropping in something to please the Deities and Demigods crowd. There are plenty of other gods and demon lords (Orcus, Vecna, Demogorgon, Graazt) that would work just fine in a horror campaign.]"Chapter 2: Dread Adventures" gives the DM advice about how to meld horror encounters into a prolonged experience that can span several nights of gaming. Here are some very basic pointers about how to plan an adventure. This advice would really work in any adventure where a DM wants to drive a little bit of fear into his players (and shouldn't that be every adventure?) and to create a logically flowing storyline (again, advice that would work for any adventure).The chapter then attempts to give the DM more fuel for his villains. Instead of interesting personality quirks, the authors attempt to help us flesh out the wicked motivation that will sustain a villain for an adventure-length game. Following that, the authors present a few more pieces of advice for intensifying horror, advice that should be second nature to anyone who's ever seen a horror movie (splitting them up, using subtlity in descriptions, hit them close to home. The end of this chapter includes a sample adventure for an 8th level party, in which the aforementioned new demigod plays a role. It's only about 3 pages including a long stat block, so there's just about as much information in this adventure as in the sample horror encounters in Chapter 1. [I guess I'm just used to playing darker adventures, but this one doesn't seem very horrific. A few undead encounters and a shrine to an evil god isn't that scary if your players have been through "Rappan Athuk" by Necromancer Games, "Crypt of the Devil Lich" by Goodman Games, or even "Nemoren's Vault" by Fiery Dragon. In fact, it probably has as much horror in it as a standard WotC Adventure Path module.]"Chapter 3: A Horror Campaign" follows the framework of the first two chapters by giving advice to DMs about how to make their games more horrific, this one only on a larger scale. First, it discusses setttings for horror. It gives DMs a few ideas about creating their own horror campaign setting (about one page) before delving into a few suggestions about incorporating this genre in Eberron, Faerun, and Greyhawk. The book then goes back to the familiar territory of villains and how to construct plot. Then the book provides an outline of a new campaign called "Nightwatch." This is 2 1/2 long, hardly enough of an example to actually create a campaign setting, considering that half of it is devoted to a 14-room dungeon with very little description (map and room discriptions fit on one page). Part of this section is devoted to a horror city and another into a few examples of wilderness areas. Following that are other examples of horror campaign settings, including one that takes place in Nightmare Land. There are some paragraphs about using dreams to foretell the future. By the conclusion of Chapter 3, we are already almost 1/2 of the way through the content of HoH. So far we're given advice about how to introduce horror into our encounters, adventures, and campaigns, and a few example sites. "Chapter 4: Rules of Horror" deviates from the advice format of the previous chapters by providing crunchy rules. This is where the cruel, black heart of HoH is for me. There are rules for the psychological effects of battling and encountering terrible evils - including fear, shock, and despair. There follows a brief phobia chart.Next is a lengthy section about a mechanic called "taint." Apparently this was introduced in a previous WotC supplement, but I don't own it, so I can't comment on the updates (if any).  Taint allows characters saving throws after encountering evil beings (outsiders and undead, usually), entering a tainted area (such as a really evil graveyard), or committing an evil deed. Taint has two effects, a physical one (corruption) or a mental one (depravity). This is an interesting mechanic, but it is an unforgiving one. Fail your Fort Save and 24 hours later you start to exhibit a "mild corruption" (by which time it is permanent unless you can cast miracle or wish). An example of mild corruption (this is after receiving just one point of taint): "feet curl: your feet warp and curl inward. Your speed is reduced by 10 feet."Sounds pretty major. And it's unforgiving. The authors provide a variant rule to give Taint points each time an adventurer uses violence to kill something (even if that "something" is evil). This is a major departure from how the game is normally played, and while it may appeal to some players, I prefer a game that rewards action instead of deforming the player characters. Taint seems to be something that accrues very easily. I wonder if characters can survive a HoH-modified adventure without becoming a glob of tainted goo or being "driven irrecovably insane." (For those of you who like the Taint mechanic, the authors provide an option of using taint instead of the standard alignment system.)Then there is a section about using mortuary terrain for tactical movement (I'm assuming this has a greater importance to D&D Minis). Essentially, it's like rough terrain and provides +2 cover to your AC. (I'm wondering why we need two pages about this. The PHB already has rules about difficult and rough terrain, cover, and how difficult it is to climb rough walls.) This section seems like a page count padder to me."Chapter 5: Heroes and Antiheroes" continues the crunchy aspect of Chapter 4. This introduces two new classes. The first is the Archivist, who is like a cleric except he gets d6 Hit Die, no heavy armor proficiency, no shield proficiencies, and he has to prepare his divine magic from a spellbook (meaning he has very limited power compared to the versatility of a cleric). His one unique ability is that he can make a Knowledge check during combat to do additional damage to his enemy; at 1st level this is +1; at 8th this is +1d6. Jeez ... just take some levels in rogue!The second class is the Dread Necromancer, which allows the character to slowly metamorphosize into a lich, gaining DR, fear auras, and negative energy touch attacks, along with a slow spell progression chart. Prestige classes follow, and there are 6: The Corrupt Avenger (a crusader against evil), the Death Delver (one who studies death and its magic), Dread Witch (an arcane class that utilizes fear), Fiend Blooded (if you don't qualify for the half-fiend template, you can take this acquired prestige class), Purifier of the Hallowed Doctrine (goody-goody two-shoes cleric or paladin type who fights taint), and the Tainted Scholar (arcane spellcaster who uses taint points to fuel his magic). All PrCs include at least one sample character. With the new WotC stat format, this takes up a lot of space. A full 30 pages of HoH (nearly 1/5 of the book) is devoted to PrCs.Four pages of "new" feats follow. Actually, 5 of these are rehashes from the Book of Vile Darkness. Nine use the new tainted mechanic. So about half (including a monstrous feat) are for evil characters. Six pages of new (and/or rehashed) spells follow. Most of these are evil spells to be used by your enemies. Then there is 1 page of new magic items: this includes one magic item (which functions against tainted creatures) and several evil artifacts. "Chapter Six: Creatures of the Night" begins with a few pages devoted to using standard MM monsters in a horror campaign. This is really basic stuff. (Vampire = Dracula; Werewolves = The Wolf-man; Flesh Golem = Frankenstein's monster; Mummy = mummy; ghost = ghost). The strangest suggestion is the Dragon suggestion. Yes, there is a paragraph here about how to make dragons scary (what is the world coming to?)Fourteen new monsters follow. A few undead, taint elementals (yes, taint is now an element), outsiders, and twisted fey. Most of the monsters seem to be very simliar to existing ones. Bane Wraith = wraith with a tainted feat; bloodrot = undead ooze; Boneleaf = assassin vine that can cast illusions; dusk giant = cannibal hill giants; cadaver golem = flesh golem.There is no index. Final Thoughts Heroes of Horror is mostly a very basic title with advice that will come as no shock to most experienced gamers who are familiar with the horror genre in film, literature, or in gaming. To the complete gaming novice (who's never played Ravenloft or Call of Cthulhu) some of this may seem frighteningly original. To others, there's very little in the way of advice to make its purchase worthwhile. The "optional" mechanic of taint is a recurring theme throughout the book after its introduction. It's inclusion in your campaign world is important to the functionality of many of this book's spells, feats, prestige classes, and monsters. This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't seem so harsh and unforgiving on the player characters. Without the mechanic of taint, the rest of the book's rules seem to fall apart, and you're left with a book of advice.I'm giving this book a 3/5. There are good production values, some of the advice can be helpful to newbies, and taint is an interesting mechanic for those who don't mind being really harsh. However, the book fell far short in my opinion of what I expected.</blockquote>

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