Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast asked me to review the Dungeon Survival Handbook and provided me with a review copy.
Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook.
For the next year or so, Wizards of the Coast are going to have a recurring problem with any book that they release. D+D Next has been announced and from the small amount of it that we have seen, its going to bear little to no relationship to 4th Edition in terms of rules mechanics. With that in mind, any new book has to have a broader appeal than just providing new feats / powers / items / themes / backgrounds and indeed any other crunchy rules additions or else people are just going to hang onto their money and wait for the D+D Next version.
Enter The Dungeon Survival Handbook (DSH), a compendium of rules and advice for players and DM's who want to go dungeon delving and explore the unmapped corners of the underdark.
The book is split into three main chapters. Chapter one contains all the crunchy new rules additions with new character themes, new races, new feats and some new powers for almost every class.
The themes are well written and evocative but just about all of them suffer from the problem that a character with the theme would not integrate well into an average party of characters, at least not without significant work on the part of the DM and the other players. There are different reasons for this for the different themes but it boils down to two main ones. Firstly, some of the themes are pretty dark and characters with them are perforce pretty badly damaged and prone to extreme behaviours. A typical Bloodsworn with a vendetta against some racial or social group is not going to sit well with the average Paladin or good aligned Cleric and if not handled well is likely to lead to a party implosion. Similar things could be said about the Escaped Thrall and the Underdark Outcast. The second reason is that most of the remaining themes are for pretty mercenary characters, the Deep Delver, Trapsmith and Treasure Hunter are all presented as people that a typical adventuring party would hire to assist them on a specific dungeon expedition. This might be fine for a one off adventure but can you really see it working over the course of a campaign if one of the party has an expectation of being paid over and above what anyone else receives.
Of course none of these things are insurmountable but if the entire party decides to take themes from the DSH then a DM might have their work cut for them making sure the party stays together.
There are three new player races outlined, Goblins, Kobolds and Svirfneblin. The background information on all the races is well presented and I certainly want to play a Goblin and a Kobold in some future game. I did have some issues with the Svirfneblin which had mostly to do with relative power levels. In earlier versions of D+D, Svirfneblin have been a powerful race with abilities beyond what were available to other races and I think a little of that mentality has bled through into their current incarnation. A case in point, lets compare the Level 10 racial utility powers available to Kobolds and Svirfneblin. A Kobold can take an encounter power that lets him shift 1 square on two separate occasions during the encounter. A Svirfneblin can take an encounter power that lets him teleport 10 squares as long as both the start and end square are on or adjacent to a solid stone surface (hardly a drawback underground!) Oh and he doesn't even need line of sight to the target square so he can teleport through walls and the like. Do those feel like they are on an equal power level? They don't to me.
The rest of the chapter contains some new class and skill powers that are particularly tailored to dungeon or underdark settings and will provide players with some interesting alternatives to explore when customising their characters.
Chapter two provides information on the specific features and dangers of dungeon and underdark exploration and provides advice on how to avoid and test for certain hazards and tips on best practice when exploring the unknown. All of this is written in a general style and from the character's point of view so there is almost no 4th Edition notation. This makes it all much more useful than it might otherwise have been as its relevance won't fade as the shape of D+D moves on. It also has some interesting discussions on typical creatures found in the underdark and does this without giving away concrete game information. I thought it would be particularly useful for GM's that don't want to let players read about the monsters in the Monster Manual as that would give too much away but would like them to have some background information that they could rely on.
The chapter rounds out with descriptions of some famous dungeons from D+D history, like Castle Ravenloft, The Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, The Gates of Firestorm Peak, The Ghost Tower of Inverness and some others. It was a great nostalgia trip for me reading this section as I've played and indeed GM'ed most of these dungeons over the years but I found it all a bit confusing. The section does a great job of evoking the excitement of these old adventures and if I were a relatively new D+D player, I'd be badgering my GM to play some of these classic old dungeons. The problem is that most if not all of them are out of print, and have been for many years so how are people meant to get their hands on them? Are WoTC planning on re-releasing them at some point? Updating them to 4th Edition? Or indeed making them available in any way? It seems a little weird to get people excited over something that would be all but impossible to legally obtain.
Chapter Three of the DSH contains tools and advice for DM's wanting to create their own dungeon settings. The stuff in here is pretty much all pure gold. I particularly liked the discussions of linear vs. dynamic dungeons and of using repeating design motifs in order to provide a sense of style and place in your dungeons. It also contains some discussion of how to connect your players and their characters into the adventure setting that you want and what kinds of hooks work best for different types of characters. While it does use the themes from chapter one in order to provide concrete examples, its not hard to to see how they can be applied more generally.
None of the information presented here is particularly revolutionary and an experienced DM is going to know most of it already but its a good resource of ideas and advice for how to go about building a dungeon or underdark style adventure or campaign. Additionally, the information is pretty universal, its largely the same information that was relevant for D+D 3.5 almost 10 years ago and it will still be relevant when D+D Next makes its appearance.
Overall this is a well presented book with a lot of useful information for the right person. If you are a DM who was planning on launching a dungeon delving or underdark campaign then this book is for you. If you are a 4th edition player and you like new stuff then there is some good new stuff for you to play with, especially if you think your campaign is heading into a lot of dungeons. If you are neither of those things then its a pleasant enough read but you might not get a lot out of it.
And finally: I mentioned at the top of this review that I thought WoTC had to make sure books released this year had a broader appeal and I think they tried hard to do that with the DSH. Over half the book is effectively edition neutral and the information presented here will still be useful for as long as drow stalk the underdark and mad wizards build crazy trap-filled underground laboratories
Score: 7/10
Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook.
For the next year or so, Wizards of the Coast are going to have a recurring problem with any book that they release. D+D Next has been announced and from the small amount of it that we have seen, its going to bear little to no relationship to 4th Edition in terms of rules mechanics. With that in mind, any new book has to have a broader appeal than just providing new feats / powers / items / themes / backgrounds and indeed any other crunchy rules additions or else people are just going to hang onto their money and wait for the D+D Next version.
Enter The Dungeon Survival Handbook (DSH), a compendium of rules and advice for players and DM's who want to go dungeon delving and explore the unmapped corners of the underdark.
The book is split into three main chapters. Chapter one contains all the crunchy new rules additions with new character themes, new races, new feats and some new powers for almost every class.
The themes are well written and evocative but just about all of them suffer from the problem that a character with the theme would not integrate well into an average party of characters, at least not without significant work on the part of the DM and the other players. There are different reasons for this for the different themes but it boils down to two main ones. Firstly, some of the themes are pretty dark and characters with them are perforce pretty badly damaged and prone to extreme behaviours. A typical Bloodsworn with a vendetta against some racial or social group is not going to sit well with the average Paladin or good aligned Cleric and if not handled well is likely to lead to a party implosion. Similar things could be said about the Escaped Thrall and the Underdark Outcast. The second reason is that most of the remaining themes are for pretty mercenary characters, the Deep Delver, Trapsmith and Treasure Hunter are all presented as people that a typical adventuring party would hire to assist them on a specific dungeon expedition. This might be fine for a one off adventure but can you really see it working over the course of a campaign if one of the party has an expectation of being paid over and above what anyone else receives.
Of course none of these things are insurmountable but if the entire party decides to take themes from the DSH then a DM might have their work cut for them making sure the party stays together.
There are three new player races outlined, Goblins, Kobolds and Svirfneblin. The background information on all the races is well presented and I certainly want to play a Goblin and a Kobold in some future game. I did have some issues with the Svirfneblin which had mostly to do with relative power levels. In earlier versions of D+D, Svirfneblin have been a powerful race with abilities beyond what were available to other races and I think a little of that mentality has bled through into their current incarnation. A case in point, lets compare the Level 10 racial utility powers available to Kobolds and Svirfneblin. A Kobold can take an encounter power that lets him shift 1 square on two separate occasions during the encounter. A Svirfneblin can take an encounter power that lets him teleport 10 squares as long as both the start and end square are on or adjacent to a solid stone surface (hardly a drawback underground!) Oh and he doesn't even need line of sight to the target square so he can teleport through walls and the like. Do those feel like they are on an equal power level? They don't to me.
The rest of the chapter contains some new class and skill powers that are particularly tailored to dungeon or underdark settings and will provide players with some interesting alternatives to explore when customising their characters.
Chapter two provides information on the specific features and dangers of dungeon and underdark exploration and provides advice on how to avoid and test for certain hazards and tips on best practice when exploring the unknown. All of this is written in a general style and from the character's point of view so there is almost no 4th Edition notation. This makes it all much more useful than it might otherwise have been as its relevance won't fade as the shape of D+D moves on. It also has some interesting discussions on typical creatures found in the underdark and does this without giving away concrete game information. I thought it would be particularly useful for GM's that don't want to let players read about the monsters in the Monster Manual as that would give too much away but would like them to have some background information that they could rely on.
The chapter rounds out with descriptions of some famous dungeons from D+D history, like Castle Ravenloft, The Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, The Gates of Firestorm Peak, The Ghost Tower of Inverness and some others. It was a great nostalgia trip for me reading this section as I've played and indeed GM'ed most of these dungeons over the years but I found it all a bit confusing. The section does a great job of evoking the excitement of these old adventures and if I were a relatively new D+D player, I'd be badgering my GM to play some of these classic old dungeons. The problem is that most if not all of them are out of print, and have been for many years so how are people meant to get their hands on them? Are WoTC planning on re-releasing them at some point? Updating them to 4th Edition? Or indeed making them available in any way? It seems a little weird to get people excited over something that would be all but impossible to legally obtain.
Chapter Three of the DSH contains tools and advice for DM's wanting to create their own dungeon settings. The stuff in here is pretty much all pure gold. I particularly liked the discussions of linear vs. dynamic dungeons and of using repeating design motifs in order to provide a sense of style and place in your dungeons. It also contains some discussion of how to connect your players and their characters into the adventure setting that you want and what kinds of hooks work best for different types of characters. While it does use the themes from chapter one in order to provide concrete examples, its not hard to to see how they can be applied more generally.
None of the information presented here is particularly revolutionary and an experienced DM is going to know most of it already but its a good resource of ideas and advice for how to go about building a dungeon or underdark style adventure or campaign. Additionally, the information is pretty universal, its largely the same information that was relevant for D+D 3.5 almost 10 years ago and it will still be relevant when D+D Next makes its appearance.
Overall this is a well presented book with a lot of useful information for the right person. If you are a DM who was planning on launching a dungeon delving or underdark campaign then this book is for you. If you are a 4th edition player and you like new stuff then there is some good new stuff for you to play with, especially if you think your campaign is heading into a lot of dungeons. If you are neither of those things then its a pleasant enough read but you might not get a lot out of it.
And finally: I mentioned at the top of this review that I thought WoTC had to make sure books released this year had a broader appeal and I think they tried hard to do that with the DSH. Over half the book is effectively edition neutral and the information presented here will still be useful for as long as drow stalk the underdark and mad wizards build crazy trap-filled underground laboratories
Score: 7/10
