[RPG]: Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium, reviewed by Jocelyn Robitaille (5/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13287.phtml

Jocelyn Robitaille's Summary:

If you can buy into it's rather narrow setting, Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium delivers stylish splatterpunk kicks in a minimum amount of time.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Rafael Chandler]

Thank you for the review, Jocelyn!

I'm happy to answer any questions in this thread, so fire away!

[Jocelyn Robitaille]

I'll be happy to answer questions as well, but I'm at a con all weekend so it might have to wait a bit...

[C.W.Richeson]

Another great review, Jocelyn, thanks!

It sounds like <I>Dread</I> might do the monster hunting / Hunter: the Reckoning thing quite well. Can you tell me a little more about the magic? Is it religious in nature, dark and twisted, or more like fantasy magic? What is its mystical source?

How easy is it to build my own demons?

*always loves hearing about magic*

[Rafael Chandler]

Hi, C.W.,

Thanks for the questions!

*SPOILER ALERT* -- Some of these answers give away information that isn't known to players when the game begins (but it's safe for GMs).

Originally Posted by C.W.Richeson

Can you tell me a little more about the magic? Is it religious in nature, dark and twisted, or more like fantasy magic? What is its mystical source?

Initially, the characters are led to believe that they have been 'blessed' with magical abilities by their angelic mentors. Later, it's revealed that they are, in fact, being imbued with demonic power (since the Mentor is a risen demon). So its mystical source is infernal in nature. This would explain the nature of the spells. Most of them are dark and/or grotesque.

For example, Glossolalia allows you to speak with someone else's voice. When you cast the spell, your tongue stretches out, wraps around the neck of your victim, and renders him mute. When your tongue snaps back into your mouth, you speak with his voice (temporarily).

Vore allows you to recover from injuries, but first you must drink someone's blood.

When you cast Viscera, your stomach rips open, and your bowels turn to lampreys, snakes, and eels that slither out (though still connected to your body) and attack your enemies.

In brief, the magic is gruesome, and reinforces the notion that the Disciples are every bit as dangerous as the demons that they hunt.

Originally Posted by C.W.Richeson

How easy is it to build my own demons?

Mechanically, it's quite easy. There are three types -- Hunters, Stalkers, and Defilers. Each follows a fairly specific range of attributes, which shouldn't be hard to mimic (if you look at the Hunters, you'll see that they all have a Strength score between 7 and 9, a Sense score between 4 and 6, et cetera).

The challenging part (at least for me) is creating a modus operandi. Each demon targets a specific kind of victim, and follows a pattern of behavior. Some stalk their victims, others are murderous brutes, and some demons engineer mass destruction that kills hundreds of people at a time. Whatever the case, the goal is to create a pattern that the player characters can pick up on and intercept.

Hope that helps! If you have any other questions, please let me know.

[C.W.Richeson]

That answered everything, Rafael, thanks!

[Dan Davenport]

Great review, Joce! I enjoyed reading how you thought through your choice of substance score.

Thematically, the game seems to share some aspects in common with Whispering Vault -- namely, gruesome monster PCs hunting gruesome monster NPCs.

[alektraunic]

If you would like to see what "...chaotic, in a good way..." looks like we have a chapter by chapter preview that lets you look at a thumbnail size version of every page in the book.

After following that URL just roll your mouse over any of the chapter spreads to see the interior pages.

[Rafael Chandler]

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

Thematically, the game seems to share some aspects in common with Whispering Vault -- namely, gruesome monster PCs hunting gruesome monster NPCs.

Hi, Dan,

Yes, definitely. Though I haven't read TWV yet (expecting my copy from Lulu any day now), I can safely say that one major difference is Dread's urban, street-level look and feel. It's like a violent cop show (The Shield, The Wire, Law and Order SVU), only the cops can vomit acid or turn their hands into giant lobster claws. And the perps are demons.

Originally Posted by alektraunic

If you would like to see what "...chaotic, in a good way..." looks like we have a chapter by chapter preview that lets you look at a thumbnail size version of every page in the book.

The work that you did on the web site (and the book!) was absolutely amazing. I'm still in awe of that mouse-over feature...