Eldritch: The Book of Madness (review)

Hmm... I wonder if the whole "dark fantasy" tag has become a bit... basic. It seems that it has become the go-to genre for anybody wanting their fantasy roleplaying to be a bit more nuanced. After the initial child-like phase of playing D&D for fun and laughs, it's quite common for players to ditch the power trips, fart jokes, and escapism for something a bit more emotive and stylised as they step into their angst-ridden rebellious teen phase.

The trend has been around long enough to have a whole catalogue of dark fantasy rpg games and settings out there. In-house, the Ravenloft setting has been D&D's flagship dark-fantasy for decades (arguably more horror than dark fantasy), though Dark Sun and Fantasy Flight's Midnight setting have also had great popularity. Outside of the ever-looming market leader, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay always prided itself on being pretty dark. Stormbringer had the advantage of drawing on the peerless Mr. Michael Moorcock's iconic Elric novels (which formed the template for dark fantasy as a genre). The '90s had a shadow cast over the entire rpg landscape as the industry seemed to suddenly get engulfed in gloom (this period saw the "World of Darkness" games dominate the market, after all, but let's stick to the dedicated fantasy games.)

Right now, indie darling Mork Borg is the dark fantasy that all the cool kids are into, and its satanic metal art makes a bold claim to the top of the pile in a much more convincing manner than some other games. Gemini called itself "the dark fantasy roleplaying game" and though the setting was exceptional I'm not sure if it earned the right to be THE game of that genre. Evernight was the first setting released for Pinnacle's Savage Worlds system and its tag of "The Darkest Fantasy" is an embarrassing display of braggadocio. I was intrigued by the claim of The Dark Peaks as a "pitch black" setting, but the last I read of the game it was still in development and I thus can't judge it. Blades in the Dark is right up there, but I'd argue it's more of a crime story or heist drama.

But today our dark fantasy rpg setting is a preview for Eldritch: The Book of Madness for D&D 5th ed by Stewie Black. As a dark fantasy it clearly has a lot of work ahead of it if it wants to stand out, especially as the last "book of madness" I read was the wonderful sourcebook of that name for Mage: the Ascension (man, I still need to get another copy of that...)

Note: My pdf preview copy is not a complete document. This review may contain obsolete opinions and information once the final copy is released.

Beyond the Black Mirror

Eldritch: The Book of Madness opens on an epic scale, positing an alternative cosmology to the 5th edition canon where an ancient and alien dimension outside of reality insidiously intrudes into the multiverse as we know it. This "Realm beyond the Dark Mirror," called the Kra-Xalar, is a primordial shadow universe filled with sadistic powers and creatures who delight in bringing suffering to mortals. The evil powers here are not just driven to destroy and corrupt; they actively revel in it, taking perverse glee in their atrocities.

It is stressed that the entities of the shadow are not just evil but worse than that, the choice term being "profane," and this term is one of the two keywords essential to the book (the other being "dread.") It evokes the concept that the Kra-Xalar and its inhabitants are aberrant outsiders to the natural order. Dread takes it a step further, being the influence the shadow has on a mortal and the power it has over it, allowing profane monsters to engage special abilities fueled by a victim's exposure to the darkness' malign touch.

With such horrific themes, the author takes pains to give fair warning at the start regarding content and mentions that real world mental health should be treated with respect, but I appreciate that this section isn't laboured or authoritative (though some might appreciate a link to some safety tools; the current trend is to err on the side of caution.) From there we get into an overview of the setting; systems regarding Dread, madness, and addiction; sections regarding antagonists, including a selection of monsters and their associated stat blocks; a slew of profane spells, and finally a look at the setting for the campaign taking place in a unrelentingly bleak and inhospitable world built on the near-dead corpse of an ancient titan. A glossary is also thankfully included to help with the plethora of names and terms introduced through the book.

Production values on the whole are great. The writing might be a little on the florid side at times, but rarely strays into amateurishness and is engaging and entertaining. Artwork is good and graphic design and layout is clean and easy on the eye. Game system information follows the established template of 5e, including some of the most recent updates to it (such as giving monster stat blocks a proficiency bonus.) As an unofficial 5e supplement this is really quite good and better than most, and though this review is of the pdf only I am confident that the printed copy will show similarly respectable quality.

The Profane

At times the profane shadow seems Lovecraftian in tone, completely alien and mind-bogglingly vast, but in practice it is nothing like it. Rather than be aloof and uncaring it is intimately concerned with mortals, much like the devils of D&D's lower planes. However we are also informed that the dark powers are nothing like the fiends we are familiar with, but are somehow worse.

This concept of "like the bad stuff you know, but worse" permeates the book. The two great dark powers (a Lord of Pain and a Lord of Madness) seem awful similar to their fiendish counterparts, but we are assured they are more terrible. The "bound-dead" are just like undead but with more abilities and the method of their creation involves ensuring the living mind of the victim is constantly tortured. A new condition, Terrified, is just like Frightened but can affect creatures immune to fear. The new profane damage type is kind of like necrotic, I guess, but since nothing specifies that it is immune to profane damage it can hurt anything.

Some of the monsters certainly follow this trope. Dread ghouls and grogres might have some interesting abilities, but they just feel like regular ghouls and ogres given a profane polish. The fell shade is likewise the profane hellhound or blink dog, and the kariad dragon is immensely cool but feels a bit too similar to a purple worm or sandworm of Arrakis (though the fact that it can turn to mist and teleport makes it a terrifying threat.) There's something that's too familiar about these antagonists, and they certainly don't come across as a unique form of malevolence.

There are indeed some great antagonists in the book, my personal favourite being the brokiiri doll. This fabric monstrosity not only makes an ally of a soon-to-be-damned child and creeps off to commit murders but also has the cleric-dampening power of being able to soak up Turn Undead attempts onto itself, screaming off into the dark instead of the intended target. It's a nasty play, but if used correctly can be a great dramatic moment mixed with some black humour.

But on the whole I'd like to see the profane powers be more unknowable and pernicious than presented. (Edit: this perspective is present in upcoming material.)  The very fact that the book encourages a slow burn but simultaneously hits the reader from the outset with the grand cosmic scale shows a missed opportunity to reflect the themes Eldritch is seeking to present. Probably the best way to do so is offered in the section regarding cults, showing how the dark powers subtly exert their influence into the mortal world. 

Dread and Madness

Undoubtedly the most interesting mechanism in Eldritch is Dread.

As characters continue to deal with the profane they gain Dread points. Casting profane spells, encountering powerful profane beasties, and witnessing profane scenes will all contribute to a character's pool of Dread (sort of similar to getting Cthulhu Mythos knowledge.) Thereafter, profane creatures can use this pool against the characters, spending a target's Dread to fuel special powers and abilities, making Dread a powderkeg of danger in any profane conflict.

It's a fun idea, and it also means characters will be cautious about stepping into an encounter with a profane enemy when rocking a high Dread pool. And that pool is likely to be high indeed, as it refills daily unless you are doing something to remove it such as destroying profane monsters or cashing it in for madness.

Ah, yes. Madness. Mental illness is a very tricky subject and a lot of rpgs have had trouble dealing with it appropriately, but Eldritch sidesteps a lot of it by making the afflictions presented less mental illness than an actual outside force that has burrowed into the character and is twisting them. At least it seems that way. There's certainly a paragraph stating that it's a mortal's mind breaking due to its inability to comprehend the magnitude of the horrors assailing them, so the Lovecraft parallels come in yet again. But all of the madnesses listed have their own unique fantasy names (there are soooo many fabricated terms in this book!) so at least an attempt has been made to avoid stigmatization.

Two other methods of gaining Dread are of particular note. The first is the spell list, which is always a popular section for players getting hold of a new sourcebook. Dozens of new spells are on offer, but they come with the terrible price of the possibility of gaining Dread (at midnight a save must be made with the difficulty increasing the more profane spells you cast that day.) This is yet again familiar territory for those who have played games involving Lovecraftian horrors or other forbidden magic, but it's not something we've seen much of in 5e and I really like it. There's a great deal of satisfying narrative weight in a game when your own poor choices come back to haunt you later; that's the essence of classical tragedy.

Less satisfying is gaining Dread through addiction. A selection of addictive substances are detailed, and their descriptions are quite interesting and offer great story hooks, but though their drawbacks and Dread increases are clear there is no benefit (temporary or otherwise) for indulging in them. I think this is a great shame, as the temptation to indulge is lost as is the eventual payoff for cursing your own decisions in the past. With the spells we get the wonderful moment where our choice to obtain temporary gain leads to damnation; the drugs, drinks, and possessions of the Addictions chapter offer no such poignant opportunities. (Edit: The Addictions chapter is undergoing a revision with a lot more material being added. Yay!)

The Wastes are an intriguing setting for the game built on the dead or near-dead body of a titanic light-aligned entity that was destroyed by the profane powers. A whole campaign is offered where the PCs are attempting to rescue its power, which has taken the form of birds.

Dark Tidings

Having read through it now, what Eldritch offers is a D&D campaign with a distinct vision. It isn't an addition to a regular campaign, but a campaign in its own right. Taking one or two creatures or spells from Eldritch and plugging them into your Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance campaign might be interesting, but it isn't really what this sourcebook is meant to be about. What this is really about is offering a particular focus for your campaign. Playing a game with this sourcebook is about delving into the particular malignant nastiness it has to offer. And it has a particular tone to it, one which is somewhat reminiscent of an undead or fiend campaign, but has its own unique twist.

The Dread mechanic is the heart of this book, and it would need to take a central place in any campaign using it. And I do like it a lot. I certainly like it a lot more than the bare-bones sanity mechanism offered in 5e's Dungeon Master's Guide or the equally uninspired "Horror Toolkit" in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. In this regard, Mr Black is doing a far better job of giving us decent tools for telling this kind of story than the official 5e team are doing.

But I came into this looking at it as a "dark fantasy rpg" and the question I have to ask is if it stands out from the pack. It certainly has a good old crack at it. There's no denying this is trying hard to maintain a true course and I think Stewie Black is making a good faith attempt at exploring some legitimately interesting terrain. D&D as a system isn't really the greatest fit for dark fantasy, I'd argue, and the game often impedes the ability to explore storylines of brutality, failure, and loss. But none of that is Black's fault, and he has made a great effort to work within 5e's limitations to offer a dark game.

And I want to make it clear that I mean it as no small compliment that he hasn't failed. I can be a harsh critic, and there's things to criticise, but I'm inclined to look to the positive qualities here. I don't think that Eldritch is revolutionary or a masterwork, but it would have been very easy to screw up. After all, so many others have failed before. But I like Eldritch, and I think there's something quite good here. It's not my preferred kind of dark fantasy, and there's a great deal I would have done very differently, but if I was playing in this game I would sink my teeth into it.

It's certainly better than a lot of others I have read, some of them official D&D products.

The Eldritch: The Book of Madness campaign is going live on August 30.

Concept: 3 (Good)

System: 3 (Good)

Execution: 3.5 (Better than Good) 

Verdict: 3 (Good)