Overview: Horror Adventures
Looking to add some Horror to your RPG sessions? Paizo has just the book for you!
Horror Adventures is a new Campaign Supplement and Game Mastering guide designed to add some great horror elements to your games of Pathfinder:
Let’s just list out some of the things this book has it in before we get into the real meat of this subject:
- New Character Options, Feats and Spells.
- New Gear, Mechanics and Monsters.
- New templates, and a “tips & tricks” section on how to add some genuine scares in your game.
…And that’s just the tip of the iceberg with this one. So let’s dive on into this books dark heart!
For me this book is a pretty good split between what the players will use and what the DM can use. I don’t have exact percentages but I’d ballpark it somewhere in the neighbor hood of a 60/40 split in the Game Master’s favor. All of the new classes, options, feats and gear – as well as reading some of the new rule mechanics – will be of interest to anyone looking to adventure in this “horror-twist” playground. The rest of the book is devoted entirely to the DM to better equip them to run a Horror Adventure.
I won’t go over all the different classes and feats other than to say that if you want to run a Lovecraftian inspired adventure this book has the classes, feats and spells to support all that. But what this really adds is the new Corruptions and the new Sanity & Madness mechanics to the game.
Corruptions are things that turn you into the classic Horror monsters – think vampires and werewolves – but at the cost of your humanity. The more you give in the more powerful you become…you just might not be able to claw your way out of it.
Sanity & Madness are basically a way to keep track of how crazy the characters are going. If you’re going for less Gothic horror and want to do more the “mind-games” or Cthulhu “madness” style games then these new tools are for you! There are also new curses and diseases for your party to deal with as well – because you can never have too many of those to throw around, right?!
Another really cool thing for the DM to use are the new monster archtypes. Again, this run the gambit from classic Gothic horror with “vampires &werewolves” to the cosmic horrors and even a nod to the unstoppable stalkers from 80’s & 90’s “slasher” movies. I didn’t think they would go there but Paizo totally did!
The final thing I wanted to mention was the very informative section on how to create a genuine horror adventure. It’s hard to create a sense of dread for your players in an RPG. Think about it: they are playing characters that have magical abilities, can summon their own monsters or even gods to help fight, or they might be super awesome in their own right. So how do you make them “scared” for their characters with out resorting to cheap tricks like “save vs death” spells? That’s what this book covers and I think it’s probably one of the most helpful sections to read as DM.
Overall, if you’re running a game, I think this book has some fantastic ideas to help all DM’s out and it’s worth picking up a hard copy. If you’re just a player you may not want to pick this one up at the Hard Back price tag – but Paizo does offer a $9.99 PDF version you can snag. But both players and DM’s should be able to find some cool stuff to play around with in this book – If you grab it now, you’ll have a whole month to play an amazing adventure for October…Just throwing that out there!
Pathfinder: Horror Adventures
There are things that dwell in the dark places of the world, in long-abandoned crypts or musty attics—terrible things that can destroy your body and shatter your mind. Few individuals would think to seek out such nightmares, but those drawn into the darkness often find it infecting them, corrupting them in ways both subtle and disgusting. Some believe those who die facing such horrors are the lucky ones, for the survivors are forever scarred by their experiences.
Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures gives you everything you need to bring these nightmares to life. Within these pages, you’ll find secrets to take your game into the darkest reaches of fantasy, where the dead hunger for the living, alien gods brood in dreams, and madness and death lurk around every corner. Rules for players and GMs alike pit brave champions against a darkness capable of devouring mind, body, and soul. To prepare to face such torments, the heroes can take new feats, learn powerful spells, and even acquire holy relics—for they’ll need every edge possible to survive!
“Whew, No Killer Clowns in this Horror Adventure.”
~AdamHarry after the video shoot.
