The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Yes, yes, I know, I hate AD&D and I'm very vocal about it. So why am I reviewing a Ravenloft supplement then? If you read my other reviews this week, I'm sure you can guess. Desperate for any kind of free book from RPGnet to review, I requested pretty much anything I had any remote interest in. And I got several books from games I hate, although they were quite nice. Maybe I should be more careful what I wish for.

Anyway, the third book I received from RPGnet, Children of the Night: the Created is the fourth installment in a line of books for Ravenloft that provides some unique NPCs and then a short adventure revolving around them. I haven't seen the other books, but if this volume is any indication, I heartily recommend that AD&D fans check them out. In this book, sometimes the NPC was good and sometimes the adventure was good, and sometimes both were good (such as with the bizarre golem Azenwrath in the book). Just like the other TSR books I received, this one was surprisingly good, keeping stats to a minimum and the good ideas flowing. And maybe it was just the previous books that kept me on a science fiction kick, but I kept getting ideas on how to use many of these golems in other games, especially Fading Suns (the Automatic Man would be perfect), so the book's usefulness extends beyond AD&D.

ain't much to look at

But it has a nice cover (of the best golem in the book - Azenwrath - by the way) and a simply layout. Art is limited to pictures of the golems, but there are several maps, most of which are quite good (even is the cartographer doesn't understand that the ground floor and the first floor are the same floor). The writing varies wildly with character (each was written by a different author), as do the adventures. Most of the NPCs are written up pretty well and given solid personalities, while the adventures vary more in quality. Some are excellently done (or have excellen elements - like the list of NPCs and brief personalities in one adventure) while others are much poorer, turning out to be simple and fairly linear, filled with blocks of text to be read to the players. All of them do at least have good ideas at their base, and none are any where near unsalvageable.

a patchwork product

Ironically enough for a supplement about beings assembled from the parts of many other creatures, the book has as many authors as it has NPCs. This makes for a great deal of variety, both good and bad. Since there are 13 different golems and adventures compressed into the book, I'll only mention the highs and lows, but there is enough material here to interesting a DM planning to use a golem soon.

The Best Golem prize easily goes to Azenwrath, the remains of a treant that was used to make magical scrolls and carved wooden items. Now he has animated his enchanted remains and simply wants to be whole again. Creepy and brilliant, Azenwrath is surreal enough to work in another game like Planescape as well.

The Best Adventure Award also goes to Azenwrath (with congratulations to Lucien Soulban, the author of that section). The tale of horror (actually capable of being that way) has several insidious plots running at the same time, and the terrible golem doesn't even show up until the end. He is the unseen horror that whispers fear into the player's ears, and it works very well.

The Worst Golem Award goes to Chaperone, or more specifically, the animated stuff-cat with a real heart by the name of Amber. While not an entirely terrible idea, it just isn't horrific enough, although the insights into it's psychology do make it worth reading.

The Worst Adventure is harder to choose. I finally settled on "Graven Images," the adventure for the stained glass golem Lumina, mainly because it falls short of where it could go and requires extensive and rigid control of the players, something most people don't like. Both the adventures for Chaperon and Angelique were also poor, but mainly because there were much to straight forward and simple, not living up to their potential.

That's just a sampling of the book, however, there are many other golems in the book, some brilliant, some okay, some kind of silly. The adventures are similarly up and down, but everything in the book does at least have a "kernel of coolness" that can be saved and used.

How useful is a book full of golems?

That's my question, actually. While many of the characters in the book are quite interesting, it would be impossible to use them all in on campaign or even within a couple of years without falling into either the "And the golem of the week is…" or "Today at the Council of Doom - I mean Council of Golems…" traps, which would make the horror game a joke. That, even more so than the variety of writing, in the book's biggest fault. There are many good ideas here (many of which can be taken to other games for the benefit of all), but I doubt that more than a fraction of will get used much. It's also somewhat expensive for a book that feels so thin (and comes in at under a 100 pages). Because of that, I can't recommend it whole-heartedly. I would say that those interested look at it in the store and decide if it's worth their time, effort and money. There are many good ideas in between the covers, but almost all of them need a fair shake of work before they can be fully used.

- Derek Guder
- Kintaro Oe
- kabael
- kabael's netbook
- the McGuffin Group

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Children of the Night: the Created
Author: Peter Adkison, William W. Connors, Dave Gross, Miranda Horner, Harold Johnson, John W. Mangrum, Steve Miller, Thomas M. Reid, Cindi Rice, Lucien Soulban, Stan!, Ed Stark and David Wise Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR, Inc. Line: Ravenloft Cost: $18.95 Page count: 96 ISBN: 0-7869-1360-6 SKU: TSR 11360 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 01/13/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical Horror Gothic	Yes, yes, I know, I hate *AD&D* and I'm very vocal about it. So why am I reviewing a *Ravenloft* supplement then? If you read my other reviews this week, I'm sure you can guess. Desperate for any kind of free book from RPGnet to review, I requested pretty much anything I had any remote interest in. And I got several books from games I hate, although they were quite nice. Maybe I should be more careful what I wish for. Anyway, the third book I received from RPGnet, Children of the Night: the Created is the fourth installment in a line of books for *Ravenloft* that provides some unique NPCs and then a short adventure revolving around them. I haven't seen the other books, but if this volume is any indication, I heartily recommend that *AD&D* fans check them out. In this book, sometimes the NPC was good and sometimes the adventure was good, and sometimes both were good (such as with the bizarre golem Azenwrath in the book). Just like the other TSR books I received, this one was surprisingly good, keeping stats to a minimum and the good ideas flowing. And maybe it was just the previous books that kept me on a science fiction kick, but I kept getting ideas on how to use many of these golems in other games, especially *Fading Suns* (the Automatic Man would be perfect), so the book's usefulness extends beyond *AD&D. ain't much to look at But it has a nice cover (of the best golem in the book - Azenwrath - by the way) and a simply layout. Art is limited to pictures of the golems, but there are several maps, most of which are quite good (even is the cartographer doesn't understand that the ground floor and the first floor are the same* floor). The writing varies wildly with character (each was written by a different author), as do the adventures. Most of the NPCs are written up pretty well and given solid personalities, while the adventures vary more in quality. Some are excellently done (or have excellen elements - like the list of NPCs and brief personalities in one adventure) while others are much poorer, turning out to be simple and fairly linear, filled with blocks of text to be read to the players. All of them do at least have good ideas at their base, and none are any where near unsalvageable. a patchwork product Ironically enough for a supplement about beings assembled from the parts of many other creatures, the book has as many authors as it has NPCs. This makes for a great deal of variety, both good and bad. Since there are 13 different golems and adventures compressed into the book, I'll only mention the highs and lows, but there is enough material here to interesting a DM planning to use a golem soon. The Best Golem prize easily goes to Azenwrath, the remains of a treant that was used to make magical scrolls and carved wooden items. Now he has animated his enchanted remains and simply wants to be whole again. Creepy and brilliant, Azenwrath is surreal enough to work in another game like *Planescape* as well. The Best Adventure Award also goes to Azenwrath (with congratulations to Lucien Soulban, the author of that section). The tale of horror (actually capable of being that way) has several insidious plots running at the same time, and the terrible golem doesn't even show up until the end. He is the unseen horror that whispers fear into the player's ears, and it works very well. The Worst Golem Award goes to Chaperone, or more specifically, the animated stuff-cat with a real heart by the name of Amber. While not an entirely terrible idea, it just isn't horrific enough, although the insights into it's psychology do make it worth reading. The Worst Adventure is harder to choose. I finally settled on "Graven Images," the adventure for the stained glass golem Lumina, mainly because it falls short of where it could go and requires extensive and rigid control of the players, something most people don't like. Both the adventures for Chaperon and Angelique were also poor, but mainly because there were much to straight forward and simple, not living up to their potential. That's just a sampling of the book, however, there are many other golems in the book, some brilliant, some okay, some kind of silly. The adventures are similarly up and down, but everything in the book does at least have a "kernel of coolness" that can be saved and used. How useful is a book full of golems? That's my question, actually. While many of the characters in the book are quite interesting, it would be impossible to use them all in on campaign or even within a couple of years without falling into either the "And the golem of the week is…" or "Today at the Council of Doom - I mean Council of Golems…" traps, which would make the horror game a joke. That, even more so than the variety of writing, in the book's biggest fault. There are many good ideas here (many of which can be taken to other games for the benefit of all), but I doubt that more than a fraction of will get used much. It's also somewhat expensive for a book that feels so thin (and comes in at under a 100 pages). Because of that, I can't recommend it whole-heartedly. I would say that those interested look at it in the store and decide if it's worth their time, effort and money. There are many good ideas in between the covers, but almost all of them need a fair shake of work before they can be fully used. - Derek Guder - Kintaro Oe - kabael - kabael's netbook - the McGuffin Group Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)