Book of Curses

Published by Heyoka Studios this D20 supplement may be purchased through RPGnow for $5.00. What you get is a neat, well laid out, 1.5 MB PDF file chock full of curses (actually nasty Wizard and Priest type spells). In total there are 65 pages worth of arcane curses, divine curses, info on lycanthropy, and supplementary material on vampires and vampirism.

Target Audience: Gamers who use the D20 system.

Product Type: Supplement.

Core System: D20 / D&D

Quality: 6 for layout, 6 for content, 7 ½ for usefulness.

Grade: A- / B+

Overall Rating: 7 out of 10 golden apples.

I dimly recollect a few old Dragon magazine articles about curses. Few ever went into the same depth for individual entries as this supplement does, though a few did present more material for the industrious GM to expand upon. And how does this supplement compare to those articles of old?

Being slightly older now and not having the same amount of free time to waste on such things, I‘d have to say my initial impression is that this supplement is better suited for use by the hard working GM that may be pressed for time. Even though some entries may ramble on a bit and run too long about the historical origins of the spell this supplement might be a good stocking stuffer for that overworked GM, especially is she has a penchant for introducing insidious magical items or devices into play.

However, interesting as individual entries were to read, I have to admit to wishing that more curses were presented and less flavor text. While the flavor text in such supplements can be entertaining to read they really do me no good as a Game Mater, unless they are attached to a established setting. Even then it helps me only if I am using said setting. What GMs need is to have the pertinent information presented upfront. That means giving us entries that are just entries for the spell, not mixing in half a dozen paragraphs of background history with the description unless absolutely necessary, especially if no world setting is being presented.

Too much background detail divorced of any established game world just does me no good as a GM and wastes space that could be taken up with more useful entries!

However the sections on Lycanthropy and Vamprism offer some new twists to an old theme, but aren’t so far out in left field that you can’t integrate the material into a standing campaign that has already established a bit of background detail about lycanthropes and vampires. So it all sort of balances out.

The material is well written, if a bit too detailed at times, yet can be quite entertaining to read. What this supplement contains is a rather interesting cross section of magical annoyances for Game Masters to throw at injudicious characters. There are 10 Arcane Curses and 10 Divine Curses presented with two additional sections on Lycanthropy and Vampirism. The section on lycanthropes includes a bit about their history and myth, information about infection, how to play a were-character, alignment considerations, and template suggestions. The chapter on vampirism is primarily a section of vampire powers, sample templates, and a few potentially interesting prestige classes such as the Sybarist, these being decadent sensualists; sort of a sybarite cross between Countess Bathory and Messalina; and Sin Eaters, who are referred to as vampiric entities that are a “strange combination of beast and mystic”.

I have to admit the titles of a few of the spell-curses presented rated a raised eyebrow, while being oddly chuckle worthy. Viz. the Bitch Queens Embrace and Cackle of Parrots. Too, there are some really nasty and potentially game unbalancing spells here. Take Forgotten for instance. It literally erases all memory of the person targeted by the spell from existence. Or how about Creeping Blue, a druidic curse that literally has plants growing out of a targets lungs. Talk about your horrific ways to die!

Negatives: The only real complaint I have about this document is there are no page numbers. Sure, there are only 61 pages, but that’s no excuse for the lack of page numeration. Too, the sidebars should have been in either an 11 or 10-point font, and preferably of a font different from the main text to give the sidebars a distinguishing character. As presented the sidebars are eyesores. Otherwise the document is well laid out and easy to navigate.

Positives: Nice cover art. Though I’d have omitted one or two of the internal illustrations that obviously conflict with the overall style of the other illustrations, you’ll know the ones the instant you see them. While the document is locked you can copy and paste to your hearts content, the search feature works, there are bookmarks, and the fonts and font size are all of clear and readable size.

This supplement contains the sort of fun eyes-only gaming material that GMs tend to collect in dog eared three ring binders that they threaten players with mortal bodily injury if they ever wander too near. Yes, some of the spells are potentially unbalancing to the average campaign, but then these aren’t intended for use in the average campaign. These spells should be easily integrated and used to diabolical effect in any high fantasy D20 campaign with horror leanings, especially those in the vein of Ravenloft or a similar high magic horror setting. Yes, some of the spell entries ramble on for a page or more with background details that many Game Masters may find superfluous. However this also means there is ample background material to be mined for ideas to allow harried GMs to more readily adapt the material for use in their campaigns.

However this supplement is not well suited for use in low level campaigns or settings where magic doesn’t flow like water. It’s not something you can readily use in your average evening dungeon crawl. Rather what this supplement is best suited for is use in games that are true week to week campaigns in which there exists a richly detailed game world full of intrigue and established characters.

If you would like more information on the D20 system you can visit this site.