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Long before there was the Slayer’s Guides, there was Rudolf Van Ritchen. The Ravenloft game line’s arguably finest products were designed around the conceit that there were more to the monsters in the Demiplane of Dread than their entries in the Monstrous Manual. Especially with beasts like Vampires, some creatures had personality to burn that many DM’s were unable or unwilling to bring forth. The game supplements were created ‘in character’ and it was possible not only to meet the author but to purchase the book. The series contained guides to Vampires, Lycanthropes, Ghosts, Golems ala Frankenstein’s monster, Demons, Ravenloft’s answer to cinematic Gypsies, Liches, Mummies, and an attempt to breach modern neo-paganism with the more villainous portrayal of witches in ages past. With the revival of Ravenloft as a game-line, it only seems natural to revive the popular sourcebooks, but how does one do that when ‘in character’ the author is dead (or at least missing)? More to the point, with such an amazingly large cast of already covered beasts, what more is there to cover in a Gothic atmosphere? Finally, would the new company release books on par with the original tragically eerie monster guides?
The answer seems to be a cautious yes.
‘Van Ritchen’s Guide to the Walking Dead’ is a supplement, which covers the ‘shambling hordes’ and revenants that are so often used as so much canon fodder in games. Zombies, Skeletons, Ghouls, Ghasts, Ghoul Lords, and Revenants are given the Van Ritchen treatment. Why these creatures ‘arise’ in game, the methods of destroying them, and examples of how they can be terrifying to players are all presented. The book is a somewhat hodge-podge of ideas from previous supplements with some ‘Hungry dead’ presented as creatures who arise from their own malignant will like Ghosts while others are the product of foul experiments gone horribly array. The book draws from a number of different sources and is at least playfully honest about its often direct-takes. Herbert West Re-animator, Ravenous, Ghostbusters, Army of Darkness, and Night of the Living Dead are all referenced in the text with only the slightest tongue in cheek. It does a very good job in my opinion of giving low-level parties truly memorable villains while also making it possible for even high-level parties to shudder at the presence of the Walking Dead.
‘In character’ the information is compiled together by Doctor Van Ritchen’s nieces Laurie and Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove. The settings ‘heirs’ to Doctor Van Ritchen they narrate with quite a different tone than the Old monster hunter. Rather like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys the pair are blissfully detached from their heroic efforts even what they are presented with is stomach turning in the manner of White-wolf’s best works. The opening story about their grandmother rising as one of the Walking Dead is the best Gothic tale Ravenloft has presented yet, despite its brevity. Guest-appearances are made by setting favorites Detective Alanik Ray and Ratik Ubel who provide some of the most informative ‘meat’ of the supplement. While I miss Doctor Van Ritchen’s melodramatic warnings about fooling around with forces beyond human comprehension, the sense of impending doom which hangs around the sisters throughout the book (despite their naitivity about it)...is quite delicious. The Ravenloft equivalent of the Necronomicron is presented in the book as is the introduction of "Toben the Many", who has actually given some readers nightmares.
Out of character information is provided in the form of a great deal of new information on Walking Dead ‘Salient abilities’ aka super powers like swallowing men whole, some rather spectacularly powerful necromantic spells, and a rather lengthy dissertation on using the Walking Dead in your games. I rather liked this session as it cuts to the core that most players enjoy hacking into zombies and skeletons because it’s relatively easy and seems pretty harmless to the conscience. The book reminds you that these undead for all their shambling nature were once people and according to the rather ghastly NPC Toben the Many presented in this book, there is a very real chance that animated dead still have the souls of who they once were trapped inside them. If there was a more concrete reason why this spell is evil in game, I cannot imagine it. How would YOU like to be trapped in your own decaying body, unable to even move without orders for potentially decades?
Finally a new template type is created for “Toben” undead, a reference to ‘Toben’s spirit guide’ from Ghostbusters but unrelated to the character. This is one of Ravenloft’s most disgusting villains yet thoroughly cool in my opinion and someone I am actively looking for a place to insert in my game. Essentially he is a zombie whose spirit inhabits the dead bodies of everyone he kills with his special abilities with ‘no limit’ to the number of bodies he can inhabit. Essentially, the players could be facing thousands of the same foe with each possessing the foe’s same genius intellect. I can never get enough of immortal psychotic weirdo’s, I really can’t.
The art in the book is among the best in a Ravenloft supplement for sheer creepy effect, though quite a bit goes for the easy gross-out. Children walking dead are a particularly common motif and this book is not something one should read after watching ‘Red Dragon’. While not hyper-realistic, it fits the slightly surreal Gothic anime/comic book style that has been adopted for the setting since ‘Sword and Sorcery’ took over. While a little slim at 128 pages, it’s quite a bit bigger than the other Van Ritchen Guides and goes into a lot more detail. At 22.95 its a cheap purchase, well worth the money.
