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Review of Servants of Darkness
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Ravenloft is a setting founded on principles of horror and the unknown. The trick has been in creating adventures that are about discovery and dread rather than killing. The first half of Servants plays as a "Crucible"-inspired race to prove a young woman's innocence against a charge of consorting with fey. To do that they must follow clues and perform a few tasks to get the clues and tools to make a case. Nothing new, but it fits the setting.
Throughout the search, the plot is thickening as the players learn more about the real powers behind the events they're investigating. The tension and the pace slowly rise as the facts come to light. At one point the players end up in a scene from the movie "Seven." Some seriously disturbing stuff to be sure. Just as the party is getting their stomachs calmed down, they are thrust into a scene featuring three co-darklords and the most disgusting meal I've come across in a role-playing adventure. The main course places the group in an ugly moral dilemma. The ramifications of dessert are even heavier. Such grave questions of morality and giving into the darkness in a quest for justice are what Ravenloft is all about.
The second half of the adventure is so uninspired, it even goes into a dungeon-esque fortress. This part should be a race, but it gets bogged down in encounters with critters. The players must track down an ex-darklord who has controlled and kidnapped a woman for the purpose of stealing an evil artifact. We never find out why it is necessary for him to kidnap her. For a guy with 18 INT, he was not written as being brilliant or even very bright. Being conniving doesn't count for much. The ending can be dark and unsettling or happy and cheerful. Either way, it seques into the next Ravenloft product, The Shadow Rift.
A lack of good maps is one of my biggest gripes about the current crop of gaming products. That's why I was so pleased to have the color map slip out of my copy of Servants as I tore the shrinkwrap off. Colorful and well detailed, one of the only things that one might consider lacking in it is an appropriately spooky feel. There are five different areas represented on the sheet. One of the areas should be kept secret until the player characters arrive at that scene. That won't be as easy as it might otherwise have beeen, since that part straddles the fold. To show the party the maps of either village, the DM has to cover the mystery section, in addition to putting a hand over the legend. Another minor gripe, but one that surfaces during use.
Aside from the opening page to each chapter, the art is done almost entirely in gray. Very appropriate, given the moral stickiness of the adventure. None of the pieces really stood out. The above-mentioned opening pages for each chapter are done in the style of Domains of Dread. They look good and add a little to the mood.
By the end, the characters will have witnessed some emotionally scarring scenes. They will also have spent time in morally gray areas, whether they intended to or not. The end wasn't nearly as clever as it could have been, but the whole adventure was created by people who knew exactly what mood and ideal to convey. They never lost sight of it. It's not frightening because it includes fights with big monsters; it's frightening because it goes after the innocence and convictions of the characters, leaving them feeling helpless at times. That is Gothic horror.
Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)
