Review of The Dread House

Blurb from the publisher: 'Explore A Dread House of Epic Proportions!

- Geist in the Gears: Set in the near future, The Dread House has become legend, immortalized as an Escape Room with holographic ghosts. New technology gives the holograms substance, which proves problematic when an actual ghost possesses the system.'

What you get: Your USD 50 will buy you the hardcopy of The Dread House, a 288-page full-colour campaign and adventure collection that spans different time periods while remaining true to the ghost genre. The book includes rules for Call of Cthulhu, D&D 5e, and Pathfinder. It can be accompanied by physical and pdf Bookmaks, physical and pdf Screen Inserts for The World's Greatest Screen (Mini), custom-made music, floor tiles, and custom-made miniatures.

The pdf edition costs USD 20. The pdf edition is not provided when one purchases the physical product. One however can purchase any of the five bundles on offer, some of which include both the hardcopy and the pdf.

For the purposes of this review Hammerdog Games graciously provided the hardback, the pdf, the screen mini-inserts, the music, and many of the miniatures that accompany the product.

Spoiler warning: As much as I am not going to describe, let alone detail the adventures, some of their workings will be revealed while discussing it. If you intend to go through them as a player, you might want to stop reading now.

Content: Detailed publisher's blurbs always make my job easier. The Dread House is in many ways a transposable campaign setting that explores the berth and width of ghost stories in different time frames and through different game systems, with all the variance in style that this entails. The game states that it is written with Pathfinder as the default, in reality however the primary game system depends on the campaign one is using. The campaigns cater for all the systems, that is not however the case with the autonomous adventures. It would be pointless for a dedicated hack n' slash adventure to contain CoC stats.

Following the presentation of the house within the first storyline, the book is structured around its storylines, each of which also contain the relevant standalone adventures. Short fiction pieces are interspersed throughout the adventures at opportune moments. Appendices include rules and advice on fear, sanity and all that they entail, souls (and a parallel 'soul point' tracking system that creates both positive and negative consequences for the PCs), and dread ghosts (ghosts whose power ranges from doing nothing to bending space, time and reality). The latter are not just ready-made baddies, even though tons of those are provided per system. A dread ghost generation process has been actually devised for the GMs/DMs/Keepers to spice things up. The appendices additionally include new hazards, new spells and new magical items for all game systems, three NPCs that get the full-page coverage, a page on Solaria, the religion of the setting, and a summary of effects of the house itself.

The strong points: Hammerdog Games keeps surprising me with products that nobody else would think of publishing. I would be careful in calling The Dread House a campaign only, seeing how it is a lot more than that. It has more than one storyline and many autonomous adventures, thus it is multiple campaigns in a book. On the other hand, they are all variations on the same genre, so they cannot really be played linearly. The differences in style between the different parts are quite pronounced. Some adventures are only a few pages long (excluding the fact that the locales are explained elsewhere), while others are substantially longer. Some come out as almost comedic in nature, some are actually scary, others are full of adrenaline and focus while others still work insidiously with a plot within a plot. All of them incorporate the unexpected as part of their premise. Plus, the book contains solid advice on how to create and run ghost adventures, and accompanies them with rules that are ready to use in three different game systems. It even includes fiction, something that is more likely to be encountered in sourcebooks. That's a lot more than what one would expect from a series of adventures, and even more so because the two systems that one is ultimately not using do not get in the way of running the adventures. When it comes to separating the narratives from the stats, the books is very well-written.

I can write a lot about the book's main storyline, The Dread Wedding, I am afraid however that I will spoil half of the fun if I do. Here is something rather harmless: those who are into nostalgia trips will enjoy The Sinister Secret of Peppermash (pepper as opposed to salt, winkwink), one of the smaller adventures. If you have played the 1981 D&D original, it will bring a smile to your face. This is not the only adventure with Easter Eggs from D&D's and Call of Cthulhu's illustrious history.

The short stories are welcome. It might not be something the reader has not seen before, they give however an idea of what the book is aiming for. If the GM/DM/Keeper can incorporate some of their narratives into what he is running at the time, even better.

The book does not contain that many pieces of art, the ones that it does however are evocative. Many are reproduced on the screen inserts for the Mini-Screen (which I wholeheartedly recommend), what I liked the most however is that almost all the NPCs with important parts to play are covered. It is always easier to show and not tell.

The support this product has received is not something that one sees often. The twelve screen inserts (purchased separately) do not simply present evocative art for the players to be timely spooked depending on the adventure you are running. The tables are some of the most interesting ones from the book, including the Dread Effects, an NPC summary, the Dread Ghost Generator (even though as a GM I would have never created something as time-consuming randomly during the game), random objects and dressings, and many more.

The same is valid for the 102 pages (!) of printable floor tiles (also purchased separately). That's 102 pages, not 120 tiles; these are over 200 in number. Many of them are identical, this approach however facilitates the GM in that he has to print everything once only before continuing with the rooms' assembly. Even if one is not a fan of miniatures-assisted roleplaying, visual aids always help. The tiles' variety is very high, and includes anything from wooden and stone floors to staircases, caverns, different types of colourful carpets, vehicles, material that can be glued in order to stand up like fireplaces and chandeliers, and many more.

The miniatures (also purchased separately) are extremely well-done. I am talking people in unusual poses, victims with obvious wounds, an alien-looking cat the terrifying Pumpkin-man and even a... church organ.

The weak points: The Dread House is a treatise on ghosts. Just like everything which is as monothematic, it will naturally become utterly boring if one decides to explore it linearly, storyline after storyline. Treat it like a short story book where you read a story whenever you really feel like one and space the adventures properly for the maximum effect. Do not feel compelled to try different systems just because you have access to them. Indeed, they emphasize different things. It is always advisable however to use the system you are feeling the most comfortable in, and compensate for the style of play you wish to achieve.

Scenarios are not born equal. Some of them are fully developed, while others will require a more invested GM/DM/Keeper intervention in order to shine. Many scenarios start as something until promptly turning into another scenario that the players might have already played in a different context. Other scenarios still are as small as simple quests. Be sure you know the preferences of your gaming group before you run one of the adventures.

I am not happy with the book's organization. A book with such a modular and customizable approach should have had an index, and there is none to be seen here. It also has the flimsiest of headers and footers, which only marginally work. Expect to use scores of post-its and bookmarks when you use it, and yes, I am getting accustomed to hardcovers incorporating cloth marks. This product doesn't, and I feel that it should have. Disastrously enough, the pdf edition has no bookmarks whatsoever, neither does it have live links in its table of contents or in any page reference. That makes the first readings of the book and the preparation of the material for adventuring a lot harder than it needed to be. Less experienced GMs will face quite the learning curve. Be prepared for some legendary page-flipping: the floor plans themselves are situated inside one storyline while many of the adventures are situated in others. In order to run an adventure however, you need both.

The music is probably the weakest part of the support that this product receives. When one has fully customizable sound sets in Syrinscape, including ones which are custom made for Call of Cthulhu, a single, non-adjustable track lasting 15 minutes comes out as rather simple. Still, the option exists.

There are a couple of typos here and there, but they won't ruin your enjoyment of the adventures.

Conclusion: The Dread House is an overperforming product. More than a series of exciting adventures, more than a series of diverse storylines, it ultimately comes out as an inspirational book and a practical lesson on how to craft solid ghost stories. Products which cater for three different systems at the same time do not get published every day. On the other hand, the layout and the pdf editing could have been more GM friendly. Invest fearlessly if you want to explore the ghost story genre.

To find out more about The Dread House and Hammerdog Games, visit http://www.hammerdog.com.

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