The Book of Vile Darkness: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement [ペーパーバック]

As Wizards of the Coast continues its plans of global domination with the Dungeons & Dragons brand, the full marketing power of the Hasbro juggernaut has become apparent in comics, board games, and now The Book of Vile Darkness (BOVD) movie. My buddy George Strayton is a story and game consultant on the upcoming film, so I'm hopeful it will do well.

The original BOVD first debuted as a magic item in the 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. It wasn't until 3rd Edition that the Book of Vile Darkness achieved the legendary status of the Necronomicon - and the BOVD is basically a fantasy analogue. The controversy over the 3E book was significant, because its debut drew comparisons to another book published by former Dungeons & Dragons brand manager and Wizards of the Coast employee Anthony Valtera. He formed the Valar Project to produce a book that really pushed the envelope with the Book of Erotic Fantasy, which made the BOVD look tame in comparison. It was thanks to that book that Wizards incorporated a decency clause into its d20 trademark license, which likely led to a much more restricted Game System License for 4th Edition. End of history lesson.

Like the 3rd Edition version, the 4th Edition BOVD is shrink-wrapped. That's pretty much where the similarities end. There's no warning label, because the content inside is appropriate for all gamers. Inside the slipcover are two books and a battle map.

The first book has no trade dress other than a design that presumably mimics the BOVD from the movie. This is in fact the Player's Book, which features 32 pages of crunch: five new character themes (cultist, disgraced noble, infernal slave, reaver, and vile scholar), five new paragon paths (blood -crazed berserker, contract killer, demonologist, idol of darkness, and vermin lord), the Exemplar of Evil epic destiny, and a selection of divine devotion feats, divinity feats, and vile feats. Most of these are pretty standard stuff, with the exception of the demonologist which bestows a quasit companion and the vermin lord, which lets you turn into a vermin swarm. The artificial distinction between this book and the accompanying Dungeon Master's Book seems to be primarily to create a reproduction of the BOVD movie prop.

The first chapter of the Dungeon Master's Book introduces the book and the nature of truly vile evil. The second chapter covers evil campaigns: creating evil adventurers, managing evil characters, evil adventuring, adventure ideas, campaign themes, and campaign arcs. The creating evil adventurers section deals with the complications of evil parties- I played entire high school games that devolved into a series of gladiatorial battles between evil characters. The third chapter covers vile encounters, which includes vile terrain, curses (e.g., werewolf lycanthropy), diseases (like faceless hate which was in the original BOVD), traps (the crypt thing returns, yay!) and hazards (rot grubs, boo!). The fourth chapter covers villain creation, including themes (4th Edition's answer to 3rd Edition templates) and new takes on old monsters like hordelings and tsochar. Nhagruul the dragonspawn makes an appearance. Given that he also has an organization of disciples, Nagruul seems to be important in the movie as well. The Kargatane from the Ravenloft Demiplanes of Dread return in the BOVD. Chapter five covers the artifacts of evil, including cursed items like berserk weapons.

The fifth chapter features a series of encounters for good-aligned heroes to dispose of the BOVD through a series of trials that presumably mimic the movie. That's where the battle maps become relevant.

The BOVD could easily have been a hardcover, and the distinction between the player/dungeon master booklets seems flimsy. The slipcover is unnecessary (is anyone really going to put this thing back in the slipcover after they use it?) and I recognized several pieces of recycled artwork from 3rd Edition products. With a few exceptions, the BOVD doesn't really go far enough in detailing all the fun aspects of being evil. There's no awesome torturer powers, for example, or gluttonous cannibals, or anything that made the original BOVD so wacky and controversial.

Heroes of the Feywild raised the bar for a cohesive splatbook that's an excellent balance between crunch and fluff. The Book of Vile Darkness, in comparison, feels a little gimmicky. It's not bad, but it pales in comparison to the original.

Just got it yesterday, and the first thing I noticed upon opening it up, is that there is no 32 page facsimile of the Book of Vile Darkness, but a 32 page Player's Book (which includes players classes, variants, options, feats, etc) that comes included with the 96 page DM's book for the BoVD (as well as the poster map).

Both books include a ton of great "fluff" material. The DM book contains just what I was looking for as far as providing some great options and ideas for a truly evil villain for my next upcoming campaign. There is much more helpful info in the book as well including some nice monster, and ideas for creating great story hooks and campaigns around the ideas of evil, or having evil players. Plus, it includesan adventure centered around the "Book of Vile Darkness" artifact. The Player's Book seems as though it will only really serve a purpose if you have players playing evil characters. I played in an evil campaign once before and this Player's Book would have been helpful then. The poster map seems very thin and flimsy, but I will certainly attempt to use it (although I prefer my Chessex battle mat).

I'd say for the price, it is certainly worth giving it a shot. As a DM, I am always look for another supplement to fuel my mind with more ideas to make my campaigns even better. But do remember, the Amazon description is INCORRECT. There is no 32 page "Book of Vile Darkness" that comes in this, but a 32 page Player's Book that is designed for the idea of players that want to play evil options or variants.

I agree with the previous reviewer on all points, but with one caveat. The 32 page players book that comes with this product physically resembles the BoVD if you are just looking at the front and back cover. Obviously the content is not the content of the BoVD, but I think that this is probably what the product desription was referring to.