Lords of Terror: a review
My first impressions of this product were good. The cover picture of Oddi
the Keen battling Ralzakark is sharp and immediate with realistic
background. I think its the best cover illustration since Shadows on the
Borderland and the first since the Glorantha: Genertela pack to show any
actual action. The back cover picture is of a Hellwood elf Krjalki running
through a woods with sword drawn --good artwork, but not as impressive as
the cover. The book itself is bound in the same manner as Strangers in
Prax or SotB and seems far easier to open than the Dorastor book.
As expected, Lords of Terror brings back a lot of material from the old Cults
of Terror book. Five cults return in full: Primal Chaos, Malia, Bagog, Thed,
and Krarsht. And two others are mentioned with short descriptions:
Vivamort and Thanatar. Two cults appear now for the first time: Krjalk and
Pocharngo. Some comments on Illumination supplement the material
moved to the Dorastor book. Only the Crimson Bat fails to return in any
form (surprising given the short reference to other cults of Dorastor at the
end).
The core cult writeups return the flavor of the originals while eliminating
some of the standardization of cults common to RQ2. Of particular note
are:
- Revised chaotic feature tables (both beneficial and detrimental). The
feature tables now give various options for how to present the feature.
Thus, the Exotic Breath or Spit ability lists Insect Swarms, spitting gorp,
howling like a ghoul, spitting webbing, exhaling smelly musk or poison gas
cloud as possible means to treat the ability. The Detrimental Chaotic
features now reflect changes that could be temporary or permanent, unlike
the original Reverse Chaos table which only dealt with temporary effects.
- The Malia writeup now includes Propitiatory worship and talks in detail
about disease in Glorantha and how to acquire such (both through
possession and through infection). Common diseases return though
they've added some new ones (Black Tongue, White Eye), while dropping
some old ones (Brittleskin, Creeping Crudd). Non-human diseases
(basically plant/elf related) make their first appearance.
- The Krarsht writeup brings back many elements lost in the condensed
GoG piece. Back again are the skills of Bribery and Disguise, the ability
(ritual spirit spell) to Brew Pratzim (yum!), the special divine spell Tongue,
and everyone's favorites, the Krarshtides. The writeup tries to make some
sense of her multifarious runes.
- Thanatar gets mention for the Atyar/Than distinctions from a Dorastan
view and adds one spell, True Garrotte.
- A full Vivamort writeup is promised in a future publication called Tower
of Night, but the piece here indicates the Vivamort no longer has spirit or
divine magic, only sorcery. I assume from the short writeup that Ecstatic
Communion becomes a sorcerous ritual.
- Krjalk is the cult of traitors--those who turn to chaos in secret. A needed
writeup for those running Hellwood elves, though there is nothing I would
call special about the cult. (I note that the Power Drain spell originally part
of the Crimson Bat cult appears in this cult now.)
- Pocharngo has appeared in short form in GoG. The most interesting
part of this cult is its ability to spawn various unintelligent offspring. The
manlings appeared in River of Cradles. Crawling hands are described here.
A very Cthulhuesque cult in all its attributes.
- Other short cult notes include Gloomshark, more on Hungry Jack, Ikadz,
a new spell for Kyger Litor called Skin Broo, Magra the Harpy Mother
(including a mating ritual needed for captive males), Urain the Evil Wind
(sort of a chaotic Storm Bull and I ask 'Why not Ragnaglar?'), and Vakalta
the Haunter of Hell with a spell to Devour Troll.
The Paulis Longvale story about Hahlgrim, Bolthor, and Oddi the Keen
appears again. Aside from one piece (that which accompanied the Crimson
Bat writeup in the original), all parts are here with only minor editing. The
story still reads well and now includes a brief note on future history for
those developing a Dorastor campaign. (And I won't spoil it here.)
The other key pieces are:
- A series of short answers to the question "Who Was Gbaji." These are
mostly from various Arkat cults or Godlearners. The best is the Historical
Analysis Briefing Report of the Mostali. "Heretical Mostali collaborate with
elves, trolls, etc. ... The attempted repair caused further damage to the
World Machine. ... Gbaji had to be destroyed ... recycling was impossible."
- The Book of Drastic Resolutions. Basically a Cthulhu-style book that
can give you increases in Chaos Lore and allows you to learn the chaos
spells in some form.
- 7 chaotic personalities (mid to high level NPC's). Some, like the
Shambler, seem to have stepped out of a Cthulhu book. Others are far
more Gloranthan--I liked K'rana the Scorpion Queen best (former niece of
Bolthor, but still a good Humakti). All include extensive scenario hooks
which should help develop any Dorastor (or chaos related) campaign.
- And a short piece on Passion Spirits including new types.
The only major piece in CoT and dropped here was the History section.
Most of this can be found in the Genertela pack or the Dorastor book.
If you don't have CoT, I give this a very strong recommendation. It gives
you all you need for dealing with chaos plus lots of nice tidbits like the
Paulis story. If you do have CoT, then you have the usual question of
whether it has enough new or not to make purchase worthwhile. Counting
pages, about half (46+ of 96) is new. If you're running in Dorastor or
another chaos area, I think you'll find it worth the price. Unless you hate
horror works like Call of Cthulhu. (And I would make a final note that
though it's subtitled Cults of Dorastor, it gives you plenty of material that
would work in Snakepipe Hollow, the River of Cradles, or other nice chaos
nests.)
Harald