I have fond memories of cracking open the 2e Ravenloft boxed set. I spent countless hours pouring over those books entranced by the thick, gothic atmosphere. When 3e rolled around, I was sadly disappointed by the lack of support for Ravenloft which was just one book published by Swords and Wizardry. "Shadows over Vathak" (SoV) seeks to remedy a hole that has been missing since 3e but providing a new campaign setting of horror. Instead of going with the gothic antiheroes of Victorian literature, SoV uses the Lovecraftian Old Ones to inspire terror.

The PDF stands at 97 pages and covers new races, classes, equipment, creatures, and geography. In the races, I particularly like the different racial stats for the various human tribes to set them apart (one of the attributes I always admired from the old Birthright campaign world). Besides dhamphirs, the monstrous cambions make an appearance, monstrous creatures with the blood of the Old Ones in them. Perhaps my favorite section is the new classes. In particular, I really enjoyed the Apostle class, a cleric/paladin/bard hybrid. It sounds like a lot but it looks to be a very fun class with a lot of options including prayers and hymns (which work kind of like bardic performance). The Rifleer is my 2nd favorite (though closely followed by the very cool Eldritch Conjuror, a sorcerer variant). The Rifleer is a crackshot with the new long rifle with that can impose some nasty status effects depending on where he blasts his enemy. Also, I'm glad to see SoV staying true to our 2nd Amendment Rights and providing us with the right to bear arms, and a couple of new ones too in the equipment section.

One other standout feature of SoV is the excellent art by Rick Hershey. While its style has its roots in the comic book world, it does a great job capturing and evoking the dark, gritty atmosphere of SoV. The creature illustrations are fantastic, showing off what a twisted world SoV is. The graphic presentation is also very nice with a blood splattered pages and leering skulls make the whole thing a very professional looking project.

All in all, SoV does a great job of invoking gothic campaigns of the past but remaining wholly original at the same time. I hope this isn't it for SoV and that we get future supplements and adventures furthering detailing this very chilling world.

Iron Nugget

Shadows over Vathak is a goth campaign for the Pathfinder system that interjects horror elements into a fairly Eastern European world.

Vathak is a starting point, but could have gone a great deal further, especially if Lovecraft's name is in the description. The story writes out the common races, instead providing a variety of human races who survived. Because when unhead horrors take over the world, I expect the humans to be the ones who survive. I expected a few more classic takes on Lovecraft mixed with D&D.

Iron Uses: Dungeon Masters looking for Cthulhu horrors and flavor for a campaign could pick a few things from this book, maybe even eject this as a country in a campaign. Players hoping to find a different take on a darker human take on races will be in luck as well.