Copy provided for review purposes. Review revised after feedback from creator.

Overall Impression. This book is for readers who enjoyed Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft or this group’s previous release, Baba Lysaga's Nocturnes and Nightmares. I broadly recommend this more ambitious follow up. While I have reservations about certain player options within, I absolutely love the DM tools included in the book, such as the standout curse system and the monsters that pack a punch. This product is of terrific value for DMs who want to homebrew a horror campaign, build out a Domain of Dread, or wish to delve deeper into horror after completing Curse of Strahd. I believe it’s best used as toolbox for creating tier 3 adventures starring Vecna’s powerful lieutenants (called Vassals). I believe the work could've been improved by working in Vecna to an even greater degree.

Format. This book has outstanding production values, in a format similar to WOTC’s house style. Its does it so well at this that I found myself grading it as harshly as a professional release: in other words I was searching for mistakes rather than them jumping out at me. The work is well edited and I did not spot any typos. Similar to WOTC releases, there are cutaway boxes to inject flavor and break up columns of text. While I enjoyed the writing for these asides, I felt that some of the color choices led readability to suffer. The book is full of attractive artwork that is a mix of original compositions and stock art. The style of some of the original artwork has a cartoonish quality that doesn’t match with the darker tone of the book. While this leads the book to have less cohesion, I would say its inclusion is an overall benefit because its depict the various new lineages and vassals and helps DMs bring them to life. The work was easy to navigate due to the inclusion of a thorough index and hyperlinks.

Player Options. As in WOTC books, the material is split between Player and DM material. Horror themed lineages, subclasses, and backgrounds, magic items and spells in the front and Monsters and GM tools in the back. It does this in a very generous quantity and with greater variety than I have seen in many recent official D&D releases. For example, EVERY class received new spells and subclass options, even the artificer! The downside is with so many options it can be difficult to assess quality.

I believe these player options would shine in two situations. The first would be Halloween or otherwise spooky one-shots where players are assembling a monster squad to fight against the greater evil of Vecna’s forces. The second would be to have these options broken up piecemeal and offered to Players looking to exchange classes, lineages, and abilities as a way of showing how characters have transformed after being trapped in a domain of dread, resurrected with dark magic, committing evil deeds or researching forbidden tomes. Because this is my preferred approach, I would prefer not to simply plunk the options down and let the players choose from a menu like in traditional play. Its perhaps unfair to ask the authors to provide a bit more guidance for integrating the material in this way, but it’s a case where I feel like the book would have benefited from breaking the standard 5e mold.

Most player options seemed carefully balanced against regular 5e content, however I found one glaring exception that would lead me to want to carefully review the player options before introducing them to a long-term game. The Phantasm Lineage has an immortality granting spirit form ability that I found to be incompatible with the way I run both regular D&D and horror campaigns. I believe something which alters how the game is played to this large of a degree would benefit from being repurposed as late game item, or spell, or left to be a temporary ability. I find this mystifying because other monstrous lineage options that easily could’ve gone further to recreate the feeling of a particular monster felt pruned in comparison. Overall, I preferred the work on the subclasses to the racial/lineage options presented.

DM Options. The Curse toolbox provides 12 flavorful sample curses of varying severity and includes alternative rules for resolving these curses. The resolution system is close to the magical weapons creation rules found in Xanathar Guide to Everything. DMs who are fans of 4e skill challenges or Critical Role style resurrection rules will probably enjoy this section the most. This is an alternative framework for dealing with curses so that they have more impact on story and gameplay than the standard bestow curse spell. I appreciate that the curse mechanics are relatively lightweight and doesn't overburden the game with too much complexity. I also like the methods for resolving curses are focused on getting players out there adventuring for a cure rather than just petitioning the nearest high-level cleric.

Unlike the previous work of this group, Nocturnes and Nightmares, this book does not contain adventures anthology, however I believe the work is stronger and more focused because of what it provides in its stead. My experience with high level adventures is they seldom work as intended out of the box and need to be carefully retuned in response to player skill and party composition, which is why I am grateful the back half of the book provides a GM toolkit for crafting high level adventures centered around defeating Vecna’s Six Vassals. A lot of care has been put into this chapter, including background on a vassal, possible adventure hooks, appropriate monsters, combat advice, and lair maps. Each write up culminates in a hefty stat block for a Vassals ranging from CR 12-15. Similarly, the Monster chapter isn’t just a grab bag of wacky horror monsters but is focused on monsters that may be minions of Vecna’s Vassals or reinterpreting the player options as monsters. Unsurprisingly they are mostly undead creatures ranging from CR .5-13 with an emphasis on tier 2 threats.

Another downside of fidelity to the default D&D 5e style is keeping what I believe is vital advice for using this material locked at the end of the book in the “Devious Council” chapter. Personally, I feel that this should have been included right after the introduction. While this chapter won’t give DMs the final word on running evil campaigns or handling players who are determined to go off the deep end, I believe its solid advice that primes readers to think more deeply about how they will use the content in the book.

Final Thoughts. The book could have benefited from a final chapter on how to link the Vassals together and a stronger implementation of Vecna. While Vecna makes a last minute appearance I believe giving him the same treatment as his Vassals could have elevated this book. My instinct as a DM is to try chain the material to take group from low to high level, but as written, a DM probably wouldn’t be able to pit a party against every Vassal due to their similar level ranges. Massive adjustments might needed if you want a campaign centered around fighting your way up Vecna’s command structure. As written, the best way to use the Vassals is selecting the one that would best resonate with an existing group of high-level players.

In other 5e D&D books the level of involvement of the titular character is usually not all that important to the contents. Xanathar, Tasha, and Mordenkainen are all just recognizable names slapped on loose collections of gameplay mechanics to sell books. The clear focus on Vecna and his Vassals is this book greatest strength, but I believe could have been taken even further. This book has more than enough fantasy horror content to justify the asking price. At this stage in the 5e lifecycle there is no shortage of official or quality third party options. The authors are to be commended not only for releasing an exceptional quality product, but for making me want even more, in a game that I find to be already overstuffed. Hopefully by the time players have battled through Vecna's Vassals the DM will have the skills needed to create a satisfying finale using the Vecna statblock in the back of the book.

Disclosure: Recieved free copy for review purposes

This is a great package for a horror themed D&D campaign to go along with Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. The product starts with a playful introduction detailing the in-fiction framing of the Book of Nocturnes and nightmares tied to the story of Baba Lysaga. Its a pleasant treat for those that have played through Curse of Strahd but easy enough to set aside for readers on their first trip through the mists.

The first part of this collection focused on player options. These subclasses were dripping with flavor. I could see each one having a well-defined place in a horror themed campaign and could encourage many hours of gory fun. A few classes such as the Barbarian Path of the Silent Fury or the Circle of Maw Druid had me eager to roll up a new PC to try at the table. I feel that language in this section could be adjusted to feel more fantastical. Subclass names such as a Pathologist Artificer, Xenobiologist Ranger and the School of Osteokinesis wizard suggest a more of a clinical scientific flavor and I would lightly reskin these options before adding them to my game. Tables interested in mad-science approach to D&D will be delighted. I especially appreciated the inclusion of the Oath of the Lantern Paladin to emphasize that hope has a place even in the darkest campaigns.

Contributors were conscious of WotC design conventions and tried to conform to these principles even if I believe they did not always squarely hit the mark. An example is the Pathologist Artificer’s Bone Cart not needing a spell slot to be respawned like other artificer companions or the Dark Harlequin Bard’s features imposing restrictions on how bardic inspiration is used feel like rare balancing missteps in an otherwise mechanically solid product. I feel that by-in-large the subclasses are ready for play at the table though may need tweaking and adjustments for extended campaigns.

Next, a small selection of lineages offered in the style of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft: the Flymera, Living Puppets and Wereghosts. Each option is built off of recognizable horror tropes and include mechanics which reinforce the concept and ooze with dramatic potential. The options presented have features that may be more powerful than traditional races but are constrained by weaknesses. An example would be the living doll’s ability to swap out some of its features during short rests which is counterbalanced by its vulnerability to fire. The lineages were mechanically interesting but may not be good options to players new to D&D. I felt that there may be challenges integrating these options into an existing party or in a more serious horror campaign due to their general campiness. However, I do believe such silliness has a place both in the horror genre and in D&D, but it won't be to everyone's taste. I appreciate that there are suggested plot hooks for working lineages into domains of dread. Overall I think they would be excellent for a one shots or transforming a PC for a limited time.

Part 2 of this product contained my favorite sections of the collection though here its most evident that there are several authors each contributing their own style. The collection could've benefited from additional editing to keep the focus on the great content they are offering. Overall, I enjoyed the variety of new Domains of Dread on display. Short pieces of fiction and evocative artwork help showcase the distinct atmosphere of each new domain. I also appreciated the tables of adventure seeds provided for each domain. The first Domain, The Gloom describes an endless gray land where the traumatic emotions of the poor souls trapped within come to life as monsters. While I found the opening descriptions of this land a bit too vague and flowery, I really enjoyed seeing a chart of monsters from various D&D books used to represent emotional manifestations. I feel like this would be an interesting domain to use in an existing campaign to trap your players in for a couple of sessions but would’ve appreciated less flavor text and more guidance on concrete ways to use this at the table, such as how people are drawn into and escape from the Gloom.

The book also details 3 other Domains: the Hex details a dark fairy tale land of scheming witch covens, Psedolop a land overtaken by undead and fungus due to the encroachment of the Demon Queen Zuggtmoy, and Kachelior a world conquered by fiends where a band of rebels resist the rule of the Baphomet. I really enjoyed reading this last Domain of Kachelior though I would've preferred less backstory and more focus on how to bring the setting to life. I feel that this Domain is a missed opportunity to set up a campaign for parties to pit themselves against all four demon lords that conquered the world rather than just sole survivor.

The collection includes two tier-2 adventures which I had the fortune to play. Night of the Scarecrow set in Domain of the Hex and the 13th circle which takes place in Kachelior. Of the two, I felt night of the Scarecrow was more to my taste and perfectly exhibited the dark fairy tale nature of its Domain and could be easily adapted for use in an ongoing campaign. PC interactions with the Hag NPC Lucinda Lillywhite were especially fun and memorable though I would make a greater effort to disguise the displacer beasts for parties familiar with their gimmick.

The 13th circle would be harder to adapt to existing campaigns. PCs enjoyed their unique magic items provided with the adventure, but the opening hours proved to be fairly restrictive, where party members are separated from each other and forced to navigate a gauntlet of tough skill checks. While execution of the exploration pillar was not to my tastes, I felt that this adventure offered a variety of challenging and fun combat situations against new enemies featured later in the bestiary section. Despite my misgivings of the initial set up, I felt this adventure really came alive in the final hours of the game where PCs explored the top floor of Baphomet’s Tower and faced off against the Demon Lord. I would recommend the 13th circle as a one shot, or the finale of a short fiend-themed campaign. While unpopular with many players today, I feel like a DM offering pre-generated characters designed around one of the high level magical items provided at the start of the adventure would’ve helped bring out the best experience.

Part 3 of the product includes 29 magical items and 32 monsters. A handful of these items and monsters are well implemented in the adventures of the previous section. 16 of these items are cursed consumables which offer a temporary advantage which later require inconvenient penalties. I feel like their addition would help spice up a game session as long as your players aren’t squeamish when they must later pay the price. The monsters are varied in both type and CR with interesting abilities and I like the offered suggestions on which Domains they would be most appropriate for.

To conclude, this product has exceptional production quality that matches some of the best work I’ve seen on the guild. It offers a lot of fun and thematically appropriate options for running a horror themed game. The writing was usually entertaining and clear with no obvious spelling or grammatical errors. While there are various design choices I disagree with throughout the product, when DMing I want homebrew material that is inspirational and gives me a solid foundation to build off of. Nightmares and Noctures does this in spades. Artwork was liberally used through the title helping this title feel more like an official release from WotC. I appreciate the attention to detail such as how the layout was organized. I would note that because this product occasionally mentions spells and monsters used outside of the core D&D books, such Theros, so it would probably be of the most use to experienced dungeon masters with access to many other D&D books who wish to add one more tome to their collection. Happy Haunting.

M.T. Black is my favorite author on the DM Guild. His name is synomous with high quallity adventures that I can either run as one-shots or expand into mutli-session quests. I've put off writing this review for far too long since I haven't been able to run or read all of the adventures in the collection but I figured it was time since I am not able to review his works individually. From this collection I've ran Temple of the Nightbringers, Terror at Triboar (twice!), Giantslayer, and Wizard in a Bottle. So far all have been excellent. I will caution that while I think they can be used fine "as is" they really benefit from adjustments to make the adventures tie-in with hooks from your players. Overall this bundle is a fantastic value and will result in months of memorable sessions.

Pros.

These adventures have a tone and lore that fits well with existing Forgotten Realms 5e products. All adventures I've run give players an opportunity for hitting combat, social, and exploration in a single session.

While most of the adventures can be moved wherever the DM pleases, by default all take place near Phandalin so they can be used with the Starter Set, Essentials kit, or even Storm King's Thunder with little effort.

I find these adventures very easy to customize to my own tastes and often spark my imagination. Sometimes minor characters included in these adventures have developed into allies and enemies that have lasted whole campaigns.

I like that Black uses abstracted to hit/damage values in a couple of his adventures to make some of the more complex battles easier to run for the DM. With creative use of a veteran and hill giant stat blocks, Black was able to create a truly epic finale for the "Giant Slayer" adventure allowing parties to take on a foe normally far above their weight class.

These adventures occasionally encourages the DMs to improvise! I feel like this allows the entire party to have more ownership over their experiences and drastically change the outcomes of some of the adventures. It has helped me grow as a DM and makes the adventure feel less canned. If the improv isn't going well there is enough structure to fall back on and continue the game. I would compare it to the feeling of having a belay harness while rock climbing. Similarly the adventures have open-ended epilogues meaning you can often conclude the adventure on your own terms.

Neutral.

While I am a fairly new DM myself, my players are veterans who have seen it all and aren't easily impressed by goblins or skeletons. When running MTB adventures I sometimes find myself subbing out the monsters for more exotic variants. I doubt this would be an issue for groups just starting up. The adventures often include decent black and white maps usable on a VTT but I often switch them out for ones of my own design.

Cons.

A few of these adventures, such as "Terror at Triboar" which is set town might benefit from time requirements that prevent the players from taking too many rests. It can easily be worked around by putting pressure on your players to keep the action going.

Some of these early adventures don't "scale" in level with level as well some of M.T. Black's later offerings.

Boxed text mileage may vary. Its a matter of preference.