Chapter 1: Dread Encounters

Illus. by E. Polak Illus. by E. Polak

ordek gripped his waraxe tightly, his jaw set and his hollow eye sockets gleaming with green light, as the vampire spawn circled to surround them. Mialee clenched her dagger, pressing its point into her skin as she prepared to draw the blood she would need to fuel her next spell. They stood back to back, shielding Lidda’s stiffening body from the approaching monsters. The spawn had them surrounded and began to close in hungrily. They took only a few steps, however, before they stopped in their tracks, shuffl ing uneasily, some glancing back over their shoulders. Tordek snarled, “Come on, you beasts! I’m ready for you!” but Mialee’s bony hand clutched his arm tightly. He wheeled to face her, then turned his eyeless gaze to follow hers. Silence spread through the gathered vampire spawn, and the horde seemed to part like water as their master strode forward. His heavy armor clanked against the cold stone fl oor. “My old friends!” purred the vampire lord’s voice. At the sound, Tordek let his axe clatter to the ground. “The years have not been good to you, I’m afraid. But as you can see, I am in my very prime.” The vampire stood close to the elf and the dwarf, towering head and shoulders above them. He smiled, revealing needle-sharp fangs in a threatening welcome. Tordek was struck speechless, but Mialee managed a gasp, her lips forming a name she had not spoken in years. “Jozan?” Why should you want to play a horror game? Well, why not? Chances are, if you’re playing D&D you’re already exploring a world full of dark sorcerers, evil cultists, monstrous undead, and bizarre monstrosities. The line between horror and fantasy is not always easy to draw. Some of the authors whose work laid the foundations of the D&D game—such as Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith—wrote tales that could as easily be called horror as fantasy, and many of the spells, characters, and monsters that appear in the core D&D rules are quite horrifi c. A horror adventure or campaign is not, in the end, all that different from a standard D&D game. Just like more standard fantasy fare, a horror game is full of terrible monsters, evil necromancers and malevolent sorcerers, nightmarish landscapes, and cunning fi ends. What sets a horror game apart is its atmosphere, which presents all the horrifi c elements of a fantasy game in their worst possible light, emphasizing the dread they inspire. Why emphasize this dark side of D&D’s heroic fantasy? Primarily because it’s fun. The continuing success of fi ction, movies, and TV shows that make use of horror elements is testament to the fact that we like to be scared—at least, many of us do. If you’re reading this book, it’s a good bet that you fall into that category.