Reviews: Death Frost Doom by James Edward Raggi IV

Death Frost Doom – Lamentations of the Flame Princess publishing, 2009.     Author – James Edward Raggi IV. Artists - Laura Jalo, Aino Purhonen. Available in Print from Noble Knight Games, for $9.95, running 28 pages, plus the cover. The PDF is available from RPG NOW for $5.00, and runs to 36 pages. This review is from the print version.

My wife gave me a copy of Death Frost Doom for Christmas and I’ve been kinda saving it for a rainy day. Yesterday, it Snowed in Alabama. The snowfall was heavy enough for it to stick and way down south, it’s understood that we can use that as an excuse to create an impromptu holiday. I got to leave work early, came home, had a snowball fight with my son and then, read Death Frost Doom.

All right, so it’s the most heavily reviewed release from the OSR. With good reason. By now, there’s been enough spoilers given out, that the basic premise, along with the possible catastrophe, waiting to happen to your Milieu, is quite well known. But, unlike many published adventures, merely having someone tell you the details of Death Frost Doom, is nowhere near like reading it for yourself. Not at all!

Sometimes, we experience a work of art that makes an impact. The communication between the artist and our self, is powerful enough, to fire our imagination. The thoughts, imaginings and feelings, which we formulate and call forth as we apprehend the work in question, stay with us. They color our perceptions, tinge our thoughts, to a greater or lesser, extent. As always, we’re engaged in creating meaning.

(If I’m belaboring the obvious, please don’t be annoyed. I often use my blogging, to articulate my perceptions to myself, and meaning is something I’m constantly exploring. I also clarify my thoughts, this way. The original draft of that paragraph, was subtly different.)

In Death Frost Doom, Mr. Raggi, manages to create the mood and atmosphere of the finest horror tales. You’re no longer living in a safe universe. Logic and what everyone knows, no longer applies. The rug has been pulled out from under your feet and you’re falling into the abyss, with monstrous, unholy creatures, ready to devour your very being.

Mr. Raggi can write. Not just design, mind you, I’m talking about his prose. It’s very, very good. It takes a deft hand, to write horror and the author’s skill is evident, throughout. The writing is information rich and a joy to read. How many modules, can that be said of? That richness of content, combines with the author’s conversational style and minimalist approach to game stats, to affect an experience, akin to reading a Horror story. Without resorting to gimmickry, or leaving the framework of writing an rpg adventure. Like I said, it really is a joy to read.

The art compliments the text, beautifully. While I’m on the subject of aesthetics, I would definitely recommend obtaining a print version, if possible. The production values are top notch.

Things are spooky, right off the bat. From weird old Zeke, to the trip up the trail, to the graveyard and cabin, on down into the dungeon. Touches, as well as more generous servings of horror and high weirdness, coalesce and have the potential, in the hands of a skilled DM, to really evoke a feeling of dread in the players. Said DM will be doing them more than one favor. If they truly appreciate that they’re in a really fucking weird and dangerous place, they may be cautious enough to survive what’s coming. Or, even avoid the worst of what the DM is prepared to throw their way. 

DFD, can pretty much be placed into your campaign, anywhere. You need a mountain. Also, the author suggests that a town of some kind, be nearby and I would definitely agree. The rest, should be readily adaptable to your campaign’s history.

From there, all you have to do, is embrace the likelihood of your players doing the wrong thing. So long as they’re smart, the players will avoid falling for most of the traps, they run across. The biggie, though, well, I kinda doubt it. I’ve had players mess with what shouldn’t be messed with, after receiving far more obvious clues, or outright admonitions, that they’d better leave well enough alone. The poor dears can’t help themselves. They just have to see what’s on the other side of whatever it is, that’s in their way.

Which is a good thing. That’s what exploration and adventuring is all about. So, as long as you’re ok with the idea that this will occasionally, bite them on the ass, you’re good to go. Well, that and the fact that it’s going to bite everything else, in the world, on the ass, as well.

Whatever kind of campaign, you’ve been running up till now, once you break out DFD, you’ll be in Horror territory. At least for a little while. DFD manifests the weird, unsettling atmosphere of the macabre and it’s a place filled with frightful possibility. It’s certainly worth a visit.

If you’re looking to delve deeper into the world of horror, DFD will serve you here, as well. Mr. Raggi deserves applause for not only writing an adventure, which succeeds as horror, but for clearly exemplifying techniques, which the attentive DM can pick up and use in crafting his own weird little events. I strongly suspect, that this was one of the author’s intentions, but you’ll have to ask him, about that. Reading DFD, helped me re-frame my perception of horror in D&D and that was a good thing.

Again and again, while reading DFD, another area of the adventure would open up and I would find myself thinking “Now that’s, fucking cool!” As I read along, I imagined the many ways, the adventure might play out. There’s so much potential for outright awesome gaming, that I can’t wait to run this thing. Of course, my upcoming milieu is kind of a post-apocalyptic setting, anyway, so one more major disaster will just make things all the more chaotic.

If your group likes to devote a large amount of playing time to Monty Python jokes, or they agree with Goodman Games’ idea, that 1e means NPC’s exist only to be killed, then, DFD may not be their thing. If they don’t enjoy running for their lives, or being in a fresh, whole world of shit, it may not be the adventure your group is looking for. If their idea of fairness, obviates their acceptance and enjoyment of a situation, in which they’re in over their heads, then they probable need a swift kick in the ass, anyway. If they’re the sort of players, who enjoy intense, dangerous adventures, the exploration of atmospheric, well realized locales and are willing to enjoy one which doesn’t focus on combat, then they’ll find Death Frost Doom to be a real treat.

The booklet also includes a mini-adventure, The Tower. This is a revised version, of a piece, which was previously published in Fight On! #4. It’s also, more than a little, dark. moody and creepy, it’s another adventure, which players who enjoy weird fiction, pulp fantasy and Lovecraftian Horrors, will appreciate. It’ll probably piss them off, as well.

There is a point, here, that some of the reviewers missed. Or rather, just didn’t grok, to begin with. Things shouldn’t always go the characters’ way. Sometimes, they do get screwed, used, cheated. Things didn’t always go Conan’s way. Sometimes, he was lucky, just to escape with his life. If, as a player, or DM, you don’t appreciate that, then, well, you’re limited. The last line of this adventure, sums the whole thing up rather nicely. No, I’m not going to spoil that one for you.

If you enjoy the likes of Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and other masters of weird fiction, you’ll feel right at home, with Death Frost Doom. If you feel that Zombies, Ghouls, Vampires and other classic Horror Undead, should be more than just denizens in some dungeon, waiting to be slaughtered. That they should be, instead, the stuff of nightmares, of terror, then Death Frost Doom will definitely be to your liking. If you would like to work on introducing horror into your game, then a close examination of Death Frost Doom, will serve you, well. And, if you enjoy well written, finely designed adventures, again, pick up Death Frost Doom.