Thanks to MS Edizioni for having sent us a physical copy of the Italian edition of Dread in order to write this review. Dread is a roleplaying game for experiencing horror stories and it has a truly unique feature: tests are made playing Jenga, the famous game with a wooden blocks tower. In this review, which refers to the Italian edition, we will discover together the reason for this choice and why it may really be worth evaluating the purchase of Dread.
Dread can be bought on Amazon for about $50.
The Colors of Dread
White, blood red, gray. These are the colors of the manual. It is a beautiful volume of 224 pages with a 15x23cm format, hardcover bound with thread. White is he prevailing color. The cover is simple but effective. The inside of the manual is bright and easy to read, with well-spaced paragraphs and a single-column editing. Red is carefully dosed in the titles and text boxes. In the second part of the manual, the red on the edge of the pages allows the reader to recognize the various chapters. Finally, gray, in its countless shades, is the protagonist of the beautiful full page illustrations.
The illustrations have been realized by the talented Katerina Ladon, while the graphic design was managed by Michele Paroli from Mana Project Studio. A special mention to the inside pages of the covers, which deserve an image in this review and which represent the questions of the characters creation. We will get there.
The only flaw: the lack of a red silk bookmark. A venial sin, but it would have been the icing on the cake of a truly refined product.
The Premise
Let me mention the authors: Epidiah Ravachol and Nat Barmore. And a small addition: among the quotes of appreciation of the game present at the beginning of the manual, one is signed by Luke Crane. Who is Luke Crane? The author of The Burning Wheel, in my opinion one of the best RPG systems ever created. Someday I’ll tell you about it. But let’s go back to the Dread review.
Let’s start with the most important premise, the elephant in the room, or the wooden tower on the table. Why the presence of the Jenga tower? The goal (as Luke Crane perfectly states) is to physically transport the discomfort and nervousness of horror stories into the game mechanics. Undoubtedly, it is difficult to tell good horror stories and to get out of the narrative immersion to get back to the table to rehearse some of the tension that a narrator has laboriously constructed.
In Dread, instead, the moment of the test is full of pathos. Because, beyond some rules in the appendix, the base is as simple as it is heavy for its consequences: the test consists in making a round of Jenga, that is extracting a wooden block rom the tower to place it on top. Now, if the tower collapses during the test, the character of the player who was taking the test is removed from the game. Removed. From. The. Game. Do you understand now the increasing tension of the tests?
Removed from the game doesn’t mean killed. Removed characters can return in later sessions, but they will need to bear the marks of what they went through. Also keep in mind that players can refuse to extract a block from the tower but they must accept the failure of the test and its consequences.
Review Of The Contents of Dread
Time for the contents. The first 50 pages contain the main mechanics of Dread: the rules and character creation. I’d skip the rules, as they are all derived from the premise we’ve covered and doesn’t add much to this review. Character creation is much more interesting.
In fact, it takes place through a questionnaire. Much of the chapter is devoted to its explanation. How does it work? Quite simply, the Guardian, the name that the narrator takes in Dread, creates for each character a series of different questions aimed at obtaining all the information necessary to play through the answers. The manual advises trying to focus on the abilities and quirks of the characters, on an emotional connection of the player to the character, on a connection with the story and with the other players and on a reason for hope. The questions must be general enough to allow the player to choose how to customize their alter ego, but at the same time precise enough to be consistent with the story or situation the Guardian has in mind.
As it is written “Creating the Questionnaire is more an art than a science”. This character creation is as brilliant, in my opinion, as using Jenga for tests. Instead of a standardized sheet, it is possible to create a set of specific information for each character, for each story, based on all the unique variables that make up that precise tale. Since it is a method that requires a certain experience, the manual offers many examples and various suggestions; among these we talk about how to structure the Questionnaire, the importance of some uneasy questions, but we also find advice on how the players should fill it and then use it for roleplaying.
How to Handle Dread
We have a simple and fascinating system and a captivating and personalized character creation. But their originality also makes their use unknown. The manual then continues with two chapters on how to create and how to develop a story of Dread. An example are the indications on the management of the tower, the extractions and their influence on the players and on the pace of the game. A clumsy player or involuntary movement that causes the tower to collapse at the start of the game must not already end a session. Dread obviously offers a solution, but I won’t tell you in this review!
The chapter with advices on how to create a story with Dread is also full of ideas and suggestions. It provides both more precisely tailored ideas for this game and generic elements, applicable to any other horror RPG. Among the many things I have read, I particularly appreciated the further considerations on using the Questionnaire, a very powerful tool to get the right information on how to give players nightmares.
Horror Stories for Dummies
I think writing a good horror story isn’t easy at all. Perhaps the authors of Dread agree with me because they dedicated other 5 chapters in their manual, for a total of almost 40 pages, to give further advice. Specifically, each chapter focuses on how to insert a given element. The structure is the same for each of them. Every element related to the story, the Questionnaire, the Guardian and the Tower.
The elements are the suspense, the supernatural, the madness, the moral aspects, the mystery and the splatter. I think these monographic approaches are very useful. A text box with cinematic references closes each chapter.
Review of Variants and Adventures of Dread
As you may have guessed, the Dread manual is full of ideas. In fact, variants of the game are also provided.
Maybe you don’t have a tower of wooden blocks available. No problem, there is a variant that uses the d6s, which roleplayers are hardly without. Dice to be stacked, not rolled. This is the nemesis of our site, some dice unrolled! The tension given by a precise manual movement whose failure implies heavy consequences is mandatory. Various other manual games are also suggested on this premise.
Then there are variants that integrate the extractions of the Tower. The mode involving a tarot deck is very interesting.
Four adventures ready to play are then presented. These are not sketchy ideas that take up one page, but complete adventures, fully detailed, with ready Questionnaires.
Narrated in the provided order they can be a great workout to master the game and its stories.
The last few pages of the manual still contain many sample questions to inspire the Questionnaires.
Final Thoughts of the Review of Dread
Many times I had already heard that Dread is a must-have. Now I can say it too, and with good reason. It is a product that I highly recommend for various reasons.
Graphically gorgeous, first-class editorial quality, original and innovative, full of beautifully presented content. If you are interested in horror role-playing games, don’t even think about it for a second. Go and buy it now.
But I would also recommend it to those who are less interested in the genre but still love to collect significant manuals. Dread deserves its place in every library and it’s woth a reading for the abundance of discursive and interesting content regardless of its use at a game table.