Lets take a look at Cthulhu Mythos for 5e #dnd by @SandyofCthulhu, who were kind enough to provide a review copy of the book. #dnd

As always, these twitter flip throughs are not comprehensive in depth reviews, but rather a quick first look. I’m opening the book for the first time along with you, and seeing what catches my eye.

First, on the book’s physical quality... good stuff. Hardcover, sturdy, feels like a quality product. I appreciate the bookmark.

Very nice and evocative art on the cover and slash page. No doubts we’re in Lovecraftian territory here.

3 pages worth of table of contents. This is a 424 page book, 9 chapters, 2 appendixes.

There are a lot of pieces of full color art throughout the book.

Here’s the credit page.

The first chapter is a standard intro chapter, with advice and tips on bringing horror to your 5e game.

Again, the art is really nicely done. Solid work.

The races bring you a lot of story elements before they dive into the mechanics. The Gnorri, for example, has 5 pages of story before mechanics.

The formatting is familiar, clearly a 5e aesthetic.

Zoogs. I like these guys. Small tricksters.

Chapter 3 introduces PC options. Feats, class options, and a new skill (Wisdom Yog-Sothothery), which lets you recall Mythos lore. Not sure if that’s necessarily needed, but I guess it adds to the flavor.

There’s something bard for all the classes here... sorcerer origins, domains, fighting styles, bard college, druid circles... everyone is covered.

The “bard” is a typo above. There is not “something bard” for all the classes. Lol.

I like this Roguish Archetype, the Trapsetter.

4 backgrounds.

13 feats

Chapter 4 delves into a staple of Lovecraftian gaming, Insanity.

Insanity can be a tricky thing to reflect in rpg’s, and can be delicate. The game addresses this.

There are new rules for Dread and Insanity.

Chapter 5. Spells. Tons of new spells, and a new way to look at magic.

A Paladin in... Eldritch horror hell?

Lots of new spells to fit the theme.

Here’s a sample spell....

You want items? Interdimensional items? New Magic items?

I’m really liking this book. I like that it’s explicitly fantasy, the races are taken from Lovecraft’s high fantasy novella (The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath), and not set in the early 20th century earth.

Chapter 7 is all about cults. PCs can join one and earn “gifts”.

Do other races exist? Of course!

BRB. Lunch break!

Chapter 8. All about the great old ones. (Mental note: go back and look at warlocks in chapter 3).

So the Elder Influences are meant to be treated as hostile environents, and not really as monsters. Interesting. This could probably be yanked for other dnd stuff.

Poor old man.

Chapter 9 is all about monsters. There are tons!!!

I love these “what you see” descriptors. Great little sidebars.

Easy to jump into the tone, the world, and feel early on. The iconic Deep Ones are cr 1 creatures. Smart choice.

monsters have variants for different challenge levels.

Some monsters have more than one piece of art to illustrate them, along with narrative aids.

This art. So good!

New NPCs.

Random encounters round out the book.

With an index. a monsters by challenge rating chart, and items list as well.

Wow.

This is not what I expected. I thought it was going to be a subpar 5e book with Cthulhu slapped on it.

This is a gorgeous product.

Full color art. Tons of player options to get you in the Mythos atmosphere. TONS of new monsters, some new rules for madness and despair. This is a solid product worthy of a deeper dive.

Including Lovecraftian stuff in your game is very much a matter a taste, but if you want it, this is a great way to do so for your fantasy gaming. Solid looking book.

Thank you @SandyofCthulhu for providing a review copy. Nice work.

Gonna do a deeper dive later. Wanna see how much of it can work in a non Lovecraftian game.

/thread