Sources Say: Dracula's America: Forbidden Power

Name: Dracula's America: Forbidden Power
Produced By: Osprey Games
System: Dracula's America
Genre(s): Western, Horror 

Time for the second expansion of Dracula's America and this time, it's getting a little Lovecraft in here...

As with the last book, there's a bit of history in the beginning, this time going all the way back to the American Revolutionary war. We learn that the Elder Gods got involved in the war, with Benedict Arnold ending up falling to the temptation of these dark powers. We also find out that, due to the events of Hunting Grounds, Cyclopean ruins have risen in the bayous of Louisiana and a new group has begun to gain a following in Dracula's America.

The book begins proper with some new rules for encounters in swamps, with rules for swimming, and not one but two bestiaries. The first one deals with monsters you'd find in swamps, things like gators, Will-O-Wisps, Loup-Garou, skunk apes, and the first Lovecraftian monsters, Deep Folk. That's right, we're in Lovecraft Country. Because the next bestiary is chock full of servants of the Elder Gods. Gibbering Spawns, Mycotyth, and the utterly terrifying Spider-Fiend. There's, again, new Arcane powers for your casters and a whole new type of magic just for one of the new factions.

The first rules they introduce are a bunch of new missions based around stealth. These have a bunch of new rules for playing them, including limits on how far your models will be able to see. I think these are only okay, as I'm always wary of lopsided missions. However, these are nice to give you something to shake up your normal games, making people's interest last a little longer.

We get to our two new factions after this (bringing our total to ten for those of you keeping count at home). We have the Salem Sisterhood, a Wicca group that has not two but four special models, three Arcanists (Maiden, Mother, Crone) and a male Defender. And, yes, they're from the same group that made Salem famous. Next, we get the Church of Dagon. They get a Priest of Dagon and two Hybrids, who will get random powers. The Church uses Elder Magic powers, which are totally different than normal powers. Well, kind of. Normal Arcanists only get to use the powers they pick, having to wait it level up before getting some new ones. Those that use Elder Magic can pick what spell they want to cast each turn from the list. To cast these spells, they've added in a new phase, the Madness Phase, and a Madness pool. The important parts of the Madness Pool is that it has to be at a certain level to be able to cast Elder Magic and can end up summoning Lovecraftian monsters. I'm not a huge fan of adding in new mechanics into a game using an expansion but you don't have to worry about using the Madness Pool unless you've got a Priest of Dagon involved in the game.

Since we've got a new mechanic, you knew they were going to have some Hired Guns that effect it. They also give us dogs to use in games, finally. They also give us some famous (or infamous) Mercenary Drifters, using the rules from Hunting Grounds. They give us Frankenstein but really it's Herbert West, Re-animator. There's some new equipment, mostly arcane stuff. They give you cursed items and Relics, which are rare but very powerful

The book wraps up with another campaign, this time all about trying to stop the Church of Dagon from awakening the Elder Gods. If you're going to play this campaign, make sure you've got plenty of Deep Ones and other Lovecraftian monsters. You can even make this a continuation of the first campaign if you played through it.

As much as I beat up on this game for taking a lot from Deadlands, they completely changed course with this book. I really like the idea of mixing Lovecraftian horror with the old west. If they had started the series with this stuff, my first impression of this game would have been totally different. I also really hope that Osprey will roll the core book, Hunting Grounds, and this book into one mammoth tome in the future. I doubt it will happen, but I will dare to dream.