Terror by Night
Villains and Vigilantes Module

Game Review

reviewed by Richard Grant

Written by Steve Crow
Fantasy Games Unlimited P.O. Box 182, Roslyn, NY 11576
Released: May, 1985
Catalog No. 2016 Price: $5.00
Complexity: Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: Low
***

Terror by Night is a step in a new direction for Fantasy Games Unlimited in a module for Villains and Vigilantes (V&V). It's not just the ordinary series of fights that one has come to expect from most superhero games. The emphasis in this one is on outthinking the villain, in this case a not-so-evil vampire and his associates. But for those V&V fans who live only for the big battles, they need not worry. To wind up the adventure, the author resorts to the normal series of fights leading up to the major and maybe final confrontation with the bad guy.

Patrick Zircher's cover art, playing pieces, and character pictures are the same high quality that one has come expect in V&V. Another interesting note is that the module contains a system for conversion of heroes from Chaosium Inc.'s Superworld into the world of V&V.

Although I'm not very familiar with Superworld, the lists appear to he fairly complete. Also included are a superpower conversion table and a table to convert basic statistics; both are relatively easy to use.

The only real problem with the components are the typographical errors and the length. The errors range from simple spelling errors to the omission of such important details as hit points for several creatures. in both cases the mistakes Occur far too often to believe that much time was taken on this module.

Although the module is laid out quite well, it faces another problem: its length. it's only 18 pages long, and about half of every page is taken up by an illustration. This alone makes one wonder how Fantasy Games Unlimited justifies the five dollar price tag Terror by Night carries.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Terror by Night is the villain, the Baron Victor Von Heinrich. The module goes into a good deal of detail about the Baron and about vampires in general. In fact two pages of detail further detract from the already short adventure.

I came into this module with high hopes. While reading it, it seemed like an excellent adventure, but in playtesting, things were different. The module does not provide enough information to keep the game running smoothly and quickly for the party that makes wrong guesses or is a little unlucky it requires a tremendous amount of effort on the part of the Gamemaster (GM) to keep the adventure moving if the players get off track even the slightest bit.

The most common complaint I heard while playing Terror by Night dealt with the lack of goals for player characters. They were never quite sure where they were supposed to go, or what they were supposed to do next. Second on the complaints list was the fact that no matter what is done, player characters can't win. Heinrich will always escape to come hack and haunt them another day. That is what the author claims he envisioned when he created Terror by Night.

The length of the adventure and the GM's difficulty keeping the adventure moving leads me to feel that Terror by Night is more valuable as part of an already existing campaign, or as a start for a new one. So while it is not quite a 11 must" for every V&V player, it's certainly worth looking into if you need something to spice up a sagging adventure, provide an excellent jumping-off place for a new one, or if you are interested in vampires.

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© Copyright 1986 by Dana Lombardy.
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