Does anyone have any experience with this product?
Not the new one, but I own and have read through the original, smaller version that came out about a year back. I even wrote a review of it on DriveThru. The original, if I recall, had 4 out of 5 of the new classes (the Sword Dancer is new), plus the new races and some monsters. I don't think it had any archetypes. Overall, I really liked it, sort of a mash-up of Ravenloft meets Call of Cthulhu. By that, I mean, it has that dark, brooding Ravenloft atmosphere but instead of lots of undead, it focuses more on the Old Ones. The new classes looked fun, especially the acolyte which is combines pieces of the cleric, paladin, and even bard (it has hymns it can use). I thought that class might be a little strong at first but it doesn't have a cleric's channeling so I was pretty ok with it. The Eldritch Conjurer uses the engine of a sorceror but you selected different patron old ones instead of bloodlines and looked like it would be pretty fun to play. I will probably pick up the expanded edition at some point. It would make a good alternative setting if you were running Carrion Crown or if you just wanted a good horror themed campaign world like Ravenloft.
I've got the new one, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I should probably review it sometime...
Meanwhile, the new, nice classes:
Apostle - forced LG, d8 HD, monotheistic cleric replacement
Blade Slinger - d8 HD, 6+INT skills, full BAB, close-quarters ranged fighter
Eldritch Conjuror - feels like a summoner alternate class, no eidolon, spontaneous summons, and a slew of Cthulhu-inspired goodness
Rifleer - sniper equivalent, d10 HD, some ranger-esque abilities
Sword Dancer - full BAB, d10 HD, outlander-dervish class
...plus archetypes.
The races are interesting (excluding the deep gnomes) and provide a nice change of pace.
If you bought the original version of the game through rpgnow, you should of received an email with a coupon to get the new version for $1 Let me know if you didn't and I can hook you up.
Ravenloft meets Call of Cthulhu is a pretty good description of the setting.
I bought the new version. Ravenloft meets CoC is indeed a good description. It's also pretty bleak for a Pathfinder setting, and I mean that in a good way.
For a system with mechanics for objective morality, the dominant religions range from Lawful Neutral to various shades of evil; there's a lot of moral ambiguity all around. You've got the monotheist Church of the One True God, an oppressive and often violent religion brought by invaders to Vathak, but which is also the primary bastion of order and safety against the corrupting threat of the Old Ones. Then you've got the pantheist Cults of the Old Ones, who worship chaotic and evil Lovecraftian spawn and sometimes practice human sacrifice, but which nevertheless provide the indigenous peoples of Vathak with the power to oppose the historically genocidal interlopers and their suffocating Church.
If you want to play a character who is unambiguously good, you can, but the setting itself seems to favor neutrality. Nobody is entirely blameless, and many who think of themselves as good are anything but. I like it.
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I like this setting so far. I have been reading over the Vathak Times short pdfs and I love the idea. Its like a newspaper that describes the events going on in the Vathak world. At the end of each Vathak Times they give a new monster also.
If I had many more days to game each month, I would gladly run a Shadows over Vathak campaign. I like the idea and campaign setting.
However, I am already running a campaign, and I don't know if I could free up any more time to run another.
Still that being said, its good stuff from what I have read so far.
Thanks guys, we worked real hard on this one and glad the concepts and ideas are clear, if anyone runs a game, we would love to hear how it goes!