My players seemed to really enjoy this adventure. The information portion was good and had a lot of flavor but some of it was repetitive and overly verbose, I would have prefererred a more concise and organized approach. I would have really liked some basic maps of the city and/or the vermishards. Also, for the major NPCs: more information and roleplaying tips (not just the queen) and descriptions of their environments would have been nice. The adventure part was good too. An adventure to save/return Metrol would have been ideal, maybe in the future?

I have loved both the Ravenloft and Eberron settings for years, and now finally have the excuse I need to bring together the peanut-butter and chocolate into one campaign I am beyond hyped for! I personally, am using the adventure within as a starting point for a Ravenloft campaign using the "Mabar is Ravenloft" cosmology, and using the city as the heroes' hub as they explore the lands beyond the mists.

You should buy this if you:

-Want another fleshed out domain of dread to add to your Ravenloft collection.

-Are running a Mournland focused campaign and want an alternative way to handle Metrol.

-want to run a campaign focusing on the darker parts of Eberron lore, and want a dark starting adventure.

You should not buy this if you:

-aren't interested in the tragedies' of war, totalitarian states, and body horror.

-are looking for a prewritten campaign, the adventure within is only 3 levels worth.

-expect more detail of the Mournland or Cyre as a whole, the focus is on Metrol.

What, might one ask, is the purpose of a setting book?

In my time playing 2e and 3e, the answer seemed to be details. You could get a book on Greyhawk that drilled into a district of the eponymous city, listing specific shops by name and giving the name/race/class/level of the shopkeepers within, giving an exact roster of precisely how many guards are available at each watchtower. Incredible specifics, but generally organized as a gazette, or even as a census of whatever city was being covered.

That is not what Dread Metrol does.

In 5th edition, much of the setting information is about atmosphere. Some major NPCs might be given some information, but in many cases the guidance is often an idea rather than the specific numbers. This is how Dread Metrol is organized; of the major figures in the city, only Queen Dannel herself gets a statblock, and the specific numbers are generally vague - apart from the calculus of how many people the Ghallanda heirs have the power to feed.

Speaking as a DM, I find that specific answers in a setting book are only useful if the players are asking that specific question - and even then, it takes time to look up and reference to make sure the answer is for the correct building. Specific information for specific locales means that if the party chooses to ignore those locales, a new answer must be invented anyway - which, in turn, means that I find the 5th edition approach more useful.

This, in my opinion, is where Dread Metrol shines with terrific lightning fueling dread artifice.

In thirty-six pages, the beseiged city of Metrol is explored - not in exhaustive specific detail, but in laying out the major factions at play. In true Eberron fashion, the availability of magic is explored - for instance, magic does exist to create food ex nihilo, and the city is making full use of those resources. It's just that those resources aren't enough, forcing them to turn to...less savoury options. The Queen is given full characterization, and the powers around her are explored.

But little here is an absolute truth. There is a secret to Ghallanda's ragout - but the DM is given a list of options for the secret, and invited to use whichever best fits the adventure they want to tell. High-ranking rebels are not listed explicitly, but there are sets of names and personalities and secrets - again, inviting the DM to mix-and-match whatever amuses them best. There is inspiration here, but no two Dread Metrols will be exactly alike.

It's evocative. The art pieces convey the tone very well, and a dismal tone it is - undead, starvation, experimentation, ruthlessness, an entire city of atrocities and desperate survival. The brief domain writeup gives the faintest sense, but the much-appreciated content warnings outline just how horrifying a place this is.

(And, one might note with amusement, the darkness Dannel descended to in a mere four years compared to the likes of Strahd or Drakov. The Queen has rapidly earned the title of Darklord.)

This is, bluntly, what I would look for in an Eberron horror setting book. It gives endless ideas of atrocity - not all of which I must use, but some of which might invite themselves to the Eberron setting at large. If this is how we see the Houses sinking in desperation and isolation, what might the larger part of the House be hiding? What tools of war are implied here that might yet be found in the wake of Thronehold?

And then, if that alone weren't enough, it explores options for players from this Domain. The writers have even included a player's version of the setting, trimmed down to keep the DM's secrets behind the screen, but informing them of just how terrible the dark side of Eberron can become. This is an asset to me - a document I can show my players to let them consider the themes, while keeping many of my true plans hidden.

And, of course, there is an adventure. I have yet to run it, but I appreciate how much choice it offers. There isn't a single solution to a problem, there's several - all with dire consequences attached. NPCs are important, but the information they hold can reach the party by other means if the dice roll disaster. There's no one true right answer - merely the price the Unbroken ask in exchange for offering the party the help they need. It's a great way to explore the morality of the PCs, and what lines they will and will not cross in their own desperation. The new monsters fit the adventure's tone and the setting perfectly - atrocities that, in any kind of just world, would not exist.

In conclusion: This is a dark setting. It explores horror in many aspects, and I would argue it might surpass the body horror of Lamordia and the war atrocities of Falkovnia. Some groups may wish to avoid it for those reasons, which is understandable - but for groups that want to explore the compromise of morals when faced with a desperate situation, this is a fantastic exploration of that terrific theme. The Dungeon Master is given the freedom to pick and choose which specific themes and secrets they want to explore, but the tone is well-presented.

This is the dark side of Eberron, and precisely what I hoped for from a setting book.

Dread Metrol is what those of us who loved Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft wish the already wonderful Domains of Dread in that book could have been had there not been length constraints. While I've been a fan of Eberron for years, my disinterest in horror made me keep Ravenloft at arm's length until VRGR, which captivated my imagination with its nuanced take on the genre. Dread Metrol dials the nuance up to 11, and takes care to approach a sensitive subject matter carefully while always staying firmly within the realm of the macabre.

As a fan of lore over crunch, I'm delighted by the massive amount of information presented on the capital of what was once the center of Khorvaire. None of it feels extraneous, with many questions most Eberron fans would ask themselves answered at exactly the right pace. There is no better feeling when reading a sourcebook than seeing something that makes you go "But what about this other thing?" and having that exact question answered in the next page. The central elements of Eberron are taken into account, even as they're translated into the Ravenloft palate. What about the Dragonmarked Houses in this nightmare world? We get explanations for all of them even as only three take center stage, which makes absolute sense in the context of a world of diminishing resources where people are pitted against one another while living the horrors of constant war. What about the warforged? These also take a central role, in how the arcane science of their being is appropriated for the war effort. What about the Silver Flame, a religion dedicated to eradicating supernatural evil, in this world of absolute supernatural evil? We get an explanation as to their absence, fitting for the world of Eberron where heroes are constantly needed and PCs are the main agents of good.

Queen Dannel is a fascinating Darklord, with the background provided here doing much to reconcile elements of her characterization from previous editions that were at best contradictory and at worst outright problematic. This is done while leaving room for the DM to leave their mark by choosing what particular act among the many provided might have potentially paved her way to being noticed by the Dark Powers. The space to take the information provided and mold it into your own is one of the hallmarks of Eberron as a setting, and Dread Metrol provides it in spades.

I have yet to run the adventure, but reading it, it resonates as suitably creepy, and includes one of my favorite NPCs of all time. The monsters included in this product are nearly uncomfortable to look at (which is a positive in horror, I suppose!) and incredibly creative. The NPCs are never one-note or stereotypes, and the writing takes care to avoid harmful tropes while relishing in the ones that make the horror genre recognizable as such. And of particular note, the creative team has demonstrated they listen to their audience and take constructive criticism to heart, as demonstrated when the Mastermaker subclass for the Artificer was updated after release taking consumer review into account.

I cannot recommend this product enough. If you're a VRGR fan, this is what you liked about that book but more. If you're an Eberron fan, this is still recognizably Eberron, and a treasure trove of amazing information. There is something here for everyone. Well, only if you like horror! The one warning would be, this is an incredibly dark product. If the horror genre is not something you enjoy, then this book might not be for you. That's the only instance in which I could see myself recommending someone against buying it!

I was fortunate enough to be given a review copy of Dread Metrol.

Dread Metrol is, undoubtedly, the information many of us have been craving for a while. Even those of us who have no care for Ravenloft or using Dread Metrol as a domain of dread should read this book for the sheer information about the city during the war.

Keith and team did an amazing job in the evocativeness of this morally grey figure of Queen Dannel and making the horrors of war stand out even more. Where Barovia is the horrors of that which bumps in the night, those classical horror tropes, Dread Metrol gives us the horrors of what needs to be done. I want to call it WorldWar Gothic in the way things are represented.

The art: The production team did something that I want to honestly see more of. Sketches in supplements. Unfinished drawings. It gives DM some extra life, in my eyes, and makes me think of older editions, specifically the old 3.5 books with the quick sketches of weapons and armor.

I haven't had the chance to play through the adventure at the back of the book, but I hope to get the chance soon.

I am giving this a 5 star rating because it should be something that every Eberron lover purchases, even if horror isn't something they love. Keith and team put a magnifying glass to Metrol and show just the lengths that the people, nations, and Dragonmarked houses would go to during the last war with just a little push.

I cannot for the life of me understand the high ratings for this book. Is it only because Keith Baker has his name attached to it? I will try a more critical and hopefully honest review from someone who is both a fan of Keith and Eberron as a whole.

THE GOOD

• Great setting idea. Mixing Cyre with Ravenloft is a stroke of genius.
• Some very interesting new monsters.
• Clear layout.

THE BAD

• The entire setting is woefully underwritten, poorly developed, and lacking in detail. The districts and spires (vermishards) come across as stereotypical and painted with a very broad brush. Nowhere do you get the feeling this was a metropolis to make Galifar proud.
• Only three houses matter, and they can be summed up as "cyborgs, monster breeding, and nasty food"
• The main villain is painfully shallow. On the scale of Eberron horrors, nothing she has done warrants getting a whole metropolis sucked into Ravenloft. Nor is the way to save the city anything but Harlequin-novel tropes.
• There are no big reveals. No "wow!" moments. No earth shattering secrets. No true terrors. What you read in the summary is literally the entire book, with all secrets handwaved or reduced to generic die roll tables.
• To some extent, it reminds me of the worst of Numenera, where things are introduced, pronounced as "weird", then left to DM fiat. Again and again and again. This is the same, but with the overexplanation of "hey guys, this is supposed to be scary, but you decide how and why!"
• Almost all monsters are low level and relatively harmless. Dark Sun 2e, this is not.
• Stereotypical adventure. Railroady. Predictable. Could have been set anywhere.
• Finally, and this is the big one: the book is SO WORDY! It introduces the main villain, then repeats the same information over and over and over again. It introduces the city being attacked every night and supplies running out, then repeats that sentence 50 times. It says Cannith makes scary grafts, then repeats that sentence 50 times. The entire book could be shortened to 20-25 pages, including the adventures, without any problem.

THE UGLY

• The art and maps range from OK to things looking like Deviantart fan art. And far, far too few images of Metrol, too many ugly portraits. The head of Cannith in particular looks like an bastardized version of Dragon Age's Iron Bull.

Summary. There is nothing here that a remotely competent DM familiar with Eberron OR Raveloft couldn't do better. I will still run a campaign set in Dread Metrol because the setting idea is so cool, but aside from the monsters, I will jetison this entire book.

This book is everything I wished I got in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft when it came to exploring a Dread Domain and the horrible implications within. There's so much material to work with, proper stats for the Darklord Herself (The Queen Will Save Us) as well as some horrifying new monsters, all while tying it into my favorite setting witout interfering with it's cosmology. My one complaint is that, although I love the new Artificer Specialization, the Mastermaker, most of it's key abilities don't come till level 9, making it feel like a much weaker Armorer until that point, but that's a small complaint when there's just so much good content here. Worth every penny.

Edit: Errata has fixed Mastermaker, upping it's damage die to d10 and allowing you to give it a feature at level 3. Fixed any issue I had with it. 10/10 would give Monk what-for with it again.

An absolutely fantastic supplement and adventure for any Eberron lover.

Dread Metrol is a fanstastic crossover piece between the wide magic and artifice heavy of Eberron and the multitude of horror genres of Ravenloft. Everything in the book feels like a natural extension of the Eberron setting put to its worse, always asking the question of 'how far is too far' when it comes to advancing arcane science. For anyone who loves either setting, this book is for you.

An excellent blending of the dread and horror of Ravenloft with the vibes and content that make Eberron unique. Especially adore Queen Dannel and the Mastermaker!