Café de Nuit

I had what alcoholics call a "moment of clarity". I've been asking questions that focus on world-building, abstract, trope-independent, experimental aspects of RPGs. The problem is, I've been asking them on a DnD setting-specific forum. And then I've been wondering why there's a disconnect...

Sure thing, thanks for the clarification!

TL;DR - in threads where OPs are intentionally disregarding canon to achieve a specific effect, folks are posting canon, often completely ignoring the OP's initial stated innovative intent. Can we have a tag that identifies "fanon threads" as such and perhaps obviate some of these posts? S...

No problem. I'll see if I can outline a few points in the Rules forum, then.

I'm sure I wrote this earlier, but cannot find it: I don't have a really good renaming for Invidia, although the provisional name is Întradevăr (similar to "In truth" in Romanian). Its backstory has been extensively rewritten to examine a specific political hypothesis. The idea is that the...

Ah, Serene Dion. Oh, crap, I meant to say "Celine Dion" but I lapsed into momentary Cantonese and my Ls and Rs got mixed up. :( In my campaign, Vigo is fairly active and is trying to devour the demon essences of all the other children of the Interloper. One of my PCS is his (quasi?) siste...

Ah, Serene Dion... Beneath his calm exterior lurks a madness that will track you down and find you: near, far, wherever you are. In my campaign, Vigo is fairly active and is trying to devour the demon essences of all the other children of the Interloper. One of my PCS is his (quasi?) sister and ther...

The silliness was intentional. Ravenloft has a history of puns going all the way back to the first edition module. The majority of the crypt puns were removed in the Return to Castle Ravenloft adventure for 3rd ed., probably for stylistic reasons. I don't have much use for the 1st Ed puns, whether ...

I posted this awhile back. Here's a summary: Lamordia: Nortenmark (pseudo-Germanic "northern reach", hinting at a Falkovnian-invasion history) Mordent: Cosabel (pseudo-French "côte sable" - black coasts) Dementlieu: Maresotes (marées hautes - high tides, in honor of the many lake...

This is a very interesting idea, and one that I'm going to stea, er, adapt for my campaign.

Will post more as I think of it, but a Darwin-esque voyage with one doctor seeking out the other sounds very cool. I'm a fan of portraying darklords as more dynamic than a badguy in a lair.

Alhoon: fair points on the canon issue. As my starting point assumes that canon has failed me and I want to change canon, there's not much else to say in response to the various citations of canon. One issue was regarding the assassins with magical daggers -are you referring to the Ebon Fold? They w...

Robin Williams also brought light and laughter to suffering folks - he visited Christopher Reeve in hospital in the guise of a bumbling Russian proctologist to make him laugh.

"And now I will examine your Volvo..." Robin Williams, as Dr. Kosevich, Nine Months.

There was an episode of Louie, where Louis C K was at the poorly-attended funeral of a not-very-well-liked fellow comedian. While there, he met an old man, played by Robin Williams, who tried his best to remember nice things about the deceased. After several valiant failures, they both gave up and j...

Yeah, the Ravenloft materials were inconsistent about how universal the availability of magic was. If magic doesn't work in a nation, then skepticism is a rational response. If magic does exist in a domain, them skepticism is a dogmatic denial. In my GURPS campaign I use the mechanic of mana levels....

Decades ago, when war with Falkovnia loomed once more, the Darkonian people were terrified of the Creeping Death rising once again. A lay minstrel, famed for his beautiful hymns to the Eternal Order, offered himself in sacrifice to make peace with the dead. He was duly inhumed and given a Heroes' Wa...