My own Ravenloft Campaign

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Jennifer
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My own Ravenloft Campaign

Post by Jennifer »

Hello all,
About a year ago I started a ravenloft campaign. I have now found the time to put it all in journals and you can now read it elsewhere on this site.

It is about a group of young men who start on their road to adventure in Mordent. At the moment only the introduction and the first few sessions are available. But I hope to soon add more.

Please send me your comments.

Jennifer
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Post by Wiccy of the Fraternity »

I haven't caught up on the campaign journals in a while, so I look forward to reading yours :)
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Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Very Nice. I like the small town feeling, it gives a nice contrast to the wider world that out there, and still allows you to have dark unexplored corners right at home. And gives you NPC's they care about to make threats more personal. Very cool.

I don't think I'd use power checks just for some insults, but as you said, he probably should've failed one for killing his sister anyway. I worry about that character causing trouble in the party later, but hopefully you had fun with it, and the animosity stayed in-character.

If it were me, I'd kill off that Charles the Great and Brather Mearic as soon as possible, to get the PC's out from under their wings. (I'm not sure how you explained them not helping with the "Bloody Baron," but after a while you could see the "Dumbledore problem," where the party starts to rely on these super powerful friends instead of doing things for themselves.)
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Joël of the FoS
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

I liked it a lot, very good storytelling skills :)

Darien is indeed a weird character.

Nice ghost story, The Shroud (I liked the story link in the notes) - good idea to mix in fairy tales.

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Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Coan »

Good work Jennifer. I guess I should try and write up my campaign. Maybe when I get on holidays.

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Post by Jennifer »

Hello all,
First of all, thank you for your responses.

I have not yet killed of brother marec or Charles the Great. They defende d their decision not to interfere with the bloody baron problem with the argument that they wanted to see their pupils in action. and their pupils did not ask too many question. (they really did not in the early sessions). I do have some trouble lined up for Charles the Great, but it is necessary for the characters to be a bit higher level.

I read a lot of old fairytales for inspiration. They are usually very grim and brutal in their development and the events which befall the main characters, which is something I feel fits well with the atmosfere of ravenloft.

The darien character did cause a lot of problems. Especially with his strange and unfeeling remarks to everyone, this got the party chased away a lot. Darien did not last long, but his end was a logic consequence of his own actions, which I rather liked.

Jennifer
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Post by jamesravenwing »

I really liked your campaign. The idea to use fairy tales is brilliant! I will be grabbing that.

I also enjoyed the small town feel, as gonzoron mentioned. Its a refreshing approach.

Well done.
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Sessions 4-6 are in!

The cast of characters is indeed odd and making it very interesting. The way they react once in a while is fun. Like the Brother Harun twist that the players let go that quickly :)

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Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Wow, I loved the Brother Harun twist. That right there is the pay-off for having a familiar "hometown." I'm gonna have to use something like that when I get a chance. I can't believe they just let it drop with a messenger, though. Hopefully the messenger gets mangled or something and they have to investigate. I'm dying to see what "Brother Harun" really is. I also love Morecombe, Morecombe and Smith. Somehow that name just rolls off the tongue... I don't know if they will be important or are just a throwaway plot point, but I love that name. Have to use it somewhere....
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Post by gumbinator5 »

What book or resources did you use for the "old fairy tales". A quick look at my kids books on fairy tales looks a bit to tame for me to use as inspiration (which is probally a good thing).

I like the Brother Harun, twist. I had something planned like this for one of my PCs, but never thought of the ghost left behind.
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Post by Jennifer »

Hi all,
Nice to know that you all like my adventures. I am pretty pleased with them myself. This is probably the best campaign I ever mastered, in great part due to the players, who really get into the spirit of the thing.

As I mentioned in the end notes of the adventures the fairytale inspiration came from the fairytales of the grimm brothers, this particular one is called the shroud and can be found online here http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~wbarker/fairies/grimm/109.html

The Grimm fairytales are definitely grimmer and bloodier than other childrens tales.

I was also amazed that the player were satisfied with an anonymous messenger being sent to invesitigate possible trouble in their home town where their parents, loved ones and mentors live. We'll just have to see how that ends. The attention to a hometown really seemed to work, but perhaps the lure of the great wie world was too great for the young people just out of their homes. They wanted to see more and not return home.

I beleive I got the name for Morecombe Morcombe and Smith from a Terry Pratchet Discworld novel. I believe it's an Ankh moporkian notary Office

Anyway, thanks for all the compliments.

Jennifer
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Post by Jack of Tears »

I just read sessions 4-6 yesterday and must say I am impressed with your story telling skills. I rarely bother with game journals because they are a bore to read ... but yours was written well enough to not only catch my attention, but leave me wanting for more.

I eagerly look forward to the next update.
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Post by Gorthaur »

Nice little stories. I like the way everything falls into piece and the story gets around to the backgrounds of the PC's. That way the game gets to a new level and a real living world is shown.

Very nice and I crave to read another session!
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Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Nice to see Darien get his just desserts (I hope. I doubt the Mists will put him somewhere nice...)

Also nice to see some small interest in what's happeing with "Brother Harun". But you're right... just a letter????

I really liked the use of the psuedofamiliar. "Go stop my friend from running." "OK, I'll peck his eye out, that should stop him." :)

Why is Simon going to send another pigeon? Does he know they stopped the first?

Always a pleasure to read. Can't wait to see more...
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Post by Jennifer »

Hi Gonzoron,
I still don't know what will happen to Darien, No doubt the mists will put him somewhere nasty, but the party has been focussing on other things and I felt the time was not yet right to return Darien to haunt the rest of the party. It was a relief to get rid of him though, he was just to weird. He lasted longer then everyone expected.

Simon sent another pigeon to at least inform his lord that the group returned to question him, he can assume they saw something that gave him away.

The next couple of sessions should be coming up soon.

Jennifer
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