Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends

[Tobias Blackburn]

Actually, the book was supposed to tell you how to take a story and turn it into and adventure/campaign. Everything did that fairly well.

Lord Theone could have lived in Mordent. There is an aristocracy there, but only one true great family left. He could easily have had the estate built in a portion of land found to his liking.

Also, its possible that Azalin did not know that Lord Theone was an immortal, if you set it in Darkon. The One is capable of switching bodies if his current form dies,his soul searching for a participant of the game. Also, since time does rob him of memories, even mental probing might not reveal the truth. And considering Theone's interest in immortality (and the prevalience of necromancy and other magical effects in Darkon), even a long life wouldn't draw the Liches attention, especially if Theone didn't remember the truth or buried himself in his role. While Azalin might notice something during a long period of examination, an immortal who had spent lifetimes in hiding would have no problem tricking even the highest level Kargat.

Lamordia could work. Especially if you assume he moved there, or that the people coming to visit are from outside of the domain.

Borca would be a good place, possibly Nova Vassa if you stayed amongst the nobility.

All you need is a reason to have a small estate and an extremely minor nobleman. That can work almost anywhere in Ravenloft.

[Faust]

I just bought the book.. really nice! Especially the appendice! The boggeyman and the voodan class simply rock! As for the story my favorite is the one whot ake place in souragne and the haunted house. They both rock. As for the first one well... I think I will never use it... I mean the story seem more normal dnd to em than ravenloft and also the nobles and everythign mentionned dont seem to be part of rl... I mean a land ruled by salamender? A weapon detector? Its not the forgotten realms, its ravenloft!
But well except for the first story the book is good in fact one of my favorite product to date(along with vrg to the walking death, vr arsenal and both gazz 2 and gazz5)

[Ryan Naylor]

But well except for the first story the book is good in fact one of my favorite product to date(along with vrg to the walking death, vr arsenal and both gazz 2 and gazz5)

Since I'm involved in all of those, I'm going to be flattered by that. Regardless of whether you meant to do that or not.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I can think of one domain "To Inherit Eternity" can be run as is, Scaena.

Personally, I'm having a hard time reading it. I find it difficult to read in the present tense for a prolonged period (there was a Shadowrun novel that was present tense all the way through and, despite being a good book, it took me months to read).

[Rotipher of the FoS]

FWIW, I finally got around to getting DT&DL, and I agree that the first of the stories wasn't grounded as well in the Ravenloft setting as it could have been ... although given that the story, itself, is mostly fluff-text for the DM's benefit -- unless the PCs are merely hearing the tale as-is from an NPC storyteller, rather than participating on-scene, the whole thing is going to need heavy re-engineering anyway -- it's hardly enough to spoil the effect.

If anything, what struck me as wonky about the "Eternity" scenario was that it seemed more like the premise for a murder-mystery LARP than a tabletop RPG: evocative and easily-emulated (if stereotypical) characters, each with his or her own secrets, shady motives and/or interests, locked up together and covertly working at cross-purposes. Is it just me, or did anyone else find themselves picturing a LARP-director discreetly slipping Mr. Kantall a note at the right moment, instructing him: "Oops! Too bad, your character has been stuck by a poisoned needle. In five seconds, please moan and convulse horribly, then collapse on the floor and lie there until the others move on to Act Five. Thank you for playing, and please join the crew for pizza in the next room."...? :-/

Still, a good solid product overall, and I did like the *idea* of Eternity as a RL character, even if the presentation seemed a little weird.

[Stygian Inquirer]

I can think of one domain "To Inherit Eternity" can be run as is, Scaena.

I think it might fit in well in Gothic Earth and MotRD though, if not Ravenloft proper.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Well, I finally got DT&DL a few weeks ago and have been delving into it. (I'm halfway through the bogeyman chapter, which seems excellent) So far, a GREAT concept for a book. Absolutely fantastic idea to skirt around the lack of novels and modules. I loved Ashington Manor (it reminded me of Castles Forlorn, but only in good ways, and I admired the mature handling of delicate topics, and love the concept of the Vehrteig), and the Brood of Blutkate won me over with it's creepiness (at first, I was skeptical: a doppleganger ghost? but it's a bizarre concept executed very well...)

My major problem with To Inherit Eternity wasn't the non-Ravenloftness (Which is a problem, mind you, but not a huge one). It was the ATTROCIOUS editting. Whole paragraphs and sentences repeated. Common words misspelled. "Easan the mad" spelled two different ways. "Where" instead of "wear." The variable sections labelled by letter, and then referred to later without the letters... It made the whole thing very hard to read, and made it seem rushed and amateurish.

If you can get past that, there's a good, creepy Ravenloft-y story there to be used. It's more of a framework than an adventure, though. With all the multiple permutations, it's tough to keep track of character motivations, because any one of them could have 5 or 6 different ones. And grounding it in Ravenloft would probably take as much work as converting any random horror story into a Ravenloft adventure. The feeling is there, and the events are there, but the setting isn't. I might use it, but with a lot of work.

It's nothing at all like Ashington Manor in that respect. The fact that the Manor itself can be anywhere doesn't detract from it's grounding in Ravenloft lore. There are Halan priests, a Lamordian-born, Demenlieu-trained Doctor, vistani curses, the tarroka, ghosts, Mist Horrors... it's new, but it fits. It's a very different feeling, and practically drops right into a campaign. (not immune to goofy editting, though. Mortu is spelt Murto once. but not as bad as TIE)

To compare it to previous works, Ashington Manor feels like CotN:tC's Lumley House, or Azenwrath or Chilling Tales's Undying Justice. To Inherit Eternity feels like the Book of Crypts's Death's Cold Laughter or CotN:tC's Living Armor or Cotn:G's Hurrek and Akaleus (sp?).

[Catman Jim]

My major problem with To Inherit Eternity wasn't the non-Ravenloftness (Which is a problem, mind you, but not a huge one). It was the ATTROCIOUS editting. Whole paragraphs and sentences repeated. Common words misspelled. "Easan the mad" spelled two different ways. "Where" instead of "wear." The variable sections labelled by letter, and then referred to later without the letters... It made the whole thing very hard to read, and made it seem rushed and amateurish.

I swear they run most things through Spell-Check and don't actually look at what comes up as suggested corrections. Did you spot the 'camel' in TIE?

[Steve Miller]

With all the love for 'Curse of Ashington Manor,' I'm feeling even worse about having to step away from Ravenloft again.

(The pressures of needing enough income to pay the rent have forced me to stay away from anything but small projects with highly flexible deadlines.)

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

With all the love for 'Curse of Ashington Manor,' I'm feeling even worse about having to step away from Ravenloft again.

(The pressures of needing enough income to pay the rent have forced me to stay away from anything but small projects with highly flexible deadlines.)

I think I speak for the entire community when I say:

"NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

It's bad news, but if all turns up well, hopefully you'll be writing again in no time.

[JinnTolser]

Yeah, I'd say that about sums it up.

Hope you can get things straightened out and come back to RL again soon!

[Le Noir Faineant]

With all the love for 'Curse of Ashington Manor,' I'm feeling even worse about having to step away from Ravenloft again.

(The pressures of needing enough income to pay the rent have forced me to stay away from anything but small projects with highly flexible deadlines.)

I hope that doesn't mean you stop to visit this community now and then.

What will be your next project then, Steve?

[Steve Miller]

I hope that doesn't mean you stop to visit this community now and then.

What will be your next project then, Steve?

Oh, I'll keep dropping by as long as I think I have something worthwhile to contribute.

As for my next project, I'll probably be sticking to the short online releases from ID Adventures for now (like the "Modern Advances: Spookmaster" item reviewed elsewhere on this site). Those sort of bite-sized items are all I can committ to until I'm fully adjusted to the routine of my new, very involved and ever-changing dayjob.

[Catman Jim]

.. until I'm fully adjusted to the routine of my new, very involved and ever-changing dayjob.

I'd be interested to know what our favorite Writer of Stuff does in the daylight hours. You've mentioned before that you are in Renton, WA, and that paying the bills is taking priority. I lived in Issaquah throughout the 80's (all three of my kids were born in the Renton hospital), but I moved away when it just became too expensive to live there.

[Le Noir Faineant]

I hope that doesn't mean you stop to visit this community now and then.

What will be your next project then, Steve?

Oh, I'll keep dropping by as long as I think I have something worthwhile to contribute.

As for my next project, I'll probably be sticking to the short online releases from ID Adventures for now (like the "Modern Advances: Spookmaster" item reviewed elsewhere on this site). Those sort of bite-sized items are all I can committ to until I'm fully adjusted to the routine of my new, very involved and ever-changing dayjob.

Now you gotta tell us what you're doing during daylight...