News: Ravenloft back to WotC - and a FoS message

ScS of the Fraternity · Mon May 15, 2006 11:26 am

I doubt we'll see new Ravenloft material for years.
Wizards made a decision long ago not to support the old settings. DragonLance, for example, was an amazingly popular setting, yet it was tossed to the wayside. Measured against that level of apathay, what chance does Ravenloft stand of being officially resurected.

The re-release of House of Strahd is most likely an attempt to bask in the success of the adventure - not resurect the setting. With so much of the work already done, it just makes good sense to update the old adventure and republish.
Heck, they could even pull a Gary Jackson and just make a straight up conversion to 3.5 and publish the thing with the same art, maps and text.

Unless wotc makes a mint off of it, Ravenloft will remain in limbo.

Catman Jim · Post by **Catman Jim** » Mon May 15, 2006 12:49 pm

On the same shelf with the discounted Ravenloft material was a bunch of the Eberron modules, all listed at 99 cents. If only that could be a sign of the impending demise of Eberron...

Jester of the FoS · Post by **Jester of the FoS** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:25 pm

Well, Dragonlance was semi-licenced to Sovereign Press and is seeing some excellent published words. However, SP is owned/published by one of the writers/creators of the Dragonlance line who does have good relations with WotC. So that makes a big difference...

Anyhoo, for an idea of Ravenloft's ranking let's turn to google trends:
clicky
You can see Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Eberron, Dragonlance and Dark Sun ranked by number of searched on google.

On this one I'll dump Eberron and Greyhawk and slap in Planescape and Forgotten Realms:
clicky 2

Dark Sun and Planescape are pretty damn popular and have been shot down. Dragonlance, which often ties or passes the Realms, is also limited to secondary publishers. Ravenloft is always at the bottom....

ScS of the Fraternity · Mon May 15, 2006 2:49 pm

Neat google function, but bad results.

Jakob · Post by **Jakob** » Tue May 16, 2006 3:14 am

ScS of the Fraternity wrote:Neat google function, but bad results.

Let's see this from another perspective: Ravenloft has the FoS, Midway Haven, Renaissance...
A fan has no reason to search for long.

alhoon · Post by **alhoon** » Tue May 16, 2006 7:24 am

About WotC:

We can at least say: "Shade was in RAVENLOFT"

and we can always expect to see the curse of the warforged darklord.

Drinnik Shoehorn · Post by **Drinnik Shoehorn** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:09 am

alhoon wrote:About WotC:

We can at least say: "Shade was in RAVENLOFT"

and we can always expect to see the curse of the warforged darklord.

Shade?

Le Noir Faineant · Post by **Le Noir Faineant** » Tue May 16, 2006 4:42 pm

I think we don't have to worry about RL - the adventure might sparkle the interest of many gamers for the S&S line. Plus, the novels are rereleased in part. PLUS, we have one of the most productive fan communities out there.
And yet one more PLUS, the future of D&D holds basically two options: 4e or not. In any case, the old licenses won't lie around there unused to long, I am sure...

Let's not forget that we RLers had more than our fair share from 3e... 18 books in total, that's more or less what's out for FR...

Ronia Sun · Post by **Ronia Sun** » Fri May 19, 2006 2:30 pm

Overall rumor (and remember that this is rumor) is that it is unlikely that WOTC will do much with Ravenloft, since they're under pressure from Hasbro to stick to Eberron or pure D&D related materials. *sigh* Don't get me wrong, I like Eberron and all, but darnit, I want more Ravenloft!

Undead Cabbage · Post by **Undead Cabbage** » Fri May 19, 2006 9:31 pm

Daisy has got some good points, all considering the setting has done pretty well for itself.

Not to mention, we also have the 'Castle Ravenloft' product coming out. Either way around it, if WOTC publishes it people are going to buy it (what with all of the younger gamers that are wrapped around their fingers). And there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Jester of the FoS · Post by **Jester of the FoS** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:13 am

Personaly, I prefer the idea of the Frat and the fans having 'control' of the line and setting...

Le Noir Faineant · Post by **Le Noir Faineant** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:25 am

Undead Cabbage wrote:Daisy has got some good points, all considering the setting has done pretty well for itself.

Not to mention, we also have the 'Castle Ravenloft' product coming out. Either way around it, if WOTC publishes it people are going to buy it (what with all of the younger gamers that are wrapped around their fingers). And there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Thanks!

Maybe, there can be even done more via the Dragonlance connection. Lord Soth might sell as nicely as Strahd - or maybe Hazlik... I think that RL being tied so strongly to the other TSR worldds still holds a lot of potential.

mistshadow2k4 · Post by **mistshadow2k4** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:26 am

Jester of the FoS wrote:Personaly, I prefer the idea of the Frat and the fans having 'control' of the line and setting...

I agree with that. I didn't like some of the stuff S&S did with it. I particularly didn't like Champions of Darkness, although it had some great stuff in it, the author clearly didn't have a thorough understanding of RL.

alhoon · Post by **alhoon** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:27 am

Drinnik Shoehorn wrote:
alhoon wrote:About WotC:

We can at least say: "Shade was in RAVENLOFT"

and we can always expect to see the curse of the warforged darklord.
Shade?

Yeap. The City of Shade. In the novels it is said that the City of Shade was in a dark demi-plane prison of mists and shadows, where dark pacts had to be made with the sinister powers in control of this prison. The people that say that in the novel is a totally corrupted man, obsessed with bringing Netherese to its heights.

When it appeared, Mistdale was plunged in mists, where now sinister predators lurk.

Le Noir Faineant · Post by **Le Noir Faineant** » Sun May 21, 2006 4:32 am

Shade? Mistdale?

Fi Fa Fei Fo Fu, Rafee smells a... REALMER here!

Café de Nuit

Welcome, friends, to our establishment.

News: Ravenloft back to WotC - and a FoS message