What do you think? Could it be possible to transform Carnate Isle, the setting for The Suffering, into a Ravenloft Domain? I understand it would be hard, primarily because it involves blending together the Ravenloft and D20 Modern rules, but I do have a few ideas for it.
The advanced weaponry native to the domain function ONLY in that domain. If someone tries to remove any of the weapons from the domain they either:
*crumble into rust and slivers of rotten wood
*fade away into the mists
*fall to pieces the next time someone tries to use them
*transmutate into the closest Ravenloft equivalent; eg a Shotgun into a Thunderstick
Ammunition also fades away and can't be duplicated even if it didn't, so there's no point in trying to escape with it. Maybe you actually can't cross the open borders of the Island unless you dump all of the advanced tech you have on you first.
The monsters to the domain are either Undead, Aberrations or Evil Outsiders with the Mist subtype
Torque is probably a Tough hero, maybe with levels of Strong and possibly even Smart. His "Beast" side is a Supernatural Ability, and the fact that all of the others simply see him in a berserker state could be explained as part of... whatever that thing is that hides magic from D20 Moderners. The Shadow, I think it's called?
If anyone has some advice, could you please let me know?
Carnate Island as an Isle of Terror?
Carnate Island as an Isle of Terror?
"Is there any word more meaningless than 'hope'? Besides 'blarfurgsnarg,' of course."
"Seek and Locate! Locate and Destroy! Destroy and Rejoice!"
"Seek and Locate! Locate and Destroy! Destroy and Rejoice!"
-
Rotipher of the FoS
- Thieving Crow
- Posts: 4683
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2003 4:18 pm
I'm not sure you'd need to be quiiiiiite so paranoid about the weaponry involved. So long as you prevent PCs from dragging off crateloads of ammunition, bringing a shotgun out of a high-tech domain -- only to wind up saving it for an extreme crisis, because you can't get any more ammo for it and no NPC can duplicate the few shells you've got -- isn't really that different from recovering a wand or a scroll of combat-spells from a conventional dungeon. This is especially true in Ravenloft, where monsters tend to be damage-resistant; if you've found you left the PCs too much ammo, you can always sic a golem on them, or some other monster that just soaks up punishment and keeps on coming, to absorb the excess.
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
Well, I suppose that is true, it does seem to fit the theme too, but maybe that's just my mind playing tricks on me again. Do you have any suggestions on how to do up the place? I don't mean layout, I know what's on the island (sorta), but I do need to know why the Dark Powers would have dragged/copied it from whatever Prime Material Plane it came from. Sure, it does have a rather bloody past, but that isn't the only prerequisite, now is it?
Some suggestions for a Darklord would also be appreciated; Torque... maybe, especially if you've seen his Bad Ending. Maybe Dr. Killjoy (he seems to be the one creating the monsters), or some sort of Head C.O (actually, I think you meet the head of Carnate Prison as the first ally NPC. He gets electrocuted as I recall...). The Black One (the final boss) is too... predictable? ungothic?
Also, do you have any ideas on what the stats might be for the creatures?
Some suggestions for a Darklord would also be appreciated; Torque... maybe, especially if you've seen his Bad Ending. Maybe Dr. Killjoy (he seems to be the one creating the monsters), or some sort of Head C.O (actually, I think you meet the head of Carnate Prison as the first ally NPC. He gets electrocuted as I recall...). The Black One (the final boss) is too... predictable? ungothic?
Also, do you have any ideas on what the stats might be for the creatures?
"Is there any word more meaningless than 'hope'? Besides 'blarfurgsnarg,' of course."
"Seek and Locate! Locate and Destroy! Destroy and Rejoice!"
"Seek and Locate! Locate and Destroy! Destroy and Rejoice!"
-
Jack of Tears
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 306
- Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 4:25 pm
re
Well, you could always place it in Nosos. I know quite a few people play the setting as quite advanced; with factories belching filth into the sky and filling the waterways with toxic sludge. The sort of behavior conducted behind the prison walls would hardly go noticed in a place like this and in the end any failures would be written off as the dangers of doing business.
Remember, too, that not every evil place drawn into Ravenloft need be a domain with its own lords and curses. It could simply be a place so terrible that it drew the attention of the dark powers and they decided to wisk it away to their own amusement.
As for weapons, I'd let the players keep them. As others said, they would become useless after a time and it does give them some kind of small reward for surviving the experience.
Though if you wanted to be wicked, you could have the weapons bear a taint from the place. They are weapons of murder which draw the attentions of the angry and wrathful. Such people might covet them for some perceived sense of kinship and power. Anyone useing them on a regular basis might find themselves becoming angrier without reason, more willing to commit violence. Never miss an oportunity to do something evil, I always say.
Remember, too, that not every evil place drawn into Ravenloft need be a domain with its own lords and curses. It could simply be a place so terrible that it drew the attention of the dark powers and they decided to wisk it away to their own amusement.
As for weapons, I'd let the players keep them. As others said, they would become useless after a time and it does give them some kind of small reward for surviving the experience.
Though if you wanted to be wicked, you could have the weapons bear a taint from the place. They are weapons of murder which draw the attentions of the angry and wrathful. Such people might covet them for some perceived sense of kinship and power. Anyone useing them on a regular basis might find themselves becoming angrier without reason, more willing to commit violence. Never miss an oportunity to do something evil, I always say.
Okay, I understand that not every place of evil needs to have a Darklord or be a domain, but I'd just like to know why the Dark Powers would have noticed it, just to give it a background? I also need ideas what it actually does now that it's floating around the mists. Maybe it draws in new victims, in the forms of criminals and those who have nowhere to go/are looking for a place to hide? A cursed pit full of monsters that exists for no reason other than a splatterfest has a hard time existing in standard DnD, let alone Ravenloft. I guess what I'm trying to say, is how should I use Carnate Island?
Finally, when all's said and done, I need D20 stats for the creatures and Torque- D20 Modern (and maybe D20 Past) have stats for Tommyguns, Revolvers, Shotguns, TNT, Flash-Bang Grenades, Molotov Cocktails and Shrapnel Grenades, and the Fireaxe is just a lighter (maybe half-weight) version of the Battleaxe. The Shiv is just a Dagger that deals slashing damage instead of piercing damage.
::EDIT::
Looking over this, I realised I should stop whining and try to put some effort in. As not everyone has played The Suffering, I thought I could contribute by putting up descriptions of the creatures.
Slayer
The creature called The Slayer is the most common of the beasts that infest Carnate Island and Abbot Penitentiary.
In form they resemble humans whose flesh has turned a pasty, unhealthy white and whose arms and legs have been removed below the elbow and knee, the missing limb having been replaced with a sharp blade, similar to a longsword's. A Slayer's neck has been severed, and their heads are held slightly aloft of their shoulders by means of four metal pinions, which grow- two aside- from their shoulders and embed their topmost end into the Slayer's skull.
All of the creatures on Carnate seem to embody some form of execution, and the Slayer's form would suggest that it embodies decapitation. However, no decapitations are known to have occured on Carnate, which throws doubt into this origin. Instead, it is more likely that Slayers embody knifings; the throat-slittings and fatal stabbings inflicted with so much relish by the prisoners on both their own and their guards with crude, home-made daggers.
A more advanced version of the Slayer, called the Greater Slayer, exists. This creature is half-again as large as a Slayer, roughly equal to a Marksman in height, and its limb-blades are different in style, being more like twin blades positioned back-to-back. Greater Slayers are always masked of face, most commonly with leather hoods.
Both breeds of Slayer can survive the destruction of their head, however the removal of an arm or leg will quickly cause a Slayer to bleed to death, their life ebbing to nothing in seconds. This weakness is not shared by Greater Slayers, who will continue to attack unaffected even by the loss of both arms. Greater Slayers must be forcibly put to rest with weaponry. After some time in existence, both types of Slayer evolve into Advanced Slayers, who appear no different and are no stronger but continually regenerate until and unless their head is destroyed.
The Slayer is one of few creatures who do not have the ability to appear from nowhere. The Slayer does make surprise attacks and ambushes, but does so by hiding in the shadows, or in ventilation shafts. At certain areas on Carnate, all of which are located outside, exist "hell-mouths", great pits which seem to be portals to whatever unearthly hell the Slayers come from. Unless the hell-mouth is sealed, either by physically blocking it off (say, with a giant boulder) or by subjecting it to intense light (such as that emitted by the tower spotlights), an endless tide of Slayers will emerge from it.
Marksman
The Marksman is a large and brutish creature, evidentally the embodiment of death by firing squad. It resembles an ogre-sized human, with a bald head, blood-spattered sallow skin and a blood-stained blindfold wrapped around its eyes. Its chest is bare, revealing the numerous holes that stud its flesh and it wears khaki trousers and 'army boots'. A great hump of flesh grows from its back, and this is its primary means of attack. The hump is roughly rectangular in shape, with one end being studded with five rifle barrels and the other featuring two rifle butts. All of the gun-parts are situated so that they can move independantly, giving the appearance of being able to fire at all sides simultaneously.
The Marksman attacks by crouching down on all fours. Its gun-barrels then move so they are facing straight ahead and the hump swivels in the direction of its nearby target. Despite its blindfold, the Marksman is quite keen of senses and it rarely misses its target. The guns can either fire all at once, an accurate blast similar to a shotgun, or they rapid-fire quasi-independantly, which allows the Marksman to lay down a considerable amount of firepower.
The Marksman avoids close combat if at all possible and does not attack its foes directly in melee. Instead, the Marksman has the ability to expel a short-ranged burst of metal shrapnel from its bullet wounds. This causes little damage but damages all around it. They only seem to be able to do this about once every 10 seconds.
Like several other creatures, Marksmen have the ability to appear from out of nowhere, bursting from the soil bound to great, rotten, bullet-riddled wooden posts. Fortunately, they are helpless and vulnerable for the few seconds it takes for them to snap their bonds, which should be taken advantage of.
Marksmen move in a quasi-quadrepedal gait, using their powerful arms to help propel them along at surprising speed for creatures so large. Their bulk does hinder their agility and after unleashing a volley of bullets it takes a minute for them to generate more ammunition.
Mainliner
These repulsive creatures are the embodiement of lethal injection. Thin and small, with almost rudimentary limbs that force them to crawl everywhere and drawn, pale skin, they infest the dark places of the island.
The Mainliner has about a dozen long-needled syringes jabbed into two rows along its spine, and two more syringes are forced through its skull to replace the eyes. The syringes are filled with a noxious, light-green elixer that glows in the dark, thus hindering their efforts to hide. These syringes are the Mainliner's primary means of attack; it plucks a syringe from its spine (which is replaced instantly) and then either hurls it like a dart or it leaps forward a considerable distance to grapple with an enemy and inject the contents into the victim. The serum is poisonous, and seems to be the same fluid that fills the veins of the Mainliner; a mixture of sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.
Because its blood has been replaced with a toxin, the Mainliner can effect a post-humous attack. When slain, a Mainliner emits a puddle of toxin which reacts with the air to form a corrosive chemical that eats away at anything that touches it. Fortunately this chemical has a very short life, and after about two minutes its potency is nullified and it poses no further threat. It is possible to tell whether or not the Mainliner's remains are toxic by sight; whilst it is hazardous to be near it emits gasous vapours of the same colour as the fluid. It should be noted that only the blood leaking from a Mainliner's corpse is toxic; at all other times it is harmless.
Mainliners make a sort of gurgling wheeze as they move around, and those possessed of sharp hearing can use this to pinpoint them. Mainliners have the ability to emerge from puddles of fluid, whether blood, water or something else. They can also sink back into the earth at will, though they can only re-emerge near such a fluid puddle.
Nooseman
Noosemen are effectively related to the Burrowers, being spawned by the same event; a cave-in at Carnate Quarry trapped a number of inmates, who survived the cave-in but were left to die by callous C.O.s. Enraged, the inmates rioted and captured five C.O.s, who they skinned alive, hung and severed at the waist. From the trapped inmates came the Burrowers, from the lynched C.O.s came the Noosemen.
Noosemen appear as male human upper torsos, devoid of skin and with their heads wrapped so tightly in some form of mask or bag that they have only rudimentary signs of facial features. Some of their entrails dangle out of their torso, and a noose is still draped around their neck, with the other end of the rope disappearing into the bloodstain on the ceiling.
Noosemen attack in a more supernatural means then their fellows, dropping from out of bubbling bloodstains on the ceiling to attempt to grasp and strangle anyone who walks underneath. If their initial attack is dodged then a Nooseman is helpless for a few seconds as it rights itself and climbs back up its rope. They cannot move from their initial dropping site, though once they climb back to their bloodstain they can drop down elsewhere. They have no other means of attack.
Burrower
The Burrowers are the embodiment of inmates who were buried alive during an accident at Carnate Quarry. They appear as humans bound up within gunny sacks, their limbs held to their sides by leather straps applied to the outside of the sack and with chains attached to their straps, each chain ending in a blade or hook-like barb.
Burrowers move under the soil, creating a visible 'ripple' as they do so. They attack by emerging from the soil, and retreat the moment they have completed their attack. They have three attacks;
*the Burrower emerges slowly and bent over, then jerks back, causing the chains it has burrowed beneath its victim's feet to pull them off their feet.
*the Burrower emerges bent backward and then whips forward, attempting to strike with its chains.
*the Burrower emerges straight from the soil and spins its chains around to whip and lacerate.
Because Burrowers are vulnerable only when they are above the soil, and are above the soil only for a short period, they are extremely annoying. However, there is an easier way to deal with them. After a Burrower retreats back underground, it temporarily leaves behind a hole. Throwing a Molotv Cocktail, Sharpnel Grenade, Flash-Bang Grenade or stick of TNT down this hole will kill the Burrower when the grenade explodes, causing the Burrower to burst out of the soil and then collapse.
Fester
Festers are tied to an 18th century slave ship wrecked on the coast of Carnate Island. Few were killed in the crash, but the Dutch traders refused to free their cargo, for fear of being overwhelmed and murdered by the Negroes. Some of the slaves starved to death, but they- and the ones who had perished in crash or who drowned- were the lucky ones, for the fate of most of them was far more grisly. Shackled and unable to defend themselves, they were eaten alive by swarms of rats. The Dutchmen themselves starved to death some time afterwards. The Festers seem to actually be the Dutchmen, for if they were the Negroes they would be of darker skin colour.
Festers are massive, obese humanoids, whose heads are encaged in rusty iron cages that bite into their swollen, blueish flesh. Their bodies are covered with great scars and wounds, and thick chains with great hooks are embedded into their flesh. In their hands, Festers carry great ball-and-chains of solid iron, which they use to crush their foes. Festers are aquatic, favouring water environments. They will continually pour from the wrecked ship until a clutch of explosives in the rear of the hull are ignited.
Festers are impervious to bullets, they can only be harmed by fire, explosives or slashing weapons. When they desire, or when they are slain, their stomach bursts open and a swarmof blood-soaked rats pours forth. These creatures chase down living beings and leap for them, which causes them to burst. They only inflict minor damage, but there are a lot of them in a swarm. The only way to keep these Festering Rats from emerging from the Festers' corpses is to set fire to the Fester before or immediately after it dies, as the flames will detonate the rats. Failing that, grenade weapons easily dispatch a swarm.
Infernas
Infernas, who always appear in groups of three, are the embodiment of a trio of 13-year old Puritan girls, whose accusations of witchcraft led to the burning of 11 innocent victims. They have two forms; their original form, clad in their nightgowns and a twisted flaming version, harkening to both a scare-crow and a stereotypical witch.
They are invulnerable in their human forms, which also have no means of attack, and when slain in their Inferna form they collapse into a pile of ash. This ash must be destroyed or the Inferna will regenerate. In their burning form, Infernas leave behind a trail of intense flames which die after about 3 seconds. They also have the ability to create a sort of 'explosion'; a great bubble of flames which surges out from them to burn anything around them. They are extremely quick and agile, and are perhaps the deadliest of all the creatures. They are certainly the most annoying.
Infernas have the ability to appear from flames, an observer can save themselves from such deadly ambushes by paying close attention with their ears; flames that Infernas are concealing themselves within emit a hissing, giggling noise.
Finally, when all's said and done, I need D20 stats for the creatures and Torque- D20 Modern (and maybe D20 Past) have stats for Tommyguns, Revolvers, Shotguns, TNT, Flash-Bang Grenades, Molotov Cocktails and Shrapnel Grenades, and the Fireaxe is just a lighter (maybe half-weight) version of the Battleaxe. The Shiv is just a Dagger that deals slashing damage instead of piercing damage.
::EDIT::
Looking over this, I realised I should stop whining and try to put some effort in. As not everyone has played The Suffering, I thought I could contribute by putting up descriptions of the creatures.
Slayer
The creature called The Slayer is the most common of the beasts that infest Carnate Island and Abbot Penitentiary.
In form they resemble humans whose flesh has turned a pasty, unhealthy white and whose arms and legs have been removed below the elbow and knee, the missing limb having been replaced with a sharp blade, similar to a longsword's. A Slayer's neck has been severed, and their heads are held slightly aloft of their shoulders by means of four metal pinions, which grow- two aside- from their shoulders and embed their topmost end into the Slayer's skull.
All of the creatures on Carnate seem to embody some form of execution, and the Slayer's form would suggest that it embodies decapitation. However, no decapitations are known to have occured on Carnate, which throws doubt into this origin. Instead, it is more likely that Slayers embody knifings; the throat-slittings and fatal stabbings inflicted with so much relish by the prisoners on both their own and their guards with crude, home-made daggers.
A more advanced version of the Slayer, called the Greater Slayer, exists. This creature is half-again as large as a Slayer, roughly equal to a Marksman in height, and its limb-blades are different in style, being more like twin blades positioned back-to-back. Greater Slayers are always masked of face, most commonly with leather hoods.
Both breeds of Slayer can survive the destruction of their head, however the removal of an arm or leg will quickly cause a Slayer to bleed to death, their life ebbing to nothing in seconds. This weakness is not shared by Greater Slayers, who will continue to attack unaffected even by the loss of both arms. Greater Slayers must be forcibly put to rest with weaponry. After some time in existence, both types of Slayer evolve into Advanced Slayers, who appear no different and are no stronger but continually regenerate until and unless their head is destroyed.
The Slayer is one of few creatures who do not have the ability to appear from nowhere. The Slayer does make surprise attacks and ambushes, but does so by hiding in the shadows, or in ventilation shafts. At certain areas on Carnate, all of which are located outside, exist "hell-mouths", great pits which seem to be portals to whatever unearthly hell the Slayers come from. Unless the hell-mouth is sealed, either by physically blocking it off (say, with a giant boulder) or by subjecting it to intense light (such as that emitted by the tower spotlights), an endless tide of Slayers will emerge from it.
Marksman
The Marksman is a large and brutish creature, evidentally the embodiment of death by firing squad. It resembles an ogre-sized human, with a bald head, blood-spattered sallow skin and a blood-stained blindfold wrapped around its eyes. Its chest is bare, revealing the numerous holes that stud its flesh and it wears khaki trousers and 'army boots'. A great hump of flesh grows from its back, and this is its primary means of attack. The hump is roughly rectangular in shape, with one end being studded with five rifle barrels and the other featuring two rifle butts. All of the gun-parts are situated so that they can move independantly, giving the appearance of being able to fire at all sides simultaneously.
The Marksman attacks by crouching down on all fours. Its gun-barrels then move so they are facing straight ahead and the hump swivels in the direction of its nearby target. Despite its blindfold, the Marksman is quite keen of senses and it rarely misses its target. The guns can either fire all at once, an accurate blast similar to a shotgun, or they rapid-fire quasi-independantly, which allows the Marksman to lay down a considerable amount of firepower.
The Marksman avoids close combat if at all possible and does not attack its foes directly in melee. Instead, the Marksman has the ability to expel a short-ranged burst of metal shrapnel from its bullet wounds. This causes little damage but damages all around it. They only seem to be able to do this about once every 10 seconds.
Like several other creatures, Marksmen have the ability to appear from out of nowhere, bursting from the soil bound to great, rotten, bullet-riddled wooden posts. Fortunately, they are helpless and vulnerable for the few seconds it takes for them to snap their bonds, which should be taken advantage of.
Marksmen move in a quasi-quadrepedal gait, using their powerful arms to help propel them along at surprising speed for creatures so large. Their bulk does hinder their agility and after unleashing a volley of bullets it takes a minute for them to generate more ammunition.
Mainliner
These repulsive creatures are the embodiement of lethal injection. Thin and small, with almost rudimentary limbs that force them to crawl everywhere and drawn, pale skin, they infest the dark places of the island.
The Mainliner has about a dozen long-needled syringes jabbed into two rows along its spine, and two more syringes are forced through its skull to replace the eyes. The syringes are filled with a noxious, light-green elixer that glows in the dark, thus hindering their efforts to hide. These syringes are the Mainliner's primary means of attack; it plucks a syringe from its spine (which is replaced instantly) and then either hurls it like a dart or it leaps forward a considerable distance to grapple with an enemy and inject the contents into the victim. The serum is poisonous, and seems to be the same fluid that fills the veins of the Mainliner; a mixture of sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.
Because its blood has been replaced with a toxin, the Mainliner can effect a post-humous attack. When slain, a Mainliner emits a puddle of toxin which reacts with the air to form a corrosive chemical that eats away at anything that touches it. Fortunately this chemical has a very short life, and after about two minutes its potency is nullified and it poses no further threat. It is possible to tell whether or not the Mainliner's remains are toxic by sight; whilst it is hazardous to be near it emits gasous vapours of the same colour as the fluid. It should be noted that only the blood leaking from a Mainliner's corpse is toxic; at all other times it is harmless.
Mainliners make a sort of gurgling wheeze as they move around, and those possessed of sharp hearing can use this to pinpoint them. Mainliners have the ability to emerge from puddles of fluid, whether blood, water or something else. They can also sink back into the earth at will, though they can only re-emerge near such a fluid puddle.
Nooseman
Noosemen are effectively related to the Burrowers, being spawned by the same event; a cave-in at Carnate Quarry trapped a number of inmates, who survived the cave-in but were left to die by callous C.O.s. Enraged, the inmates rioted and captured five C.O.s, who they skinned alive, hung and severed at the waist. From the trapped inmates came the Burrowers, from the lynched C.O.s came the Noosemen.
Noosemen appear as male human upper torsos, devoid of skin and with their heads wrapped so tightly in some form of mask or bag that they have only rudimentary signs of facial features. Some of their entrails dangle out of their torso, and a noose is still draped around their neck, with the other end of the rope disappearing into the bloodstain on the ceiling.
Noosemen attack in a more supernatural means then their fellows, dropping from out of bubbling bloodstains on the ceiling to attempt to grasp and strangle anyone who walks underneath. If their initial attack is dodged then a Nooseman is helpless for a few seconds as it rights itself and climbs back up its rope. They cannot move from their initial dropping site, though once they climb back to their bloodstain they can drop down elsewhere. They have no other means of attack.
Burrower
The Burrowers are the embodiment of inmates who were buried alive during an accident at Carnate Quarry. They appear as humans bound up within gunny sacks, their limbs held to their sides by leather straps applied to the outside of the sack and with chains attached to their straps, each chain ending in a blade or hook-like barb.
Burrowers move under the soil, creating a visible 'ripple' as they do so. They attack by emerging from the soil, and retreat the moment they have completed their attack. They have three attacks;
*the Burrower emerges slowly and bent over, then jerks back, causing the chains it has burrowed beneath its victim's feet to pull them off their feet.
*the Burrower emerges bent backward and then whips forward, attempting to strike with its chains.
*the Burrower emerges straight from the soil and spins its chains around to whip and lacerate.
Because Burrowers are vulnerable only when they are above the soil, and are above the soil only for a short period, they are extremely annoying. However, there is an easier way to deal with them. After a Burrower retreats back underground, it temporarily leaves behind a hole. Throwing a Molotv Cocktail, Sharpnel Grenade, Flash-Bang Grenade or stick of TNT down this hole will kill the Burrower when the grenade explodes, causing the Burrower to burst out of the soil and then collapse.
Fester
Festers are tied to an 18th century slave ship wrecked on the coast of Carnate Island. Few were killed in the crash, but the Dutch traders refused to free their cargo, for fear of being overwhelmed and murdered by the Negroes. Some of the slaves starved to death, but they- and the ones who had perished in crash or who drowned- were the lucky ones, for the fate of most of them was far more grisly. Shackled and unable to defend themselves, they were eaten alive by swarms of rats. The Dutchmen themselves starved to death some time afterwards. The Festers seem to actually be the Dutchmen, for if they were the Negroes they would be of darker skin colour.
Festers are massive, obese humanoids, whose heads are encaged in rusty iron cages that bite into their swollen, blueish flesh. Their bodies are covered with great scars and wounds, and thick chains with great hooks are embedded into their flesh. In their hands, Festers carry great ball-and-chains of solid iron, which they use to crush their foes. Festers are aquatic, favouring water environments. They will continually pour from the wrecked ship until a clutch of explosives in the rear of the hull are ignited.
Festers are impervious to bullets, they can only be harmed by fire, explosives or slashing weapons. When they desire, or when they are slain, their stomach bursts open and a swarmof blood-soaked rats pours forth. These creatures chase down living beings and leap for them, which causes them to burst. They only inflict minor damage, but there are a lot of them in a swarm. The only way to keep these Festering Rats from emerging from the Festers' corpses is to set fire to the Fester before or immediately after it dies, as the flames will detonate the rats. Failing that, grenade weapons easily dispatch a swarm.
Infernas
Infernas, who always appear in groups of three, are the embodiment of a trio of 13-year old Puritan girls, whose accusations of witchcraft led to the burning of 11 innocent victims. They have two forms; their original form, clad in their nightgowns and a twisted flaming version, harkening to both a scare-crow and a stereotypical witch.
They are invulnerable in their human forms, which also have no means of attack, and when slain in their Inferna form they collapse into a pile of ash. This ash must be destroyed or the Inferna will regenerate. In their burning form, Infernas leave behind a trail of intense flames which die after about 3 seconds. They also have the ability to create a sort of 'explosion'; a great bubble of flames which surges out from them to burn anything around them. They are extremely quick and agile, and are perhaps the deadliest of all the creatures. They are certainly the most annoying.
Infernas have the ability to appear from flames, an observer can save themselves from such deadly ambushes by paying close attention with their ears; flames that Infernas are concealing themselves within emit a hissing, giggling noise.
"Is there any word more meaningless than 'hope'? Besides 'blarfurgsnarg,' of course."
"Seek and Locate! Locate and Destroy! Destroy and Rejoice!"
"Seek and Locate! Locate and Destroy! Destroy and Rejoice!"
-
Samael Hands of Stone
- Agent of the Fraternity
- Posts: 98
- Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:40 pm
- Location: Montreal
- Contact:
While I don't agree that pulling in a modern domain would fit well into the Ravenloft world, I do think your idea has merit. The Suffering is a gruesome game with a very gothic feel to it, and the modern-day setting isn't very crucial to its horror adventure appeal. You could of course take the easy route and simply drop this type of scenario in any approrpiate domain (I seem to recall a rather fitting site for it in Falkovnia), with all the necassary occult trimmings to compensate for the lack of uzis and electric chairs. The second option is of course to play the "cluster card", and drop it into those handy Mists for your sadistic DM-ing pleasure.
But what do I know...
But what do I know...
"In life, we all have our El Guapos..."
-
Rotipher of the FoS
- Thieving Crow
- Posts: 4683
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2003 4:18 pm
Apart from the Mainliners, Hellborn, most of the creatures you mentioned from the game could be translated easily into unique undead for a pre-modern cursed prison. Hangings, stabbings, and cave-ins have been the cause of death for prisoners for centuries; firing squads debut with the appearance of firearms, which are known to several Core Ravenloft domains; burning accused witches at the stake is or has been a common practice in many parts of the paranoid Land of Mists. As for Mainliners, a prison's warden might have secretly "rented out" his condemned charges to a mad scientist or evil wizard, whose experiments with injected poisons and drugs gave rise to these monsters.
If it's the creatures and situation you're looking to carry over, rather than the backstory of the video game, just forget the game's past history and construct your own that fits into the Ravenloft setting, incorporating the same threats (perhaps with sneaky alterations, to surprise "Suffering"-savvy players
) into a different context. Heck, that's what the old I6 module did for Dracula-stories, in the first place!
An even nastier alternative might be to have the players visit the site of the adventure -- an old fortress, currently occupied by the living and safe for the PCs, or perhaps even friendly (!) -- several times before the "cursed prison" scenario. They get to know the residents, learn the castle's layout, and eventually become comfortable there ... even though, once in a while, they encounter hints that the fortress's past history had a darker side (e.g. finding records of prisoners kept there a hundred years ago, while researching some other topic).
Just as your players have come to think of the fortress as a "home base" which they can take for granted, and to bond with the resident NPCs, something terrible happens -- an evil artifact is brought there and its power unleashed; a resident NPC who's been acting like a creep since they met him commits an Act of Ultimate Darkness and is granted the fortess as a micro-domain; an ailing Vistana the PCs themselves once crossed returns to lay a dying curse on everything they care about -- and the resulting outpouring of evil causes the video game's undead to arise, rampaging through the fortress the PCs believed was so safe and exposing the many crimes that had lain, forgotten, beneath the "friendly" castle's stones. Now, we're talking horror!
If it's the creatures and situation you're looking to carry over, rather than the backstory of the video game, just forget the game's past history and construct your own that fits into the Ravenloft setting, incorporating the same threats (perhaps with sneaky alterations, to surprise "Suffering"-savvy players
) into a different context. Heck, that's what the old I6 module did for Dracula-stories, in the first place!An even nastier alternative might be to have the players visit the site of the adventure -- an old fortress, currently occupied by the living and safe for the PCs, or perhaps even friendly (!) -- several times before the "cursed prison" scenario. They get to know the residents, learn the castle's layout, and eventually become comfortable there ... even though, once in a while, they encounter hints that the fortress's past history had a darker side (e.g. finding records of prisoners kept there a hundred years ago, while researching some other topic).
Just as your players have come to think of the fortress as a "home base" which they can take for granted, and to bond with the resident NPCs, something terrible happens -- an evil artifact is brought there and its power unleashed; a resident NPC who's been acting like a creep since they met him commits an Act of Ultimate Darkness and is granted the fortess as a micro-domain; an ailing Vistana the PCs themselves once crossed returns to lay a dying curse on everything they care about -- and the resulting outpouring of evil causes the video game's undead to arise, rampaging through the fortress the PCs believed was so safe and exposing the many crimes that had lain, forgotten, beneath the "friendly" castle's stones. Now, we're talking horror!
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow
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Rotipher of the FoS
- Thieving Crow
- Posts: 4683
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2003 4:18 pm
For creature-creation, I'd suggest you start with the standard stats for an undead-type that your PCs are powerful enough to stand up to, and then add a special ability or two that's inspired by the video game. Give the larger monsters an extra HD and a slight Strength increase, the faster ones a higher movement rate and AC, the just-won't-die ones DR and/or regenerative powers, etc. If you're not sure how a monster's ability from the game should operate, try to find a comparable ability among existing D&D monsters or spells; for instance, a "marksman's" shrapnel-attack could be treated like a hellhound's breath weapon, but it inflicts slashing damage instead of fire damage.
There's no hard-and-fast way to determine what the CR of the resulting monsters ought to be. The surest way is to get some copies of the PCs' character sheets, and try out your monsters against them to see if they're tough enough to offer a challenge (or powerful enough to demolish the party, for that matter). This will give you an idea how many of the new monsters you should sic on the PCs at once; when in doubt, try to err on the side of one less rather than one more. Also, remember that D&D PCs aren't designed to stand up to the dozens of consecutive combats which video games typically present; if you want them to face a running battle with hordes of slayers, make sure that those particular monsters are a good deal weaker than the PCs.
Most importantly, of course, when the PCs actually encounter these new undead-types, describe their abilities and appearance as mysteriously as possible. Don't use the same descriptions as in the video game; change the creatures' looks and behavior enough so the players will be confused as well as intimidated. Gore is far less important than uncertainty, here: leave the players wondering what these creatures might be capable of, because whatever they'll be imagining will no doubt be much, much nastier than what your monsters can actually do.
There's no hard-and-fast way to determine what the CR of the resulting monsters ought to be. The surest way is to get some copies of the PCs' character sheets, and try out your monsters against them to see if they're tough enough to offer a challenge (or powerful enough to demolish the party, for that matter). This will give you an idea how many of the new monsters you should sic on the PCs at once; when in doubt, try to err on the side of one less rather than one more. Also, remember that D&D PCs aren't designed to stand up to the dozens of consecutive combats which video games typically present; if you want them to face a running battle with hordes of slayers, make sure that those particular monsters are a good deal weaker than the PCs.
Most importantly, of course, when the PCs actually encounter these new undead-types, describe their abilities and appearance as mysteriously as possible. Don't use the same descriptions as in the video game; change the creatures' looks and behavior enough so the players will be confused as well as intimidated. Gore is far less important than uncertainty, here: leave the players wondering what these creatures might be capable of, because whatever they'll be imagining will no doubt be much, much nastier than what your monsters can actually do.
"Who [u]cares[/u] what the Dark Powers are? They're [i]bastards![/i] That's all I need to know of them." -- Crow