Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

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Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Deewun »

I love Tindal. I love the story, I love how he factors into the Carnival and When Black Roses Bloom. I love the idea of evil reflections. And I am shocked that there isn't too much more done with him. But I've been brainstorming, and I need you fine folks to help me finish this up. I have in my mind the concept for a big ole adventure. Really a big ole book of ideas, based around Tindal. Here's the long and short of it:

The heroes, through dealings with Carnival and a set up of some kind, learn the details of Tindal's reflection, and they find the mirror, only to be attacked through the mirror and brought into the reflection world, "Reflectionloft." Here, they are expelled into Reflectionloft and must deal with the new world around them, not realizing they are in Reflectionloft as much of the world is the same, in theory. Once they realize they are reflected, they must find Tindal's mirror once more, stop Tindal, and get back.

I think of Reflectionloft as a pocket domain, with Tindal as the darklord. Except it is enormous. The size of the continental Core. And with the mad reflection rules, everything is switched. Here are the basic "rules" of Reflectionloft:

- Almost everything in the entire demi-plane is "reflected" much as Tindal was.
- Reflections are flipped only on the morality scale (i.e. Good and Evil alignment); Ethical alignment (Law v. Chaos) is unchanged, and things that are neutral stay neutral
- Creatures with reality wrinkles are not reflected and are not in Reflectionloft
- The Vistani are in Reflectionloft, but for some reason remain unchanged, as if their reflections are constant to who they are. They are trapped in the mirror, but are unaware of it. Darklings and other vistani are also the same alignment and exist, with Malocchio as the major example of evil vistani staying evil. Half-vistani in general are not protected from the reflecting, as Gabrielle is now good.
- Non-societal creatures, monsters, and undead exist and remain the same alignment (except for individual cases as DMs see fit)
- There are still domains, but their Ravenloft counterparts have changed alignment, which means new darklords rule those domains, and the old darklords are now Heroes of Light.

You can see what a large task this is. I have a lot of thoughts on it, but when it comes down to it, I've only dealt with so much of Ravenloft, and would love to see this project get help from EVERYONE. How are domains different with former heroes/npcs of good now as darklords? How are darklords, now good/evil swapped, perceived in Reflectionloft?

In the next post I'll put my thoughts on domains and darklords, as well as my thoughts on what the former darklords are doing now.
Last edited by Deewun on Fri Aug 30, 2013 11:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Deewun »

LAMORDIA -


Current Sketch -
Mordenheim:

Adam:

DEMENTLIEU -


Current Sketch -
d'Honaire:

MORDENT -


Current Sketch -
Godefroy:

VALACHAN - Reflectionloft Darklord: Felkovic


Current Sketch -
Von Kharkov:

DARKON - Reflectionloft Darklord: Dr. Rudolph Van Richten


Current Sketch -
Azalin

RICHEMULOT - Reflectionloft Darklord: The Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins


Current Sketch -
Jacqueline Renier

FALKOVNIA - Reflectionloft Darklord: Gondegal - I imagine an industrial revolutioned Falkovnia, with Gondegal and his Knight of Shadow police constantly upgrading and making new weaponry to quell uprisings he is constantly plagued with.


Current Sketch -
Vlad Drakov: Now an old man and freedom-fighter, he and his family are doing what they can protect the citizens of Falkovnia and to make small dents in Gondegal's forces.

VERBREK -


Current Sketch -
Alfred Timothy

INVIDIA - Reflectionloft Darklord: Malocchio

Current Sketch -
Gabrielle

SITHICUS -

Current Sketch -
Azrael
Inza

BORCA -

Current Sketch -
Ivana Boritsi
Ivan Dilisnya

TEPEST -


Current Sketch:
The Hags

KEENING -


Current Sketch:
Tristessa

BAROVIA - Reflectionloft Darklord: Tindal - technically, Tindal is the darklord of all the "domains" in Reflectionloft. But I love the idea of a corrupted new version of House of Strahd, the House of Tindal, and he seating himself in the first domain's seat of power.


Current Sketch:
Strahd - Seeing as we've seen his "alter ego" in the Alchemist, I would love to see Strahd as the new Van Richten. How amazing would it be for players to get a Von Zarovich's Guide to Vampires? Maybe he was married to a Tatyana and she was killed by the evil darklord monster hunter Van Richten in Darkon?

FORLORN -


Current Sketch:
Tristen ApBlanc

KARTAKASS -


Current Sketch:
Harkon Lukas

HAZLAN -


Current Sketch:
Hazlik

NOVA VAASA - Reflectionloft Darklord: Sir Tristen Hiregaard


Current Sketch:
Malken - I enjoy the concept of Reflectionloft have just swapped who was evil in this couple, and now Nova Vaasa has a very Robin Hood/Sheriff opposition, with "Malken" now referred to as "Goodman" who consistantly tries to use his band of men to stop the oppression from Hiregaard.
Last edited by Deewun on Fri Aug 30, 2013 11:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Deewun »

I know, an enormous amount of text, and it'll only get bigger. That's why I thought I'd get you guys' help. My goal is to have a utility for everyone to use, with a lot of ideas and Dread Possibilities, with the ULTIMATE GOAL to be that any campaign that uses Reflectionloft to be able to tailor what they are doing to their group. If your group is based in Invidia and Borca, or have a history with Azalin Rex, then your campaign in Reflectionloft should deal with those reflections.

Please, everyone, add ideas to this project! Criticisms too! :)
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Dark Angel »

Me, personally, I like the idea but the "scope" is too big. Do exactly what you are doing, but have the whole world be no bigger than the holodeck from Star Trek. It moves and grows and is almost impossible to detect anything is amiss. Given the nature of Tindal (illusions are big for him if I recall), that would not be too far out the realm of possibility. However, that may seem too much like Sceana and may not be an ideal thing.

Now that's over, here we go. Lamordia could be like a Mecca of medical help and hope. Victor Mordenheim leads the charge in the medical forefront with his massive family of children (all adopted? why not?) and his wife. The pinnacle of his medical triumph is his "son" Adam who is the epitome of the perfect being. Science and medicine coming together in the perfect fusion that gives the dead life again. The issues? The influx of those in need, diseased and infected, severely affecting the local populations and economy.

For Mordent, have the twisted government tyrannically ruling over the populations with strong arm tactics that borderline with dictatorships. Only the caretaker of the Dead, Godefroy, who helps others from the shadows eases the suffering of the people. After he and his family was killed in a military raid that turned out to be based on unfounded rumors, he was accepted into the vortex of energies that gave him the powers to fight evils and injustices all over the lands.

Am I even remotely on target with what you are looking for, Deewun?

ps-Love the idea that Strahd is the new monster hunter and Tindal is the new ruler, very Rumplestiltskin from Shrek 3-ish.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Deewun »

Dark Angel wrote:Me, personally, I like the idea but the "scope" is too big. Do exactly what you are doing, but have the whole world be no bigger than the holodeck from Star Trek. It moves and grows and is almost impossible to detect anything is amiss. Given the nature of Tindal (illusions are big for him if I recall), that would not be too far out the realm of possibility. However, that may seem too much like Sceana and may not be an ideal thing.

...

Am I even remotely on target with what you are looking for, Deewun?
Definitely what I'm looking for!

The idea of the "scope" is to provide everything that is needed for people to use Reflectionloft for their own purposes. There are so many ideas, I hate to not see all of them, but no campaign will use them all ... unless that's the point of the campaign. Either way, I want to be able to between ALL of us be able to provide just about everything anyone would need, with wiggle room for DMs to do their own thing as well.
Now that's over, here we go. Lamordia could be like a Mecca of medical help and hope. Victor Mordenheim leads the charge in the medical forefront with his massive family of children (all adopted? why not?) and his wife. The pinnacle of his medical triumph is his "son" Adam who is the epitome of the perfect being. Science and medicine coming together in the perfect fusion that gives the dead life again. The issues? The influx of those in need, diseased and infected, severely affecting the local populations and economy.

For Mordent, have the twisted government tyrannically ruling over the populations with strong arm tactics that borderline with dictatorships. Only the caretaker of the Dead, Godefroy, who helps others from the shadows eases the suffering of the people. After he and his family was killed in a military raid that turned out to be based on unfounded rumors, he was accepted into the vortex of energies that gave him the powers to fight evils and injustices all over the lands.
I like both of these, though I do like Lamorida more and am more inclined to use it. Who would you see as the new Reflectionloft darklords of these domains?
ps-Love the idea that Strahd is the new monster hunter and Tindal is the new ruler, very Rumplestiltskin from Shrek 3-ish.
:)
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Dark Angel »

For Lamordia? I honestly cannot recall anyone "good" or altruistic in the normal realm, but any good pcs can be turned. I cannot think of anyone beyond Aubrecker (who seemed more oafish than good), taking another doctor seems to contrived, but what about a psychiatrist? Where normal Lamordia is more about the body and hard science, the reflection would be lie more in the mind. To me this sounds a bit like Lamordia and Dementlieu are flip-flopping, but that is kinda how they are in the campaign.

Thought about Tempest, you know that realm where the three maidens of the woods use their good magics against the sinister overlords who are shackling the evil peoples. Weird if that wasn't so close to the truth of the locals of Tempest. Maybe have the new darklord be a human cleric of the dark gods set on purging the woods of all the evil magic threatening their perfect society.

For Darkon, Azalin is a powerful wizard so wound up in his society that he cannot waste time with his magical pursuits. Thinking of "new" darklords is really tough. In know this is cheating, but could a version of Tindal appear in every domain in another form that runs contrary to what is the new status quo?
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Nathan of the FoS »

You could use Ivan Dragonov for the darklord of Lamordia.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Mortavius »

Why are the twins the Darklords of Richemulot? They live in Mordent. Just wondering.

Also, wouldn't it throw your players for a loop if there were NO vampires in this new place? After all, Vampires as a rule don't cast reflections, thus, they couldn't have duplicates. But the kicker is no one knows what a vampire is, so any time there's a killing like one, the PCs think it's a vampire, but no one else does. And no one even thinks to suggest it, because no one has ever heard or seen one.

Of course...then you have a vampire of some sort brought in somehow...

This would also affect characters like von Kharkov and Strahd.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Deewun »

Nathan of the FoS wrote:You could use Ivan Dragonov for the darklord of Lamordia.
Sounds good to me. What would a Dragonov-reflection run Lamordia look like, do you think?
Mortavius wrote:Why are the twins the Darklords of Richemulot? They live in Mordent. Just wondering.
Sisters to sisters was my mindset. Simple as that.
Also, wouldn't it throw your players for a loop if there were NO vampires in this new place? After all, Vampires as a rule don't cast reflections, thus, they couldn't have duplicates. But the kicker is no one knows what a vampire is, so any time there's a killing like one, the PCs think it's a vampire, but no one else does. And no one even thinks to suggest it, because no one has ever heard or seen one.

Of course...then you have a vampire of some sort brought in somehow...

This would also affect characters like von Kharkov and Strahd.
A fun option! It'd just be sad to miss Kharkov, Strahd, and the other vamps, IMO.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Dark Angel »

Dragonov type reflection (in the Lamordia I proposed above) might work well as a creature driven to madness via a botched medical treatment. Not saying it caused his lycanthropy, but he may see the great advances and realize that they cannot treat everyone and everything. So he seeks out the fine folk of Lamordia to turn against the good doctor and his efforts, but can never build enough of a population before the higher tech humans sweep through and reduce the numbers. And that is the cycle, could use more work and polish, but it is a beginning.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Dark Angel »

As far as no vampires, maybe vampires don't have a reflection in "our world" but something does make it through. Whether it is a geist-type monster with little substance or the opposite of a vampire (too hard to think of this with not much sleep), it would be something unique to add more flavor to this little universe.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Mortavius »

Deewun wrote: A fun option! It'd just be sad to miss Kharkov, Strahd, and the other vamps, IMO.
Of course, the question of "when" comes into play. Are all the reflections current? You could have a reflection of Strahd when he was mortal. And von Kharkov when he was a werebeast but before becoming undead.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

I love the idea. I think maybe your rules about what changes and what doesn't are a little over-complicated and would confuse players. If I used this, I'd just flip everyone's alignment, yes even the undead and monsters. Somewhat akin the Star Trek's mirror universe.

As for vampires, they'd be some sort of very different good-aligned creature in the reflection world, but also have no reflection like their normal counterparts. The reason the vampires and the ... er.... eripmavs(?) don't have a reflection when they look in a mirror is simply because their counterpart is so completely different that they are never looking into the same mirror at the same time. :)
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by The Giamarga »

Note though that the reflected Tindal is N, while Tindafalus was NE. My theory is that similar to how the elemental planes become tainted while overlapping the demiplane or dread, the demiplane of mirrors is tainted too, so that all reflections do not reflect quite to the good morality, rather stopping at neutral.

Also the description of the (demi-)plane of mirrors from th e Carnival, the 3.5 Manual of the Planes and from other sources is that they are just lots of disjointed sets of hallways (constellations) that connect several mirrors and not a complete realm. Though if Tindafalus would have become trapped in his 6 Memory Mirrors, this Reflectionloft could be exactly what happens.
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Re: Through the Looking Glass ... (WIP "Reflectionloft")

Post by Joël of the FoS »

I also love the Tindal mirror domains idea. That is extremely interesting.

However the scope of it is too big. You'll loose people's interest if they have to convert the whole thing to Reflectionloft.

I'd restrain it to a few iconic domains that could be changed to Reflectionloft, and that would be it.

(and perhaps add guidelines on how to convert your preferred domain to Refloft, but do not do the whole thing or you'll never finish!)

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