Best domain to start a campaign

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Deewun
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Best domain to start a campaign

Post by Deewun »

Starting a new campaign soon, building characters as a big ole group on Thursday. As I was thinking about what we may be doing, and where we may be going, and looking around for adventures and such to have a nice foundation, I thought about what the best start place would be. So where have you started your campaigns? Where did you start first as a player? Where have you always wanted to start a campaign?

I've been a part of or run 4 Ravenloft campaigns to completion now, and each started in a different domain. First in Markovia (I mean, technically, since it was Neither Man Nor Beast). Second in a homebrew domain I cannot for the life of me remember (it was not very good). Third was a pirate themed campaign, starting in Lamordia. And the last one was in Richemulot (as it was my excuse to scrap Richemulot and turn it into Ricoba, it seemed like starting there with the Last Dance was a good idea).

A few other campaigns didn't get off the ground, but I had one set in Darkon and another in Nova Vaasa.

Running List of
* Markovia
* Lamordia
* Richemulot
* Darkon x2
* Liffe
* Dementlieu
* Paridon
* Barovia x2
* Invidia
* Gundarak

Edit: Added a running total, because it is super interesting!
Last edited by Deewun on Mon Dec 05, 2016 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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thekristhomas
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Re: Best domain to start a campaign

Post by thekristhomas »

My most recent campaign started in Darkon, I did a fun thing where I got each player to roll a d6 then minus a d10, if the got a positive result, then that number represented the number of living relatives living in the village and the PC was a native, if the result was negative then that was the number of dead relatives graves that the PC would visit in the village, and the PC was not from Darkon and suffering from the memory loss caused by that place (although of course they did not know that) if the outcome was zero, then the PC was also suffering from memory loss, but instead of being from another domain, they were Outlanders. Of course none of this mattered until they crossed the border, then suddenly some of the group discovered that they were not who they thought...
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Re: Best domain to start a campaign

Post by Mistmaster »

My default starting point are either Port-a-Lucine or Paridon as they are multicultural cities.
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Re: Best domain to start a campaign

Post by Dark Angel »

My last two major campaigns were set in Barovia and Darkon. I ran Barovia to death (no pun intended), but my players were very familiar with the domain. So when they began in Barovia they had a very typical experience (to them at least) and stayed there until 5th-6th level. They then ventured into Borca and had quite a culture shock that really made them miss Barovia. They experienced different cultures and relations with others as well as the local monsters. The group ran into a emordenung and the one player asked the other what was that thing and the player (both in character and out of character) said, "I don't know!". Most amusing. Unless your players are familiar with a domain to the point of obnoxiousness, feel free to put them elsewhere. But it was satisfying when they got homesick real fast.

My Darkon campaign was set up as a Grand Conjunction Hexad one with the group 'being native' (except for one who was a new player to the Ravenloft setting). They are somewhat familiar with the land (know the darklord, don't know about the memory altering things) and got to make what they wanted (as they can literally come from anywhere) for their PCs. If you have the Gazs (and the supplements from the FoS site), you can put them where they want and flesh out the setting from there. I would ask if they are looking for an urban setting or more rural one, a more medieval one versus a more advanced setting. If they want to play outsiders, have them begin in another setting entirely and have them pulled into the Demiplane (but don't tell them that!) and go from there. Make it a thing where a local personality that they become familiar with (or at least know of) becomes more and more of a reason the whole town gets pulled into the Mists. They can then conclude with a mini campaign arc to defeat the bad guy and fall into a reasonable domain of your choice.
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Re: Best domain to start a campaign

Post by Joël of the FoS »

Back in 2003, when my campaign started, my players mainly knew Ravenloft as Strahd's Barovia, so that is where I started my campaign.

When you eventually get out of Barovia, things can only improve, no? ;)
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Re: Best domain to start a campaign

Post by Deewun »

Figured I'd give an update, since we just made characters for the new campaign I started. We started in Liffe, which is wonderful! Never would have thought of it, very excited to start there.
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Re: Best domain to start a campaign

Post by brilliantlight »

The first place my group was sent was Invindia. Eventually they helped expel the Dukkar who was granted his own domain.
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Re: Best domain to start a campaign

Post by Hamiclar »

Gundarak is where I have started. The domain has potential of prince of thieves. Being that Gundar dies his lands would be in turmoil which would be entertaining to play out especially if after the GC campaign when Strahd invades the lands.
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