15th Anniversary of the Book of Souls Netbook!

[stu]

Greetings from the Kargatane,

A creepy ghoul whispered the other day that this Halloween happens to mark 15 years since the Kargatane released The Book of Souls netbook!

So after a few discussions with the Kargatane, a bit of nostalgia, and a consultation with the unsettled prophetic inmate in the attic, we decided that we'd hang out on the Fraternity's message board this Halloween to catch up with everyone.

It's hard to believe that it's been that long since that first netbook - but I have to say, it's awesome to see that Halloween announcements continue on the Frat's messageboards - with another Quoth the Raven netbook, and what looks like an epic effort from Rucht Lilavivat on Gothic Earth. It obviously continues to be a very strong community, so all credit to everyone involved in keeping this site running, and everyone who contributes to the development of new material. (We certainly understand just how much work it actually is.)

I plan to check in over the next few days, and so do a number of the other Kargatane - we'd be happy to try and answer any questions, and will probably post a few recollections about how the netbooks (and then the Kargatane website) all got started.

Talk to you soon,
Stu of the Kargatane

[Andrew Cermak]

15 years...that's still hard to believe!

I wasn't involved in the online Ravenloft community when The Book of Souls was being put together, but I did discover it shortly after its release. At the time I'd never seen a netbook, and I hadn't given a thought to putting any of my own work online.

But the Book of Souls gave me inspiration enough to make a few submissions to the Forgotten Children netbook that came after, and I'm so glad I did. Submitting to the Forgotten Children led to submissions to the Book of Sorrows, and then to the Book of Secrets, and then to joining the Kargatane, and then to a professional writing gig...but honestly it's joining the Kargatane that I look back on most wistfully. Working with, creating with, and just chatting with those guys was always a blast. And any opportunity for Kargatane nostalgia is most welcome.

[stu]

Here's a little snippet of history - the post to the Ravenloft Mailing List that prompted the creation of the Book of Souls:

Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 01:36:00 -0600 (CST)
From: Christopher Dale Nichols <cdnichol@panther.bsc.edu>
Subject: [RAVENLOFT] - A Proposal.

I, Chris Nichols, being of extremely questionable mind and body, propose
that we, the Ravenloft Mailing List, look into the compilement of a
Ravenloft Net-Book, that may eventually be up-loaded to the TSR site,
once the blasted thing is ready. This project should, in no way, enter
into violation of TSR's on-line policies.

If there is any interest in such a project, please e-mail me privately.

I would truely appreciate, if folks like Stuart, Andrew, darkelf, randir,
Steve, Undertaker, and anybody else would take an interest in such a project.

Respectfully,
Chris Nichols

PS: If I totally missed the bus on this one...tell me, OK?

...and with that, Chris got (initially) another 6 people together to start work on the netbook. I think about the first order of business was dubbing ourselves "the Kargatane", in deference to the TSR Ravenloft writing crew.

It didn't immediately progress smoothly though.... one of the 7 Kargatane had a very different idea of the direction to head in (randir, for anyone who remembers him on the mailing list), and in the end he broke away to pursue a different approach.

But after much discussion among the six remaining Kargatane, Chris Nichols released submission guidelines in March 1997 for The Book of Souls, and we were off!

(Thanks to Matthew L Martin for providing me with his archives of the Ravenloft MPGN Mailing List - I'd lost all of these emails in my enormous PC crash in 2000!)

Stu of the Kargatane

[Joël of the FoS]

Well, bon anniversaire for the mother of all Ravenloft netbooks!

Indeed, it is hard to believe it's been 15 years!

We see Ryan and John here once in a while. For the others, are you still gaming?

Joël

[Joël of the FoS]

Joe just registered! Welcome

[jaerdaph]

Thanks for the welcome, Joël!

Wow - 15 years. Tempus fugit.

I'd have to say that being part of the Kargatane and getting to work with so many fellow Ravenloft and Masque of the Red Death fans is one of my fondest gaming memories. It has been awesome to see so many of our netbook contributors - writers and artists - move on professionally to bigger things in the RPG community.

What am I doing today? Lately, I've been writing sourcebooks for the ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying Game by Steve Kenson which can be found at RPGNow under Stark City Press and Fainting Goat Games. In January 2013, Welcome to Stark City, an ICONS campaign setting I worked on with Steve Kenson, Steve Perrin, Jason Tondro and many talented others will be coming out in print and PDF. I also write a regular ICONS blog called Just Add Heroes (http://justaddheroes.blogspot.com)

I haven't forgotten that I got my start in horror though - I occasionally revisit my Gothic roots on my superhero blog. I've written ICONS rules for vampires, necromancy and seances, many of which are beginning to appear in licensed ICONS products.

John Mangrum and I hang out whenever we can in New York City - we've even had the pleasure of Stu Turner, Andrew Hackard and Ryan Naylor's company on occasion too.

But enough about me. What I'd really like to know is what all of our contributors to the various Kargatane netbooks have been up to? Some of you I still see around the usual (ahem) haunts - EN World and RPGNet.

Happy Halloween everybody, and Happy Anniversary!

Joe "Jaerdaph Baeloss" Bardales

I'm often asked, did Jaerdaph Baeloss escape the mists of Ravenloft? If he did, I hope he's somewhere warm where there aren't any spiders!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Welcome, guys! I've temporarily rigged up a steampunk-esque box or wires and gears to get myself online temporarily (OK, OK, it's just a generator, but if anyone wants to imagine me on top of my roof in a labcoat harnessing lightning with a Jacob's ladder, I won't argue.)

I just want to say WELCOME to the Kargatane, and thanks for stopping by. Of course, you're all welcome to stay... forever! (oops, sorry, I mean "as long as you like.") (And selfishly, I do hope you'll stick around so maybe I can ask some more questions when my power is back on. ) Certainly, without you guys, the FoS wouldn't have the shoulders of giants to stand on.

A few general questions off the top of my head, probably the obvious ones:
- Have you kept up on Ravenloft at all? Seen the latest Dungeon and Dragon magazines?
- What are your thoughts on the recent incarnation of Ravenloft, split up and used for parts in the Shadowfell, rather than as a cohesive world? Travesty or Necessary Reinvention?
- What would have been your dream project to write for Arthaus that never materialized?
- Any more secrets to share, re:"S", the Gentleman Caller, the TOUD, etc. (or is it all pretty much known now, with what we've compiled from Mangrum, Naylor, and MLM's comments here: http://fraternityofshadows.com/TheParlo ... or_her.doc )
- Any Ravenloft goodies kicking around in your head you've never gotten around to publishing? (we're always looking for Quoth the Raven articles, and you would certainly be welcome!)
- What's your proudest contribution to Ravenloft? Your biggest regret?

[Mangrum]

BTW, we've lost touch with Chris over the years, but I know he posts here on occasion. If you see this, Chris, jump in, and then drop us a line!

I haven't run any RL for about a decade, after my long-term campaign dwindled into play-by-post and eventually petered out on a cliffhanger. (With Wyatt's aid, Duskpeace Lodge in Gaz IV was my attempt to DM-fiat my way to a sense of resolution.) I continued to idly ponder Ravenlofty ideas for a few years, however, which eventually evolved well away from Ravenloft entirely into an idea for a freeform Grimms-fairy-tale-style RPG that, ultimately, produced a notebook full of scribbles sitting on a shelf. I fell out of the RPG hobby almost entirely in the years surrounding the 3.5 -> transition, other than an annual game at Gen Con, but about three years ago advances in tech allowed me to connect far-flung friends an online campaign. These days I'm hip deep in the hobby again, though my tastes run fairly well exclusively to running Paizo's Pathfinder adventure paths. I'm still running that online campaign (the Arabian Nights-themed Legacy of Fire AP), and gearing up to start a second weekly game with an additional group of friends.

The Star Munchkin RPG was my last professional writing gig; for the last nine years, I've been "ship's chronicler" on the Replica Ship Half Moon.

My time and internet access are a bit limited just at the moment (I'm away from home, with the ship), but if I get a chance I'll take this opportunity to cough up what amounts to my final thoughts on Ravenloft -- how I'd tackle the setting were I to develop a new edition today.

[Andrew Cermak]

For the others, are you still gaming?

Yes, actually quite a bit more often than I used to back in the Kargatane days. I joined my current gaming group about six years ago and we've been meeting almost every week since then. We played D&D 4E for around four of those years (none of it spent in Ravenloft, alas), but currently it's Mage: the Ascension. One of these days I'll get them all playing Hero, my favorite system, but since I prefer playing to DMing that keeps getting put on the back-burner.

[Mangrum]

A few general questions off the top of my head, probably the obvious ones:
- Have you kept up on Ravenloft at all? Seen the latest Dungeon and Dragon magazines?

I have not. Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is the last Ravenloft product I've bought or read, though I'm vaguely up to date on more recent developments through the grapevine.

- What are your thoughts on the recent incarnation of Ravenloft, split up and used for parts in the Shadowfell, rather than as a cohesive world? Travesty or Necessary Reinvention?

My official opinion is really to wave off the question. Each generation of designers for the setting has had their own noted preferences, including elements they changed from their predecessors' version and elements that they didn't like seeing changed by the next team, but I'm really of the mind that I had my turn and got my say -- now it's theirs. My own take these days isn't nearly as revisionist as 4E's Shadowfell is, but at the same time I'd make some changes that the me of 10 or 15 years ago probably would have rejected.

- What would have been your dream project to write for Arthaus that never materialized?

The version of Secrets of the Dread Realms that we started out thinking we were writing rather than the one we actually were writing.

If the question becomes what dream project would I like to have seen produced that never materialized (that I wouldn't have to write myself), then that would be adventures. As a GM, they're my bread and butter, but they were never one of my strengths as a writer.

- Any more secrets to share, re:"S", the Gentleman Caller, the TOUD, etc. (or is it all pretty much known now, with what we've compiled from Mangrum, Naylor, and MLM's comments here: http://fraternityofshadows.com/TheParlo ... or_her.doc )

I think everything we had related to S has been laid on the table by now.

- Any Ravenloft goodies kicking around in your head you've never gotten around to publishing? (we're always looking for Quoth the Raven articles, and you would certainly be welcome!)

I suppose my thoughts on how I'd approach Ravenloft these days counts, but that will be a later post.

- What's your proudest contribution to Ravenloft? Your biggest regret?

Proudest contribution is would have to be the Book of S series and the other work the Kargatane did as a group. I think we ended up being fairly influential, in our own way, and honestly I think my career hit its peak before I ever collected my first check.

Biggest regret? Well, that's probably pretty obvious to anyone who was following the drama back at the time. It's actually the drama itself that I regret most.

[alhoon]

Stu! Andrew! Bardales! Weeeeeelcome! ! ! !

Always nice to see you drop by and happy Sanniversary!

(randir, for anyone who remembers him on the mailing list), and in the end he broke away to pursue a different approach.

I think I heard a monster hunter once mention the haunt that was plugging the swamp was originally named Randir before he "broke away" with some "shady folk".

[Andrew Cermak]

A few general questions off the top of my head, probably the obvious ones:
- Have you kept up on Ravenloft at all? Seen the latest Dungeon and Dragon magazines?

I'll give that one a qualified yes. My, and my group's, interest in D&D fell off dramatically with the 5th edition announcement (we'd been starting to get a little burned out by 4E, so there was some excitement, but the first playtest seemed like such a huge step backwards to us that we washed our hands of it). So any Ravenloft releases since the 5E announcement have probably slipped by me unnoticed. But I was tracking them before then.

- What are your thoughts on the recent incarnation of Ravenloft, split up and used for parts in the Shadowfell, rather than as a cohesive world? Travesty or Necessary Reinvention?

Hmmmm...neither? I like Ravenloft best as its own demiplane, and I think they could have preserved that if they'd cared to, but I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call it a travesty. And the Ravenloft articles I've seen have all been well-done and would have made worthy domains in prior editions.

- What would have been your dream project to write for Arthaus that never materialized?

I really wish things had worked out so we could have seen the Gazetteer series through to completion. A different approach to the 3.5 corebook also would have been nice.

- Any more secrets to share, re:"S", the Gentleman Caller, the TOUD, etc. (or is it all pretty much known now, with what we've compiled from Mangrum, Naylor, and MLM's comments here: http://fraternityofshadows.com/TheParlo ... or_her.doc )

John's the best source for S, but I don't know if there's much left that hasn't been revealed. I don't think we had time to have any serious discussions about the TOUD; I think personally it works best as a hook for Dungeon Masters to work out on their own, and I think at least some of the Kargatane were of like mind.

I also don't remember any concrete plans for the Gentleman Caller beyond what made it into the Gazetteers, but it's possible something's slipped my mind.

- Any Ravenloft goodies kicking around in your head you've never gotten around to publishing? (we're always looking for Quoth the Raven articles, and you would certainly be welcome!)

I sadly lost a lot of material switching from computer to computer over the years; in particular, I lost all the extras I cut from the Nova Vaasa write-up for Gaz V. If I hadn't, I would have turned those over to you guys a long time ago. Every once in awhile I get the urge to try and reconstruct them, but nothing's come of it.

- What's your proudest contribution to Ravenloft? Your biggest regret?

Lights in the Fog, from the Book of Secrets, is still my favorite personal project and probably the one thing that most convinced the Kargatane that I should be in the group. I think I value it more than my professional writing because it was wholly mine; no deadlines to worry about, so I was able to craft it over the course of a year; no real word count to worry about; not even any real edits to make (the Kargatane only requested two minor changes).

My work on the RCS is a close second, though. Condensing and converting the VRGs into Chapter 5 felt like a real accomplishment, and I thought Chapter 6 has some nice turns of phrase (although I haven't reread it in a long time).

Greatest regret...when we severed our relationship with Arthaus, there was some brief, idle talk about us working together on some d20 projects, talk that didn't go anywhere. I'd rather like to know what that alternate universe ended up looking like.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Oh, wow! It's the Kargatane! Welcome!

Quick question for Stu: Your campaign journals were one of my favorite things about the SotK site. At this point I doubt you're up for finishing those [/understatement], but could you share some of the high points of the finished campaign?

[Joël of the FoS]

And here's one for nostalgia -

!

Don't ask me why, that last night, I made a screen copy of the board

I still remember one of the last posts on these boards, by Andrew C - "Well, this is the end, the dark heart of Ravenloft on the net isn't beating anymore". There was also John's "Of course Ryven isn't funny: he's dead!"

That was something.

---

Then from these ashes came the FoS, a month or so later. Those were big shoes and the expectations were high. I have to admit we were a bit uneasy at first!

---

But back to the Kargatane. Even if I registered around 1999, so I missed the start of it, I have a lot of extremely good memories from the place...

When I planned my new RL campaign early 2003 (still ongoing), Stu's campaign was a big influence. We learned from it we could entertwined as much as we could into the story, and that was fun. Before that, D&D was pretty linear. My free flow campaign owes a lot to it.

I have files were I save interesting discussions, and sometimes of course I see in these long lost people names (or avatar), and that is a sad measure of passing time.

I loved the dark humor of the site. Getting an announcement email from the K was often the source of a twisted smile (unless it was for a revision on your BoS submission! ).

Joël

[Joël of the FoS]

Were there jokes that were camouflaged in a text and were never picked by the fans? (à la Tew Yssup, or with better taste?)

Joël