Personal Canon

[DannWyrm]

Dementlieu speaks Dementlieu, not Mordentish. It's exactly Mordentish, but Dementlieu is egotistical, so screw those guys, Wecreated it. Lamordia has signs that it once was a religious land, but sites have been abandoned for at least a century or two. There is a small chapel to Ezra near the border between them and Dementlieu that holds services, but barely anyone goes out of fear of being shunned by the village.

My group is currently founding Waterford in Mordent, in 752. This is more of a mistake in reading a map of the area, and just running with it when I discovered the mistake.

[HuManBing]

I've recently decided to conflate the Whistling Fiend with my own homebrew "corrupted angel" origin story for the Eternal Order.

One of the PCs recently went to the ruins of Creeana and he saw some phantasmal lights and images repeating silently through the night.

One such image was of a royal procession, with the King clearly in front, before a ruined temple. Suddenly, the crowd reacts as a large feminine winged figure emerges from the temple and squashes the King flat with a gigantic mace.

The "blast area" where the King was standing has since become a well-like depression in the ground. The PC had to contend with a corrupt low-level Kargat operative keeping people out, and a load of unscrupulous Vistani who had snuck in and started looting the place.

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

Barovia comes from Earth, Bulgaria to be specific. I used to live in Bulgaria and it is a lovely country. In any case, the Zarovich family is the Tsarovich family (a noble family with supposed connections to Russia and Bulgaria), the Terg are the Ottoman Turks and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is replaced with relics of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

[Boris Drakov]

^^Cool!

Didn't know that, thanks!

[Chaot]

Some big ones

- I run Ravenloft with BRP, which changes the assumptions of what a PC can and can't do. Skills and powers are developed independently of each other and gameplay flows differently than it usually does with the various shades of D&D (which, of course, are all different from each other).

- No demi-humans as characters. The Domains are largely human. That which is not human are so morally and cognitively 'other' that they can safely be considered 'monsters.'

-The Domains do not intersect with other worlds such as Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms etc. They are their own, contained thing, wholly self sustaining.

Caveat: Actually, they do connect to other worlds, but not nearly as much as canon would have it. People and places can slip through the Mists. However, the Domains tend to change in response to the actions of those who already reside there or as the Dark Powers require. Dark Lords who's past actions brought them to the Domains are usually retconed so that their sins occurred within the Domains themselves rather than in some otherworld. I deal with it on a need to need basis.

Those are probably the biggies. Here is some lesser stuff.

-My Ravenloft is bigger than the official one.

-I have a tendency to rename people and make up towns as the mood strikes me.

-Tristessa is not the bean-sídhe's true name. She is Titiana, sister to Loht and Maeve. She is also the matron of the Shadowborn family, cast out for her betrayal. This also causes a schism creating the seelie and unseelie courts as well as the wandering fae.

-G'Henna and Markovia were never in the Domains proper. The area now occupied by the Shadow Rift was once the Domains of Avonleigh and Nidala (and possibly a third place). They did not disappear due to the Grand Conjunction, but rather as a result from a great war between Avonleigh, Nidala and the fae.

-Azalin is not trying to 'escape' the Domains. He is trying to escape his curse.

There are others I'm sure, but that's what comes to mind now.

[Chaot]

7. Explained the Nightmare Court and gave them a somewhat elaborate backstory.

I'm toying with ideas for the Nightmare Court right now. I'm curious to know what you did with them. Care to share?

-Likewise, Necropolis is merely an empty, desolate city... most of the time. If you're unlucky, you fall through the cracks into the shadow version of the city, which is where the undead are. If you're very unlucky, you're there when the Shroud appears and decends.

I really like this! If I ever get to a point where Requiem happens I'm likely to use this.

What stands out to me is the House on Griffin Hill, because it has been there from the start, and it is the focal point of everything evil that has happened in Mordent. It was the home of Strahd's apparatus, it tainted the Reniers, it was the place where Godefroy's family was murdered, and it's been heavily suggested it is the cause of Mordent's slow decline. It has the most story potential, the feeling there is something deep, dark, and incredible buried at the bottom of it, and so I consider it the "darklord". However, there is little one can do to make a house a sympathetic character, and I think it wrecks the horror of it to try.

I love this. If it ever comes up I'm definitely using it.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Didn't know that, thanks!

Note that this thread is for _Personal_ Canon. In other words, you didn't know it because Grumpy RPG Reviews made it up. (Which is great, of course, but I just don't want to have to dig up this thread in 5 years when someone posts, "no really, I read it somewhere, it was confirmed that Barovia officially came from Earth!" )

[Zilfer]

^lol! Sorry but that made me laugh. Reading through the topic has a few interesting things. some of them are almost read as if fact or I could believe was intentional. xD

[High Priest Mikhal]

I'm toying with ideas for the Nightmare Court right now. I'm curious to know what you did with them. Care to share?

There's a few brief entries on the members of the Nightmare Court here from my own VRG to Psionics. This is largely speculation from The Nightmare Lands boxed set and my own knowledge of dreams, dream symbolism, and even mythology (the canon Rainbow Serpent was inspired by the Australian Aborigine spirit/god of the Dreamtime, possible ties to Gothic Earth?). I've tried to stay vague enough that the ideas don't conflict with any canon material I don't know about, but I have taken liberties and incorporated my own ideas. Nothing is truly objective when it comes to dreams.

[Boris Drakov]

Didn't know that, thanks!

Note that this thread is for _Personal_ Canon. In other words, you didn't know it because Grumpy RPG Reviews made it up. (Which is great, of course, but I just don't want to have to dig up this thread in 5 years when someone posts, "no really, I read it somewhere, it was confirmed that Barovia officially came from Earth!" )

Heh...

I blame working the night shift...

Oh, and the Illuminati of course.

[Ryan Naylor]

(the canon Rainbow Serpent was inspired by the Australian Aborigine spirit/god of the Dreamtime, possible ties to Gothic Earth?)

The resemblance is in name only. Nothing else about the canon Rainbow Serpent could be said to have been inspired by Australian Aboriginals; if anything, it is just the serpent from Judeo-Christian myth.

[High Priest Mikhal]

(the canon Rainbow Serpent was inspired by the Australian Aborigine spirit/god of the Dreamtime, possible ties to Gothic Earth?)

The resemblance is in name only. Nothing else about the canon Rainbow Serpent could be said to have been inspired by Australian Aboriginals; if anything, it is just the serpent from Judeo-Christian myth.

I'm not so sure about that. The Serpent of Eden is a creature of forbidden knowledge (not Satan, that's a later Christian idea) and inspired by ancient Near Eastern legends of snakes. The Rainbow Serpent is an unknowable entity associated with dreams (a key part of Aboriginal beliefs and magic). It just seems too convenient to be coincidence that a spirit-god associated with dreams is also a D&D villain of nightmares. If the shoe fits and all that.

As for the part about ties to Gothic Earth, that's personal canon and a potential story hook. Is everything I post going to be dissected from now on?

[Ryan Naylor]

Not at all; in fact, your representation is considerably more true to real Aboriginal myths than the original. However, the Rainbow Serpent in TNL is only superficially related to Dreamtime myths - basically, only from the phrases "Dreamtime" and "Rainbow Serpent." There is nothing else from the Aboriginal myth in there at all.

It is a serpent of lies (Judeo-Christian). It lives in the Park Primeval (the Garden of Eden). It lives in the Tree of Suspicion (and neither of these sound even remotely Australian from their descriptions). It deals in lies, deception and paranoia. None of this is remotely Aboriginal.

I don't mean this as a personal attack, but the canon Rainbow Serpent is clearly not anything more than "in name only," and it bothers me that my culture and the cultures of my country are so poorly represented. I would love it if the Nightmare Lands were more of an Aboriginal Dreamtime in flavour, but it's not.


EDIT for emphasis: And I'm talking about the canon Nightmare Lands, not your version, or anyone's personal canon.

[High Priest Mikhal]

Not at all; in fact, your representation is considerably more true to real Aboriginal myths than the original. However, the Rainbow Serpent in TNL is only superficially related to Dreamtime myths - basically, only from the phrases "Dreamtime" and "Rainbow Serpent." There is nothing else from the Aboriginal myth in there at all.

It is a serpent of lies (Judeo-Christian). It lives in the Park Primeval (the Garden of Eden). It lives in the Tree of Suspicion (and neither of these sound even remotely Australian from their descriptions). It deals in lies, deception and paranoia. None of this is remotely Aboriginal.

Ah, okay. That does make sense. I didn't make the connection between the Park Primeval and the Garden of Eden. Mea culpa. I missed some critical details.

One thing I've not been able to answer to my satisfaction is what, exactly, are the backgrounds and crimes of each member of the Nightmare Court? Did something traumatic happen to drive them to dreams to the point they became dream creatures themselves? Were some or all always connected to dreams? I wrote up how they became what they are by using my personal canon of the Dreamweb (inspired the computer game of the same name) but that doesn't explain their pasts, just their presents.

[Terminusvitae]

I wish I would have more opportunity to run Ravenloft campaigns, but I just have to hope that the current gaming group I have will get out of this Forgotten Realms kick, soon. There aren't too many or particularly great changes to canon that I make when I start writing up adventures as I adore the setting as-is, but there are a few tweaks I make:

--I alter CL9 from "Renaissance" to "Victorian," with an emphasis on technology and social analogues to what existed here in the U.S. in the middle decade or so of that era. Places like Dementlieu, Mordent, Lamordia, and Paridon have actually taken the first steps in studying such things as germ theory, steam power, and potential applications of electricity. Further, while they're rare and exorbitantly expensive (not to mention time-consuming to produce), these domains have gunsmiths who've created the first repeating rifles and handguns; this, of course, means gun-wielding needs some tweaking from the RAW if/when players gain access to such weapons, and the ammunition must be specially manufactured, as of course cartridge ammunition is a radical idea in the progression of firearms in the context of Ravenloft. Acquisition of these weapons can be a tortuous and labyrinthine affair if the players aren't fortunate (or appropriately opportunistic) enough to claim them through anything but official channels. It's POSSIBLE to have them commissioned, but Dementlieu's government (read: Dominic) in particular keeps a close eye on anyone who is looking to purchase one of these potentially devastating weapons, sometimes delaying or seeing to it that such a request is outright denied. Generally, though, the scarcity of ammunition and the high-maintenance needs of repeating firearms help balance the tremendous potential they have for damage output.

--The Dark Powers are typically more bumbling, bungling jailers than sinister, successful overlords, though this is something the players rarely ever deduce or, even less often, learn through the course of an appropriately long campaign. In general, the Dark Powers have only a marginally better understanding of the works of the Dread Realms than the most knowledgeable of the darklords, as they don't completely understand or appreciate that, by and large, they're middlemen in the grand scheme of the Ravenloft setting. The Gentleman Caller is significantly more competent and effective than the Dark Powers themselves, and while his ostensible allegiance is to them and he sees to it their instructions are carried out, he answers to the higher authority, who is so subtly pulling the strings that even the Dark Powers have only an inkling that there are things about Ravenloft they should understand, but don't.

--As we know, most of the darklords are in their situations because of their own flaws, their own blind spots, and their own reprehensible actions. Some are darklords through tragic circumstances or a lapse in judgment, while others (*cough*Drakov*cough*) are darklords simply because they are so ineffably, irredeemably evil that there's simply no other career choice. What I'll often do is have a handful of the darklords, those whose descriptions and source material make me perceive them as at least somewhat more reasonable/doubtful/tormented than the others, and allow more diplomacy-minded player groups attempt to convince them of the error of their ways that they realize in their heart of hearts, but can't admit to themselves. Of course, this process is never easy, requires a significant investment of time and cleverness from the willing players, and isn't always guaranteed to work; nonetheless, I think it's POSSIBLE that some of the darklords can be shown where they went wrong, what they can do to fix it, and actually be made to understand that while they've done some (or many) terrible things, they still have the opportunity to change and that it's entirely within their power to do so. I feel it works pretty well with the general gothic hero themes of the evil within us all and the struggles we face in both learning to accept our failings and not becoming consumed or imprisoned by the mistakes we've made. In the event that these efforts actually succeed, a new darklord is often found almost immediately or life goes on for the people of the domain of the former darklord, with all the requisite upheaval and such one would expect. Most domains have been within the Dread Realms for so long that returning them to the places they came from seems to me to be a greater cruelty than simply keeping them in Ravenloft and having the game world adapt to the changing circumstances.

...Boy, those were a lot longer than I'd intended those notes to be. Sorry about that.