Ravenloft is back in 5e?

[The Lesser Evil]

I'm going to be a wait and see type perspective- none of the ideas I have terrible objection to and will for me depend upon the execution of the material. I'm not super-keen on the core being shattered into may islands since it might foster the more weekend in hell thing that's not my favorite. However, I can't deny that that element hasn't been one of the modes of the setting since the very beginning.

As for some of the individual changes:
The revision of Falkovnia doesn't seem that radical to me. The Dead Mens' Campaigns, the Falkovnian fear of the Darkonian undead, and the Eternal Order's migration to the country have always linked Falkovnian soldiers faltering in the face of endless waves of undead hordes. This is more or less just shifting which side of the border it's happening on.

The fairytale Dementlieu sounds different enough that it might be good with a rename. I might put it into my map of fairytale domains.

Valachan is a domain that has been the subject of multiple revision discussions, so a lot of it will be in the execution.

The conceptual expansion of Arijani's domain with rivaling powers could be interesting in giving PCs more to do. (Little has been done with the domain other than Web of Illusion.)

[Thrackazoggg]

The conceptual expansion of Arijani's domain with rivaling powers could be interesting in giving PCs more to do. (Little has been done with the domain other than Web of Illusion.)

Web of Illusion was also just a "hunt the darklord" adventure. Arijani himself really didn't have any personality to speak of, or was involved in the adventure outside of the end fight. Now there might be more intrigue.

[Jester of the FoS]

I just hope that efforts to make each domain having its different flavor, isn't turned domains into one-trick ponys.

The new description of neo-Valachan does make it sound like an old school weekend in hell adventure domain. Enter, be hunted as the most dangerous prey. Kill the darklord. Leave.

Based on past WotC settings, I also doubt most domains will get much attention.

Quick back-of-the-envelope math.
You have a 5-page intro, 20-pages of character options (plus group patrons and some other details), 40-pages of monsters, 20-pages of adventures, and likely 30-pages on making horror adventures (including details with the group patrons, types of horror, role of PCs, bringing them into Ravenloft, etc). Perhaps a few pages on the Vistani and likely a 10-page section on making darklords. And maybe 5 pages of dark gifts.
Which is a total of 130-pages out of a 248-page book. Leaving 118-pages for domains, or a little under 4 pages each. Including a big 1/2-page map and an art piece.

But I imagine most domains might only get 2-3 pages. Or even just a two-page spread (again, with map). And extra pages will be spent in the "Adventuring" section with a half-page of hooks for every domain.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I just hope that efforts to make each domain having its different flavor, isn't turned domains into one-trick ponys.

The new description of neo-Valachan does make it sound like an old school weekend in hell adventure domain. Enter, be hunted as the most dangerous prey. Kill the darklord. Leave..

Something like the fore mentioned Web of Illusion...

Ahhh... those feline darlklords...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FQsIfE7sZM

[Five]

It's not going to work for everyone, but since the campaign is ambitious enough to cover a wide swath of the timeline, there had to be a difference between a united pre-GC Core, a united post-GC Core, and the you-can't-even-step-out-of-Barovia as demonstrated in CoS (which launched this entire campaign to begin with. None of us have any actual experience playing any of the pre-5E stuff. I've just been studying it for the past three years.).

Because Forgotten Realms is kind of the "default" setting in some editions—notably 5E—and it's pretty well organized in terms of dates, narrative, canon, etc., I looked to that for assistance. In 1385 DR, we get a ten-year-long setting-altering event that basically reformats how magic works everywhere called the "Spellplague." One of the Spellplague's main events is the creation of the Shadowfell—the very location where the 5E canon situates Barovia, and presumably the entire Core. As such, even though FR doesn't necessarily have much sway over Ravenloft as a setting, an event this massive responsible for creating the Shadowfell would presumably have numerous effects on the Core and how it functions.

To add to this, I've taken an approach that seems to be rare. While it's occasionally contradicted by canonical sources (cf. Soth), I've decided that for purposes of this campaign, time spent in the Core is equivalent to time spent out of it. If you enter Barovia from FR, spend ten years there and leave, then it's ten years later when you get back. (Otherwise, telling a more epic tale over a longer timeframe has very little bite.

With that in mind, correlating the FR timeline to the Barovian Calendar becomes an interesting exercise. While there are not necessarily any direct equivalents per se, I took some time trying to approximate as best as possible. The Spellplague ends in 1395 DR...... which according to the best of my calculations occurs in 776 BC. Conveniently only one year after the supposed event that ushers in the "Time of Unparalleled Darkness." Since the Spellplague is a single event with ten-year repercussions, though, the effect on the Core can presumably come in the ninth year after without issue. The two events can well be one and the same.

Since the major change to the Core we got in CoS was that Barovia seemed to be eternally bounded by Mists and unable to be traveled into, save by outlanders (though how does RVR get there??), I figured that the creation of the Shadowfell during the Spellplague causes a reformatting of the Core. The powers that be are for once powerless in the wake of this, and as such, if the Core is to continue to exist, it must do so in a more fragmentary form until the Dark Powers have time to recover from their new bounds (after all, if they are part of the Shadowfell now, I take the Dark Powers as having power only over the Core, and their power is directly dictated by whatever magic dictates the laws and functions of the Shadowfell).

So that then explains the isolated Barovia (and presumably other domains). Clearly trade and such is disrupted which will lead to a lot more dread and terror among pretty much everyone. But I'll be damned if it doesn't accidentally pave the way for the isolated Core we're gonna see in the new VR Guide. I haven't quite figured out how players and NPCs will travel from domain to domain in the now-isolated Core, but if Strahd and Azalin can use magic to accidentally escape Barovia and wind up in Mordent, then there's definitely a way it can be done.

Hope that helps answer your question.

Also a note, for other readers — to be clear, this a concept I'm using to frame my own campaign. While it has a basis in canonical sources, it's only partially supported by them. This is just my vain attempt to try to make as much of the conflicting canon "make sense" as I can.

— onmyoji

Edit — We're only one session in, but I might as well plug the site for my campaign for those interested. Maybe the explanation above will whet some appetites. All our campaign info can be located at: http://strahd.wikidot.com/

Nothing's going to work for everyone, but ideas like that (and Mephisto's) can only help gel those who might want to bridge editions and/or worlds. With or without the help of a Wizard stamp.

Right on.

I'm not overly concerned with the linking of Ravenloft to other worlds outside of the fact that "the Mists can reach out and claim", and none at my table really gave much thought to the cosmology of D&D. We were always "boots on the ground" kinda gamers, ie: planet Ravenloft. Weekend in Hell was great to port existing PCs, until Domains of Dread (immensely backed by 3E later on) came along to better grow native PCs. Dreamscape Ravenloft is a really cool thought that came up more than a few times, there and here. Timelines, though handy for quick reference when I want to throw age into the mix, meh. Not really something I need, or, have any attachment to. But that stuff (proper RL) is cool to ponder and read about on boards like this. Some days I walk away feeling I never gave such ideas the proper thought or respect, that we may have missed out on some epic threads, but others not so much. Still cool to see proposals for smooth setting (and edition) transition though...

[onmyoji]

I have to say that a timeline already exists in the Fraternity site, written years ago in September 2005 by John W. Mangrum under the article name The Revised, Annotated, and Totally Unofficial Ravenloft Timeline. There he also writes about times or events on other settings. Naturally the timeline is until the end of the 2nd edition. It is unofficial but the writer did a really good job at time lining the events of the 2nd edition. But then there is the timeline in Mistipedia that continues this.

Yup. I was aware of this. I used the FoS website almost exclusively in coming up with my timeline. The issue wasn’t the Ravenloft timeline—it was that I needed to compare with the Forgotten Realms timeline (and others as well; I even looked into the Greyhawk timeline for Azalin’s sake).

One executive change I —did— have to make was to change the date for Curse of Strahd. The module mentions once that it takes place in 735, which is fine. But I had to make a minor change to account for the fact that CoS employs the same story and characters as the original I-6 Ravenloft—which must canonically take place before 579, when Strahd and Azalin find themselves in Mordent.

As such, since Ireena Kolyana can’t exist both before 579 and 735 (hell, I don’t even give any credence to the “Vistani don’t live in linear time” line of thought), I decided instead to employ a post-GC post-Spellplague mechanic by which the same story is lived out again in Barovia. Which also conveniently explained how my party, my DM’s party (when he was a player), and my future campaign party would all be able to play through Curse of Strahd canonically in the same timeline.

Rudolph Van Richten was born in Darkon one of the Domains of Ravenloft and I don't think there is a possiblitity that his memory was altered by his stay in Darkon since for many years of his life he has been travelling and had relocated to the domain of Mordent. Also in CoS there is mention of the Thaani, people that have escaped from the domain of Bluetspur that bordered Barovia. Now having CoS in 735 and having it isolated means that for some reason Strahd decided to close his domains borders, the thing is if in the new product continue from that era (maybe though I doubt the designers read only the Black Box and followed the oBlack Box stating 735 Campaign setting starts or something similar, that would be a really big disappointment and a big ....... for all of us supporting the world all these years (meaning as consumers but also as members or posters of the various fan sites during the years). It would be like saying that half of TSR products never happened and the whole series of WotC licensed White Wolf Publishing products never happened and only what is licensed under Hasbro exists, typical corporation gaslighting...

My point was more that if Strahd has closed off the domain, then how is RVR allowed to enter? His appearance in Curse of Strahd seems to be more of a cameo integrated into the storyline than much else, in all honesty. In fact, even though he and Strahd are so often juxtaposed as rivals, the only times I can think of them ever dealing with each other are the prologue/epilogue of “I, Strahd” and the various things RVR says about Strahd in his Guide to Vampires. I can’t think of a single pre-CoS version of I6 that includes RVR.

Though I must say I that your notion of WotC having rebooted Ravenloft from the Black Box period sounds absolutely likely. If that’s the case, I don’t plan in any way to follow that canon; if anything, I’ll insert it into a post-Time of Unparalleled Darkness period. As far as I’m concerned, just like in Forgotten Realms, the events of 5E take place after the events of 4E and 3E.

Nothing's going to work for everyone, but ideas like that (and Mephisto's) can only help gel those who might want to bridge editions and/or worlds. With or without the help of a Wizard stamp.

Right on.

I’m happy to come up with stuff like this. Gonna need it over the next few years as this campaign develops for sure. That’s one of the reasons I’m happy to share my campaign ideas with whomever is interested.

I'm not overly concerned with the linking of Ravenloft to other worlds outside of the fact that "the Mists can reach out and claim", and none at my table really gave much thought to the cosmology of D&D. We were always "boots on the ground" kinda gamers, ie: planet Ravenloft. Weekend in Hell was great to port existing PCs, until Domains of Dread (immensely backed by 3E later on) came along to better grow native PCs. Dreamscape Ravenloft is a really cool thought that came up more than a few times, there and here. Timelines, though handy for quick reference when I want to throw age into the mix, meh. Not really something I need, or, have any attachment to. But that stuff (proper RL) is cool to ponder and read about on boards like this. Some days I walk away feeling I never gave such ideas the proper thought or respect, that we may have missed out on some epic threads, but others not so much. Still cool to see proposals for smooth setting (and edition) transition though...

See, I’ve always been a stickler for canon. I try to get as many facts as I can about the setting, and then figure out where to go from there. I try to only eliminate canonical facts if it’s either conflicted, or kind of absurd (like in Feast of Goblyns when it says Dominiani has been a vampire for 180 years, which… kind of predates Gundarak becoming a domain by quite some time; alternately, giving him a younger vampiric age has allowed me to transform him into a proper tragic villain rather than simply a crafty madman). Part of the fun for me in GMing is taking something I want to do and putting it against events that don’t necessarily support it, and then trying to figure out “how this can be true.” That’s precisely the same attitude I applied to the conflict between a pre-579 Ireena Kolyana and a 735 Ireena Kolyana. I guess it’s something I just enjoy doing.

— onmyoji

P.S. — Also really excited about Arijani's setting getting proper attention.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

in Feast of Goblyns when it says Dominiani has been a vampire for 180 years, which… kind of predates Gundarak becoming a domain by quite some time.

In QtR 27 on the semi-finished article on Dominia there is a really good fleshing out of Dominiani's motives. Because of his knowledge of how the Demiplane works and the knowledge of the coming conjuction (pre-GC), he had a really good reason planning to take Harkon Lucas's place and then when that failed decided to help the adventurer's kill the Duke. He wanted to become attached to Kartakass/Gundarak as a darklord because he was afraid the possibility that his existence was part Gundarak's false history as he "existed" before Gundarak's formation. So if the GC happened there was a chance he would be nonexistent. On the other hand this could be just a viewpoint of a vampire whose lineage had a long history of madness
But as a motive it was really interesting, better than the usual mature vampire deciding to brake the bonds with it's master by the second's destruction, or the motive of wanting to govern Gundarak since in the years between 736-740 his governing of it was almost minimal, preferring to continue his psychiatrical experiments and taking good care of his patients...

[onmyoji]

In QtR 27 on the semi-finished article on Dominia there is a really good fleshing out of Dominiani's motives. Because of his knowledge of how the Demiplane works and the knowledge of the coming conjuction (pre-GC), he had a really good reason planning to take Harkon Lucas's place and then when that failed decided to help the adventurer's kill the Duke. He wanted to become attached to Kartakass/Gundarak as a darklord because he was afraid the possibility that his existence was part Gundarak's false history as he "existed" before Gundarak's formation. So if the GC happened there was a chance he would be nonexistent. On the other hand this could be just a viewpoint of a vampire whose lineage had a long history of madness
But as a motive it was really interesting, better than the usual mature vampire deciding to brake the bonds with it's master by the second's destruction, or the motive of wanting to govern Gundarak since in the years between 736-740 his governing of it was almost minimal, preferring to continue his psychiatrical experiments and taking good care of his patients...

I didn't get to QtR yet to fill in the gaps in my narrative, and this part of the campaign was kind of sprung on me quickly. (I was supposed to do my Curse of Strahd ReVamp first, but due to my GM feeling burned out, I decided I'd rather jump in and GM as well rather than meet half as often. Since we were doing GC 5 and 6 in the ReVamp, I figured I might as well do 1-4 because three of the five players will be the same.) I haven't even read Heart of Midnight or Death of a Darklord yet (not that they really matter, but I really have been trying to read all the canon before I jump into a setting, using stuff like QtR as necessary to supplement the canon).

Anyway, I definitely like that line of QtR thinking you summarized, but I ended up going with something very different, though ironically, I also made Dominiani very knowledgeable about the demiplane (but not about the Conjunction—the only one in my FoG who anticipates the hexad verse is Venrith Chole, a Kargat NPC who happened to have been assigned to Kartakass in case the first verse occurs there, and he basically going to try to recruit the players after they manage to be around for the first three hexad verses).

I had Dominiani be born in 642, almost thirty years after Gundarak becomes a domain. He grew up in Teufeldorf, with a fairly normal life as a medic, but despite being married to his work, he got married in his 30s and had a son. I kept the bit about the mental illness plaguing his family. In my version of events, in early 720, Dominiani does something to get on Duke Gundar's radar in a bad way (not sure how precisely yet), but Gundar gets back at him by turning his wife and son just prior to when Dominiani is ready to extract her cerebrospinal fluid to attempt to curb his madness issue. As per canon, that makes him a cerebral vampire (and his wife and son normal ones). His wife is bound as one of Gundar's brides, and Dominiani is plagued by this, but since he's one of the Duke's thralls now, there's not really much he can do to fight back against Gundar directly. This is part of the motivation for his eventual conspiring with Akriel—and later, the adventurers—to try to loose his bonds by destroying Gundar. For me, he has no urge to rule Gundarak; he just wants his wife and kid back.

Re: the kid... So the kid doesn't get vampirized immediately. The wife is first. The son (Jacob, 13) escapes while Gundar is vampirizing the wife. He finds his way to Medraut's lab, and they actually hit it off. Gundar is scouring the castle, but doesn't look there of course. Jacob's hereditary madness hits around that moment, and it manifests in a way that really delights Medraut. Once Medraut realizes Gundar is after his new friend, Medraut curses/blesses Jacob with invisibility so he can better hide from Gundar. Invisible, Jacob attempts to leave the castle, but eventually Gundar finds him anyway, bites him, and lets him go. (Slightly longer story, but the son eventually goes insane, finds his way to Kartakass, and becomes "Jack Bequick" from Children of the Night: Vampires. My players will probably destroy him before visiting Dominiani, as they will be nudged to tackle him right after they walk in on Akriel being whipped. This is intentional. As part of this, they will find his coffin, which is labeled Jacob Oliver Heinfroth.)

Stripped of his wife and son (whom he believes escaped, but holds out all hope for a reunion), Dominiani basically splits his time between studying anything and everything he can, doing whatever he needs to do for Gundar, and plotting against Gundar. Part of the reason he reaches out to Akriel is from having heard about the Crown of Souls in Kartakass, and thinking it might help him take revenge on Gundar.

Eventually, the players get to Jacob and presumably defeat him for good. Meanwhile, Akriel will be using a magic item to secretly communicate their progress to Dominiani. They get to Dominiani before finding the crown, where they might find out about his cerebrospinal injections (he has to get an injection from his wife every so often to stave off the madness), and they might mention the vampire they killed, to which Dominiani would inquire about the name. (As part of his studies, he keeps meticulous notes on vampires—including Gundar and Strahd—and has a copy of RVR's Guide to Vampires, published ironically the year prior.) Dominiani knows about "Jack Bequick," but the players will presumably tell him that they destroyed Jacob O. Heinfroth. Which will certainly cause him quite a deal of pause. Of course, the good doctor won't go after them because that will sabotage his entire plan for vengeance. But it will kick him right in the heart. Either way, he gets over it and presumes that if he can overthrow Gundar, then he can at least have his wife back.

So after FoS is done, I'm using a character narrative to bring them back to Gundarak (a relative of one of the players ends up also being one of Gundar's vampire brides, so they will return to save her, and with motivation for destroying Gundar). This will happen largely as summarized in the few sources documenting Gundar's assassination, though I will try to get the group to swing by Medraut's lab. Medraut—now dead 16 years from Soth and his crew—haunts the lab as a ghost, but is more than happy to help "Friends of Jack's." He'll almost certainly reveal everything about turning Jack invisible and helping him escape. They won't learn who Jack's father is though, but they'll have more reason to want to kill Gundar since he was responsible for vampirizing Jack/Jacob.

So they will presumably kill Gundar, saving not only the character's relative, but also Dominiani's wife. Since killing a darklord permanently should inspire hope, I really want to end that part on an upbeat, so I've decided to add the bit of lore in some vampire franchises that if you kill a vampire, everyone who it vampirized is healed from the affliction. As such, in killing Gundar, we are also saving Dominiani AND his long-enslaved (as one of Gundar's brides) wife. Everything ends on a good note, and Dominiani doesn't WANT to become the darklord of anything. The characters move on to what awaits them in probably Borca, and all is presumed well.

Except a few days later, when Dominaini needs to get another cerebrospinal injection from his wife. And it doesn't work. Because it wasn't her fluids that staved off Dominiani's madness. It had to do with something from the vampiric side of things. Eventually, Dominiani falls to his madness, and becomes responsible for her death (undecided, but I think it would be on-brand for him to basically Munchausen-by-proxy her to death, thinking she has gone insane—as well as gaslighting her into thinking so—and only he can save her with barbaric medieval "treatments"). Her loss at his own hands ends up being what drives him to the point of insanity necessary to grant him his own domain.

And as a reminder, they have no idea who Dominiani really is. I really really want to fit in Bleak House now, but I can't do it for a long time, or else MASSIVE SPOILERS. (RVR is in the CoS part of the second campaign.)

That's my current plan. Here's hoping none of my players happen upon this message board, haha.

— onmyoji

[Starscream]

The Falkovnia being an apocalypse undead domain is a complete non sense...
i have read why they have chosen, but i don't believe them.
it is not because Vlad is similar to the vampire clichè, but simply because he is the Falkfuhrer, and that's against the politically correct american's mind of nowdays.

and Dementlieu a fairy tales masquerade? WTF?

so i will not buy this book and i fear it will be a totally mess, a Ravenloft for casual players who want to use power buld and not really feel the Ravenloft's vides...

[DocBeard]

Falkovnia makes sense if you do away with the Core and everything is Shadowfel Domains or Islands of Terror, which seems to be the inferred idea here. Drakov is reliant on his neighbors for his curse to function and without neighbors you need a new enemy to fail against. Zombies could work but I feel like the military horror of Faklovnia needs a proper impossible enemy; without Azalin's prestige behind them, zombies aren't quite that. Personally, if you're copying Nialdia, I'd use a dragon instead of zombies because there's a certain nobility to trying and failing to slay some great wyrm that is keeping your perfect kingdom from BEING perfect.

But honestly at that point why not just use Nialdia. Elena Faith-Hold's a fantastic character with one of the best curses in the setting.

My real issue with these is that, yeah, they feel like they're just being given the old names for markeing's sake. If you want Tepest with cities why not just give Tepest cities? The Three Hags are also some great D&D ass villains in the oldest storytelling traditions.

[Zilfer]

The Falkovnia being an apocalypse undead domain is a complete non sense...

Im going to be running it regardless of the reason(in the new book) as Azalin finally having over the course of 4... 5? deadman's campaigns enough zombies to just unleash them straight into Falkovnia with enough to just wipe them out. He's just been holding more and more back of Falkovian's troops that fell and rose from the dead during those campaigns until he was sufficiently sure he could send it over the border and it be effective. (Since they'd be a lot more affective under his control, going the numbers route is probably best.)

[Starscream]

The Falkovnia being an apocalypse undead domain is a complete non sense...

Im going to be running it regardless of the reason(in the new book) as Azalin finally having over the course of 4... 5? deadman's campaigns enough zombies to just unleash them straight into Falkovnia with enough to just wipe them out. He's just been holding more and more back of Falkovian's troops that fell and rose from the dead during those campaigns until he was sufficiently sure he could send it over the border and it be effective. (Since they'd be a lot more affective under his control, going the numbers route is probably best.)

That is a good idea on how to do that, not simply swap a domani for another without a reason

I am planning to do the opposite, Vlad will discover how to build eberron warforged, so he can push the war to another level

[Resonant Curse]

The Falkovnia being an apocalypse undead domain is a complete non sense...

Im going to be running it regardless of the reason(in the new book) as Azalin finally having over the course of 4... 5? deadman's campaigns enough zombies to just unleash them straight into Falkovnia with enough to just wipe them out. He's just been holding more and more back of Falkovian's troops that fell and rose from the dead during those campaigns until he was sufficiently sure he could send it over the border and it be effective. (Since they'd be a lot more affective under his control, going the numbers route is probably best.)

That is a good idea on how to do that, not simply swap a domani for another without a reason

I am planning to do the opposite, Vlad will discover how to build eberron warforged, so he can push the war to another level

Perhaps have the warforged be powered by the lifeforce being ripped out of Falkovnia's ordinary soldiers. You could still have the zombie plague be caused by Azalin smuggling necromancer's across the border to reanimate the sudden pile of bodies from the warforged peocess.

[Jonathan Winters]

I like this idea. I can see how Azalin would have planned this well in advance, gathering and holding back on undead. You could even have some skirmishes happen and foreshadow this with people wondering why it feels like there are less opponents than expected.

BUT, not sure Drakov would lower himself with such cowardly ways using Gearforged? Just my take on him.


Aaaaannndddd.... Yeah, Amazon... 39.75$... I'm weak. It's been pre-ordered.

[Le Noir Faineant]

I have very little faith in this book, particularly when I found out Jessica Price was involved, a woman fired for not being particularly good at her job and said it was because she was a woman.

https://medium.com/@ColedOne/jessica-pr ... 43ee8ffe43

Make no mistake, this isn’t like the Kargatane taking over the reigns, this is like letting GCSE English students taking the reigns.

This is also one of the reasons why I'm genuinely interested in this book, from a very Hannibal Lecter "let's see what happens" perspective: That woman, Price, if her only game is being a loudmouth, she will expose herself with this in a way that is impossible to ignore for anyone in the hobby. And if she is actually a decent designer with a future in the hobby beyond politics, we'll see that, too. Who knows, maybe the whole politicization of D&D will become less of a bipolar topic than it has been for the last decade-or-so if she finds some form of lasting success. - Now, let's be clear, I would rather not have her anywhere the stuff I like. The wrong kind of energy, plainly and simply. RPGs are indeed supposed to be a "safe space" - from the stress that people with her personality profile tend to bring.

...But, yeah, for the sake of Ravenloft, I'm still willing to give her a fighting chance. One fighting chance.

Been away from these boards for an incredibly long time - easily 12 years - but wanted to see what was happening with the announcement of the new book.

I think this really hits the nail on the head. The setting is evolving, and in doing so, it lives on. What's better is it gives potentially new life to fan sites like these that have survived well past Secrets of the Kargatane or the Lonesome Road.

Thanks, mate! That's precisely my point: There's enough RL material out there to run games for another thirty years for all of us. But it's not about that; it's about keeping the fire burning a while longer. Every pimpled kid that finds its way to the Café de Nuit because of the new book is a win for all of us. What happens at my gaming table while WotC remakes and revamps the old material every few years, that's gonna be a different matter - but that's kind of how D&D has been for me, since forever. Like, I started when Hommlet was still a village, the gods had left Krynn, and Catti-Brie was still flirting with Wulfgar. That canon has since moved away from that, not something that has rattled my gaming table all too terribly.