New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

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Mephisto of the FoS
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Re: New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

Post by Mephisto of the FoS »

alhoon wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 7:50 pmI would suggest reading those BEFORE making your decision whether to go for the 5e version or the 3e version.
If you prefer the "feeling" of "I Strahd" or the early parts of "War Against Azalin" then you are a "weekend to hell" kind of DM and this is fine. Curse of Strahd captures that feeling, I think.
Curse of Strahd's Barovia can be easily adapted to be part of the Core or an island of Terror (as it is considered in that module), since Barovians are xenophobic and don't travel much fearing of being out after dark, as well as Strahd's poisonous fog that could be explained why the PC's are trapped in Barovia...
-Sorry guys the borders are closed...
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Re: New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

Post by tomokaicho »

Mephisto of the FoS wrote:
Avoid Tower of Doom (I only liked the Ball in Castle Avernus idea and you shouldn't even bother reading Death of a Darklord :lucas
I'll come to the defence of Tower of Doom. Won't do it for Death of a Darklord though. The sooner that one disappears the better.

Tower of Doom is what it is. Great literature it isn't, but it is a proper Ravenloft novel. It's basically a rework of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It's ok.
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Re: New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

Post by Rock of the Fraternity »

I'll say something for Death of a Darklord: while it is indeed not a fun story (I personally find it depressing), it gives a very clear and gritty description of what it is like to get caught up in the machinations of a clever-ish Darklord and the abuse (and evlution) of evil magic.
The book makes it very clear that Harkon Lukas may be the lord of a flyspeck domain, but that does not mean he isn't an absolute monster.
Don't underestimate a Darklord. Any Darklord.
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Re: New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

Post by tomokaicho »

Rock of the Fraternity wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 1:42 pm I'll say something for Death of a Darklord:
The covert art of the original publication was by Robh Ruppel, the master artist of Ravenloft. With the republication with different art, DoaD has no remaining redeeming features.
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Re: New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

Post by Rock of the Fraternity »

Opinions may differ.
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Re: New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

Post by Sith »

IMHO I love 3rd edition Ravenloft.
A real love letter to the setting.
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Re: New to Ravenloft and confused about which edition is good

Post by Rock of the Fraternity »

White Wolf really did an amazing job. ^_^
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