Masque of the Jade Dragon discussion

[Le Noir Faineant]

Remember, people who read these boards represent a very distinct and biased minority of RL consumers: the hardcore fans. A poll here may not reflect the sentiments of all people who buy Ravenloft.

Are we really the minority of the RL community? - I mean ,seriously, that with book sales of about 3000 pieces each, at least 1/5 of the active RL community posts here, and another 2/5 read the articles here from time to time...

*The chosen ones are few*

No joke, the setting is so complex that you have to keep you informed somehow, because the content of the books is barely enough.

I don't see how "GOOD Ravenloft book" and "Ravenloft book on eastern-style horror" are two mutually-exclusive concepts.

If the book's good, I'll be the first one to buy it, no doubt, but that is something one can only see after its release. - I don't want to be the usual *book basher* here, as I said, IMO, Nicky Rea is one of the best active RPG writers out there.

But I must confess that the overall theme of the book alienates me a bit. However, that's just my opinion, if I have the chance to look at it and I find it interesting, I might as well buy it.

[Gemathustra]

Oh, and to set the record straight, Dowager Empress Cixi did not murder her own son... He died of syphilis which he caught from one of his concubines. However, she was not fond of her daughter-in-law, who was pregnant with Cixi's grandchild... In order to make sure that her daughter-in-law did not give birth to a son, and thus, break the Dowager Empress' hold, Cixi installed her grand nephew, Puyi as the next Qing Emperor, after having her hated daughter-in-law "disappear."

[Jester of the FoS]

Remember, people who read these boards represent a very distinct and biased minority of RL consumers: the hardcore fans. A poll here may not reflect the sentiments of all people who buy Ravenloft.

Are we really the minority of the RL community? - I mean ,seriously, that with book sales of about 3000 pieces each, at least 1/5 of the active RL community posts here, and another 2/5 read the articles here from time to time...

There are less then 300 registered posters here, and more than half of them do not post on a regular basis instead choosing to lurk.
That's 10% and 5% respectively (1/10th and 1/20th).
We're a pretty heavy minority as fans go.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Are we really so few?

But where's the rest?

....

I mean there are a lot of other boards out there, but isn't the Café still the centre of RL players?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Hard as it may be to believe, there are people out there who buy, read and even play the occaisional Ravenloft book, but don't go beyond that. And possibly others who are rabid fans, collecting everything... BUT WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS!!! Shocking in this day and age, I know, but it's not universal. Or even if they do have internet access, they just may not be interested in discussing it online.

Or, they may be players who were told/asked by their DMs not to look here. (Like my players, who do own a few RL books, were).

I was a Ravenloft fan AND internet-aholic for years before discovering the RL mailing list. And I knew about the Kargatane site for years before actually posting at the Malodorous Goat. (I preferred email based discussion to web-based boards back then.)

[Le Noir Faineant]

Of course.

Still, I think that this site plays a significant role for the whole fan movement and is not just the club for debate of a small minority.

[Jester of the FoS]

I've been a Ravenloft fan since the Red Box first came out and found the Kargatane site really quicky (back before the even moved to kargatane.com actually) but never checked out the message board. Heck, I wasn't even involved with the fan community until around the release of 3E.

Where is the rest of the fan community? Some never came back after SotK fell, some never discovered this place and some just never bothered to look online for gaming information. Some don't post to message boards, some might only stick to the official sites and as stated above some just don't have the internet.

I think we're a nice overall cross-sampling of the population, what we like and enjoy the rest of the community generally does as well. But at the same time we influence and recomend books that other might not have.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Maybe... IMO, gaming is only the half of the fun without all the material from the web.

[tec-goblin]

I have to say only one thing for Masque of Jade Dragon: DON'T DON'T DON'T create rules like the ones in Masque of the Red Death (ie, unbalanced classes, ridiculous reprintings of class tables, no equipment rules, heavy 2nd Edition feeling).
I think rules in Masque of Jade Dragon should be based on EXISTING material (samurai class, shugenja etc) and no BASIC classes should be added. It will save space from the book, be more play-balanced and save our sanity in the long run (I was so seriously offended by the rules in Masque of the Red Death, that I can barely persuade myself to go through reading the background at least - of course, I won't use a single word from its rules - I'll play with d20 Past instead).
And, please, no single force should be behind any evil in the world as in MotRD - I hate the predictability of "Red Death is behind all evil in the world.... EXCEPT the plague" - that's ridiculously simplistic. I wouldn't like this Jade Dragon be a clearly evil force. (Ok, that's two things )

I am aware I used some terms above that could be explained - why I say for example that the MotRD classes are unbalanced. If you want explanations, feel free to ask me.

[Le Noir Faineant]

I personally liked the Sleuth class from MotRD... I even use it in my current campaign...