Café de Nuit

Daisu wrote:Dance of the Dead [2 rounds](1991) by James Lowder and Bruce Nesmith
Summary: First round the Pc had sworn a oath before they got killed by the Marquis while he was holding a party so he can use the painting. 2nd round happens two days later, Stezen's men dumped the PCs bodies as well of those of the other quests at the crossroads. Pcs come back as revenants bent of revenge. Since the marquis is tough to destroy outright, they must take their revenge by stealing the painting, the only thing that can provide Stezen joy. the players have to react quickly, and their overall nature and new powers only discovered through experimentation. Round ends with the burning of the marquis's mansion and the PCs giving the painting to a vistani fulling their revenge and going to their eternal reward.
Note: Special rules for the revenants that set them apart from normal revenants.

Daisu, can you post a summary of the other Ghastria tournament? Also were there any interesting NPCs or locations in Dance of the Dead ?

The Return of Stezen D'Polarno and dance of the dead part 2 are the only ghastria tournaments I have. RPGA has the only copy of part 1 now, since the first version was destroyed in a computer incident that also pushed alot of work back. Since I never did get definite answer and only turn arounds, who even knows if rpga has copies still.

The Return of Stezen D'Polarno is sequel to dance of the dead. I thought enough infor been given about it so far?
The tavern and manor are the only locations of point. Only important NPCs are vistani. There is henchman in one adventure and a NPC party in the the other modual, but those are not in great detail.

I don't recall any information on it other than it being a trip through a painting. Does D'Polarno get his painting back in it? Any changes to Ghastria?

In the first adventure a fire burns down the mansion, so there is a new mansion in this adventure. He does get his painting back and had used it. So PCs get a chance to kill him at the end, which makes ghastria vanish from existence in their case.

Is there anything on the motivation of the vistani to get the picture? How did Stezen get it back?

Daisu wrote:In the first adventure a fire burns down the mansion, so there is a new mansion in this adventure. He does get his painting back and had used it. So PCs get a chance to kill him at the end, which makes ghastria vanish from existence in their case.

Maybe the SoS-Gaz history should incorporate elements of that idea, by saying that this adventure is what triggered Ghastria's relocation to the Sea of Sorrows.

Do we have any dates in the official timelines for that?

According to the Unauthorized Biography of the "Marquis Stezen D'Polarno" in the Book of Souls, Ghastria entered the Mists in 584 BC was still there when Sithicus formed and somewhen after the Great Upheaval it was lost to the mist and later found to be now located in the Sea of Sorrows.

While we're talking about him... anyone know how to pronounce Stezen?

Is it like Steven? (STEEZ-en or STEE-zen)
or like Stephan? (STEHZ-en or STEH-zen)

Or does it rhyme with Raisin? Or something totally different?

I always pronounce it like Stetson, like the hat.

The Giamarga wrote:Is there anything on the motivation of the vistani to get the picture? How did Stezen get it back?

First adventure PCs are killed by Stezen and become reverants who is promised eternal rest by the vistani if they get the painting thus fulfilling their revenge, since painting is only thing that brings the darklord joy.

In the sequel, a group of PCs are promised a way back home if they steal a simple painting from evil gypsies that prey on the populace.
Stezen is viewed as such a great guy for the people, but other nobles vote against his proposals because Stezen paid them to.
Once he gets the painting he uses it against the PCs.
PCs have fight for their souls while in the painting to attempt revenge plus learn the true intentions of Stezen.

Daisu wrote:In the sequel, a group of PCs are promised a way back home if they steal a simple painting from evil gypsies that prey on the populace.

Who promises this?

Stezen's henchmen bring the pcs to the dark heart tavern, and while they wait for Stezen they play a game that make the PCs lose their wagers. Stezen arrives and gets the money returned, then through discussion he cons the players into retrieving the portrait, that would grant stezen limited magic that might allow them to get back through a portal that he might be able to open with this 'magic'.

Hi,
I was looking through my old stuff i've saved from various websites and came across a rare gem the RPGA list (albeit an old copy) from the Kargatane website. Behold and wonder a nearly complete list of RPGA ravenloft and MotRD adventures:

Ravenloft RPGA

Theives' Gambit (Forgetten Realms Crossover) By Larsen and Wichmann (three round Event)
The Beast Within by Bruce Nesmith & Thomas Reid (First run at GENCON '94, two-round event)
Father of the Bride by Steve Glasgow & Ken Marcinonis (Two-round event)
Infatuation by Chris Doyle
The Greatest Loss by Andrew Hauptman
A Curse of Blood by Robert Wiese
Sacrificial Lambs by Bruce Nesmith (First run at GENCON '95)
Return of the Lucky Seven by R. Derek Pattison
Cry Little Sister by Brandon G. Amancio
Fear and the Flame by Ramon Delgado
Shadows Dance by Peter Duhaime
Doorway to Darkness by Rucht Lilavivat
House of Dark Strategy by Jeffrey Kahrs, Michael T. Smith
Out from Darkness by Rucht Lilavivat
Death Comes Calling by Gary Labrecque
Dance of the Dead by Bruce Nesmith (Rd 1) and James Lowder (Rd 2)
(Two-round event, written for GENCON 1991)
The Return of Stezen D'Polarno
(Or 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Necromancer') by James Lowder
(Three-round event, GENCON 1992 Grandmaster's Event)

Masque of the Red Death RPGA
Task of the Red Death by Ramon Delgado (Two-round event)
Of Sound Mind and Body by Robert Farnsworth and Jeff Cisneros (Two-round event)
Tombstone by Dave Gross

Masque of the Red death: Living Death RPGA
Casting Call (LD2) by David Eckelberry & John Bunnell
The Judge's House (LD3) by Andrew Hauptman
London's Foggy Streets (LD4) by Gary Labrecque
The Lost Valley (LD5) by John D. Rateliff
Mystery of the Haunted Mine (LD6) by Philip J. Rogich
No Rest for the Weary (LD7) by Wayne S. Melnick
The Breath of Life (LD8) by Andrew Hauptman
The Wayward Wind (LD9) by Christopher Gurney
A Bad Root (LD10) by Leonard Dessert
Blood on the Bayou (LD11) by Wayne S. Melnick
Medicine Man (LD12) by Keith W. Hoffman
Just Want to Have Fun (LD13) by Gary Labrecque

Jim already provided a link to that site, which you can stil access via the wayback machine (internet archive at archive.org):

Catman Jim wrote: Giamarga, the last list I saw of the RPGA Ravenloft games was on the Kargatane's Reference page, you can still access it through The Wayback Machine here

A post on Gastria an border closure from RAVENLOFT-L contains another piece of information on the second Gastria tournament :

> Then as they advance the
> landscape becomes less and less real, and the PCs realize that THEY are
> changing as well, becoming painted figures or other works of art!
>
A nice thought. Certainly in keeping with my idea for Stezen's land. In
the second RL tourney I wrote set in Ghastria, something like this
happens to the PCs. They end up inside the "art dimension" as stick
figures and sort of work their way back from there.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

This refers to "The Return of Stezen D'Polarno: A portrait of the artist as a young necromancer". Now that I think about it, the title probably refers to Stezen's self portrait!