Comments on Rucht's running of 5e House of Lament

[alhoon]

Let's not pollute Rucht's thread with comments and keep them here.
I will start:

Good thinking Rucht! I also love House of Lament. I wish some of the spooky house movies would have this atmosphere. What got me hooked was when reading the description and reading how the 'heartbeat' of the house became more prominent and how Mara wanted people to stay with her etc. I haven't seen the House of Lament in the new version yet, as I have read barely 1/3 of the new book, but I hope I will like it and you liking it seems promising.

[alhoon]

Heavy spoilers, obviously.

To be honest, I prefer the new version of House of Lament.
Also, I would say that Mara is not a terrible person, she's just obsessed with revenge. That is not to saw Mara is 'good' but when we have the people we have in Ravenloft, I wouldn't rate living Mara as 'terrible', just obsessed and violent. Mara should have seen the writing in the walls IMO (pun intended) when she broke in the castle with -less than 12- people.
After she felt 'betrayed' that her most loyal followers wouldn't want to be buried alive, enough to see her entombed, and slayed them all is the "point of no return" IMO, where Mara loses her mind.

Sure, the old Mara may have been more sympathetic but she was less ... I can't find the world. She seemed 'less' a nice coat of paint over the house. Lately, the "fairy tale on its head" with the knight butchered is not that rare. As you said, we already had Game of Thrones. In the modern horror stories, it's not subversive for the evil guys to win and good people to suffer.
What I do agree with you though, is that the Old House of Lament was more Gothic. Like, very Gothic. Curses, Mamsel in distress, decrepit manor, evil tainting otherwise good people (old Mara) etc.

The "Mara is Lonely" is so much a staple of the House of Lament that I will keep it. With Mara's backstory the same. Sure, Mara Silver paid the price and was trapped. She doesn't have to like it or accept it. Her torment may be that she got revenge but is now trapped forever in walls, prisons of her own making, and reaches out to trap others.

I also like how the warlord's spirit is also around.

[Solan]

Please do blog your running of the House of Lament adventure here! I for one would be quite happy to read it. Do you think a PC will sacrifice himself to free Mara and have the House meet its end? Or is that contrary to the new adventure of the House?

Incidentally, I agree wholeheartedly with you that the original story of the House is more compelling and more interesting, and I'm glad you went with that one.



--mod--
Moved from blog thread

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Heavy spoilers, obviously.

To be honest, I prefer the new version of House of Lament.
Also, I would say that Mara is not a terrible person, she's just obsessed with revenge. .

That's so interesting, Alhoon! Why do you like the new version more? I see what you are saying with the old story of the house - but why in particular do you like the new background? I'd love to hear your perspective.

Please do blog your running of the House of Lament adventure here! I for one would be quite happy to read it. Do you think a PC will sacrifice himself to free Mara and have the House meet its end? Or is that contrary to the new adventure of the House?

--mod--
Moved from blog thread

What is interesting is that the House of Lament is written to be like the original Ravenloft module, in that the player characters' goal, precise nemesis, and their goal is supposed to be determined randomly. We will be determining it via Tarrokka reading.

I'm going to be running the module more than once, and so it's quite possible that the adventures will be radically different because the villain each time might be different! I'm pretty excited to see what's going to happen!

[alhoon]

I like it more because the sense of a Strahdish heroine that starts with reasonable goals for justice that in the way turn to revenge, move to obsession and end up as monstrous appeal to me more. I admit that before I have written that sentence, I have not put the 2+2 together and saw which other person in Ravenloft is quite like that...

Anyway, the sense of isolation, of Mara's desperation for a "hug" if you want, of "Mara wants to play" are still there but with a more interesting dynamic between the 'entity' / warlord / Mara and the what's-her-name victim ghost. You can choose your angle. One could also say that the warlord was not that bad since entombing people alive was not unique form of execution nor as horrible as the wheel or sawing people alive etc etc. I am not saying he is NOT that bad, I am saying that he could present his angle if he's played as cunning and manipulative (as suggested) and either lying or actually given a bit different backstory, one the keeps him bad and keeps all the crimes he did but doesn't dub them as horrific; he was entombing his enemies but not everyone. He had a semi-legitimate claim to the land or he wasn't paid for his services. that kind of thing.
All in all, the more complex dynamic in the new background leaves the "Stay with me" mostly intact if you want to go for that angle but also expands the possibilities way beyond the original.
The "Unlock more with Séance" is both more complicated in a good way and would lead to people slowly unlocking the "lore" of the house unlike the original that most characters (and players) would not figure what was happening and why. In this one, at least from my understanding of it, you would not see the original.

What I kinda don't like but would probably keep if I ever run it was the Entity trapped in the House. I like to think of the Entity as "the dark Powers" so I won't have it locked in amber. I don't like the Amber Sarcophagi of the new Ravenloft. I would place an "open tomb" or an altar there for Mara to 'entomb' people to keep her company (or sacrifice them for release), with shadowy soldiers raising more or less as described. I.e. mechanically the same but not with a trapped Dark Power in an amber Sarcophagus and possibly a different Motive by Mara.

In short, you also said it yourself: You would play the adventures many times and you expect them to be different each time. That's thanks to the new elements and dynamics of the story, I think.
Would you be able to have different House of Lament or even Death House (House of Strahd) adventures? I don't think so.

As for why I prefer the new story: The possibilities and the new Mara, in short.

[alhoon]

I like it more because the sense of a Strahdish heroine that starts with reasonable goals for justice that in the way turn to revenge, move to obsession and end up as monstrous appeal to me more. I admit that before I have written that sentence, I have not put the 2+2 together and saw which other person in Ravenloft is quite like that...

Anyway, the sense of isolation, of Mara's desperation for a "hug" if you want, of "Mara wants to play" are still there but with a more interesting dynamic between the 'entity' / warlord / Mara and the what's-her-name victim ghost. You can choose your angle. One could also say that the warlord was not that bad since entombing people alive was not unique form of execution nor as horrible as the wheel or sawing people alive etc etc. I am not saying he is NOT that bad, I am saying that he could present his angle if he's played as cunning and manipulative (as suggested) and either lying or actually given a bit different backstory, one the keeps him bad and keeps all the crimes he did but doesn't dub them as horrific; he was entombing his enemies but not everyone. He had a semi-legitimate claim to the land or he wasn't paid for his services. that kind of thing.
All in all, the more complex dynamic in the new background leaves the "Stay with me" mostly intact if you want to go for that angle but also expands the possibilities way beyond the original.
The "Unlock more with Séance" is both more complicated in a good way and would lead to people slowly unlocking the "lore" of the house unlike the original that most characters (and players) would not figure what was happening and why. In this one, at least from my understanding of it, you would not see the original.

What I kinda don't like but would probably keep if I ever run it was the Entity trapped in the House. I like to think of the Entity as "the dark Powers" so I won't have it locked in amber. I don't like the Amber Sarcophagi of the new Ravenloft. I would place an "open tomb" or an altar there for Mara to 'entomb' people to keep her company (or sacrifice them for release), with shadowy soldiers raising more or less as described. I.e. mechanically the same but not with a trapped Dark Power in an amber Sarcophagus and possibly a different Motive by Mara.

In short, you also said it yourself: You would play the adventures many times and you expect them to be different each time. That's thanks to the new elements and dynamics of the story, I think.
Would you be able to have different House of Lament or even Death House (House of Strahd) adventures? I don't think so.

As for why I prefer the new story: The possibilities and the new Mara, in short.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Anyway, the sense of isolation, of Mara's desperation for a "hug" if you want, of "Mara wants to play" are still there but with a more interesting dynamic between the 'entity' / warlord / Mara and the what's-her-name victim ghost.

....

As for why I prefer the new story: The possibilities and the new Mara, in short.

Alhoon, I really like this! I think what I'm going to do is to leave the module open for two different Maras. There will be the traditional character, who is the "Stay with me..." Character.

Then, there will be the newer version, whose theme will be "kill them all the last person standing". That version of Mara will encourage the PCs to keep fighting wave after wave of threats until they accept the "gift" of being buried alive so they can continue to fight with Mara forever.

I think it will be determined by Tarrokka Deck ... and what the players are like at the table.

[alhoon]

Rucht, the vistani subrace seems overpowered...

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Rucht, the vistani subrace seems overpowered...

And if the Vistani PC is male then he is a new Dukkar...

[alhoon]

About the upcoming first session on top of a synopsis I would be interested to know, if it is not hard to write, what changes you have done to the format presented in the book.

[alhoon]

I think it is better to use this thread for comments to keep the other one clean for Rucht