Why is Victor Mordenhiem a woman now?

[onmyoji]

I personally don't like the Viktra idea but yes we actually made a really fast reboot of Mordenheim. But I have to say that I believe there would be people who would not like the Mordenheim trans-gender version, because it would be to closely associated with Frankenstein, a a person who defies nature and God to create life, and could be problematic (though in my defence my idea came from the Swarchenegger movie Junior were Arnold is a cis-male scientist who takes hormones and becomes pregnant). On the other hand the Viktra Mordenheim concept could be based on the horrors of plastic surgery and people who are addicted to these operations.

My point was more to the fact that we created better narrative than VRGtR actually serves without even thinking about it. WotC definitely dropped the ball on making those changes important and relevant to the world and story they were telling. While I'm still a Ravenloft fledgeling in comparison to most of you all (and thus can't comment on changes in every domain), I still can't see anything more than pandering re: the domains I know and love.

I *do* like the plastic surgery addiction angle though. Having to create the "perfect" body in one's self before being able to create the scientist's actual creation. And once again, neither of us is even trying to come up with better narrative. It's just coming.

I do also see how it can be problematic, but not any more problematic than having darklords be women, minorities, LGBTQ+ etc. I see the spirit of being inclusive, but those aren't the heroes. At the end of the day, all it reminds us is that anyone can be guilty of the most heinous crimes. What they should have done is created female/minority/LGBTQ+ NPCs with intriguing backstories. Like I'd have loved to see a black scholar that was a sometimes-ally sometimes-rival to Van Richten. Easy!

— onmyoji

[Hanbaoge]

In 2E, Hazlik's 'offenses' were vague. We never learn why feminine tattoos were forced upon Hazlik. In the 3E version, Hazlik is falsely accused of sexual assault of another man with whom he was having a consensual tryst, and he is thus forced to bear feminine tattoos as punishment. Turning Hazlik gay solved a problem in the original narrative. So the question must be asked: what problem do the changes in the 5E version of Ravenloft solve? From what I can see, none.

Exactly, a perfect example.

I do also see how it can be problematic, but not any more problematic than having darklords be women, minorities, LGBTQ+ etc. I see the spirit of being inclusive, but those aren't the heroes. At the end of the day, all it reminds us is that anyone can be guilty of the most heinous crimes. What they should have done is created female/minority/LGBTQ+ NPCs with intriguing backstories. Like I'd have loved to see a black scholar that was a sometimes-ally sometimes-rival to Van Richten. Easy!

— onmyoji

Maybe to take your point in a slightly different direction, but isn't that where horror lies, in the problematic-ness (if that's a word) of the villains? Someone might have mentioned this already, but I'm thinking that "classic" Ravenloft, with all it's cliches, stereotypes, and "problematic" descriptions would be a fantastic source of horror for modern players - as in "this is awful and should not be" (because, gee, they're villains after all), and it's on the GM to make sure it's not "here I am rubbing your face in offensive things"........

[onmyoji]

Maybe to take your point in a slightly different direction, but isn't that where horror lies, in the problematic-ness (if that's a word) of the villains? Someone might have mentioned this already, but I'm thinking that "classic" Ravenloft, with all it's cliches, stereotypes, and "problematic" descriptions would be a fantastic source of horror for modern players - as in "this is awful and should not be" (because, gee, they're villains after all), and it's on the GM to make sure it's not "here I am rubbing your face in offensive things"........

Personally, I'm fine with that kind of problematic since my players know that whatever is happening in the exposition or narrative is part of a fictitious story. It's not me trying to draw parallels to something heinous that really happened, or otherwise me trying to bring heinous things up under the guise of D&D. They all know that, and they trust me to tell a gripping and enthralling story, no matter what heinous (but wholly fictional) actions the (wholly fictional) characters are capable of. So if I did do the male-to-female Mordenheim story, my players *know* that it would be done for done for narrative purposes and not in any way to be interpreted as some kind of agenda against trans people. Just that Mordenheim was evil first and then became trans for narrative reasons.

Though again, WotC accomplishing little more than telling us that heinous acts can be committed by minorities and women too still makes me laugh. They totally seem to have forgotten the darklords are the bad guys.

— onmyoji

[Hanbaoge]

Though again, WotC accomplishing little more than telling us that heinous acts can be committed by minorities and women too still makes me laugh. They totally seem to have forgotten the darklords are the bad guys.

— onmyoji

That's it, that's what I've been trying to figure out how to say......even with the so-called torments, to me, the darklords, mistwalkers, etc, now feel like just glorified plot-hooks instead of potential recurring villains with compelling backstories for a long-term campaign.

Sure, I get it that one of the purposes of the book was to bring back the "weekend-in-hell" idea and get away from the long-term idea, but even still - one of the draws of Black/Red Box Ravenloft was that these characters were more than just monster of the week, you could build an entire mini-campaign out of their curses (darklord and other).

[Hanbaoge]

Not to mention, it just occurred to me - it's not insulting AT ALL (/sarcasm) making Alanik Ray gay, handicapped, AND a racial minority, because everyone knows inclusiveness stacks......

Again, just my not-so-humble opinion........

[tomokaicho]

Not to mention, it just occurred to me - it's not insulting AT ALL (/sarcasm) making Alanik Ray gay, handicapped, AND a racial minority, because everyone knows inclusiveness stacks......

Is Alanik Ray really handicapped in the new version? Wowza.

Minor Functionary (MF): "Ah... excuse me, King Azalin? I see here that you've marked the box for disabled here on this form, but you aren't really disabled, are you?"
Azalin: "Well, I prefer the term differently abled anyway".
MF: "What I mean is that being undead isn't a disability".
Azalin: "I haven't had a date in 300 years. Isn't that disability enough? Alright then, I can't learn new spells. I am cursed. That's a disability, right?"
MF: "Most people don't know any spells. Knowing a lot of spells and being unable to learn some new ones isn't a disability. And as for your curse, if you were cursed to confinement to a wheelchair, then yes, you would be disabled".
Azalin: "Who mandated these stupid forms?"
MF: "It was you, your majesty. You said that you wanted to make sure that talented people wouldn't be overlooked because of their disabilities".
Azalin: "I remember this. I was thinking of blind seers that could peer into the future with their unseeing eyes, or a werewolf who by no fault of his own slaughtered a village".
MF: "We have gathered a lot of talent, your majesty. Why see here, a baby with microcephaly. If it helps, you could say that the baby was cursed with microcephaly".
Azalin: "Yes, yes. But what does it do? Does the baby have psionic powers like the brain in a jar in Dementlieu?".
MF: "No. But the baby could be a warlock. It might have ancestors from the lower planes".
Azalin: "Might have have ancestors from the lower planes?"
MF: "Its not guaranteed...".
Azalin: "Utter incompetence. As always, it is I, King Azalin, that must fix the mistakes of my underlings. Get the zika baby. And a werewolf. I want to see what a microcephalic lycanthrope can do".

[Hanbaoge]

Is Alanik Ray really handicapped in the new version? Wowza.

Yea, he's paraplegic due to a spinal injury, and confined to a wheelchair.

[tomokaicho]

Yea, he's paraplegic due to a spinal injury, and confined to a wheelchair.

MF: "So, Alanik, what is the story with the wheelchair? Did you get cursed?"
Alanik: "I got a bad spinal injury. You don't need great powers of deduction to realize that a broken spine leads to paraplegia".
MF: "And you are gay now? Did your broken spine do that too?"
Alanik: "Now, see here...".
MF: "For that matter, why don't you just get a healing spell to fix your back?"
Alanik: "No one asks why trans NPCs don't use a Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity, so I don't see why I should be asked about healing magic for my injury".
MF: "Oh, so now you are breaking the fourth wall".
Alanik: "Mentioning the fourth wall is also breaking the fourth wall".
MF: "You know, King Azalin is looking for disabled talent".
Alanik: "I ran away from Darkon, fleeing the Kargat. I'd rather not go back, even for a good job".
MF: "You ran away?".
Alanik: "I rolled away".
MF: "Have a look at this brain in a jar. I think it might even develop psionic abilities. Now, use your powers of deduction to figure out who this brain is".
Alanik: "Its my husband, Arthur Sedgewick, isn't it?"
MF: "See? Now both of you are differently abled. Now, lets talk about that job offer...".

[Jester of the FoS]

I do also see how it can be problematic, but not any more problematic than having darklords be women, minorities, LGBTQ+ etc. I see the spirit of being inclusive, but those aren't the heroes. At the end of the day, all it reminds us is that anyone can be guilty of the most heinous crimes. What they should have done is created female/minority/LGBTQ+ NPCs with intriguing backstories. Like I'd have loved to see a black scholar that was a sometimes-ally sometimes-rival to Van Richten. Easy!

The catch with that is there's limited space. For every new character they include, that's one existing character they have to exclude.
So WotC can either have people complain that they gender/ race flipped a character or they can have people complaining they added two female black monster hunters rather than the established Weathermay-Foxgrove twins.

Personally, of all the changes made in the book, those bug me the least. Viktra Mordenheim is fine, but making her the darklord instead of Adam, the land be deserted and frozen, Mordenheim trying to replicate Eva rather than save a loved one, and Lamordia not attached to the Core bug me so much more.

Had they just kept most of the rest of the lore with Viktra, her partner Elise, their adopted daughter Eva, and Adam then I'd have been happier. Flipped Mordenheim's gender changes nothing of import.
But everything else is just needless and doesn't feel as iconic. It feels like someone trying to do a "modern reimagining" of Frankenstein, which almost never works as well because it's competing against a century of other retellings.

Not to mention, it just occurred to me - it's not insulting AT ALL (/sarcasm) making Alanik Ray gay, handicapped, AND a racial minority, because everyone knows inclusiveness stacks......

Again, just my not-so-humble opinion........

It does feel like they were trying for a quota.

I imagine they immediately went to the (tired) idea Holmes and Watson were gay lovers (which is a huge pet peeve of mine for many reasons). And then later in the development they decided they needed a character in a wheelchair, but wanted it to be a hero. And since there was only a small number of heroic characters, it was either Ray, Sedgewick, or one of the Weathermay-Foxglove sisters.

And they picked the wrong character...

[Mephisto of the FoS]

MF: "For that matter, why don't you just get a healing spell to fix your back?"
Alanik: "No one asks why trans NPCs don't use a Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity, so I don't see why I should be asked about healing magic for my injury"."

Trans PC's or NPC's have nothing to fix, Alanik must have missed his Diplomacy check in this debate...

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I imagine they immediately went to the (tired) idea Holmes and Watson were gay lovers (which is a huge pet peeve of mine for many reasons). And then later in the development they decided they needed a character in a wheelchair, but wanted it to be a hero. And since there was only a small number of heroic characters, it was either Ray, Sedgewick, or one of the Weathermay-Foxglove sisters.

And they picked the wrong character...

If that is the case Van Richten would be more appropriate I guess. Kind of Dr. X, mentor of adventurers.

[alhoon]

I could totally see Gennifer in a wheelchair. With her werewolf being OK.
Also Genifer weathermay now uses druid stats while being mentioned as a wizard

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I could totally see Gennifer in a wheelchair. With her werewolf being OK.
Also Genifer weathermay now uses druid stats while being mentioned as a wizard

Why would her werewolf form be OK?

[onmyoji]

Personally, of all the changes made in the book, those big me the least. Viktra Mordenheim is fine, but making her the darklord instead of Adam, the land be deserted and frozen, Mordenheim trying to replicate Eva rather than save a loved one, and Lamordia not attached to the Core bug me so much more.

To be clear, in-universe, the Viktra change doesn't bother me either. As you say, it changes nothing of import. What bothers me is that when I look at this as a consumer of WotC's products, people are applauding such decisions as "brave" etc. while all I see is simple pandering. I've looked for rationale to see it as better, and despite my best efforts, I have found none. It's disappointing that those fighting for better recognition and social change in fantasy-related products such as these seem to be overly satisfied by the absolute bare minimum being done. But yeah, in-universe, it's all fine. I can take it or toss it as I please. Though the lack of rationale behind any of the sex-changes is rather off-putting at best.

— onmyoji

[Hanbaoge]

And then later in the development they decided they needed a character in a wheelchair, but wanted it to be a hero. And since there was only a small number of heroic characters, it was either Ray, Sedgewick, or one of the Weathermay-Foxglove sisters.

And they picked the wrong character...

Now that's an idea......would put a whole new spin (and really interesting, as far as I'm concerned) on the twins if Gennifer was disabled thanks to Natalia Vhorishkova‎'s attack, especially as a twist on the "stay at home where it's safe, girls" motif........