Quoth the Raven #29 requests thread

[tomokaicho]

Horrors of the Orient/The East can mean a lot of things, given how wide the Western perception of 'the East' was and still arguably is. The usual interpretation would be something East Asian themed (so China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Domains inspired by those places like I'Cath, Rokushima Taiyō and Dat Cua Nhen, or even Sanzhou, Xi'anlin, Chonyo Egurimja, Chamhok Mun and Tong Dao).
But there's tons of cool stuff that can be inspired by Southeast Asia or the broader Indian Subcontinent (Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Bhutan) and that's somewhat been done by other Ravenloft fans (Kungthrom Sound and Igid Rabi-I come to mind).

But more than just those areas, I think what would be really original and not done before would be Domains or horror themes and monsters inspired by or based on Central Asia. With the Silk Road passing through the region and connecting the East to the West, a lot of shit went down there that isn't really acknowledged these days. The various factions and ethnicities within the region, like the Cumans, the Tatars, the Mongols, the Huns, the Magyars and so on, all of them would make for good reference material and inspiration to make new and interesting Domains of Dread. Well for me at least, though I'm not opposed to new write-ups on old favorites or even expansions into newer interpretations like 5e I'Cath (which I really like) or 5e Kalakeri (which I also really like).

All great ideas. I think submissions along these lines are limited by the fact that most people that are submitting to QtR do not have a lot of knowledge about these places. Central Asia, for example, is a total blank for me. I think the Tergs that invaded Barovia might be Turks, but also possibly Huns or Magyars.

[Five]

Horrors of the Orient/The East can mean a lot of things, given how wide the Western perception of 'the East' was and still arguably is. The usual interpretation would be something East Asian themed (so China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Domains inspired by those places like I'Cath, Rokushima Taiyō and Dat Cua Nhen, or even Sanzhou, Xi'anlin, Chonyo Egurimja, Chamhok Mun and Tong Dao).
But there's tons of cool stuff that can be inspired by Southeast Asia or the broader Indian Subcontinent (Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Bhutan) and that's somewhat been done by other Ravenloft fans (Kungthrom Sound and Igid Rabi-I come to mind).

But more than just those areas, I think what would be really original and not done before would be Domains or horror themes and monsters inspired by or based on Central Asia. With the Silk Road passing through the region and connecting the East to the West, a lot of shit went down there that isn't really acknowledged these days. The various factions and ethnicities within the region, like the Cumans, the Tatars, the Mongols, the Huns, the Magyars and so on, all of them would make for good reference material and inspiration to make new and interesting Domains of Dread. Well for me at least, though I'm not opposed to new write-ups on old favorites or even expansions into newer interpretations like 5e I'Cath (which I really like) or 5e Kalakeri (which I also really like).

All great ideas. I think submissions along these lines are limited by the fact that most people that are submitting to QtR do not have a lot of knowledge about these places. Central Asia, for example, is a total blank for me. I think the Tergs that invaded Barovia might be Turks, but also possibly Huns or Magyars.

Or they could be Tergs. Meaning one isn't bound to real world culture, peoples, etc and the pitfalls that internet freaks and SJWs are currently standing guard over.

Loosely basing fantasy material off of real world models doesn't have to be an out of bounds limit of the imagination, or, based off of personal knowledge (or knowledge filtered through those wakeboarding the current social unrest for financial gain) . Embrace it. "Inspired by"; key words in the design. It's all going to be, or should be, draped in fantasy cloth anyway so the distortion is all that matters really. Use stereotypes; that's what makes it relatable (one cannot talk generally about a country or a people without stereotyping; it's impossible). Let others do the broadstroking when it comes to the moral and ethical. The characters you provide are individuals, not hardlined racial or cultural traits or features (are all Americans the same as their political leaders? Are they all like-minded when it comes to its policies? Of course not. So why write your piece with such foolish limitations?).

You don't need knowledge to create. You need imagination. And not all of us here needs a real world reference to be able to have fun in Ravenloft. Those that need to know what culture such and such a domain is based on, or who so and so a dark lord is based on...they're the ones with limited imaginations. Don't bind yourself to that as your default audience. Drawing conclusions and connecting blatantly placed dots for the fun of it or for soft debate is not what I am talking about here, so to those looking to weaponise my words and hit themselves with them before screaming "assault!", relax man. This ain't to you. To those that can't (or don't want to) differentiate between fantasy and reality: (grandma rule).

Whatever it is you do, and however it is you get there, it's all good man. Just imagine and write.

And if you're really that worried about offending others then spend more time distorting your real world base model. Mind the footprints a bit. If you cut and paste then you're asking for fools' attention...

[Mistmaster]

Horrors of the Orient/The East can mean a lot of things, given how wide the Western perception of 'the East' was and still arguably is. The usual interpretation would be something East Asian themed (so China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Domains inspired by those places like I'Cath, Rokushima Taiyō and Dat Cua Nhen, or even Sanzhou, Xi'anlin, Chonyo Egurimja, Chamhok Mun and Tong Dao).
But there's tons of cool stuff that can be inspired by Southeast Asia or the broader Indian Subcontinent (Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Bhutan) and that's somewhat been done by other Ravenloft fans (Kungthrom Sound and Igid Rabi-I come to mind).

But more than just those areas, I think what would be really original and not done before would be Domains or horror themes and monsters inspired by or based on Central Asia. With the Silk Road passing through the region and connecting the East to the West, a lot of shit went down there that isn't really acknowledged these days. The various factions and ethnicities within the region, like the Cumans, the Tatars, the Mongols, the Huns, the Magyars and so on, all of them would make for good reference material and inspiration to make new and interesting Domains of Dread. Well for me at least, though I'm not opposed to new write-ups on old favorites or even expansions into newer interpretations like 5e I'Cath (which I really like) or 5e Kalakeri (which I also really like).

All great ideas. I think submissions along these lines are limited by the fact that most people that are submitting to QtR do not have a lot of knowledge about these places. Central Asia, for example, is a total blank for me. I think the Tergs that invaded Barovia might be Turks, but also possibly Huns or Magyars.

Or they could be Tergs. Meaning one isn't bound to real world culture, peoples, etc and the pitfalls that internet freaks and SJWs are currently standing guard over.

Loosely basing fantasy material off of real world models doesn't have to be an out of bounds limit of the imagination, or, based off of personal knowledge (or knowledge filtered through those wakeboarding the current social unrest for financial gain) . Embrace it. "Inspired by"; key words in the design. It's all going to be, or should be, draped in fantasy cloth anyway so the distortion is all that matters really. Use stereotypes; that's what makes it relatable (one cannot talk generally about a country or a people without stereotyping; it's impossible). Let others do the broadstroking when it comes to the moral and ethical. The characters you provide are individuals, not hardlined racial or cultural traits or features (are all Americans the same as their political leaders? Are they all like-minded when it comes to its policies? Of course not. So why write your piece with such foolish limitations?).

You don't need knowledge to create. You need imagination. And not all of us here needs a real world reference to be able to have fun in Ravenloft. Those that need to know what culture such and such a domain is based on, or who so and so a dark lord is based on...they're the ones with limited imaginations. Don't bind yourself to that as your default audience. Drawing conclusions and connecting blatantly placed dots for the fun of it or for soft debate is not what I am talking about here, so to those looking to weaponise my words and hit themselves with them before screaming "assault!", relax man. This ain't to you. To those that can't (or don't want to) differentiate between fantasy and reality: (grandma rule).

Whatever it is you do, and however it is you get there, it's all good man. Just imagine and write.

And if you're really that worried about offending others then spend more time distorting your real world base model. Mind the footprints a bit. If you cut and paste then you're asking for fools' attention...

With both knowledge and intelligence you can do better. Why don't giveto people who knows something to smile for? Of course, a real-world culture in a Fantasy world need some tweaking, but if you like the idea, just follow it;

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Wonder what next years theme will be. We've had Horrors of the Desert and the Sea, so perhaps we focus on Sri Raja and other eastern domains with Horrors of the Orient/East.

I had been thinking of writing something based on Izumi Kyoka's Japanse horror stories for Rokushima, but I haven't read the horror stories yet only bought the books so far. Also I was thinking of writing an article for the Phantom Lover and trying to explain his dragon foot I was thinking of linking it with oriental horror, also there is a 1995 Hong Kong film called The Phantom Lover a remake of the 1937 Chinese film Song at Midnight. My only scepticism so far are the gargoyles and tower in Phantom Lover's labyrinth domain which sounds more western but then again it is fantasy so as mentioned before it can be blended.

[Pizza]

How about famous restaurants of the Demiplane?

Bam!

[Pizza]

Horrors of the Orient/The East can mean a lot of things, given how wide the Western perception of 'the East' was and still arguably is. The usual interpretation would be something East Asian themed (so China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Domains inspired by those places like I'Cath, Rokushima Taiyō and Dat Cua Nhen, or even Sanzhou, Xi'anlin, Chonyo Egurimja, Chamhok Mun and Tong Dao).
But there's tons of cool stuff that can be inspired by Southeast Asia or the broader Indian Subcontinent (Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Bhutan) and that's somewhat been done by other Ravenloft fans (Kungthrom Sound and Igid Rabi-I come to mind).

But more than just those areas, I think what would be really original and not done before would be Domains or horror themes and monsters inspired by or based on Central Asia. With the Silk Road passing through the region and connecting the East to the West, a lot of shit went down there that isn't really acknowledged these days. The various factions and ethnicities within the region, like the Cumans, the Tatars, the Mongols, the Huns, the Magyars and so on, all of them would make for good reference material and inspiration to make new and interesting Domains of Dread. Well for me at least, though I'm not opposed to new write-ups on old favorites or even expansions into newer interpretations like 5e I'Cath (which I really like) or 5e Kalakeri (which I also really like).

Historically, the “East” could be anywhere from the Near East (Greece, Anatolia, Russia and other Slavic lands, and North Africa) to the Pacific Ocean.

That aside I was going to ask about a steppe nomad domain if one doesn’t already exist. Also if something like the monster url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH01klfjQzQ here could be included that’d be cool. The Gamma World setting had something like these guys I think, but this monster seems bigger and more beastial.l

[Pizza]

Requests for QtR 2-9...hmm

I'd like to see this community's response dedicated to de-D&Ding Ravenloft. A divorce if you will. Of sorts.

What would Ravenloft be if we rewrote the setting into a game that better aligns itself with its (bulk) gothic literature roots? Ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances. Mundane versus the Supernatural.

Base our protagonists, the PCs, around Domains of Dread's Table 39: Ability Score Descriptions:

0 = Not applicable to the character
1 = So low as to be almost unmeasurable
2 = Below human minimum
3 = Functional human minimum
4 = Impaired in a major fashion
5 = Impaired in a minor fashion
6 = Well below human average
7 = Below human average
8 = Low human average
9 = Human average
10 = Human average
11 = High human average
12 = Above human average
13 = Well above human average
14 = Among the best in the village
15 = Among the best in the city
16 = Among the best in the region
17 = Among the best in the nation
18 = Among the best in the world
19 = Beyond the limits of normal man
20 = Beyond the limits of heroic man
21 = Surpassing superhuman levels
22 = The equal of the demigods
23 = The equal of the lesser gods
24 = The equal of the gods
25 = The equal of the greater gods

Cut out scores 0 to 3, and 16 to 25. Dark Sun 1-upped ability scores to represent the adaptation to a world gone primal, here we'll do the opposite. 1-down, to represent the inability to compete with a world dominated by the supernatural.

Chop classes and focus on backgrounds. Skills. Knowledge. Professions. Sure, some dandy nobles can go about the countryside carte blanche-like, but for the most part the PCs are wage slaves. Joe and Jane Doe. Struggling in a world that just won't keep its heat. Noir. Gothic noir. Pulp Gothic. You get the idea.

Domains are prisons of emotions. The Dark Lords are the embodiment of those emotions. Give them a primary and maybe a secondary that just bleeds out in waves that sometimes infects the population that lays beneath their boot heels. Mood swings that poison. Throw them off the tower of stone and from their broken bodies the trapped emotion(s) dissipate to form elsewhere; doing good for your neighbours sometimes can double as an asshole move for or against strangers. Cest la vie man. Now the domain is normal again. You and yours can breathe again. You're all safe. Until another emotion gets blown in on the wind and begins its downpour on you and yours.

Hit points are hit points, and are still the life force of our protagonists. But mental points, or sanity points are just as important, if not more. Armor Class, Mental Armor Class. Its what keeps the hero going. That picture of their betrothed, that letter that they always have close at hand? It heals damage to the mind and soul. Lose that and the vortex begins to wreak havoc on both like a swirling, ravenous vulture at your face. And a kiss? That trumps ALL. Holy water and blessed food might bring back some feeling in your battered body, but a kiss from your loved one is the ultimate in heal spells.

Anyway, that's what I'd like to see in the next QtR (not the above specifically. That's just lean-to/loose sample). A Netbook rewrite of Ravenloft, done by this community. Fans for fans. A full campaign setting rulebook, with "articles of flavour" (fiction etc that gels the premise).

Take the Shadowfell out of Ravenloft (and don't you even think about scraping it into the dog's bowl!), and make Ravenloft stand on its own two feet again. Prop it up in the least. All I see is fantasy in it now. A heavy lean of it, and for some time now. Since 3E. Time to Stephen Fabian the 3E worldbuild of Ravenloft...

Or don't.

I like QtR as they are.

Heh

This seems like a major undertaking. I mean a level 1 PC would be somewhere around 12 or 13. This goes back to the idea that probably no one in human history has been more than a level 4 fighter, and only a handful of people were probably ever that. You really need to decrease the number and power of the enemies to move the PC level down as far as you want.

One thing you could do is make everything a one shot or the whole campaign is one adventure compressed into a day or three. Basically, the party is dropped into a slasher film, but they’re somewhat competent and capable of working as a group whereas slasher films usually have folks split up in an every man for himself fashion early on. This avoids the other issue in that anyone who does this long term should overcome lack of experience and skill

Another thing that might be done is to advance some very basic weapon skills quickly. Spears, swords, knives, axes, and clubs have been around forever because someone can get a basic level of skill pretty quickly, and while five inexperienced people with spears would stand a good chance of killing a cornered bear or Lion some of them might die in the process. This gives the player the feel that things are still rather dangerous, but their character has clearly advanced in the play through.

[Five]

Requests for QtR 2-9...hmm

I'd like to see this community's response dedicated to de-D&Ding Ravenloft. A divorce if you will. Of sorts.

What would Ravenloft be if we rewrote the setting into a game that better aligns itself with its (bulk) gothic literature roots? Ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances. Mundane versus the Supernatural.

Base our protagonists, the PCs, around Domains of Dread's Table 39: Ability Score Descriptions:

0 = Not applicable to the character
1 = So low as to be almost unmeasurable
2 = Below human minimum
3 = Functional human minimum
4 = Impaired in a major fashion
5 = Impaired in a minor fashion
6 = Well below human average
7 = Below human average
8 = Low human average
9 = Human average
10 = Human average
11 = High human average
12 = Above human average
13 = Well above human average
14 = Among the best in the village
15 = Among the best in the city
16 = Among the best in the region
17 = Among the best in the nation
18 = Among the best in the world
19 = Beyond the limits of normal man
20 = Beyond the limits of heroic man
21 = Surpassing superhuman levels
22 = The equal of the demigods
23 = The equal of the lesser gods
24 = The equal of the gods
25 = The equal of the greater gods

Cut out scores 0 to 3, and 16 to 25. Dark Sun 1-upped ability scores to represent the adaptation to a world gone primal, here we'll do the opposite. 1-down, to represent the inability to compete with a world dominated by the supernatural.

Chop classes and focus on backgrounds. Skills. Knowledge. Professions. Sure, some dandy nobles can go about the countryside carte blanche-like, but for the most part the PCs are wage slaves. Joe and Jane Doe. Struggling in a world that just won't keep its heat. Noir. Gothic noir. Pulp Gothic. You get the idea.

Domains are prisons of emotions. The Dark Lords are the embodiment of those emotions. Give them a primary and maybe a secondary that just bleeds out in waves that sometimes infects the population that lays beneath their boot heels. Mood swings that poison. Throw them off the tower of stone and from their broken bodies the trapped emotion(s) dissipate to form elsewhere; doing good for your neighbours sometimes can double as an asshole move for or against strangers. Cest la vie man. Now the domain is normal again. You and yours can breathe again. You're all safe. Until another emotion gets blown in on the wind and begins its downpour on you and yours.

Hit points are hit points, and are still the life force of our protagonists. But mental points, or sanity points are just as important, if not more. Armor Class, Mental Armor Class. Its what keeps the hero going. That picture of their betrothed, that letter that they always have close at hand? It heals damage to the mind and soul. Lose that and the vortex begins to wreak havoc on both like a swirling, ravenous vulture at your face. And a kiss? That trumps ALL. Holy water and blessed food might bring back some feeling in your battered body, but a kiss from your loved one is the ultimate in heal spells.

Anyway, that's what I'd like to see in the next QtR (not the above specifically. That's just lean-to/loose sample). A Netbook rewrite of Ravenloft, done by this community. Fans for fans. A full campaign setting rulebook, with "articles of flavour" (fiction etc that gels the premise).

Take the Shadowfell out of Ravenloft (and don't you even think about scraping it into the dog's bowl!), and make Ravenloft stand on its own two feet again. Prop it up in the least. All I see is fantasy in it now. A heavy lean of it, and for some time now. Since 3E. Time to Stephen Fabian the 3E worldbuild of Ravenloft...

Or don't.

I like QtR as they are.

Heh

This seems like a major undertaking. I mean a level 1 PC would be somewhere around 12 or 13. This goes back to the idea that probably no one in human history has been more than a level 4 fighter, and only a handful of people were probably ever that. You really need to decrease the number and power of the enemies to move the PC level down as far as you want.

That's exactly the point. It's showing respect to the monsters specifically, to horror in general, and it's a great spotlight on the table, through PC challenge and sense of accomplishment for players.

Who in D&D fears a single vampire or werewolf?Conceptually they are terrifying monstrosities. But in the game they are "encounters" to be overcome on the way to something bigger, when they should be to surviving PCs the equivalent to planting a frigging flag on the moon! Hell, Ravenloft has a vampire around every corner, and a cult clan of religious werewolves. Such revelations should be sanity-breaking even for "adventurers", not just today's sandwich. Especially if you in-game such a sentiment in regards to NPCs; to have a handful of individuals absolutely immune to things that horrify society, and/or are that unifyingly disconnected is just shitty wordbuilding, IMO. Nothing is impossible to pull off, but generally-speaking it's, I dunno, lazy? I'll go with that even though it don't quite fit my brain.

Short of it, I feel icreasing numbers of these things is the same as pissing down on their horror aspects. And when you do that you piss on the PCs, and the players

That's some surface thoughts anyway. Not sure if there's a point in going deeper.

One other thing that's related, I'd like to see in all future Ravenloft products not just tips on running horror, but the monsters within its mists as well. Maximise horror by utilising its representations of. VR guides did it well enough in 2E, but as with everything they would need to be updated, reinterpreted, and expanded upon by of age developers.

Toning down PCs here would be part of that structure's base. Min/max for story, which is by setting definition horror.

Drop Superman or Batman into the novel Dracula and you'd end up with...Ravenloft?

Like I say though, that's just me.

[Pizza]

Requests for QtR 2-9...hmm

I'd like to see this community's response dedicated to de-D&Ding Ravenloft. A divorce if you will. Of sorts.

What would Ravenloft be if we rewrote the setting into a game that better aligns itself with its (bulk) gothic literature roots? Ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances. Mundane versus the Supernatural.

Base our protagonists, the PCs, around Domains of Dread's Table 39: Ability Score Descriptions:

0 = Not applicable to the character
1 = So low as to be almost unmeasurable
2 = Below human minimum
3 = Functional human minimum
4 = Impaired in a major fashion
5 = Impaired in a minor fashion
6 = Well below human average
7 = Below human average
8 = Low human average
9 = Human average
10 = Human average
11 = High human average
12 = Above human average
13 = Well above human average
14 = Among the best in the village
15 = Among the best in the city
16 = Among the best in the region
17 = Among the best in the nation
18 = Among the best in the world
19 = Beyond the limits of normal man
20 = Beyond the limits of heroic man
21 = Surpassing superhuman levels
22 = The equal of the demigods
23 = The equal of the lesser gods
24 = The equal of the gods
25 = The equal of the greater gods

Cut out scores 0 to 3, and 16 to 25. Dark Sun 1-upped ability scores to represent the adaptation to a world gone primal, here we'll do the opposite. 1-down, to represent the inability to compete with a world dominated by the supernatural.

Chop classes and focus on backgrounds. Skills. Knowledge. Professions. Sure, some dandy nobles can go about the countryside carte blanche-like, but for the most part the PCs are wage slaves. Joe and Jane Doe. Struggling in a world that just won't keep its heat. Noir. Gothic noir. Pulp Gothic. You get the idea.

Domains are prisons of emotions. The Dark Lords are the embodiment of those emotions. Give them a primary and maybe a secondary that just bleeds out in waves that sometimes infects the population that lays beneath their boot heels. Mood swings that poison. Throw them off the tower of stone and from their broken bodies the trapped emotion(s) dissipate to form elsewhere; doing good for your neighbours sometimes can double as an asshole move for or against strangers. Cest la vie man. Now the domain is normal again. You and yours can breathe again. You're all safe. Until another emotion gets blown in on the wind and begins its downpour on you and yours.

Hit points are hit points, and are still the life force of our protagonists. But mental points, or sanity points are just as important, if not more. Armor Class, Mental Armor Class. Its what keeps the hero going. That picture of their betrothed, that letter that they always have close at hand? It heals damage to the mind and soul. Lose that and the vortex begins to wreak havoc on both like a swirling, ravenous vulture at your face. And a kiss? That trumps ALL. Holy water and blessed food might bring back some feeling in your battered body, but a kiss from your loved one is the ultimate in heal spells.

Anyway, that's what I'd like to see in the next QtR (not the above specifically. That's just lean-to/loose sample). A Netbook rewrite of Ravenloft, done by this community. Fans for fans. A full campaign setting rulebook, with "articles of flavour" (fiction etc that gels the premise).

Take the Shadowfell out of Ravenloft (and don't you even think about scraping it into the dog's bowl!), and make Ravenloft stand on its own two feet again. Prop it up in the least. All I see is fantasy in it now. A heavy lean of it, and for some time now. Since 3E. Time to Stephen Fabian the 3E worldbuild of Ravenloft...

Or don't.

I like QtR as they are.

Heh

This seems like a major undertaking. I mean a level 1 PC would be somewhere around 12 or 13. This goes back to the idea that probably no one in human history has been more than a level 4 fighter, and only a handful of people were probably ever that. You really need to decrease the number and power of the enemies to move the PC level down as far as you want.

That's exactly the point. It's showing respect to the monsters specifically, to horror in general, and it's a great spotlight on the table, through PC challenge and sense of accomplishment for players.

Who in D&D fears a single vampire or werewolf?Conceptually they are terrifying monstrosities. But in the game they are "encounters" to be overcome on the way to something bigger, when they should be to surviving PCs the equivalent to planting a frigging flag on the moon! Hell, Ravenloft has a vampire around every corner, and a cult clan of religious werewolves. Such revelations should be sanity-breaking even for "adventurers", not just today's sandwich. Especially if you in-game such a sentiment in regards to NPCs; to have a handful of individuals absolutely immune to things that horrify society, and/or are that unifyingly disconnected is just shitty wordbuilding, IMO. Nothing is impossible to pull off, but generally-speaking it's, I dunno, lazy? I'll go with that even though it don't quite fit my brain.

Short of it, I feel icreasing numbers of these things is the same as pissing down on their horror aspects. And when you do that you piss on the PCs, and the players

That's some surface thoughts anyway. Not sure if there's a point in going deeper.

One other thing that's related, I'd like to see in all future Ravenloft products not just tips on running horror, but the monsters within its mists as well. Maximise horror by utilising its representations of. VR guides did it well enough in 2E, but as with everything they would need to be updated, reinterpreted, and expanded upon by of age developers.

Toning down PCs here would be part of that structure's base. Min/max for story, which is by setting definition horror.

Drop Superman or Batman into the novel Dracula and you'd end up with...Ravenloft?

Like I say though, that's just me.

I hope I didn’t come across as downing the idea or request. That was not my intention.

Thinking a bit more, maybe you could change levelling to remove the traditional way of adding hit points, spell slots, and points to your base scores like charisma and stuff. Perhaps each level up would give a character one new ability called a talent. The player can pick talents which themselves could be things like adding hit points or a spell slot or gaining weapon proficiency or something like the feats from older versions of the game, but if you only get one of these per level you can level while still keeping the threat to the player very real.

Touching on things like vampires and werewolves part of the threat is that there’s often only one or a few very specific ways to actually kill one, and if you don’t know it you are clean out of luck. So say you have a situation where something is taking sheep from barns at night, and a group of shepherds, farmers, or townspeople take their pitchforks and clubs to track it to its lair thinking it is a bear or a Big cat only to find a giant spider or a werewolf (which they didn’t bring the appropriate weapons to kill, but maybe they don’t know that) or a man from town who can’t remember how he got there or just his clothes. All these play out very differently, but they’re all intrinsically more scary than people going to kill a nuisance bear or tiger because it isn’t what they’re prepared for. Eh I feel like I am rambling everyone here knows more about horror than me no doubt.

[Five]

I hope I didn’t come across as downing the idea or request. That was not my intention.

No, I never took it like that at all. Though to be honest with you even if that was your angle I would still appreciate your insights and thoughts. Sometimes ideas are best served by poking and kicking them a bit, to see if they remain standing. If some pieces fall off then they just weren't built solid enough!

So in that sense thank you.

I'm just thinking out loud here. I'm not trying to sell anybody anything, so I don't see a point in droning on about my personal tastes and whatnot. That's what I was getting getting at with my not really seeing a point in going much deeper.

Everybody has their own vision of D&D campaign settings, and that's a great thing. We're supposed to. At least, as my mind thinks...

All good. And again, thanks

[Five]

Requests for QtR 2-9...hmm

I'd like to see this community's response dedicated to de-D&Ding Ravenloft. A divorce if you will. Of sorts.

What would Ravenloft be if we rewrote the setting into a game that better aligns itself with its (bulk) gothic literature roots? Ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances. Mundane versus the Supernatural.

What you are describing sounds a lot like the mechanics in Masque of the Red Death (D20). Polyhedron Magazine had stuff along these lines as well. You could use that as your baseline, perhaps throwing in some D20 Modern. D20 Modern also does away with traditional alignments, with 'allegiances' taking the place of alignment. Since alignment is undetectable on the moral axis, it probably makes more sense.

I think what you describe is a worthy project but I am more inclined to bring Ravenloft properly into 3.5e with 3.5e mechanics that actually work. Because the 3.5e print run is over, all this requires is a once over and 3.5e Ravenloft will be in place thereafter.

Hm.

An editionless Ravenloft....add it to the wishlist!

[Seven]

Requests for QtR 2-9...hmm

I'd like to see this community's response dedicated to de-D&Ding Ravenloft. A divorce if you will. Of sorts.

What would Ravenloft be if we rewrote the setting into a game that better aligns itself with its (bulk) gothic literature roots? Ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances. Mundane versus the Supernatural.

Chop classes and focus on backgrounds. Skills. Knowledge. Professions. Sure, some dandy nobles can go about the countryside carte blanche-like, but for the most part the PCs are wage slaves. Joe and Jane Doe. Struggling in a world that just won't keep its heat. Noir. Gothic noir. Pulp Gothic. You get the idea.

Domains are prisons of emotions. The Dark Lords are the embodiment of those emotions. Give them a primary and maybe a secondary that just bleeds out in waves that sometimes infects the population that lays beneath their boot heels. Mood swings that poison. Throw them off the tower of stone and from their broken bodies the trapped emotion(s) dissipate to form elsewhere; doing good for your neighbours sometimes can double as an asshole move for or against strangers. Cest la vie man. Now the domain is normal again. You and yours can breathe again. You're all safe. Until another emotion gets blown in on the wind and begins its downpour on you and yours.

Hit points are hit points, and are still the life force of our protagonists. But mental points, or sanity points are just as important, if not more. Armor Class, Mental Armor Class. Its what keeps the hero going. That picture of their betrothed, that letter that they always have close at hand? It heals damage to the mind and soul. Lose that and the vortex begins to wreak havoc on both like a swirling, ravenous vulture at your face. And a kiss? That trumps ALL. Holy water and blessed food might bring back some feeling in your battered body, but a kiss from your loved one is the ultimate in heal spells.

Anyway, that's what I'd like to see in the next QtR (not the above specifically. That's just lean-to/loose sample). A Netbook rewrite of Ravenloft, done by this community. Fans for fans. A full campaign setting rulebook, with "articles of flavour" (fiction etc that gels the premise).

Take the Shadowfell out of Ravenloft (and don't you even think about scraping it into the dog's bowl!), and make Ravenloft stand on its own two feet again. Prop it up in the least. All I see is fantasy in it now. A heavy lean of it, and for some time now. Since 3E. Time to Stephen Fabian the 3E worldbuild of Ravenloft...

Or don't.

I like QtR as they are.

Heh

Amusingly, I have gotten a lot of mileage out of using the 3E Exalted game, itself a modified Storyteller system, to run Ravenloft games for about half a decade now.

Under the glitz and glamor of the Exalted, the "mortal" ruleset is a nice little grim-and-gritty foray into low-powered roleplaying. Infection can kill you just as quickly as a bullet or a blade, and "mortal" characters are, while quite adept, never so powerful that they can ignore things (monsters, etc). You start out with 7HP, and you end with 7HP. A single hit can kill you.

It is essentially a classless system, where you build a character by purchasing rankings in abilities, skills and merits. You can build your character however you want, and Mortals are much easier to balance than Exalts (or D&D, for that matter). Exalted even has mechanics that D&D lacks, such as Investigation, Knowledge (including the ability to come up with lore on the fly), and Social "combat", and while Sorcery exists, it is much less powerful than D&D Magic.

I have held the opinion for about a decade, since the latter days of the 3E setting, that Ravenloft "works best" when divorced from D&D. D&D, both the mechanics and the culture, don't work well with horror

[Daisu]

I think a skill based system rather than a class level based system would work better for Ravenloft.

[tomokaicho]

Request: A 3.5e adaption of Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft, the video game. Basically Strahd and Soth send assassins at each other.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Request: A 3.5e adaption of Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft, the video game. Basically Strahd and Soth send assassins at each other.

Ha! after annexing Gundarak Strahd needed another neighbouring darklord to play, although it makes more sense to do that with the Dukkar.


Ballad of Iron & Blood

The vampire lord sent rogues away
to end the fiend's evil reign
to slay the nuisance Dukkar
who speaks a bit of Luktar

The vampire Strahd thought to himself
why am I blue with ears of an elf?
I could have have acted the same way
if Eva's pact had gone astray

Killing off the Vistani
does not sound like a good plan to me
It's better to sent men to Sithicus
to kill off that australopithecus

The death knight Lord named Soth
That armoured ape who moves like a sloth
does not sit on his macabre throne
he is lying down seems like he is prone...

Strahd's assassins hit their mark
but suddenly everything goes black and dark
The Night of Screaming Shadows is at hand
Is it Inza's fault or is it Azrael Dak?

-Sang in Nedragaard Keep by Soth's banshees during the The Night of Screaming Shadows
(with the usual inconsistencies in their storytelling)



I guess it all goes back to Soth again (dammit...)