QTR 29 - comments and reviews

[IanFordam]

Appreciation accepted I'm not a big Amber fan actually, but I like the basic concept, even if its execution could be done better IMO.

I will admit that I struggled a bit the last time that I reread the series. Even so, I remain in awe of the brilliance of some of Zelazny's ideas.

I adore the Amber series, as well as Mr. Zelazny's other books - in so far as I've read them.
The concept of Shadow in its infinite variety, moving between Order on the side of Amber and Chaos on the side of the Courts, allows you to create a multiverse and use the many worlds-theory in one go. One brilliant version of Shadow I read about combined some of my all-time favourite fantasy- and game-worlds.
There's room for the Great Wheel, the Great Tree, and Ravenloft in there - in all their possible variations. ^_^
The Amber Diceless TTRPG may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think it could be used as a mechanism to explain travel between the various worlds and their variations. Think of it as temporarily ascending to your 'higher self' and travelling into a new dimension, 'translating' your being to adapt to local reality. You could go from a D&D game, step into the Amber reality, then move on to a 7th Sea realm, or a Fighting Fantasy world.
Endless variations of fun! (To me, anyway.)

Not going to argue one bit with that.

[Mistmaster]

Markovia, Land of Healing and Harming

The fusion of Jhurgen Vastich and Akanga is interesting and appropriate. If you're going to discard canon, then this is exactly the sort of cool thing you can do.

Dolly Bellwether is my favorite of the new NPCs. She just fits.

Given the premise of the domain rewrite ("healing and harming"), the inclusion of Dr. Dominiani is thematically appropriate.

I would have enjoyed seeing more description of the relationships among the various members of the Markov family. Why have so many Markovs if they aren't going to fight in interesting ways at the family reunion?

In my experience, it can be a challenge to prevent players from recognizing a darklord too early. Especially given the expansion of the Markov family in this article, removing Frantisek from the family tree (at least in name) is an excellent approach.

Also, as I said in response to the Gundarak article, I appreciate the inclusion of adventure hooks for each of the NPCs.

Thanks.

[Mistmaster]

Here my comprehensive review of the issue

Jawahar Zhost’s backgammon set: Nice, I will steal it for the Mistworld.

100 Road encounters: Very interesting expecially number 47 and 50 .

Isla sin Esperanza: Very interesting, I will steal some NPC.

Larva: Nice enought

The Cyclops’ legacy II: Very interesting.

Legacy of Blood - The Bleysmith Family: I will use Staunton Blyffs in a different way but some of these ideas could be usefull to me.

People of the Misty Hollows: I will need stats for those races but I like the fluff.

Secrets of the City Watch: As I said, Very nice and I might use a lot of those NPC.

Chibiloft Flattery Will Get You (Out Of) Anywhere : Again, nice and Un the Mistworld it wull be the easy way to come out Juste's clutches unscathed.

Register of monsters 4: Very creepy and quite interesting expecially the Huecuva.

The many Ravenlofts 50 alternative versions of Ravenloft: My favourites are Ravenbrooke and House of A.


Return of Diosamblet and Return of Diosamblet - NPC appendix : Very nice adventure.

Chibiloft Left Feet Save Lives: When a Fumble is a nat 20 in disguise.

Secrets of Freedom: Really nice.

Chibiloft There's an Ample Supply: Best way to hunt undead, and a way to remind us:" not all necromancy spell are evil stuff folks"

Secrets of Pharazia:My Pharazia will be different (Mainly, bigger) but there is place for all of this, surely.

Chibiloft A Powers Check With Every Bite: Nah, they could not know they were sentient.

Secrets of Privilege: A great villanous organization I would enjoy see failing.

Secrets of Shadow: Really nice.

Secrets of the Twisted Tower: Fantastic cultists and creature; stolen for my Gundarak.

Secrets of a Starving Land: My Geheenna is very different, still therea are a lot of interesting bits.

The Pride Eater: Very creepy and cool monster. I will finf a place for it in the Mistworld.

Chibiloft To Err is Faun: Narnia under the Gladis is worse then your average domain.

The Soul Kraken: Time for some fried squid. Serously, very interesting.

Secret Page Spell: DESPELL Ah OK, very interesting, lot of bits for my....its a secret folks.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Thank you for the kind word, Mistmaster.

As to your own articles:
I respect how much energy and effort you continue to invest in your Mistworld-redesigns. I have to say I preferred this year's Markovia document over the Gundarak one; your Markovia felt more vital. It may be because it's an island on the open sea, it has more room - and need - to stand fully on its own.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Jawahar Zhost’s backgammon set: Nice, I will steal it for the Mistworld.

Please do

The Cyclops’ legacy II: Very interesting.

I was at first making up some new items for the Ministry until I created the first drug after that I could not resist the temptation of creating more fantasy drugs, I was hooked! Next year the other inventions will appear, the stone soup was just a first taste of next years inventions.

Secrets of the City Watch: As I said, Very nice and I might use a lot of those NPC.

I am still drawing the heraldry for this article, 13 more to go...

Secrets of the Twisted Tower: Fantastic cultists and creature; stolen for my Gundarak.

I don't even remember how I came to write about this, I believe I was searching old Romanian legends to be used in the Markovian Report. At first I was thinking of having a devil being trapped in Teufeldorf, to also explain Strahd's inability to detect Inajira's reality wrinkle which makes Teufeldorf a blind spot to him and also explain the town's German name tranlated to Devil's Village. I decided to have Teufel mean both Devil and Dragon in Luktar (as it is in Revelation 12, verse 9).
Now that I think of that "the Devil Strahd" could be translated as "Teufel Strahd" in Luktar, which could also mean "the Dragon Strahd", as in Dracula (son of Dracul), son of the Dragon...

< "I am the Ancient I am the Land
Teufeldorf is the village I once had.
A fiend is hiding there I fear
I am unable to trace it with my magic sphere."

(pure poetry...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy_ArpznZUs

Also I am not sure if I should draw the tower itself or leave it to anyones imagination, I had a sketch for it drawn decades ago and looking like a vertical drill similar to Krank's drilling vehicle (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), but I found some interesting buildings like the Evolution Tower in Moscow, the Chicago Spire or the F&F Tower (previously known as the Revolution Tower) in Panama City that could be used as inspiration for the tower's design (decorated with some gargoyles).

The Pride Eater: Very creepy and cool monster. I will find a place for it in the Mistworld.

This was born out of a small description in Circle of Darkness and a discussion in this forum. I am glad you found the fiction creepy, it was what I intended, giving the Pride Eater the taunting personality of a megalomaniac pervert (no boundaries whatsoever).

The Soul Kraken: Time for some fried squid. Serously, very interesting.

This was a team work one writing after another was finishing their text (something like an exquisite corpse story) I believe I overdid it with the battle sequence but on the other hand I believe it gives a nice description of the Soul Kraken's tactics and abilities described later in the Markovian Report.

Secret Page Spell: DESPELL Ah OK, very interesting, lot of bits for my....its a secret folks.

Yes I "sp(e)lled" the beans out... it is the FoS Markovian Report, a preview of the Sea of Sorrows Gazetteer. I am still making the images for this one and it would be nice to also have a fiction detailing the trip in between so it is still in process, it may remain unchangeable in the SoS Gaz, depending on opinions and reviews here, so far any game mechanics and descriptions included are not going to be changed, I still have to create three plant monsters that are missing their stats in this version, so people you have more time for errata as I am a bit slow to process mine yet. The Soul Kraken stats (based on John Mangrum's stats in this forum) are in this article's Who's Doomed section for anyone interested.

Thanks for the review!

[IanFordam]

Legacy of Blood - The Bleysmith Family: I will use Staunton Blyffs in a different way but some of these ideas could be usefull to me.

I figure that if somebody finds a useful idea in one of the articles that I've written, then I've done my job.

Thanks for the review!

[IanFordam]

Secrets of Freedom
Secrets of Shadow

Rock's articles are built upon a substantial amount of lore about the Red Haunt and the World Engine and Mu and such. It's impressive but daunting. Quite honestly, I haven't read carefully enough to absorb it all yet. That's on me, and it shouldn't be taken as a criticism of this series of articles.

From the underinformed reader's perspective, though, I must say that my foremost take-away from "Secrets of Freedom" is that being a Chosen One clearly isn't what it's cracked up to be. Evanar's story is haunting.

I also appreciated that Mother Hippe got a cameo reference in "Secrets of Shadow". I had to do a text search to confirm where I had seen that name before, but she was mentioned in the Dread Possibility for the character I found most intriguing in "Secrets of Privilege". So, yeah, I caught one connection among these articles!

[IanFordam]

Secrets of the Twisted Tower

This article hits a sweet spot for me. It offers a backstory with a mythic feel, some details regarding how the Teufelmonance operated in the recent history of Nharov Gundar, and another description of the Twisted Tower now that it has been incorporated into Strahd's domain.

Also, it's creepy.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Also, it's creepy.

Also it is based on "true" facts
Most of it is a direct rip off of the Scholomance, a fabled school of black magic in Romania. I thought of making it a bit like the Dragonlance Towers of High Sorcery, since the tests of magic in Krynn was always one of my favourite elements of that setting along with Mr.

The elements of the Vremenar's succession is similar to the rules to become an Archdruid or Grand Druid in 2e D&D.

"To become an archdruid, a 12th-level druid must defeat one of the reigning archdruids or advance into a vacant position. The Great Druid (14th level) is unique in his region. He, too, won his position from the previous great druid. He is served by three initiates of 11th level."

"At 12th level, the druid character acquires the official title of “druid” (all druid characters below 12th level are officially known as “initiates”). There can be only nine 12th-level druids in any geographic region (as defined by oceans, seas, and mountain ranges; a continent may consist of three or four such regions). A character cannot reach 12th level unless he takes his place as one of the nine druids. This is possible only if there are currently fewer than nine druids in the region, or if the character defeats one of the nine druids in magical or hand-to-hand combat, thereby assuming the defeated druid's position. If such combat is not mortal, the loser drops experience points so that he has exactly 200,000 remaining--just enough to be 11th level."

This succession I believe was inspired by the rex Nemorensis (Latin, "king of Nemi" or "king of the Grove") was a priest of the goddess Diana at Aricia in Italy, by the shores of Lake Nemi, where she was known as Diana Nemorensis. The priesthood of Diana at Nemi was held by a person (in most ancient accounts a slave) who obtained that honour by slaying the prior incumbent in a trial by combat, and who could remain at the post only so long as he successfully defended his position against all challengers. However, a successful candidate had first to test his mettle by plucking a golden bough from one of the trees in the sacred grove.

Those trees in whose dim shadow
The ghastly priest doth reign
The priest who slew the slayer,
And shall himself be slain.

The Greek geographer Strabo also mentions the institution:

"and in fact a barbaric, and Scythian, element predominates in the sacred usages, for the people set up as priest merely a run-away slave who has slain with his own hand the man previously consecrated to that office; accordingly the priest is always armed with a sword, looking around for the attacks, and ready to defend himself."

So based on these I thought of the final challenge before becoming a Zagazmonari as well as the way the Vremenar succession occurs.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Secrets of Freedom
Secrets of Shadow

Rock's articles are built upon a substantial amount of lore about the Red Haunt and the World Engine and Mu and such. It's impressive but daunting. Quite honestly, I haven't read carefully enough to absorb it all yet. That's on me, and it shouldn't be taken as a criticism of this series of articles.

Maybe I should create a timeline...? ^^; Or just a listing of the various articles going into this thing I'm making and which issues of Quoth the Raven they can be found in?
If it helps at all, I've written Mistipedia articles on most of what I've got up so far.

From the underinformed reader's perspective, though, I must say that my foremost take-away from "Secrets of Freedom" is that being a Chosen One clearly isn't what it's cracked up to be. Evanar's story is haunting.

Yeah, I am not one of Mystra's biggest fans. Quite the contrary, in fact.
I liked the concept of Mystryl, the original goddess of magic, who basically let people get on with it so long as they didn't muck stuff up too badly and made sure time travel was kept on a very tight leash. The LN Mystra who Chose Elminster and so many others just strikes me as an unpleasant character (her Chosen are before anything else a combination of power storage and phylactery if I read it right) - and reading Ed Greenwood's Elminster, making of a mage, it seems to me that madness and corruption all too often went hand in hand with the job.

I also appreciated that Mother Hippe got a cameo reference in "Secrets of Shadow". I had to do a text search to confirm where I had seen that name before, but she was mentioned in the Dread Possibility for the character I found most intriguing in "Secrets of Privilege". So, yeah, I caught one connection among these articles!

You did, and well spotted! ^_^ Glad to know you liked Lord Cantor III, and to see that Mother Hippe caught your eye. I'd originally wanted to stat out several more Centurions for Secrets of Shadow, but alas... time constraints. At least I managed to stat out two of the group's prime co-founders in Quoth the Raven #29.

[Mistmaster]

Mystra, the current one, Midnight, is L/G.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Last I heard, she was NG.

[Mistmaster]

Last I heard, she was NG.

Yes, true enought.

[Jeremy16]

I've finally found time for my first batch of reviews...


Jawahar Zhost's Backgammon Set

Rakhasa's are not creatures I'm super familiar with (Backgammon either, to be honest), but I like this item. It has a nice description and backstory and anything to flesh out the more “exotic” domains is always a welcome edition to the setting. The only thing I would have changed would have been subsituting a naga (or other serpent-themed foe) instead of a shadow fiend, which doesn't really seem to fit the flavor of the domain. Also, the reason behind the item's ability to summon rakhasas (who in their right mind would want that?) needed to be fleshed out more. Perhaps a little more focus on its creator would have helped.

100 Road Encounters

Nearly all of these entries are great little creepy one-offs. I really can't pick a favorite, but I particularly like the forest that laughs and the corpse that disappears under the bridge. I wish I had thought of those things to put into some of my articles!

Isla sin Esperanza

This a good first effort, but too pared down of an adventure for me. I'm not familiar with the song in question, but if you're going to build a scenario off of it, I would have liked to seen the music actually incorporated into the adventure more... perhaps have a sailor sing a line or two periodically to up the creepiness factor. In general, I like the Pirates of the Caribbean vibe, but the backstory and history was too mundane for me (besides the prophetic dreams there were not enough supernatural elements).

The Cyclops Legacy II

I like this second entry much better than the first because it is more down-to-earth (no time travel for me, thanks), less expansive (the previous one's subjects seemed all over the place) and more in line with how Horstmann has been portrayed previously. I especially liked the introduction of Face Clay (I love Batman!) and Stone Soup (a rare positive addition to the ministry's repertoire).

Legacy of Blood – Bleysmith

This is a nice little write-up but it leaves me wanting more – like an expanded Gazetteer entry for the domain or sample NPCs.

Gundarak – Land of Oppression and Whim

The latest entry in Mistmaster's Mistworld is too metropolitan for me (a recurring problem for me with all these re-imaginings). I think the “feel” of the domain is lost when you add so much to it. Gundarak was a nasty little domain who's despotic ruler controlled every aspect of his people's miserable lives. Any PCs that found themselves there would want to get out of it as fast as possible. There was a feeling of isolation... that good had no place there. Now, it's just another domain with lots of people and cities doing what people do in cities.

Not that it is all bad. I really liked the twist added to Nharov Gundar's curse. With all of Mistmaster's articles the darklords are usually the highlight - they are all unique and interesting. It's the domain descriptions that fall flat for me. I guess I just don't need all the added window dressing!

[Mephisto of the FoS]

The only thing I would have changed would have been subsituting a naga (or other serpent-themed foe) instead of a shadow fiend, which doesn't really seem to fit the flavor of the domain.

Not a bad idea, I selected a shadow fiend as they can be encountered in maharaja's Arijani's temple as well as to exaggerate the items nature as a portal for fiends.

Also, the reason behind the item's ability to summon rakhasas (who in their right mind would want that?) needed to be fleshed out more.

This is the item's curse not a power someone wants to invoke purposively.

Perhaps a little more focus on its creator would have helped.

Indeed... though there is referance to him in the 2e Ravenloft Apendix III

The Cyclops Legacy II

I like this second entry much better than the first because it is more down-to-earth (no time travel for me, thanks), less expansive (the previous one's subjects seemed all over the place) and more in line with how Horstmann has been portrayed previously. I especially liked the introduction of Face Clay (I love Batman!) and Stone Soup (a rare positive addition to the ministry's repertoire).

Thanks, yes the previous was over the top but there was a second version of Ravenloft (5e) that had to be bridged with the older one