Café de Nuit

As I said in the Review Thread of VRGtR 5e, I'm not entirely sold on the VRGtR. When I run the game (I'll have our session 0 tonight), I will probably use the 3.5e books. However, that doesn't mean I don't think that there are things that can be salvaged, so I wanted to share what I've thought to reconcile the new VRGtR with the old 3.5e version, and I'd love to hear what others have thought or done to include the new material on their campaigns.

So, here it is (At least for the main domains):

Barovia
Decision: Merge (VRGtR)
I don’t think the two versions contradict each other, so I would just use VRGtR to enrich the 3.5e version if needed.

Bluetspur
Decision: Uncertain
I haven’t touched this domain as much. I don’t see many differences.

Borca
Decision: Merge/Advance Timeline
I guess I’ll probably use the VRGtR version as Borca as if the timeline had advanced a couple of decades, without loosing all the stories outlined in the 3.5e version (Including the stories for Ivan and Ivana).

Carnival
Decision: Merge (VRGtR)
I’d probably use VRGtR version, with some of the detail found in previous books.

Darkon
Decision: Merge (2 versions)
I’ve been toying with the idea of having 2 versions of Darkon coexisting in the same place:

• The first version, where Darkon is intact, as in the 3.5e version.

• The second version, where the domain is slowly being taken by the mists, as in VRGtR.

The entire domain switches between these two versions without previous notice. The people of the cities and villages that vanish periodically have started to migrate to safer lands, but each time a greater area is taken by the mists and the safe places are fewer.
Behind the scenes, Azalin’s latest experiment was a mixed bag, that left him trapped in a cycle where he alternates between two possible outcomes:

• He managed to escape, but in his current location nobody remembers him and he has been rendered powerless. In his dreams he sees the land he left behind -the place where he was king, and known, and powerful -slowly vanishing, but he can’t get back.

• He is still trapped in Darkon, still with the urge to escape.

I'd also keep Necropolis as a separate domain.

Dementlieu
Decision: Split
I’d keep Dementlieu as in the old version, reinstate Dominic D’Honaire and kept everything as it never happened.
That said, I’d create a pocket domain, something like “The Ballroom”, that appears in different domains, and when it appears everyone want to attend to this prestigious event, where everyone wants to gain the favor of Saidra D’Honaire (Perhaps related to the darklord of Dementlieu).

Falkovnia
Decision: Replace
I’d probably advance the timeline to a point where Vladeska -daughter of Vlad Drakov -betrayed her father and became the darklady of Falkovnia, with the new Falkovnia being as described in VRGtR, but with all the backstory from the older books.
I know some people are not into zombie apocalypses, and the idea of one at the center of the core creates some problems in logic (There have to be a reason for the zombies to stay within the limits of the domain), but I kind of like the idea of moving from Vlad Tepes pastiche / 20th Century Fascist Regime to something more desperate.

Har’Akir
Decision: Replace
I’d probably use the newest version of Ankhtepot, without forgetting the story of the realm.

Hazlan
Decision: Uncertain
I have never cared for Hazlan or Hazlik. I like the weirdness of the new realm, but I’m not certain about what to do with it.

I’Cath
Decision: Replace
I’d use the newer version hands down. It’s a great improvement over the DoD version.

Kalakeri/Sri Raji
Decision: Uncertain
This one is complex… I don’t really see Ramya as a worthy darklady (She is a worthy character, but not a darklady... She's more of a victim here), and the wink about Inajira seemed cheap to me (I prefer the previous version of the Arcanoloth causing trouble everywhere). I’d probably stick with Arijani as the darklord, though I like the political tension of the new realm, and that doesn’t reconcile with a single darklord with a firm grasp on his land.

Kartakass
Decision: Replace
I’d probably use the new version, keeping the old story.

Lamordia
Decision: Replace / Soft Merge
I don’t like the idea of darklords being genderflipped without good reason. However, I really dig this version of “Vic” Mordenheim being the darklord, I always found Victor too close to the source material to be really interesting on his own and somehow I like Elise better than Adam. So, I think I’d use VRGtR version… With a few twists on Viktra’s backstory.
So, Viktra’s father was a famous physician in a realm ruled by man, so he wanted a son to carry on his legacy, but he got a daughter. When she was born, he already had thought of his son’s name, Victor, but when she was born instead, he just twisted a little bit the name, and thus she was named Viktra.
From then on, the story follows the VRGtR version. However, even when she taught herself medicine using her father’s books and laboratory, it was never enough for him, and she knew she’d never be accepted as a doctor being a woman, so she disguised herself as a man (Dr. Victor Mordenheim) to get her doctorate and advance her medical career.
Thus, Elise is not a body snatcher hired by her, but a girl hired to pretend to be her wife (To keep appearances when the now famous doctor became old enough for everyone to expect him to be married). Elise quickly began to admire her fake husband's genius and passion, and promptly became her accomplice in her nightly escapades (Slowly growing in Viktra's heart from a mere employee to a confident and a loved one), until that led to her catching a terrible disease (And the rest of the story as per the VRGtR version).
Now, once Lamordia became a domain, men and women became equal in the eyes of the general populace. However, Viktra’s discoveries and accomplishments are usually ascribed to the famous doctor Victor Mordenheim, whom everybody assumes is her late father, instead of herself.

Mordent
Decision: Merge
I don’t think the two domains diverge that much. I think they would probably merge seamlessly.

Richemulot
Decision: Uncertain
I’m really not sure which version I prefer best.

Tepest
Decision: Split
I like the new version, though I’d probably keep most of the domain’s backstory to give it a little more to do than just waiting for the next wicker man festival. As it is, however, I think it’d miss the Salem witch trials feel, so I’d probably split the domain in two:
The first one is VRGtR Tepest, located in the place where Tepest is in the old Core, next to the Shadow Rift. The second is “New Tepest” (Name pending), an Island of Terror (Personally, I’d make if part of a cluster, next to Arkandale, Souragne and the Falaya Basin), where I’d place Wyan and his inquisition (With a greater “The VVitch” feel to it).
The "official" story would be that when the Shadow Rift appeared, some of the tepestani fled to this new realm (Through the mists, I guess), trying to get away from this place and its horrors, and settling up a colony far away, that is ruled by superstition and paranoia.
Behind the scenes, instead of just killing her sisters, they betrayed her and the three of them were torn between different realms. Lorinda’s story continues in Tepest just as in VRGtR, while Laveeda and Leticia were granted the domain of New Tepest, where they are desperately looking for a worthy candidate to complete their coven again, but promising candidates always get either caught by the inquisition or killed by the hags themselves.

Valachan
Decision: Uncertain (Maybe Merge/Advance Timeline?)
I never cared much for Baron Von Kharkov (I always found him to have too much going on for my taste), so I welcomed Chakuna, but now I feel she’s too much of a one trick pony. I also like the idea of advancing the timeline, but I guess I’d include elements from the old books to really flesh out the domain.

Nice to see another reconciliation thread! For me, Richemulot and Tepest feel like there are parts that are completely new (with easter eggs and references to older lore) while there are also parts that feel like a natural advancement of the storyline. Tepest, for instance, has Leticia betraying the other 2 hags in her coven while taking a more active role in the domain, which I think makes sense. Additionally, the shift from the fey-hating inquisition to the fey-loving folk horror feel of the domain feels like a reactionary, well, reaction of one extreme to the other, but the kind of reaction that we've seen before in the Domains of Dread (Hazlik and his initial no-magic stance then being changed to something else after the Grand Conjunction). So you might not need to make 2 domains, as much as you might just want to explain further how/why Tepest went from its 3e set-up to its 5e one, which I think can be done. For Richemulot, the Gnawing Plague feels like what Jacqueline Renier wanted with the Becoming Plague, but changed either by the Dark Powers or sabotaged by someone opposed to her. Regardless of who or why, now she has even less than what she initially started with. Jacqueline's 5e write-up is also very similar to Claude Renier's proposed write-up in QtR 19, or at least I can see a few similarities. 5e Valachan feels like a completely different domain, which I usually don't mind (I really like it) but the references to Urik von Kharkov can be a bit distracting. 5e Valachan and Kalakeri feel like great additions to the Steaming Lands Cluster; 5e Valachan can have great chemistry with the Wildlands while Kalakeri can have excellent trade and chemistry in total with Sri Raji. I agree with your approach on Falkovnia and Dementlieu, though I'd say for Falkovnia, maybe you could also have intrigue with other children of Vlad Drakov carving out their own besieged territories in the domain, and vying to take Vladeska's spot?

For me Falkovnia as Wilhelmine/Hitlerian Germany stand in works just fine. Spies, diplomacy, a recistence underground movement, arcane secrete experiments and so on. All what I need.

WolfKook wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 12:09 pm
Kalakeri/Sri Raji
Decision: Uncertain
This one is complex… I don’t really see Ramya as a worthy darklady (She is a worthy character, but not a darklady... She's more of a victim here), and the wink about Inajira seemed cheap to me (I prefer the previous version of the Arcanoloth causing trouble everywhere). I’d probably stick with Arijani as the darklord, though I like the political tension of the new realm, and that doesn’t reconcile with a single darklord with a firm grasp on his land.

Yes, Ramya didn't quite strike me as a Darklord. It seems her only crime was executing her siblings, after they betrayed her and tried to dethrone her. Kinslaying is apparently a great social taboo there or something. Her massacre of her enemies after the second rebellion was perhaps extreme, but considering she gave them mercy after the first rebellion, she couldn't afford to show mercy again. She's definitely not a 'good' person, but she is not a Darklord.

If I can offer a suggestion, place Kalakeri in the Verduous Lands Cluster, becoming a trade partner to Sri Raji. It would expand adventure possibilities there and bring extra political tension which Kalakeri is themed for. As for the Darklord, the Kalakeri Arijani likely won't be the Darklord since there already is an Arijani in Sri Raji, a new neighboring land. Might want to cut back on confusion, but the Darklord Arijani may like to take advantage of that, or perhaps the Kalakeri Arijani would. I would say perhaps Reeva would be a better fit for the Darklord. She constantly tried to scheme and undermine her siblings, inciting bloody rebellion, the massacres were directly because of her manipulations. All of it so she could finally beat her sister at something, but when it seemed like she won, Ramya came back from the dead and took it all back.

So keeping Kalakeri, but Reeva is the Darklord. Her curse is for all of her scheming, all of her plots, every spell she knows, and however well she manipulates things, she will only have a taste of the power she wants before she will eventually lose, her sister somehow, someway, seeing through her plot and defeating her.

But that's just my idea.

HyperionSol wrote: ↑Sun Feb 12, 2023 10:04 am

WolfKook wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 12:09 pm
Kalakeri/Sri Raji
Decision: Uncertain
This one is complex… I don’t really see Ramya as a worthy darklady (She is a worthy character, but not a darklady... She's more of a victim here), and the wink about Inajira seemed cheap to me (I prefer the previous version of the Arcanoloth causing trouble everywhere). I’d probably stick with Arijani as the darklord, though I like the political tension of the new realm, and that doesn’t reconcile with a single darklord with a firm grasp on his land.

Yes, Ramya didn't quite strike me as a Darklord. It seems her only crime was executing her siblings, after they betrayed her and tried to dethrone her. Kinslaying is apparently a great social taboo there or something. Her massacre of her enemies after the second rebellion was perhaps extreme, but considering she gave them mercy after the first rebellion, she couldn't afford to show mercy again. She's definitely not a 'good' person, but she is not a Darklord.

If I can offer a suggestion, place Kalakeri in the Verduous Lands Cluster, becoming a trade partner to Sri Raji. It would expand adventure possibilities there and bring extra political tension which Kalakeri is themed for. As for the Darklord, the Kalakeri Arijani likely won't be the Darklord since there already is an Arijani in Sri Raji, a new neighboring land. Might want to cut back on confusion, but the Darklord Arijani may like to take advantage of that, or perhaps the Kalakeri Arijani would. I would say perhaps Reeva would be a better fit for the Darklord. She constantly tried to scheme and undermine her siblings, inciting bloody rebellion, the massacres were directly because of her manipulations. All of it so she could finally beat her sister at something, but when it seemed like she won, Ramya came back from the dead and took it all back.

So keeping Kalakeri, but Reeva is the Darklord. Her curse is for all of her scheming, all of her plots, every spell she knows, and however well she manipulates things, she will only have a taste of the power she wants before she will eventually lose, her sister somehow, someway, seeing through her plot and defeating her.

But that's just my idea.

Reeva can also be frustrated at the fact that Ramya had the gall to take leadership when she’s a woman, while Reeva toed the line of gender expectations. There’s some internalized misogyny that can be played with here, at least according to an interview with Ajit George, the designer of Kalakeri, on Reeva and Ramya and Arijani. Speaking of Arijani, perhaps the 5e Arijani (let’s call him Arjun as that’s an Indian name) has a great admiration for the Maharaja of Sri Raji and tries to ally himself with Arijani’s resources, to better take the throne? This would make Arijani slightly more active than him looking for Ravana’s Bane and would allow for fun inter-domain connections between the two India-inspired locales. They’re both also more fantastical than the Core, so you can add creatures from Indian mythology and folklore or of the many religions on the subcontinent or reskin the traditional high fantasy monsters into something fitting that setting and still being “Ravenloft”-Ian (Kalakeri has canonical wyverns and stone giants, not to mention the dragon Darklord of Niranjam).

Another benefit to Kalakeri being in that Cluster is that it has waterways and a small sea that can connect to the Core and other lands. Now you don’t need to take the Emerald Stream Mistway and risk ending up in Saragoss because Kalakeri is where the ports are (despite the civil war)! It opens up the whole Cluster to being more connected with the other domains of dread while enriching them in the process. Ramya isn’t Drakov, so she might be willing to buy gunpowder weapons for her armies…

In my headcanon, both Falkovnia and Lamordia have grown, and there's a party island in Pernault Bay.

Vladia is a rebellious daughter of the house of Drakov who spent years as a mercenary captain, thoroughly earning her own damnation before deciding to take over Falkovnia. She was trapped in her own Falkovnia - a buffer state between old Falkovnia and Darkon - for her troubles.
Vladia and Vlad hate each other, but neither can conquer the other. Vlad has his curse, and Vladia's assets are tied up in keeping the cannibal zombies at bay; she's negotiating with Azalin, hoping he can help her with her little problem now so she can kill Vlad for him later.

Viktra is a daughter of Mordenheim descent, easily as intelligent and obsessive as Victor. Having learned of his seeming immortality, Viktra infiltrated Schloss Mordenheim, sedated Victor and started experimenting on him.
Using her discoveries, she created the Heart, and used Elise as a test subject, having no attachment to her one way or the other. Elise regenerated to physical perfection, but is in a feral state of confusion. She bulled her way out of the castle and is still wandering through Lamordia in confusion.
Adam attacked Viktra, driving her out of the castle, and she became trapped in her own part of the expanded Lamordia. She desperately wants to continue her research, but she needs the Heart or Victor - and she can have neither.

The island in Pernault Bay, Dementlieu, is where the new Darklady presented in the 5e book hangs out. Her magic is such that she can make it seem a country all its own, but the truth is that Dominic D'Honaire rules the lion's share of the land ... and they both know it.

In Darkon, a man called Firan was born after a certain experiment went awry. He has been wandering the Core since, but instinctively avoids Darkon. Azalin dearly wishes to have Firan back, but has trouble trusting his agents to deliver the man to him alive and unharmed.