Playing Ravenloft with Complete Newbies

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Hey guys!

I had a thread were I was going to post updates of my regular game in the Mists. However, I think it's going to be more useful to post about my various Ravenloft games as a series of separate topics.

The first one is this - playing Ravenloft with complete noobs.

Can I tell you how much of a blast this has been? We are on Session 40 now and there seems to be no end in sight. Things that are refreshing and amazing...

1) No one knows what the Dark Powers are or what a Darklord is. They don't even quite understand the concept of a domain. Everyone got the VRtR book, but they only read the parts that pertain to character creation. We are playing based in Borca, but they didn't even read that section. Which is all the better because when they met Ivana Boritsi, they had no idea who she was.

2) No one knows any of the history, so there's no knowledge about the Grand Conjunction or any of that business.

3) You guys, they don't even know what the Mists are. Their limited encounters with the Mists have made them conclude that there is some weird "warp effect" in the land and that somehow the Vistani can bypass it. Their thoughts and ideas. Not mine.

The result has been an amazing campaign where things feel fresh and new. Where no one takes anything for grated and best of all, the players and their characters are not jaded.

This particular campaign has been horror-lite compared to many of my other campaigns, because I knew that the player group I had wouldn't be able to tolerate a straight-horror game. So, particular story-arcs are horror arcs. But then, I'll throw some high adventure in there or Holmesian mysteries in there. They particularly like the Holmesian mysteries because they are a little dark, but not "horror" oriented at all.

The characters are going to be walking into a horror arc pretty soon in which they confront a house that is actually a mimic. Laurie Weathermay-Foxgrove will make an appearance.

[Joël of the FoS]

I love it! My players were complete newbs too (but not now, we are at session 97 ).

Other than knowing the Strahd & Azalin household names (which I didn't include in the campaign), they didn't know much, other than Barovia, where they come from.

So in the game, everything is new, and that's great indeed.

They eventually understood the concept of darklords and domains, but they do not know who is the DL before they arrive in a new place. When first in Mordent, they suspected old Jules Weathermay for a while

It gives points to the approach of NOT giving the RLCS to players, other than what they need to know to start ;D

[IanFordam]

Sounds like a great experience. Glad you're all having fun!

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Other than knowing the Strahd & Azalin household names (which I didn't include in the campaign), they didn't know much, other than Barovia, where they come from.

They didn't even know the name Azalin when we started the game!

So, the players ran into a reliquary which teleported you inside of a mystical, dream-like library. Within the library, there were scenes of Azalin first assembling the Apparatus appeared as he ordered his apprentices about (this is pre-lichdom Azalin, and again, it's only a phantom of him).

Eventually, they figured out that Azalin assembling the Apparatus was bad, and fought the dream-like pre-lich Azalin. I giggled when I said, "Azalin rolls for initiative."

They said, "What's so funny?"
"I never thought I'd say that aloud in a campaign."
"Why not?"
"Oh...just wait."

I kept giggling when I said things like, "Azalin casts lightning bolt at you." or "Azalin Misty Steps away." Again, I never thought I'd have ever said that aloud in a campaign.

What is amazing is that the players still have no clue. No clue at all.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

there were scenes of Azalin first assembling the Apparatus appeared as he ordered his apprentices about (this is pre-lichdom Azalin, and again, it's only a phantom of him).

????? (Canon-wise)

Don't mind me though I am a canon freak

[Rucht Lilavivat]

there were scenes of Azalin first assembling the Apparatus appeared as he ordered his apprentices about (this is pre-lichdom Azalin, and again, it's only a phantom of him).

????? (Canon-wise)

Don't mind me though I am a canon freak

Canon-wise, encountering Azalin in his human form would mean that they would have run into Firan Zal'honan. And you know players. No one is going to connect that Firan Zal'honan is actually Azalin when the time comes. They are not going to reconcile those names. (At least, these players will never reconcile it. They are really bad with names.)

So, to avoid confusion, I have Azalin's memory warped. He, himself, misremembers things and has grossly mixed up the timeline of events. But his "memory phantoms", if you will, reflect this warped re-invented timeline. So, in his scattered memory, his name is Azalin and has always been Azalin. He doesn't even remember his original name. He also mis-remembers that the Apparatus is what gave him his lichdom.

Another reason I did this is because the canon Apparatus serves a totally different purpose in the timeline, and would only confuse the newbies even more. "So, Strahd was here and he split his personality in two? I thought Strahd couldn't leave the domain? Why did they do that? What does that have to do with the campaign again? Wait, what are we supposed to do again?"

The entire encounter was to get three ideas across: 1) Bad guy who is obsessed - his name is Azalin. 2) He did something with the Apparatus. It was bad. 3) Here's what the Apparatus looks like.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Canon-wise, encountering Azalin in his human form would mean that they would have run into Firan Zal'honan. And you know players. ... He also mis-remembers that the Apparatus is what gave him his lichdom.

Sorry, my bad. This is canon, it is just 5e canon, in 2e & 3e things are a bit (lot) different, thus the confusion.

I don't know if you know of it but the Ravenloft II adventure : House on Gryphon Hill involves the lich Azalin, Strahd and the Apparatus though the adventure is a mess and needs a lot of work to fix it and even more work to play it. But it has some interesting stuff. It could be played as a sequel or even parallel to the original Ravenloft adventure on which Curse of Strahd is based on. You can find it below, fortunately I had dowloaded it when Wizards were giving it for free.

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/178605 ... n-Hill-1e

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Canon-wise, encountering Azalin in his human form would mean that they would have run into Firan Zal'honan. And you know players. ... He also mis-remembers that the Apparatus is what gave him his lichdom.

Sorry, my bad. This is canon, it is just 5e canon, in 2e & 3e things are a bit (lot) different, thus the confusion.

I don't know if you know of it but the Ravenloft II adventure : House on Gryphon Hill involves the lich Azalin, Strahd and the Apparatus though the adventure is a mess and needs a lot of work to fix it and even more work to play it.

Yep. Very familiar with the House of Gryphon Hill. I didn't want to get into that mess with this campaign, so I just introduced the idea of the Apparatus. That's it. Eventually, it will be revealed that the Apparatus is what caused Darkon to be as it is in 5e, but then it will be up to the party as to what to do with that. If they want to reverse the process, etc. Or perhaps just leave things as they are. That will probably be the end of the campaign at that point.

[Pizza]

This particular campaign has been horror-lite compared to many of my other campaigns, because I knew that the player group I had wouldn't be able to tolerate a straight-horror game. So, particular story-arcs are horror arcs. But then, I'll throw some high adventure in there or Holmesian mysteries in there. They particularly like the Holmesian mysteries because they are a little dark, but not "horror" oriented at all.

If I ever got to play a Ravenloft game this is exactly what I’d want. It’d feel like a real world with just some horror going on around you. This has to be how most people in Ravenloft experience their world right?

[alhoon]

Wait, session 40 and they don't know anything? Heh. That seems to me you are keeping them newbies. Not that it is wrong, but it is not the way I would go.

And just to say... pre-lichdom phantom Azalin is still an archmage. That's a tough cookie.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Wait, session 40 and they don't know anything? Heh. That seems to me you are keeping them newbies. Not that it is wrong, but it is not the way I would go.

And just to say... pre-lichdom phantom Azalin is still an archmage. That's a tough cookie.

This is what is amazing. I have not really kept too much from the PCs. They just haven’t bothering digging too deep. I have left then numerous clues and hints, but they never pursue it further. And the Mists aren’t going to slap you in the face and try to get you to investigate them. If you don’t delve deep, you don’t discover things. And the setting also warns you not to delve too deep. So, the players have obliged the warnings. Especially with the tone of game setting.

[SkiBird]

I'm really digging this thread. It's one of the things I have struggled with in the past, dealing with player-knowledge vs character-knowledge when helming Ravenloft games I mean.

It's such a lore-centric setting that so many fans know a lot about.

Sometimes it gets easy to lose the mystery of having characters (and in this case, the players) learn about the setting organically. Sounds fun.

[alhoon]

Wait, session 40 and they don't know anything? Heh. That seems to me you are keeping them newbies. Not that it is wrong, but it is not the way I would go.

And just to say... pre-lichdom phantom Azalin is still an archmage. That's a tough cookie.

This is what is amazing. I have not really kept too much from the PCs. They just haven’t bothering digging too deep. I have left then numerous clues and hints, but they never pursue it further. And the Mists aren’t going to slap you in the face and try to get you to investigate them. If you don’t delve deep, you don’t discover things. And the setting also warns you not to delve too deep. So, the players have obliged the warnings. Especially with the tone of game setting.

Yeap, I agree it is amazing. And I agree the Dark Powers don't go in your face to make you investigate.
Very interesting approach that of your players. Many players (at least those I know), would have made supernatural investigators or something similar if they suspected supernatural mysteries would be involved.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Yeap, I agree it is amazing. And I agree the Dark Powers don't go in your face to make you investigate.
Very interesting approach that of your players. Many players (at least those I know), would have made supernatural investigators or something similar if they suspected supernatural mysteries would be involved.

Well, they are playing investigators, but the players have learned from reading a lot of books and watching a lot of movies. So, they heed the warnings.

NPC: "The last person to read that tome went completely mad..."
PC: "Okay. I'm not reading that tome then."

NPC: "You want to know about Camille Dilisnya? Be careful of what you drink from now on. People who delve into that topic...suddenly become allergic to wine."
PC: "Okay. Nevermind. I don't think I'll be delving into that topic anymore."

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Yeap, I agree it is amazing. And I agree the Dark Powers don't go in your face to make you investigate.
Very interesting approach that of your players. Many players (at least those I know), would have made supernatural investigators or something similar if they suspected supernatural mysteries would be involved.

Well, they are playing investigators, but the players have learned from reading a lot of books and watching a lot of movies. So, they heed the warnings.

NPC: "The last person to read that tome went completely mad..."
PC: "Okay. I'm not reading that tome then."

NPC: "You want to know about Camille Dilisnya? Be careful of what you drink from now on. People who delve into that topic...suddenly become allergic to wine."
PC: "Okay. Nevermind. I don't think I'll be delving into that topic anymore."

They are quite the daredevils...