Café de Nuit

Greetings!

The submissions period for written works for the Player's Guide to Ravenloft has now closed!

We would like to thank everyone who contributed for doing so, and we hope to release this netbook sometime before the Summer of 2007.

Submissions for artwork are still wide open: remember, metaphorical artwork will have a higher chance of getting accepted into the Player's Guide!

Felicitations,
Dion of the Fraternity
Overseer
Player's Guide Project

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Greetings!

The Fraternity of Shadows is pleased to announce that entries for The Player's Guide to the Land of Mists are now being accepted.

Unlike most of the netbooks that the Fraternity has released so far, the format for the Player's Guide would be slightly different. In the tradition of The Player's Guide to Eberron and, obliquely, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the entries found on the Ravenloft Player's Guide would be listed in alphabetical order.

Each entry would discuss a fairly significant topic of interest to players new to the Ravenloft setting, both in- and out-of character (such as a legend, a location, a popular reference, etc.). These entries would describe what unwitting people in the land of Mists know about them, what history they have, and what things are left unexplored for players to catch up on.

Submission Tips and Requirements

1. You need not write an entire entry, which would cover a minimum of two whole pages in netbook format. A collaboration of multiple submissions in one entry is encouraged, although an entry may not exceed four whole pages.

2. In writing an entry for the Guide, keep in mind that you are writing an entry for players new to the Ravenloft setting, so it would be appropriate to write in as little DM material as possible.

3. The Player's Guide to Ravenloft will be kept game stats-free. This means submissions with game stats for monsters or characters will not be accepted. Prestige classes, however, will be allowed, provided they follow the exposition format of D&D prestige classes (e.g., "Roleplaying the Prestige Class", "Prestige Class in the World", etc.).

4. Each entry will include a "What Do You Know?" sidebar that describes what the PC's know about the particular entry based on a Knowledge check scale that players will have to roll. Each entry need not be exclusive to one Knowledge skill, although multiple Knowledge DC's are always encouraged.

5. To make this Player's Guide more interesting and more in context with the Ravenloft setting, it is highly recommended that all submissions must have at least one in-character reference to the entry being described.

6. For the moment, submissions for individual entries on the Core domains will not be accepted, since each of the domains have already been described in a player-friendly format in the Ravenloft Player's Handbook. Submissions for domains not covered in that game accessory however will be accepted (such as Kalidnay, Nosos, I'Cath and others), provided each domain described follows the format of the Ravenloft Player's Handbook.

7. All submissions must follow the Fraternity of Shadows's online submission policies, which means not all submissions may be acceptance into the Player's Guide. All submissions will be scrutinized by the Fraternity of Shadows.

8. Submit all entries to souragne@yahoo.com with "RAVENLOFT PLAYER'S GUIDE: "(submission name)" on the title heading. Submissions that do not have this title heading will not be entertained.

Suggested Entries

In closed Green House discussions, the Fraternity of Shadows seem to show merit to the following Guide entries:

Arak
Caliban
Castle Ravenloft
Church of Ezra
Church of the Lawgiver
Created
Dead Man's Campaign
Devil Strahd, the
Great Upheaval
Grim Harvest
Nightmare Court
Mists, the
Time of Unparalleled Darkness
Vampires
Vistani
Voodan
Witches
Zhakata

This, however does not limit the ideas for new entries that you as a writer may submit. Creativity counts!

Deadline for all submissions would be February 20, 2007, with a netbook release in Spring 2007.

Best regards,
Dion, Sharon, Joel, Jason, David
The Fraternity of Shadows

Great idea. I have often had to, retrospectively, tell my players what their characters would have known about the world. It would be wonderful to have a resource.

One suggestion: A section, or notation, about what would be "common knowledge" to natives of Ravenloft (or specific domains) would be good. For instance, a Knowledge (Local) check should not be necessary for a native of Barovia to know of the existance of Gundarak rebels or that Strahd is known as "The Devil".

I can write a short article on Staunton Bluffs, if there's interest for this. Shall the Guide include only material that is backed up by published stuff, or can we add locations and details at our convenience? (Which for me would be the condition to write the article, since I have changed some thign sfor my own campaigns that I would like to put in that way.)

One suggestion: A section, or notation, about what would be "common knowledge" to natives of Ravenloft (or specific domains) would be good.

There would be Knowledge checks for these, but they won't necessarily be domain-specific.

I can write a short article on Staunton Bluffs, if there's interest for this. Shall the Guide include only material that is backed up by published stuff, or can we add locations and details at our convenience?

An entry for Staunton Bluffs may be accepted, although it has to follow the domains format presented in Ravenloft PHB. Adding you r own material is okay, but be sure what ever you put it ties in neatly with published sources.

Thank you.

My article won't be too long - say, two to three pages, and I will add A LOT of stuff, I think... The *Island of Terror* entry of SB is not suited for players, and the player info in the BB is just too sparse.

I'll follow the way the domains are presented in the RL 3e, though I think I wil make some minor layout changes, like putting site names in Italics, and, if you allow me to, set up a rumour section.

There would be Knowledge checks for these, but they won't necessarily be domain-specific.

Ok. Assuming Knowledge (local) can be used untrained and that some things should have quite a low DC, that should be fine.

Now, as for domain-specific knowledge, I think there would probably be some things that most every native to a domain would know that might not be common knowledge to natives of other domains.

Dion of the Fraternity wrote: Caliban

Can I work on that please?
Whoever wants to help is welcome.

I agree that a "common knowladge per domain" would be helpful. For example: I don't think the RLPH staes that every Barovian woman wears black for five years after the death of their relitives, but that seems like something every Barovian would know. That is found in the Gazetteer, but, of course, not everything in the Gazetteer is common knowladge to all Barovians.

The knowledge (local) sort of tables ought to be mandantory for this sort of thing. A quick look at the Player's Guide to Eberron should illustrate what I'm talking about.

I could write the part on the Church of Ezra (following the format of organizations, as presented in latest WotC books, with entry requirements, membership benefits and everything). It will mostly combine and present to a player material already printed, but I would like to add a couple of new info.

I also think of creating a new spell or feat, if I find something that really adds to the game.

Otherwise, I would be interested in speaking for two pages about a particular city. It would be nice if Ravenloft had its "signature city" where many adventures begin, like Sharn has. It could be Port-à-Lucine for example - or in contrary, something very small and oppressive, like mordentshire, but urging a lot of gaming groups to start from the same small town will stretch credibility when we start discussing our campaigns .

I'll probably call Atrelegis or Nihilio for help

I was considering Zhakata and the nightmare courts. Should we present the info as prose or as collected facts in a gather info roll table for example?

Are crossovers with other domaisn viable? (e.g. adding a hook that links the domains together)

Question for the Church of Ezra: do I have to reinclude Mists Domain?

We'd like this as game-information free as possible and doubly so for copyrighted text.

And FYI, Dion said he'll post an entry example soon.

Joël

Ok, so, in line with Player's Guide to Eberron (which has sidebars like "Samurai in the game", I think I will include hooks on how already published PrCs and Classes fit into the game (if they are appropriate), but no reproduction at all of their abilities.