What do I need for Ravenloft

[Dupin]

well, first of all hi to all FoS people, and congratulations for the web site. As you might see I'm a newbie at this and I have basically no idea about what books should I read to get information, and which are the campaigns for D&D for Ravenloft; I have seen none .
All I have read is the Core Rulebook or campaign setting, which doesn't have much information about the realms (the one it has starts like "the river goes through the Balaki mountains and blab labal" and has a map that, I don't know, was drawn by a drunk werewolf at St Patrick day.
Thank you very much and I hope you can help me

[midnightcat]

I assume you have the Player Handbook, the Dm Guide and a Monster manual. you already have the Ravenloft campaign setting, and I suggest you get the book Secrets of the Dread Realm ( if you want to get most of the Dark Lord stats in one book). If you really want to to know about the lands get the Gazetteers. Thier are 5 of them,and they detail the lands of mist very well. Also, if you get the Gazetteers, you don't need Secrets of the dread Realm, becuase all the Dark Lords Stats are in those books. Also either Ravenloft Monster Manual comes in handy, but not needed, unless you want to run Monsters made just for Ravenloft.

[Le Noir Faineant]

If you're new to RL, you might consider getting this book here:

Domains of Dread

The best introduction IMO.

When you have decided where to set your campaign I recommend you to look for the so-called Ravenloft Gazetteers from White Wolf Publishing for a closer look at the campaign setting.

Apart from that, as midnightcat has said, depending on which rule system/ edition of D&D you use.

[Dupin]

Thanks; yes it depends a lot of the game system, especially for getting oficial things (WotC are kind of lazy this time, but that is a topic for another thread)

I know that there also some novels, which I don't know which are and of course do not know how good they are.

[Jester of the FoS]

For Third Edition D&D go for the ones published by "Swords and Sorcery". They're called Ravenloft Third Edition and was reprinted as Ravenloft Player's Handbook. Use whichever you can get cheaper.

For Second Edition, as mentioned, Domains of Dread is the best.

Everything else is just icing on the cake. You don't really NEED to know the names for forest X and the full combat stats of lord Y. You can play just fine with the basics and make stuff up as you go along.
But check out:
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/DrawingRoom.html
for our reviews of most of the products released for Ravenloft.

[Joël of the FoS]

But check out:
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/DrawingRoom.html
for our reviews of most of the products released for Ravenloft.

To complete, these reviews will also give you the content of each book. So with this and the reviews, you'll be able to decide wich additional books, if any, you need.

Most of these books can be bought online as PDF, cheaply.

---

Also, Dion of the FoS is working on a RL guide to newbies, this will help you. The release date isn't set yet, but it should be in the next months.

Joël

[Dupin]

Well, this is excellent Joel and Jester (What's with the "J", hehe) thank you a lot, that's been really handy. I'm still disapointed with WotC for not making new stories, which is obligating me to choose 2nd.

I'm kind of astonished at all the books, haha
Thank you again

[midnightcat]

Well, this is excellent Joel and Jester (What's with the "J", hehe) thank you a lot, that's been really handy. I'm still disapointed with WotC for not making new stories, which is obligating me to choose 2nd.

I'm kind of astonished at all the books, haha
Thank you again

Thier are alot for 2nd edition book out there. For 3rd don't look for Wotc books, look for Sword and Sorcerey published Ravenloft books. If you do go with 2nd, when you get the money I would still get the Gazetters. I run a 2nd edition game and I have found all 5 to be useful, even though the books are 3rd edition.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Also check out the FAQ here in the Study:
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/FAQs.htm

Welcome!

[Dupin]

Thank you both! Yes, I'll manage the way I can; the only thing I don't like about 3rd edition is the lack of stories (quite hard to compete with those campaigns like "the night of the walking dead", "the last dream", etc.). However, stories given by FoS are really good and also a nice starting for DMing RL; after all we shape the land of mists

[Rotipher of the FoS]

If you're looking for adventure hooks and scenarios, check out the "Quoth the Raven" and "Undead Sea Scrolls" downloads on this site, as well as the "Book of S______" series and other downloads at the old Kargatane website (http://www.kargatane.com). There are years worth of fan-written plots and ideas available there, some for 2E, some for 3E/3.5, and nearly all convertible between the editions.

[Dupin]

I already have the USS, but I didn't know they have some stories; I haven't read too much about them because it's kind of useless for me, without meaning they are, but as I do not know too much about RL almost everything are things that I cannot use

[WolfKook]

Greetings, Dupin!!! And welcome to the Misty world!

My first choice would be to take a look to the FAQ on this very site. Along with the book you already have (Which is it? Domains of Dread? The Ravenloft Campaign Setting? The Ravenloft PHB?), it gives a lot of atmospheric information.

It seems you have "Night of the Walking Dead". I've always thought of it as the best Ravenloft adventure (Perhaps because it was my first adventure -as a player), and it works perfectly with low-level characters. Perhaps you may also download the House on Gryphon Hill and the other Hyskosa adventures (Touch of Death, Feast of Goblyns, Ship of Horrors, From the Shadows and Roots of Evil), which are available on the WotC website, and make a pretty straightforward storyline.

As you explore them, you may take a look on the Gazetteers (I bought them in electronig version at http://www.drivethrurpg.com, as most books don't make it to Colombia -BTW, I thought I read elsewhere that you're from Argentina? If so, greetings to a fellow Latin-American! -, they indeed contain a lot of information, and for the most part they are useful no matter what edition you're using.

Once you're done (And, trust me, you have weeks, or even months, ahead of you), you may also try to take a look to the Book of S* series in the Kargatane website, and the Quoth the Raven and Undead Sea Scrolls in this site.

With that and your own ideas, you're set for the worse!

(Well, a couple of novels won't hurt, if you manage to put your fingers in one of them)

[steveflam]

(Well, a couple of novels won't hurt, if you manage to put your fingers in one of them)

I think that anyone starting to DM RL should read a few novels first. It helps a lot

[Brandi]

I think that anyone starting to DM RL should read a few novels first. It helps a lot

Though it must be said that the Ravenloft novels aren't necessarily the best ones to get the flavor of the world... (Oh, they're fun and all, but the novels RL uses as sources might be even better.)