The Carnival: ZOMG! ^_^

[HuManBing]

I just bought a PDF of "The Carnival", a product that came out for Ravenloft after the Domains of Dread book (and as a result was unheard of by me for many years).

I just have to say one thing: Truly amazing writing. The concept is a little dubious at first blush (you're dealing with a series of subtle mutations... including an orc... in a game system - D&D - which already features many more weird and fantastical creatures). But the in-character writing style and the backstories of the NPCs are all very solid and suspend the disbelief wonderfully.

Kudos to the writers especially for working in continuity. In many products, this is all too often overlooked with writers coming up with interesting ideas but which contradict previous canon. I loved the backstory to Tindal and how it fit in very well with When Black Roses Bloom. If only other 2nd edition writers had exercised this attention to detail.

I don't know if I will ever get to use this in my campaign, but I'm halfway into the book and I can't put it down. I get the impression this book has become somewhat rare in print, but I wanted to urge fans of good prose and very good design to pick up the pdf copy if they can.

And I haven't finished reading it yet so FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T SPOIL THE SECRET OF ISOLD (which somehow I've managed not to find out about)

I'm sure I can post more once I lose my Isold-secret-virginity but until then I just wanted to say "Wow" and possibly "Cor!" and recommend this heartily. How did I miss this product? Eh? Eh?!

[Cole Deschain]

I LOVE this lil' book.

I (lucky me!) have the print copy, which I have kept from getting dogeared by various crooked methods.

To me, this book in particular illustrates why Ravenloft is, to be honest, the best damn setting. Period.

[HuManBing]

Okay, I just finished reading this book. Very good writing all round - the ideas were for the most part very new and interesting, and in the few places where they were a little more modest, the excellent storytelling style made up for it and more.

Personally, I see the Carnival as something that might become a recurring mini-adventure on the fringes of a larger campaign. I wouldn't want to keep my players there for any large amount of time, but the designers did an excellent job of having this interact with the rest of Ravenloft, even tying in the Kargat, the darklord of Sithicus, and the Gentleman Caller.

One question. The book gives stats for Isolde at the end, but doesn't explain which Monstrous Compendium (or I suppose now Monster Manual) that type of creature comes from. Where can I find those stats?

If only this style of writing and attention to detail had been present in the Grim Harvest series... Now THAT would have been an amazing adventure series.

Many thanks to Messrs. Mangrum and Miller for flexible design, creative writing, and general arsekicking with this product.

[Nathan of the FoS]

One question. The book gives stats for Isolde at the end, but doesn't explain which Monstrous Compendium (or I suppose now Monster Manual) that type of creature comes from. Where can I find those stats?

It's in the Monster Manual; heck, it's in the SRD, too. If you don't already know who or what Isolde is, this is a spoiler.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Psst.. for more excellent carnival material, check out John Mangrum's article Carnival: The Ballyhoo in the Kargatane's Book of Secrets.

I'm impressed that you managed to stay in the dark about Isolde's nature this long. It constantly comes up on the online forums. That creature type is in the SRD, so I believe it's in the original 3.x Monster Manuals. For 2e, a quick googling turns up Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II.

[Snake]

Hmm. guess I'll have to read this. My friend got a hold of all the Ravenloft books online some time ago, so perhaps I can get him to loan it to me.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Gods bless the Carnival, I still love that supplement to this day, easily my favourite non-adventure Ravenloft product. I also have the print copy, I consider myself quite fortunate to have so much of the old 2E run in print format

[Shadow]

I got a PDF copy of The Carnival a few weeks ago and have to agree that it was the BEST Ravenloft supplement out there! I really want to throw an encounter with the carnival in a Ravenloft game now. It's a shame that this was never converted to 3e. I would be interested in seeing a conversion for this.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Carnival did get a little coverage in 3E, Champions of Darkness I think, not sure (it's been a while since I even looked at RL book since I've had little need to), but it didn;t get much of an explanation

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Yup, it was CoD, but it was no more than a page or two describing the concept and a few of the major characters. No stats as far as I recall.

[Shadow]

We need to update this material to 3e! The Fraternity ought to host an unofficial conversion. I can pitch in to help.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

just looked it up. 4.5 pages, no stats other than the radius and onset time of the twisting. a few twisting examples, and brief blurbs on the nature and history of the carnival, isolde, hermos, tindal, and the skurra. that's it.

[The Giamarga]

2E stats are in Planescape Monster compendium appendix 2. They are also described in Warriors of Heaven.

This site has a useful searchable index for monsters that lists sources for them: http://www.sulerin.com/creatures/creatu ... 0507230009

As for a 3E conversion, some of the characters got posted on the WotC Ravenloft boards in this thread:
Ravenloft NPC characters
(Hermos, Prof Pacali & the Pickled Punk, Isolde & the Blade Brothers all converted by Prof Pacali )

[Jack of Tears]

I got a PDF copy of The Carnival a few weeks ago and have to agree that it was the BEST Ravenloft supplement out there! .

I have to agree that Carnival is one of the best suppliments released for the RL setting, but I'd not call it The best - both "Castles Forlorn" and "The Nightmare Lands" boxed sets added high quality material - rife with setting material, npcs, rules and adventures - which remain, to this day, on my list of "best gaming suppliments ever". (Castles Forlorn is tied with "City of Lies" [Legend of the Five Rings] as the best supplimentary boxed set ever released) Additionally, while I don't make use of the Shadow Rift in my games, the book of the same name was very well done and has found a place in my campaigns world in a slightly altered form.

At the time "Forbidden Lore" was also a fantastic addition to the game - particularly its expanded rules on insanity, the tarokka, magic items, psionics, etc.

Then you have the VanRichten's Guides which, near as much as the original black box, served to define Ravenloft.

Thus, while Carnival is certainly in the top 10, I'd be hard pressed to label it "#1"

[HuManBing]

I own Castles Forlorn. I didn't find Castles Forlorn useful for my campaign. The time shifting element was quite complex and my teenage mind at the time couldn't grasp or appreciate that. Also, I found that most of the NPCs apart from the Dark Lord himself were not particularly compelling or interesting to read about. One caveat is that I was only a teenager when I got this product, so it's possible that it had some subtlety and sophistication that I would better appreciate as an adult.

I also have Nightmare Lands. It was interesting, but didn't really define the domain to any degree that I felt comfortable using it in my campaign. I got the impression that it was trying to come up with almost a completely separate corpus of rules on dreams and nightmare manipulation. The Dark Lord was so arbitrary and ill-defined that it might as well have been a Dark Power instead. All in all, it didn't strike me as particularly Gothic. Likewise, I was only a teenager when I got this boxed set, so I fully understand that I might enjoy it more if I went back to it as an adult.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on Forbidden Lore. I bought that when it first came out, and two years ago when I went back to Beijing to retrieve my most prized 2nd ed. Ravenloft books to bring out here, Forbidden Lore was one that I brought. (In addition to the Black Box set, the 6 Grand Conjunction adventures, and the I-10 House on Gryphon Hill adventure.)

I still use that boxed set for its information on the Kargatane, madness, and altered spells.