How did you get introduced to Ravenloft/become a fan of it?

[LadySoth]

Ken mentioned on the Christopher Lee thread that Hammer horror films made him interested in Ravenloft. This made me think about the way I got interested in Ravenloft as well. I thought it would be cool if there was a thread where everyone shared their stories as to how they came to discover the awesomeness that is the demiplane of dread.

For me it was the heavy metal band Helstar.

This album:


and the 1979 Frank Langella Dracula, that made me pick up a copy of "I Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire" when I saw it. Prior to this, I had never really had an interest in vampires, but reading that book opened up the Ravenloft universe to me and I thought it was really cool. I started collecting and became a fan of the other books and characters in the series as well.

How about other people? What was it that made you interested in Ravenloft and how did you get introduced to the series?

[High Priest Mikhal]

For me it goes back to the PC game Stone Prophet. That was the first real stepping stone, though I'd love a chance to play its prequel (can't remember the name). PC games pretty much got me into D&D as a whole and Ravenloft, as the horror setting, sort of became my main interest.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

some previous stories on the same subject:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... php?t=2666

[LadySoth]

some previous stories on the same subject:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... php?t=2666

Thanks for that, it made interesting reading

However I was more interested in hearing about what outside sources pulled people into RLoft fandom, not so much about what age they were when they began playing. That's why I posted the thread here in "Dark Beyond" rather than in the main forum.

[LadySoth]

For me it goes back to the PC game Stone Prophet. That was the first real stepping stone, though I'd love a chance to play its prequel (can't remember the name). PC games pretty much got me into D&D as a whole and Ravenloft, as the horror setting, sort of became my main interest.

An awesome game! Stone Prophet is a classic. Don't remember the prequel name either however. I picked up a few of the early RLoft computer games and found them generally hard to play and rather incomprehensible. LOL

[Tobias Blackburn]

Werewolves.

I was on a real werewolf kick when I was younger, and was looking for SOMETHING with werewolves in it. Then, while on vacation I came across the novel "Heart of Midnight," with its image of a werewolf in a mask on the cover. Picked it up, realized it was part of a larger world and started to find more novels and from there got into DnD (which I had had a disastrous first experience with) and the modules.

Hooked ever since.

[NeoTiamat]

I've always been an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi. It's a family thing, my parents have a book collection that takes up an entire room of our house.

So, one day I was browsing around a bookstore (I think it may have been Barnes and Nobles), looking for something to get, when I came upon I, Strahd by P.N. Elrod. Well, it looked interesting, so I bought it and read it. I'd been loosely aware of D&D before, mostly in the form of computer games, but it was Elrod who got me interested enough to actually look up more information, buy more books (Scholar of Decay still stands out as my all-time favorite), and start lurking around in forums until I finally got the courage up to run my own game.

So, timeline wise... found the book about five years ago, started playing in games about three years ago, and started my first campaign two years ago, which finished just recently.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

However I was more interested in hearing about what outside sources pulled people into RLoft fandom, not so much about what age they were when they began playing.

Gotcha... sorry I missed the distinction. For me, it was the other way around. My parents sheltered me from horror movies and the like when I was young. I don't think I really got into the genre at all until Ravenloft pulled me in. Now I'm hooked.

[High Priest Mikhal]

For me it goes back to the PC game Stone Prophet. That was the first real stepping stone, though I'd love a chance to play its prequel (can't remember the name). PC games pretty much got me into D&D as a whole and Ravenloft, as the horror setting, sort of became my main interest.

An awesome game! Stone Prophet is a classic. Don't remember the prequel name either however.

Strahd's Possession, thank you gamefaqs.com, is the name.

[LadySoth]

For me it goes back to the PC game Stone Prophet. That was the first real stepping stone, though I'd love a chance to play its prequel (can't remember the name). PC games pretty much got me into D&D as a whole and Ravenloft, as the horror setting, sort of became my main interest.

An awesome game! Stone Prophet is a classic. Don't remember the prequel name either however.

Strahd's Possession, thank you gamefaqs.com, is the name.

OMG. How could I have forgotten that?! LOL. That was one of the games I thought was incomprehensible. I could never figure out how to get through the first level . . . EPIC FAIL.

[LadySoth]

I've always been an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi. It's a family thing, my parents have a book collection that takes up an entire room of our house.

So, one day I was browsing around a bookstore (I think it may have been Barnes and Nobles), looking for something to get, when I came upon I, Strahd by P.N. Elrod. Well, it looked interesting, so I bought it and read it. I'd been loosely aware of D&D before, mostly in the form of computer games, but it was Elrod who got me interested enough to actually look up more information, buy more books (Scholar of Decay still stands out as my all-time favorite), and start lurking around in forums until I finally got the courage up to run my own game.

So, timeline wise... found the book about five years ago, started playing in games about three years ago, and started my first campaign two years ago, which finished just recently.

Awesome story. I've been a fan of Ravenloft for maybe a little more than ten years now and I started with the first "I, Strahd", "Vampire of the Mists" and "Knight of the Black Rose" which I had to get all of used, because they were out of print at the time. I was overjoyed when the sequels to both Strahd and Soth were released about a year later, right before TSR went under. So sad. I remember being excited at finding the two sequels, and then being completely shocked and surprised when TSR dropped the line not too long after that. Shame WoTC had creative differences with Elrod and she refuses to write any more of the books. I think they should give it to another author and do a third book. Things were kind of just left open at the end of "War Against Azalin" and I think enough fans would respond well to another sequel. I'd also like to see more by Christie Golden, her style was great.

[InVinoVeritas]

I let myself in the front door.

I started with the original black box, one of the first to buy it. I had always had some fascination with the concept of undead, and how it crops up in mythologies throughout history, but really I sat down with Ravenloft, learned its nooks and crannies, and used it to grow my stories in incredible ways.

So, what other influences drew me into Ravenloft? Nothing. Nothing at all. I found a place where what you are is far more important than what you can do, and it is the driving theme of my storytelling since.

[HuManBing]

I don't actually remember how I got introduced into Ravenloft. All I know is after forty or fifty victims there was a lot of mist and then I woke up here.

It suits me pretty well though.

[Ken of Ghastria]

As Lady Soth mentioned, Hammer Films and magazines like Famous Monsters were a huge influence on me (I'm older than some folks here ), so horror and Gothic literature molded my early years much more than gaming. In fact, I didn't really get into RPGs until about five years before the Black Box came out -- and I wasn't even aware of the classic Strahd D&D module back then -- but when that box was released and I saw the Larry Elmore cover ... wow. Destiny, baby.

As John just said, the Ravenloft setting focuses on the people, not on what they can do, and -- speaking as a DM -- it lets you really get inside your players' heads and challenge their (and their characters') views of good/evil and success/failure. Just as with some of the greatest horror films and novels, the journey to the goal becomes much more interesting than the goal itself.

[Ornum]

Well, I've always been a horror fan (The Howling series, various Dracula incarnations, Frankenstein, and so on and so forth), but it was Vampire of the Mists that helped me get into Ravenloft for what little I've actually played in the setttings. I had already been into D&D for awhile (particularly FR and a homebrew game) and I had knowledge of the RL setting, so I bought VofM for the FR tie-in (is there enough abreviations in that sentence?). After that came Knight of the Black Rose, which I read before I ever touched the Dragonlance novels. Once I read Black Rose, I became a terrible Soth fanboy and purchased the setting. Sadly, my actual play experience was short lived because soon thereafter I picked up Planescape and my gaming group and I migrated to the planes. Oh, and at some point along the line I picked up the original quest (I9?) from a flea market and that is still my favorite non-Planescape printed adventure I've had the pleasure of running.