Where to start a new campaign ?

[Marendithas]

I've been wondering (still new to the Mists), I was asking myself : where in the world of Ravenloft, my campaign should be played, at least most of the time ?

I already thought about Barovia, it's the original domain (so gothic with vampires, mean looking gypsies and superstitious villagers ) but I'm wondering about what you guys think about that. I mean, does a campaign of Ravenloft is supposed to wander at least in the Core? (I saw lots of adventures in that setting and most of them are outside of Barovia... as if Castle Ravenloft was the only adventure in that domain...)

Give me your advice on that

[HuManBing]

Is this your first Ravenloft campaign? If it is, my advice is start small, and gradually work upwards in scale.

Pick one domain, or even just one town or locale, and flesh it out in greater detail with adventure ideas. If the pre-made adventures are set somewhere interesting, go for those. Or, if they're not set in a convenient locale, feel free to change it to suit your purposes. I took Night of the Walking Dead and set it in northern Darkon, for example, because my PCs were already there and it would have been a bit too much of a hassle to get them to the original setting, Souragne.

Don't be afraid to deviate from the canon! Change and swap whatever you like if it makes your game more fun!

One example is my Darkon campaign - I wanted the PCs to lose their memories, and I wanted them to know they'd lost their memories, and I wanted one of their quest goals to be regaining their memories and finding out what happened to them. Now, the canon states that people who lose their memories will have replacement memories of a fake life. But I thought that would unnecessarily complicate things. I wanted the PCs to be like amnesiacs, who are driven by a yearning to discover who they really are. So I changed it, and we all had a blast.

Those are just some general suggestions. If you have any more specific questions, ask away and we'll all see what we can do to help!

[Marendithas]

Thanks for the advice, I already did that in my earlier Dark Sun campaign (recycling adventures).

Interesting idea on the memories !

That's what I thought, keep it simple on earlier levels.

Humanbing, I saw you Another idea for the Time of Unparallelled Darkness post about Azalin and the time-travel-thing... was really hard to understand all that but it was really interesting.

And for Barovia, i'm thinking of getting the gazeteer I (i heard there was info on that land in that one).
-heard about upcoming revolution and so on... sounds interesting

[HuManBing]

Oh, yes, the Gazetteers are really well-written, and they are full of good ideas. Hands-down the best thing to happen to Ravenloft in the 3rd edition and arguably ever. They really take the patchwork nature of the Demiplane from its "weekend in hell" style adventures, and they mature it into a coherent, cohesive persistent world. I cannot recommend them enough. Gaz V is relatively hard to find and may cost you a bit more, but all the other Gaz titles are somewhat easier to get ahold of.

I think there may be a Gaz II left over in my local game store. I should probably pick it up and hold it for somebody online who needs it.

[Marendithas]

Dunno where exactly (apart considering eBay and Amazon) to find those books on the net. Got any legal ideas ?

[steveflam]

Dunno where exactly (apart considering eBay and Amazon) to find those books on the net. Got any legal ideas ?

Local gaming store, used book store are a good start. Look at your city's craigslist too. Place an add, look at the sale adds.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Try starting the campaign at that large estate midway between Vallaki and the village of Barovia.

[Marendithas]

Try starting the campaign at that large estate midway between Vallaki and the village of Barovia.

Which is ? (still new to the Mists)

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Dunno where exactly (apart considering eBay and Amazon) to find those books on the net. Got any legal ideas ?

eBay's probably your best bet online.

You could also try contacting this guy:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... 08#p162708
I don't know if he sold all his stuff yet or not.

[Five]

Here's a place that I wandered into on one of my travels some time ago. Decent spot. I remembered them because of the shelves of retro games and books.

Sentry Box: http://www.sentrybox.com/games/games.html

Ravenloft 2E (TSR), Ravenloft 3E (White Wolf ). Some of it's priced a bit high, but the stuff is out of print. Not much quantity, but the spread is ok. Ships Canada, US, and International. I've never dealt with them in this capacity, so I can't say anything about times, conditions and stuff like that. Just tryin to help a mistmate.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I mean, does a campaign of Ravenloft is supposed to wander at least in the Core?

It completely depends on your preference. My campaign wanders around the Core and beyond, but I've seen campaigns set in a single domain, or even a single city, and they all work well.

The thing about the domains is that each one is geared towards a particular style of story, using certain horror tropes. That's why I like hopping around to hit a variety of genres. Barovia's great for the rustic pseudo-Transylvania vampires, gypsies, werewolves, stuff. But if you want to do the urban phantom of the opera, house of wax, courtly intrigue stuff, you'll want to head to Dementlieu. If you want the mad science gone wrong trappings, Lamordia is a better fit. Etc.

Of course, you're the DM, and you can make anything fit anywhere if you like. But the domains are set up in a way to give you the tools and flavor to fit each genre.

Although many DM's like to expand the core to make it feel more realistic, the canon size is pretty small, so flitting from domain to domain is not such a huge journey, unless you want it to be.

[Zilfer]

I'm pretty new as well and my group doesn't play ravenloft every weekend, however! I started them out in Barovia, partly because i ran them through the original adventure before knowing it was a whole campaign setting.

I've had them going around Barovia, and now they found a way to wind up in Darkon.

Indeed i agree starting small at first is probably a good idea, and then working in larger plots as you learn more about the realms. I still need to get ahold of a Gazetter as well . Interested in which ever one's hold Mordent/Barovia/Darkon. I bet they are probably in different books! xD

[steveflam]

I'm pretty new as well and my group doesn't play ravenloft every weekend, however! I started them out in Barovia, partly because i ran them through the original adventure before knowing it was a whole campaign setting.

I've had them going around Barovia, and now they found a way to wind up in Darkon.

Indeed i agree starting small at first is probably a good idea, and then working in larger plots as you learn more about the realms. I still need to get ahold of a Gazetter as well . Interested in which ever one's hold Mordent/Barovia/Darkon. I bet they are probably in different books! xD

Okay, here goes:
Gaz I has Barovia, Hazlan, Forlorn, Kartakass
Gaz II has Darkon, Necropolis, Lamordia
Gaz III has Dementlieu, Mordent and Richemulot
Gaz IV has Borca, Inividia, Verbrek, Valachan, Sithicus
Gaz V has Nova Vaasa, Tepest, Keening, Shadow Rift

Thankfully our own Joel wrote a netbook about Souragne and Pamela wrote a netbook about Paridon

[Five]

I started my first campaign in Falkovnia. With the themes I wanted to play out the Dead Man's Campaign (as it became known) was a near perfect fit. I just altered populations, battlefield (IMC Drakov actually gained ground almost making it to the gates of Il Aluk), and the nature of the Falkovnian army (elitism kept the bulk of wickedness to officers). Travel was introductory, and by the black box map: Falkovnia to Darkon for the 711 campaign (PCs were regular army), then Falkovnia to Dementlieu to Lamordia to Darkon for the 722 and beyond campaign (the PCs became specialists and focused on the Kargat). After that disposable campaign we shifted to Ravenloft as originally intended, and with the characters that were originally rolled up. Two players were unfamiliar with Ravenloft, so we put them knee-deep in this loose bowel setting by having them "practice" with, as it turned out, their PC's fathers (two brothers). An origin story of sorts. It ran longer than intended, but I think it turned out just fine.

Where to start a new campaign? Just play off your themes and fit them in wherever offers the least resistance. And remember: sometimes the circle can fit the square...

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Thankfully our own Joel wrote a netbook about Souragne and Pamela wrote a netbook about Paridon

Not just Joel, and not just Pamela. I'm pretty sure there were some other authors too.

But yes, those, and also our Nocturnal Sea gazetteer (including Graben/Todstein, Liffe, Vechor, The Isle of Ravens, La Ile de Tempete(sp?), and the Drowning Deep) are available in the FoS library:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/Library.html