Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

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Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Terminusvitae »

...would it be relatively easily justifiable to say that Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove failed a powers check during her pursuit of Salissar in the Mists? I base this on the sudden sadistic, murderous urges she felt as she attempted to interrogate the creature in misty grounds of Van Richten's old manor house:

My hands filled with mystic energy. I could feel both spell and rune rolling within my blood. With every fiber of my being I wanted to hurt this thing. The creature had dared to defile his home. It had gotten to roam the ground, uncover its secrets. Such a beast did not deserve access to such mysteries. It did not deserve to know that I did not....My heart boiled with rage. I wanted so badly to hurt him.

and then this passage at the end of her journal regarding the entire chase and eventual showdown:

No, I can no longer look upon the Mists as I once did. Things are different. Even my hand, as I now write this, is altered. My once pale fingers have grown dark. My palm, once alive and warm is as cold and as hardened as stone. Indeed, everything has changed.

I recall that failed powers checks are often accompanied by some sort of minor physical alteration or deformity that will often grow in severity as a character further slides along the path of evil. For someone like Gennifer, it would seem to be a believable "embarrassing curse" for a first-time offender, and the so-slightly darker, more melancholic tone her writing takes from that point forward also conceivably points to such. This, either alongside or instead of the Dread Possibility of having her infected with latent lycanthropy, could serve as a springboard for an adventure for players (and/or their characters) who are already relatively familiar with some of the luminaries of the Ravenloft setting.

I may just be overanalyzing here, and if I've posted this in the wrong place or if this subject's already been covered, I apologize. It's just a possibility I found intriguing while I was poring over the Guide a couple of weeks ago, as I'd never read through it until now.
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by alhoon »

Yeah, back in the day we all agreed she did lose a PC. :)
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Five »

A failed powers check, or a guilty conscience mixed with paranoia stemming from her fervent belief in Van Richten's writings. Either way, food for both DM and reader, yeah?

Here's some more (unrelated) grub: What if Van Richten is wrong (or said to be)? Like Einstein, whose theories have so far been proven true only by virtue of not having been able to be proven wrong, could Van Richten be mistaken in some of his observations? Could the death of his son have been a descent into a biased view of the world, of categorizing thunder as a god? Sure, some of his observations might be true. But all?

Another series of publications, disproving a lot of Van Richten's theories has cropped up around the Core in recent years. Ghost Writer (dread possibility of a new creature), an anonymous cabal looking to spin doctor the doctor's works, some other devil's advocate (new prestige class/creature/intelligence/object)...
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

At the time the book was (sorta kinda) published, the debate raged between Mist-power and Failed Powers Check (with a contingent arguing that there should be no distinction between the two). But I think most agreed with Powers Check in the end. IIRC The author refused to pin it down.
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Zilfer »

Is that failing a dark power's check? Or was it her latent Lycanthropy showing signs here.

Maybe it comes out when she's angry? or envious?

I just find it curious that her hand went darker.... like most lycanthropes that i've seen in movies and stuff their skin begins to turn greyish-black.

I'm surprised that option was over looked.... though i guess it's not true dread possibility in all games. I'm still wondering if I want to incoorperate that one in my game or not. :P
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Well, here's the relevant thread from when it happened
http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... f=1&t=2581

I guess there was no real consensus at the end.

In the author's note here, author Rucht Lilavivat answers thusly:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/TheParlo ... Mists.html
Joël: so Gennifer missed a power check. How do you see it affect her personality in the future? More cautious or more reckless?

Well, I didn't say whether she failed a powers check or picked up a Mist power. I'll leave it to you all to sort that out.
I don't think the lycanthropy idea was ever brought up before, and I could see the connection, except it doesn't fit with the hand being described as cold. (IIRC) (Lyncanthropic changes are usually associated with heat, if anything.) Also, Rucht's answer seems to pin it down as one of the two he mentions.
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Zilfer »

I see, well it's just a thought to keep in mind. Now that i'm thinking about it, I don't think i've seen to many spell caster lycanthropes. o.O'

I'll have to look into this book of mists. See what's up with it. After i'm done reading the Gazeteer's I and II of course. :D
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Terminusvitae »

Well, it's nice to know that the idea wasn't so utterly out-there it was never even discussed!
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Mangrum »

I have absolutely no special insight into the book or the author's intentions, so I'm just jawing, but...

While I'm inclined to think that Gennifer's burst of rage may have been rooted in her latent lycanthropy, a "frostbitten" doesn't put me in the mind of werewolves. Feels necromancy...-y.
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Re: Using Van Richten's Guide to the Mists as a reference...

Post by Rotipher of the FoS »

Five wrote: What if Van Richten is wrong (or said to be)? Like Einstein, whose theories have so far been proven true only by virtue of not having been able to be proven wrong, could Van Richten be mistaken in some of his observations?
The original VRGs already have him being wrong about the origin of fiends, due to his limited (Ravenloft-native) perspective on D&D cosmology.
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