I would think the opposite could also be true-ANYONE could be "Dr. Richten" provided one were not familiar with Dr. von Richten. One wonders if a doppleganger or rakshasa were impersonating Dr. von Richten before someone who'd only corresponded with the doctor before if slips would be made that would only be recognized as such later, when the real doctor was encountered, or someone who'd met the doctor personally. (The detect thoughts ability of these examples wouldn't be as useful against an observer unfamiliar with the target).
It is a point to ponder...
I need a hook
Do you have a general itinerary? "They'll start in Mordenheim, then I need to get them to Nova Vassa and then back over to Borca..."? With some destinations, it might be easier to figure out some hooks, carrots, or sticks to get them moving.
"There's a horsetrader in Nova Vassa who can probably tell you something about the markings on this saddle - you can find him at 'The Dancing Mare'." "This goblet was once used in a nasty piece of work - there's a curse on it. You'll need to take it to the Grand Cathedral of Ezra in Borca; they can purify it."
One of the oldest standards is just "mists roll in and when they fade you are in a new place", but that kind of rips any sense of control away from characters - Quantum Leap is a good parallel.
At the end of an episode, your PCs might find a bit of treasure or an artifact that needs to be returned to a specific city - ie, the next one on your hitlist. Maybe that city is the only place it can be identified. Maybe, as above, the item is cursed and can't be used or sold until it's purified in a particular city (a magical fountain, a holy man, a gravesite).
If there is an overarching theme or villain in your campaign, maybe your characters have to go to a specific city to research something about that. Maybe, as per the nemesis, they're just chasing him to ground.
"There's a horsetrader in Nova Vassa who can probably tell you something about the markings on this saddle - you can find him at 'The Dancing Mare'." "This goblet was once used in a nasty piece of work - there's a curse on it. You'll need to take it to the Grand Cathedral of Ezra in Borca; they can purify it."
One of the oldest standards is just "mists roll in and when they fade you are in a new place", but that kind of rips any sense of control away from characters - Quantum Leap is a good parallel.
At the end of an episode, your PCs might find a bit of treasure or an artifact that needs to be returned to a specific city - ie, the next one on your hitlist. Maybe that city is the only place it can be identified. Maybe, as above, the item is cursed and can't be used or sold until it's purified in a particular city (a magical fountain, a holy man, a gravesite).
If there is an overarching theme or villain in your campaign, maybe your characters have to go to a specific city to research something about that. Maybe, as per the nemesis, they're just chasing him to ground.
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Shadowdragon
- Conspirator
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:35 pm
Well, currently these are the adventures I want to do, in about the order I want to do them in. I may add some adventures of my own creation, but for the most part we'll be sticking to published adventures. I'm running the game using Savage Worlds, so level ranges don't matter.
The heroes receive a letter telling them to hurry to Mordentshire. On the way they stop in a small town.
- The Created
Arriving back in Lamordia the heroes catch a boat heading south, but first it has to make a quick stop.
- Neither Man Nor Beast
The heroes make it back to the mainland.
- Dark Desires (my personal version which is like a french version of Jack the Ripper)
They finally make it to Mordent.
- Howls in the Night
The heroes head to Borca or Sithicus, either because they're following Van Richten, or because he told them to go there, or something
- Cage of Delirium (a non-ravenloft adventure where the heroes explore a haunted, burned-out, asylum)
- The Evil Eye
- When Black Roses Bloom
After jumping into Soth the heroes end up in G'Henna.
- Circle of Darkness
Then they get dumped into Forlorn
- Castles Forlorn
While trying to get back to civilization the heroes run into an expedition of explorers heading to the Amber Wastes.
- Touch of Death or some other adventure with mummies
For some reason they head into Nova Vaasa. Maybe Van Richten sends them to help Dr. Illhousen, or maybe they hear Van Richten was heading to Egertus, or something.
- Loathsome Deep
- The Rose of Midnight
For some reason they head back west, either because they're ordered to by Van Richten, or because they hear he's in trouble, or something. I want them to go north so I can run:
- Servants of Darkness
- The Shadow Rift
I haven't read Servants of Darkness or Shadow Rift yet, so I don't know how that arc ends. To start Bleak House I thought I would have the mists take the heroes from the Shadow Rift to Sri Raji. That way they can take the Mistway back to the Sea of Sorrow and right into the hands of Dominiani.
- Web of Illusion
- Bleak House
I want the campaign to end with a confrontation with Strahd. Maybe the heroes are told that the only way to destroy Ravenloft and free everyone is to kill Strahd, or something.
- House of Strahd
The heroes receive a letter telling them to hurry to Mordentshire. On the way they stop in a small town.
- The Created
Arriving back in Lamordia the heroes catch a boat heading south, but first it has to make a quick stop.
- Neither Man Nor Beast
The heroes make it back to the mainland.
- Dark Desires (my personal version which is like a french version of Jack the Ripper)
They finally make it to Mordent.
- Howls in the Night
The heroes head to Borca or Sithicus, either because they're following Van Richten, or because he told them to go there, or something
- Cage of Delirium (a non-ravenloft adventure where the heroes explore a haunted, burned-out, asylum)
- The Evil Eye
- When Black Roses Bloom
After jumping into Soth the heroes end up in G'Henna.
- Circle of Darkness
Then they get dumped into Forlorn
- Castles Forlorn
While trying to get back to civilization the heroes run into an expedition of explorers heading to the Amber Wastes.
- Touch of Death or some other adventure with mummies
For some reason they head into Nova Vaasa. Maybe Van Richten sends them to help Dr. Illhousen, or maybe they hear Van Richten was heading to Egertus, or something.
- Loathsome Deep
- The Rose of Midnight
For some reason they head back west, either because they're ordered to by Van Richten, or because they hear he's in trouble, or something. I want them to go north so I can run:
- Servants of Darkness
- The Shadow Rift
I haven't read Servants of Darkness or Shadow Rift yet, so I don't know how that arc ends. To start Bleak House I thought I would have the mists take the heroes from the Shadow Rift to Sri Raji. That way they can take the Mistway back to the Sea of Sorrow and right into the hands of Dominiani.
- Web of Illusion
- Bleak House
I want the campaign to end with a confrontation with Strahd. Maybe the heroes are told that the only way to destroy Ravenloft and free everyone is to kill Strahd, or something.
- House of Strahd
It's interesting, I'm facing the exact same question in starting up my new GURPS Ravenloft campaign. I wanted to collaboratively build the campaign plan with my player (it's a one-on-one so far) and these were the ideas I gave him:
1. Warring factions. There is a wild and lawless part of the continent
where three (or more) nations are vying for influence and control.
You're a hapless local brought into the fighting. Each faction can
give you training and equipment for different roles (warrior, wizard,
scout, rogue, etc.) and if you're savvy, you can play them off against
each other.
2. Tasteful Victorian exotica. In your nation, rational scientific
thinking carries the day. So why are there so many benighted savages
out there with woolly thinking and condemnable religious cults? You're
an explorer working to bring back trinkets, artifacts, and treasures
from the dark outer nations and spread the light of civilization
throughout the continent.
3. The mindlost. The largest of the nations gains a prodigious rate of
immigrants, dazzling them with its riches and then causing them to
forget their homelands. What happens when somebody truly forgets
everything that has gone before, and has to start remembering in a
hurry?
4. Light in the darkness. Ravenloft is a gloomy and godless place, but
some lights of religions still gutter and burn. Not every powerful
faith is devoted to good, however - a fun campaign could be had in the
service of completely amoral powerbroking churches.
5. The good soldier. One of the major nations of Ravenloft is a brutal
military dictatorship headed by a cruel tyrant, reviled throughout the
continent. However, as with most "Evil Empires", it's possible to be a
positive force within the machine. This campaign might be similar to
the PC game TIE Fighter, with the protagonist fighting for an
unexpectedly sympathetic side - one more often seen as the antagonist.
I then said that the campaign could be any or all of these things, as well as any ideas he came up with. However, as a baseline minimum, the campaign would have to feature either dark fantasy (for low tech levels) or more Gothic pre-industrial horror (for higher tech levels).
1. Warring factions. There is a wild and lawless part of the continent
where three (or more) nations are vying for influence and control.
You're a hapless local brought into the fighting. Each faction can
give you training and equipment for different roles (warrior, wizard,
scout, rogue, etc.) and if you're savvy, you can play them off against
each other.
2. Tasteful Victorian exotica. In your nation, rational scientific
thinking carries the day. So why are there so many benighted savages
out there with woolly thinking and condemnable religious cults? You're
an explorer working to bring back trinkets, artifacts, and treasures
from the dark outer nations and spread the light of civilization
throughout the continent.
3. The mindlost. The largest of the nations gains a prodigious rate of
immigrants, dazzling them with its riches and then causing them to
forget their homelands. What happens when somebody truly forgets
everything that has gone before, and has to start remembering in a
hurry?
4. Light in the darkness. Ravenloft is a gloomy and godless place, but
some lights of religions still gutter and burn. Not every powerful
faith is devoted to good, however - a fun campaign could be had in the
service of completely amoral powerbroking churches.
5. The good soldier. One of the major nations of Ravenloft is a brutal
military dictatorship headed by a cruel tyrant, reviled throughout the
continent. However, as with most "Evil Empires", it's possible to be a
positive force within the machine. This campaign might be similar to
the PC game TIE Fighter, with the protagonist fighting for an
unexpectedly sympathetic side - one more often seen as the antagonist.
I then said that the campaign could be any or all of these things, as well as any ideas he came up with. However, as a baseline minimum, the campaign would have to feature either dark fantasy (for low tech levels) or more Gothic pre-industrial horror (for higher tech levels).
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Sareau
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:44 am
- Location: Winter Garden, FL
- Contact:
Since you have a base framework, I'd suggest leaving hints of one adventure in the previous adventure somewhere, or arrange for the players to meet someone going there who'll pay for bodyguards (merchant caravans are good for this) or perhaps dear old Uncle Aloysius had passed away in wherever, and the will mentions one of the players. (Of course, the players get wise to this one pretty quick, so perhaps a game of Ten Little Indians before the main adventure in the area is not out of place. Will readings are also great places for loose ends like the vampiress who got away or what-have-you to try and enact revenge, or for a player to discover his family curse of lycanthropy is alive and well in Cousin Meloney)