Running the House of Lament

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Hello all!

I'm going to be running the House of Lament for a number of groups in the next coming months - this is the module presented in the back of the new Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. I thought I might quasi-blog my journey for running it here.

Just so that everyone knows - the House of Lament is one of my favorite places in all of Ravenloft. The way it was presented originally by Andria Hayday was just amazing. Her writing style, her descriptions, and her storytelling just transported me.

So, first things first. I had to design the House of Lament. I use DungeonFog to do my maps for my players. So, I mapped out the house using it. I can't take all of the credit. Someone's designed the house out there already with DungeonFog. I just used their map as a reference.

As I go through a map and place each and every piece of furniture, it helps me think about the place. I think about all of the furniture presented. Why is it there? Who did it belong to? What is the history? So, whenever anyone interacts with any piece of the house...I know what they are examining and the story behind it.

Here's where I got my reference for my map!
https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/ ... _house_of/

[Rucht Lilavivat]

So, what about the House of Lament adventure itself?

WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE HOUSE OF LAMENT!











Some of you may know that the canon of the house has changed. Originally, the house is haunted by the spirit of Mara. It's a tragic story where a cruel warlord captured Mara and challenged her lover to rescue her. However, the fairy tale of a charming knight riding to save his feminine love is turned on its head when the warlord's men kill the knight and the cruel warlord seals Mara up in the walls of the tower - burying her alive.

In this new version - Mara Silva is the knight who charges forth to try to defeat the warlord. However, she is so obsessed with vengeance upon this warlord that she sacrifices the lives of her men to get to him. And in the end, Mara is captured and buried alive. The warlord - Dranzorg - offers her men to show their loyalty to her. Any who want to stay true to Mara can choose to be buried with her. Of course, none of them do, since she's a terrible person, and she swears revenge on everyone.

I'm going to be keeping the original story of the house. It's much more gothic and tragic. It's almost Game of Thrones-esque in its subversion of the traditional fairy tale. Also, it makes the spirit Mara a far more sympathetic figure. The spirit's main motivation is not vengeance, anger or destruction. It is not be alone. The resounding chant for Mara's spirit is: "Mara is lonely."

So, I'll be keeping the original background of the house. However, I will be keeping almost everything else presented in the module - including the TRUE evil of the House of Lament. The Entity.

Can't say too much about that, in case anyone here plays the adventure.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Just got some characters from my players in preparation for this module.

One person wants to be a Vistani. I have no problem with that, so I developed a Vistani background on the fly. I'll post it here, but in case no one looks, I'll post a general thread about it as well.

Vistani Traits:
Creature Type: You considered to be an Outsider.
Size: You are medium or small.
Speed: 30 feet.
Special Traits:
• Mistvision: Fog or mist does not obscure your vision. This means that you can also navigate the Mists of Ravenloft, choosing where you end up. That said, should you disobey the directive of the Mists, there are always consequences. And usually those consequences are worse than death.
• Fortune Telling: Whether it be through the Tarroka Deck, casting bones, or flipping a coin, you can tell the fortune of another – but you cannot tell your own fortune. Once per long rest, you can also cast augury.
• Fated: You may reroll the result of any d20 roll once per long rest, but you must accept the results of the second roll. After you do this, the GM may force you to re-roll a roll of their choosing, so long as it takes place before the next sundown.
• Languages: You know Common, Vistani, and two “extra” languages that you don’t choose during character creation. You suddenly know these languages spontaneously. They spring to mind during your adventures. Once you know a particular language, this change to your mind is permanent.
• Wily: You have advantage on Insight rolls to tell if someone is lying to you.
Ability Score Increase:
You increase your Charisma by 2, and your Dexterity by 1.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Ran my first session of the House of Lament! It went exceedingly well! More to come.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Gah! So sorry that I haven't kept up this blog about the House of Lament.

The problem was uploading pictures! But now, I have my website up and running, so uploading pictures should be easier.

Just wanted to post this here: The full map of the House of Lament. You can find it on DungeonFog, which is the program that I prefer for online gaming. A lot of people use Roll20, and Roll20 is awesome - I just find DungeonFog to be "prettier" and easier for me to use.

Check it out!

[Joël of the FoS]

Very nice map! How long did it take to map this?