Quoth the Raven #31 (Halloween 2024) Reaction Thread

[alhoon]

Please comment on the contents of this year's edition of Quoth the Raven here.

Rock, where it is? I haven't find it in the library, and there is no link in your post.

[Baron Von Stanton]

Please comment on the contents of this year's edition of Quoth the Raven here.

Rock, where it is? I haven't find it in the library, and there is no link in your post.

Right here, sir.

[IanFordam]

I love Ian's take on Bluetspur, making it a mixture of underdark, a weird mixture of Lovecraft and Clark-Ashton-Smith, almost like T. S. Elliot's The Wasteland. The caverns of this land are perhaps more human and normal than the nightmarish surface, but makes itself more than just another underdark by being very grim and harsh but still exotic, like Lamentation's of the Flame Princess's Veins of the Earth (can I presume that might have been an inspiration when writing it?).

As far as inspirations go, this article is all Speedy's fault. In his Community Idea: Settlements! thread (found at viewtopic.php?t=11291), he offered bonus internet cookies to anyone who described a settlement in Cavitius or Bluetspur. I can't resist tasty, tasty bonus internet cookies, so I created Edul'va. From there I kept thinking about how people could survive in Bluetspur, especially in light of some of the unfortunate worldbuilding decisions from the early days of the Ravenloft setting. Decisions made to challenge high-level characters in Thoughts of Darkness tend to kill off ordinary folks, but at least Thoughts of Darkness presented the Shattered Ones' mind-shielding potion as a precedent for survival.

As for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, I know about the setting (from Grognardia, maybe?) but have never read it. I'm not much familiar with Dragonlance beyond the first three novels, so I hadn't heard of Chorane either. I did read about the Sunkiller illithids from The Illithiad but not until late in the development of this article. By then it was already clear to me that the miserable state of the Bluetspurean sun is clearly due to the illithid influence.

However, now I have more cool things to track down and read about, so thank you for that!

I appreciate the very complex Thanni language, and htis might be useful inspriation for a part 2 to a project I'm doing for another dnd setting (giving naming conventions for the spelljammer races). What language, if any, did you use as the framework for them?

Actually, I did my best to not base Thaani upon any particular real-world language. I started with the few hints than canon provides (mostly from the Ildi'Thaan write-up in Forbidden Lore) and a little bit of homebrew content from the Teeny Tiny Tales of Terror. From there I stumbled across the list of Thaani names from Gazetteer Volume I, which was a breakthrough. Figuring out how those names should be pronounced gave me a much better basis for figuring out how I wanted the language as a whole to sound. I gleaned likely meanings for the few Thaani words I had already found, and from there it came down to the time-honored tradition of Making Stuff Up™.

I spent weeks wandering around the house muttering random sounds interspersed with glottal stops. Fortunately the Lady Fordam is patient.

I enjoy the few surface and sub-surface ruins of the Thaani, themselves a somewhat alien but still human culture lost to time and invasion, though what is found atop it now is far MORE alien than what came before as oppsoed to less (an inversion of the usual Lovecraft or Howard method). I also enjoy the cave-society system with the Nnarl, kinda reminds of the maping from Dragonlance's Chorane.
Really the overall feel is alien enough that theorectically I could also see this domain, with its ruins, aliens, and psychic powers, as being easily fitted into Darksun in some corner of Athas! Or perhaps as an Illithid Moon in Spelljammer, with the Thaani being a fallen 'Crystal Spires and Togas' type civilization near a now dying star (actually, was that also perhaps the inspiration to the dead surface, the Sunkiller Illithids from Dragon Magazine and the Illithiad?). And the bit with the man-mushroom hybrids is just wonderfully weird and dark. Indeed, the myconoids and other mushrooms could be an interesting alternative to the illithid and their godbrain, with instead a mushroom hive-mind being a darklord.
If one wants to get into tech, I keep having conflicting visions of how I see tech. Sometimes I see it as something like a giant mine with ancient and now broken lights and equipment like Metro, sometimes H. R. Geieger-esque with biopunk, maybe even something like the tech-city from Conan's The Slithering Shadow.
Overall its a wonderful mix of influences which make it not only perfect for Ravenloft, but infact a very interesting sub-setting or transferable location all its own. Kudos!

I'm delighted if you find my notions useful, regardless of whether it's a Ravenloft context or elsewhere!

[IanFordam]

I have greatly appreciated this whole issue. I expecially appreciated Both Bluetspur and Nidala Articles which are a mine of locations and NPCs I might adapt to the Mistworld. My compliments to all the authors.

I am always pleased to hear when I've generated material you find interesting enough to potentially adapt. Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing!

[IanFordam]

The Arcane Age of Darkon
Matt "Strahdsbuddy" Doyle

Darkon has always been the place where D&Disms can thrive even within Ravenloft, and as part of that demihumans have always been more prevalent there than most other domains. This article does a fantastic job of making demihumans within Darkon feel more naturally Darkonian.

I partially disagree with Rock: This article feels cohesive and complete to me, and in that regard I don't find it too short. Yet I also agree with Rock: I would happily read an expansion!

[Rock of the Fraternity]

The Arcane Age of Darkon
Matt "Strahdsbuddy" Doyle
...
I partially disagree with Rock: This article feels cohesive and complete to me, and in that regard I don't find it too short. Yet I also agree with Rock: I would happily read an expansion!

So I guess we're breaking even, huh.

[IanFordam]

Barovia: The Land of Strahd and Mysteries
Mistmaster

As this article's subtitle indicates, the foremost complication with Barovia is that Strahd von Zarovich is utterly, inexorably at the center of his domain. While that statement is true of any darklord, Strahd's presence—his very existence—always feels even weightier to me. Fortunately, though, Mistmaster makes the decision to summarize much of what the reader almost certainly already knows about Strahd, leaving out many of the less-relevant details which have accumulated over the decades. That leaves him with more room to detail other people, more or less closely tied to the darklord, who also populate his interpretation of Barovia.

Strahd's regenerations are an interesting concept, allowing for multiple interpretations of his character. Some of these regenerations are described in strikingly positive terms, which was... surprising... to me. I'm assuming that the intention is Strahd has always remained fully evil, but some of his personalities have been better at public relations than others. Moreover, I was not certain how widely known his regenerations are. Clearly the general populace thinks of them as separate people, but how many creatures of the underworld know they aren't? And how do those who know react? For example, how does Queen Widow Anastrasya Karelova feel about her "son" now that she has been freed from bondage by the death of his supposed father? There's a lot of potential in this conceit, and I would have liked a deeper exploration of it.

With Mistmaster's articles I always appreciate the many nods to prior lore. In this particular case, I noted mentions of the Midway Haven Observatory and the Celestines, not to mention a passing reference to Ernst Turagdon of the Kargatane. Similarly, I know just enough about Curse of Strahd to recognize some of the 5e lore which has been incorporated. I particularly enjoyed the twist on Vasili von Holtz/Basil von Holt.

[Mistmaster]

Barovia: The Land of Strahd and Mysteries
Mistmaster

As this article's subtitle indicates, the foremost complication with Barovia is that Strahd von Zarovich is utterly, inexorably at the center of his domain. While that statement is true of any darklord, Strahd's presence—his very existence—always feels even weightier to me. Fortunately, though, Mistmaster makes the decision to summarize much of what the reader almost certainly already knows about Strahd, leaving out many of the less-relevant details which have accumulated over the decades. That leaves him with more room to detail other people, more or less closely tied to the darklord, who also populate his interpretation of Barovia.

Strahd's regenerations are an interesting concept, allowing for multiple interpretations of his character. Some of these regenerations are described in strikingly positive terms, which was... surprising... to me. I'm assuming that the intention is Strahd has always remained fully evil, but some of his personalities have been better at public relations than others. Moreover, I was not certain how widely known his regenerations are. Clearly the general populace thinks of them as separate people, but how many creatures of the underworld know they aren't? And how do those who know react? For example, how does Queen Widow Anastrasya Karelova feel about her "son" now that she has been freed from bondage by the death of his supposed father? There's a lot of potential in this conceit, and I would have liked a deeper exploration of it.

With Mistmaster's articles I always appreciate the many nods to prior lore. In this particular case, I noted mentions of the Midway Haven Observatory and the Celestines, not to mention a passing reference to Ernst Turagdon of the Kargatane. Similarly, I know just enough about Curse of Strahd to recognize some of the 5e lore which has been incorporated. I particularly enjoyed the twist on Vasili von Holtz/Basil von Holt.

First of all thanks for the feedback. Strahd V and Strahd X were the closest he ever was to true redenption. In both case however he failed because he ignored, willingly, the fact that the key of his curse is that if he pursue Tatyana, she dies. No matter how good he is, their relationship will never be healthy unless he is honest with her from the beginning, which he can't be, as she would ran. It is the tragic part of the story. Strahd the Atoner and Strahd the Wise were at a point genuinly good. And they fell, because Strahd will not let Tatyana go.In both cases he tride to be good not for goodnerss sake but because he believed goodcould be the key to win her. And that was the fatal mistake. About the people who knows, well, those who know it are thise who are more interested in Barovia going on smoothly. Strahd XII has shown to be a capable monarch and he is fixing what his "father" damaged. Anastrasya enjoys much more fredom now as the Queen-mother and Strahd XII, having lost his previos incarnation sadistic streak is more keen to treat fairly his allies. Others knew Strahd X and are willing to give XII a possibility. And as you have easily understood, yes, Strahd XI, IS the Strahd of Curse of Strahd.

[IanFordam]

Excerpts from: “The Register of Monsters”
Stanton F. Fink

best expressed
as Xaosetic speech
review mine is

no sense made
but nonsense is
macabre
frequently poetic

mere fragment glimpse
grand design
in chintzy mug
best expressed

sip

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Excerpts from: “The Register of Monsters”
Stanton F. Fink

best expressed
as Xaosetic speech
review mine is

no sense made
but nonsense is
macabre
frequently poetic

mere fragment glimpse
grand design
in chintzy mug
best expressed

sip

I love the Xaositects' glossolalia.

[Baron Von Stanton]

mere fragment glimpse
grand design
in chintzy mug
best expressed

sip

You drank out of the cadmium red "PSPSPSPSPS" Number52H3Λ, didn't you?

[Speedwagon]

Another great QtR this year!

The Arcane Age of Darkon
I really liked this article, especially since it expands Darkon's early false history. I always thought that some aspects of a domain's false history (and there's a lot to be said about the term "false history" to begin with) deserves more focus. Lots of plot hooks can be found and this is no exception. I only wish this article were longer, if only because it's already an excellent short summation of juicy information (short enough to be given as a hand-out to my PCs so thanks for that!) and because I want to know a bit more about the great battles and historical events of the Arcane Age, prior to Darcalus Rex. The stuff about the tower of Histrion and the capital of Cannuine intrigues me! And might there be a way for some of Darkon's false history to be a twisted echo of Greyhawk's (specifically the Bone Marches where Knurl and Azalin hail from), much like how Sithicus has loose and oblique references to Dragonlance (while not overdoing it of course)?

Barovia: The Land of Strahd & Mysteries
Ahh, Strahd. Everybody's got a take on him, and it's no wonder why! He's the poster child of the Ravenloft setting, for better or worse. How I feel about it entirely depends on what level of "oversaturation" of Barovia & Strahd I feel at any given moment, coupled with the level of writing found within any work that tries to tackle the master of Castle Ravenloft and his demesne. In this case, I get the Mistworld flavor of Strahd, and it does not disappoint! While there's a wealth of official-canon and netbook-canon and more material to work with, Mistmaster doesn't feel suffocated by their collective weight. Instead, you see tasteful references and a merging of pre-established conceptions of Barovia with his own take on the land, which has been significantly expanded. I really love the little write-ups for Hoessla, Cuzau, Renika, and Jarvinak! On the note of Strahd's many iterations, I really like how each one is distinguished and flavorful. While 3e does the same regarding there being multiple Strahds, I've always wanted something to distinguish each "era of Strahd" from one another, both to better show the vampire's characterization over time and to throw suspicious monster hunters off the trail (albeit temporarily). This addresses all of that handily! For that I cannot thank Mistmaster enough. And finally, Mistmaster continues to impress me (and I'd say the whole board) with the long list of NPCs and, even more impressively, the Dread Possibilities for each one. It's hard for me to write 10 NPCs, let alone a DP for each settlement, so big kudos to you Mistmaster! And one last thing: how does Strahd and the Barovian people of the Mistworld feel about Lazendrak and Gundarak within the Mistworld?

Teddy and Sammy
What can I say, I like Rock's drawing style! I've liked it since I saw it first in ChibiLoft and then I got to read Sarcantasy and see it more. Teddy and Sammy are cute, and a lovely thing to read whenever I'm going through a mammoth QtR (while this one isn't the same length as #30, it's still quite long!).

The Broken Cog
I've kept up with DocNecrotic's work on his blog for a while and I'd been interested in his idea of "the Broken Cog" cluster. While he gave snippets and brief summaries of each domain and what they did, this is much more my style and much more filling for my appetite. Of the domains present, I was immediately drawn to Nosos and Alleigosto the most (though I did like Ichthytos and Belagora and Rockbaecche, especially for their strong roots in games like "Thief" and "Dishonored"). The DPs for Alleigosto and the link to Mystara really tickled my fancy, and I very much liked the subversion in Nosos regarding Malus Sceleris not being the most powerful "robber baron" (to use American Gilded Age parlance). I do wish that there might've been more focus or even mention of do-gooder factions or even of other "decadent distractions" to give the populace a reason to keep going. Nosos is one of those domains that, in 2e's Islands of Terror supplement, went *way* too heavy on the "grimdark" and, in my opinion, forgot about the beauty and hopeful spots and aspects of Ravenloft that make it a place worth fighting for. Things like Pelsjager and Sons, even with the rumors, are welcome if only because it helps avoid that darkness-induced-audience/player-apathy. Otherwise, I very much look forward to more from you, Doc!

Excerpts from the Registry of Monsters
These are all amazing illustrations with cool lore to back them up! My only gripe is that I don't tend to use many demons or outsider Fiends in my Ravenloft games, so I find myself at a loss at times on how to implement these gorgeous creations. My best alternative would be to reflavor some of them as Mist Horrors or as creations of the Nightmare Lands/Nightmare Court, but I say this only because I want to use these guys, even if I don't have a 1:1 conversion idea present in my mind. Your drawing skills are lovely Stanton F. Fink, and I hope you continue with these works even if my review may seem discouraging!

I haven't forgotten the other articles and I plan to give my thoughts on them as well, but I did want to stop here for today and also give a link to the map of the Shadowlands for Beneath the Eye of Belenus. The map within the issue is good, it's just a bit compressed so some of the site labels are hard to read. Here's something that should help, assuming you zoom in! Here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17wu ... sp=sharing

[Baron Von Stanton]

Excerpts from the Registry of Monsters
These are all amazing illustrations with cool lore to back them up! My only gripe is that I don't tend to use many demons or outsider Fiends in my Ravenloft games, so I find myself at a loss at times on how to implement these gorgeous creations. My best alternative would be to reflavor some of them as Mist Horrors or as creations of the Nightmare Lands/Nightmare Court, but I say this only because I want to use these guys, even if I don't have a 1:1 conversion idea present in my mind. Your drawing skills are lovely Stanton F. Fink, and I hope you continue with these works even if my review may seem discouraging!

Have you considered using them as focuses of cults? Fiendish cults are a thing in Ravenloft, after all.

[Speedwagon]

Excerpts from the Registry of Monsters
These are all amazing illustrations with cool lore to back them up! My only gripe is that I don't tend to use many demons or outsider Fiends in my Ravenloft games, so I find myself at a loss at times on how to implement these gorgeous creations. My best alternative would be to reflavor some of them as Mist Horrors or as creations of the Nightmare Lands/Nightmare Court, but I say this only because I want to use these guys, even if I don't have a 1:1 conversion idea present in my mind. Your drawing skills are lovely Stanton F. Fink, and I hope you continue with these works even if my review may seem discouraging!

Have you considered using them as focuses of cults? Fiendish cults are a thing in Ravenloft, after all.

I did not consider that! In which case, I shall do that! Thanks!

[Mistmaster]

Barovia: The Land of Strahd & Mysteries
Ahh, Strahd. Everybody's got a take on him, and it's no wonder why! He's the poster child of the Ravenloft setting, for better or worse. How I feel about it entirely depends on what level of "oversaturation" of Barovia & Strahd I feel at any given moment, coupled with the level of writing found within any work that tries to tackle the master of Castle Ravenloft and his demesne. In this case, I get the Mistworld flavor of Strahd, and it does not disappoint! While there's a wealth of official-canon and netbook-canon and more material to work with, Mistmaster doesn't feel suffocated by their collective weight. Instead, you see tasteful references and a merging of pre-established conceptions of Barovia with his own take on the land, which has been significantly expanded. I really love the little write-ups for Hoessla, Cuzau, Renika, and Jarvinak! On the note of Strahd's many iterations, I really like how each one is distinguished and flavorful. While 3e does the same regarding there being multiple Strahds, I've always wanted something to distinguish each "era of Strahd" from one another, both to better show the vampire's characterization over time and to throw suspicious monster hunters off the trail (albeit temporarily). This addresses all of that handily! For that I cannot thank Mistmaster enough. And finally, Mistmaster continues to impress me (and I'd say the whole board) with the long list of NPCs and, even more impressively, the Dread Possibilities for each one. It's hard for me to write 10 NPCs, let alone a DP for each settlement, so big kudos to you Mistmaster! And one last thing: how does Strahd and the Barovian people of the Mistworld feel about Lazendrak and Gundarak within the Mistworld?

First of all thank you. And second, Lazendrak in Barovia is seen as a sort of hellish land were blood flows in rivers and Vampires rules on enslaved people.Of course educated people knows better but that old defeat still burns. Gundarakite people are not very interested in Lazendrak.