New “Ravenloft” novel

[Mephisto of the FoS]

the 5e Ravenloft has 90% of the population as "soulless" simulations of people that keep the status quo, culturally and all.

E-N-T-E-R the Matravenloftix...

[alhoon]

There are parallels for sure. It is an artificial world. Escaping is extremely hard. Etc.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Well soulless is debatable

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

[alhoon]

So... any news on the novel?

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

Release date is 27th May, give or take.

[alhoon]

Oh. Ohhhh...
So, much ado about nothing. We started the discussion too soon about a novel that was not even close to publishing.

[paireon]

...Yeah, hard pass for me. Besides that this appears to be a continuation of the butchering of my favorite D&D setting, that orc twink is representative of one of the recent changes to D&D that I most despise: "orcs are popular now, so they can't be evil brutes anymore 'because it's racist' " - cue Mexicorcs:

[Isolde]

Rotrog, a prideful orcish wizard; Chivarion, a sardonic drow barbarian; Alishai, an embittered tiefling paladin; Kah, a skittish kenku cleric; and Fielle, a sunny human artificer.

The party, i will not say heroes, is more weird and monstrous than many villains.

But even the class/race combination is a parody. Orc wizard (what about hobbit basketball player). Drow barbarian* (there was this wild or wood elf berserk wardancer that was cool in warhammer fantasy but this does not work with drow). Tiefling as in half-fiend paladin (no comment). Kenku cleric a bird-man as a priest... and the human an artificer.

*the berserk kit/class became an illiterate barbarian. Words have lost their meaning.

This is on purpose. Bad on purpose.

This group would be attacked on sight almost everywhere. And not almost everywhere in Ravenloft. People would scream and strike the church bells and it would create a pandemonium of activity to kill them. Pitchfork and torches for everyone.

[Teravala]

Drow barbarian* (there was this wild or wood elf berserk wardancer that was cool in warhammer fantasy but this does not work with drow).

I am in no way defending this party, because I also find them off-putting and odd, but I do believe that drizzt do'urden actually has barbarian levels from his time in the wilds of the under dark, before he met his mentor and started gaining training as a ranger. He had an almost secondary persona he retreated into he called "The Hunter" that kept him from losing his sanity since I believe he was isolated in the wilds for years. Kind of blended the persona with the barbarian rage ability, was actually pretty cool and a lot more nuanced than I'm making it out to be. So I do think a drow barbarian could work. But should you do it? probably not.

[Mistmaster]

Rotrog, a prideful orcish wizard; Chivarion, a sardonic drow barbarian; Alishai, an embittered tiefling paladin; Kah, a skittish kenku cleric; and Fielle, a sunny human artificer.

The party, i will not say heroes, is more weird and monstrous than many villains.

But even the class/race combination is a parody. Orc wizard (what about hobbit basketball player). Drow barbarian* (there was this wild or wood elf berserk wardancer that was cool in warhammer fantasy but this does not work with drow). Tiefling as in half-fiend paladin (no comment). Kenku cleric a bird-man as a priest... and the human an artificer.

*the berserk kit/class became an illiterate barbarian. Words have lost their meaning.

This is on purpose. Bad on purpose.

This group would be attacked on sight almost everywhere. And not almost everywhere in Ravenloft. People would scream and strike the church bells and it would create a pandemonium of activity to kill them. Pitchfork and torches for everyone.

No, in my Ravenloft they would not, for example. Not in the cities.

[Isolde]

barbarian levels from his time in the wilds of the under dark, before he met his mentor and started gaining training as a ranger. He had an almost secondary persona he retreated into he called "The Hunter"

he did become an animalistic almost-instinctive killer but though they used the barbarian class to include it the shoe does not really fit.

The hunter persona was a mental and emotional state of murderous survival-based intent for which they did not make a special class or ranger kit or ability to express it properly.

[Teravala]

No, in my Ravenloft they would not, for example. Not in the cities.

Are non human races pretty common in your Ravenloft? Lots of outlanders, or did you just seem more atypical races into the domains?
Not a problem with either of those, just genuinely curious as, at least during 2e and especially in 3.X, there was hard population data showing racial population centers across the domains, particularly in large or notable cities and settlements. It was primarily human, with non human population numbers rarely rising above 5%. for example Darkon, which according to the Gazeteer II boasts the most diverse population of the core, has only 3% elves, with Nevechuar Springs, an elvish settlement, having roughly 1100 people, 89% of which were full elf. Combine these low population numbers with the rules about outcast rating, and the naturally isolated and, as a result, xenophobic nature of Raven loft (and of the gothic period in general.) then while violence may not be the initial response by the citizenry, certainly a level or mistrust and hostility should be expected, especially for a party like the one above?

[Teravala]

barbarian levels from his time in the wilds of the under dark, before he met his mentor and started gaining training as a ranger. He had an almost secondary persona he retreated into he called "The Hunter"

he did become an animalistic almost-instinctive killer but though they used the barbarian class to include it the shoe does not really fit.

The hunter persona was a mental and emotional state of murderous survival-based intent for which they did not make a special class or ranger kit or ability to express it properly.

That's actually pretty fair. I'm pretty sure the first few novels for Drizzt came out during 2e still right? which yeah, I know little about so I gave them the benefit of the doubt there. I definitely agree that barbarian seems an odd choice, as it really was much more of a battle trance than a murderous rage.

[Isolde]

Drizzt Do'Urden
Drow male 16th-level ranger
http://candlekeep.com/library/articles/drizzt-2nd.htm
what he would have been if they did not made him 3e/3.5 multi-class which is the dual class of 2e
http://candlekeep.com/library/articles/drizzt-3rd.htm

from Forgotten Realms Heroes Lorebook
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... 7_Lorebook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes%27_Lorebook
Full game statistics and detailed backgrounds for 61 of the most prominent characters from the setting.



There is a Villains one as well. https://www.tsrarchive.com/fr/fr-lore.html

[Teravala]

Looks like I've got some reading to do. Is it primarily stat info or do they lore dump too?