Ravenloft: The Movie

[Boccaccio Barbarossa]

Yeah, Grey had great potential, and he looked great, but he was paper thin like the rest of the league.
...

"Paper thin... lol! yeah... get it? His lifeforce is in a painting... which is pretty... thin... and... no? What? Take me outside and shoot me?"

(Sorry, I just had to...)

Cabbage - you are the man! You called that Tom Sawyer "Americans must be part of everything" crap. Way to go! I wanted to see Tom Sawyer get crushed like an insect!!!

I'm sure the comic book is great! And the movie could have been had it not been so rushed... and they axed Sawyer, who does not belong...

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Which characters would you use? My vote goes to both George Weathermay and Agatha Clairmount (albeit, the movie might want to perhaps not get too enrapped into the divinity of man kind).

One intriguing possibility might be to include rare cameos by Rudolph Van Richten himself, the better to illustrate his immense significance to audiences unfamiliar with Ravenloft. Have him make brief appearances at times of greatest importance, either as psychic visions on the part of just one character or as an intangible projection who manifests to deliver cryptic warnings or clues, to showcase his wisdom and demonstrate the vast respect he incurs, on the part of the heroes. Not only would this help prevent Ravenloft-newbies from asking "Van Who? What's the big deal with this guy? He's not even in the show/movie!" all the time, but it would also make things very different from your average heroes-looking-for-missing-father/wife/one-armed-killer storyline.

This would surely add depth to the metaplot element of investigating Dr. Van Richten's disappearance and where he is now. Are the projections really him? Why does he only speak in vague hints and riddles, rather than explaining what the characters are up against more clearly? How is he projecting himself to them, and how does he know what threats they face? Dead or alive, his remarks suggest he's trapped or constrained in some way ... can he be rescued?

[Undead Cabbage]

Van Richten's cameo would make a good intro to the movie: get the auidience inside the head of what the Van Richten society is meant to be.

Just don't turn Van Richten into Obiwan Kinobi!

Whatever you do, don't try and tackle EVERY type of monster all in one movie. If you do, you won't give any of them justice. If you have multiple movies, doing different monsters with each would be fine. But trying to fit lycanthropes, vampires, shadow fey, ghosts, anchient dead, the created, the walking dead, Hags, fiends, and liches all into one movie will destroy it.

Also, another thing to watch for. When people think elves/dwarves/halfings, they think LOTR. Go for humans, if only just for now.

[Boccaccio Barbarossa]

Van Richten's cameo would make a good intro to the movie: get the auidience inside the head of what the Van Richten society is meant to be.

Just don't turn Van Richten into Obiwan Kinobi!

Whatever you do, don't try and tackle EVERY type of monster all in one movie. If you do, you won't give any of them justice. If you have multiple movies, doing different monsters with each would be fine. But trying to fit lycanthropes, vampires, shadow fey, ghosts, anchient dead, the created, the walking dead, Hags, fiends, and liches all into one movie will destroy it.

Also, another thing to watch for. When people think elves/dwarves/halfings, they think LOTR. Go for humans, if only just for now.

Best suggestion so far - go for humans!!! Really - who wants to spend all that screen time trying to sell people on eleves?

Also - I agree that trying to do too much in one movie is often the reason they fail.

And as for Van Richten - well, I have a big fear of Obiwan Kinobi-ism as well. Too much potential for it with this character. I would much rather have a member of the Society read out a mission statement speech or something at the begining of a meeting explaining Van Richten and their mission in 30 seconds. That way, you understand that this guy was important but that this story is not about him.

[Undead Cabbage]

However, there are two races that could potentially be included in the movie, Caliban, and Vistani. These two races are unqiue to RL (albeit, the caliban is mechanic wise identical to a half orc, but the idea behind it is specialized to RL), and therefore FEEL like Ravenloft.

Also thinking about it, no movie as of yet has included a gnome. The idea behind gnomes requires no explination, and the concept of the 'riddle-speaking, darkly funny, yet academically inclined midget' isn't something that will confuse the audience. It doesn't even have to mention the word 'gnome', but imply your classic short guy with a rye sense of humor. The RL players will key it that its probably a gnome.

The Vistani are an important element to add. Where the Van Richten society will add the 'coolness' to the movie, the Vistani can add some mystery, superstition, and a feeling of depth to the realm. And since the romani people are actually part of our cultural history, they aren't anything the audience will be bending their heads backwards over.

Now for the hardest part; the plot hook. What RL story emphasizes RL, but isn't your stereotypical dracula hunt? For the first movie/show/installment to a saga/whatever, you need to grab the audience by the ears and eyes, without looking like the next thing. What could do this?

[Boccaccio Barbarossa]

However, there are two races that could potentially be included in the movie, Caliban, and Vistani. These two races are unqiue to RL (albeit, the caliban is mechanic wise identical to a half orc, but the idea behind it is specialized to RL), and therefore FEEL like Ravenloft.

Also thinking about it, no movie as of yet has included a gnome. The idea behind gnomes requires no explination, and the concept of the 'riddle-speaking, darkly funny, yet academically inclined midget' isn't something that will confuse the audience. It doesn't even have to mention the word 'gnome', but imply your classic short guy with a rye sense of humor. The RL players will key it that its probably a gnome.

The Vistani are an important element to add. Where the Van Richten society will add the 'coolness' to the movie, the Vistani can add some mystery, superstition, and a feeling of depth to the realm. And since the romani people are actually part of our cultural history, they aren't anything the audience will be bending their heads backwards over.

Now for the hardest part; the plot hook. What RL story emphasizes RL, but isn't your stereotypical dracula hunt? For the first movie/show/installment to a saga/whatever, you need to grab the audience by the ears and eyes, without looking like the next thing. What could do this?

Once again, Cabbage, you are bang on the money.

now, I won't argue with you one bit - the monster hunt really is what should be the focus of the movie. The RL elements of that, however, lie in the types of characetrs as well as the psychological questioning that happens while on this adventure. Doubts, second-guessing, questionable motives, etc.

And the monster than needs hunting has to be one of the iconic ravenloft monsters - vampires, ancient dead, ghosts, liches (though this one may feel a little like Sauron) werebests, created and I suppose you could also throw in fiends.

All we need, then, is a compelling story for the villain, a compelling story for the main protagonist(s) and VOILA!

[Kel-nage]

My two cents:

I don't know why, but the first villian and hero that popped into my mind was George Weathermany as the hero and Natalia Vhorishkova (as the villian, duh! ).

I don't know if George would allow his honour to dip by trying to employ the services of the VR Society, but if he did, the VR would certainly want to follow him. Reading what Rucht Lilavivat wrote in his author notes for VRGttMists, I was really interested in Natalia and think she would make an excellent villian, if played properly.

Obviously, George and the VR Society would get sidetracked occasionally (read: almost every episode), solving other mysteries, thus not continuing the same story all the time, but encounters with Natalia would happen. We could even bring in the twins, although I don't know if I'd want that...

However, as I said, that was just my two cents. I'm still a relative newcomer to Ravenloft, so there's probably a much more "Ravenlofty" villian/hero out there.

[Jonathan Winters]

Very interesting thread / topic !!!

BTW, I don't have my copy handy, but isn't the VR Society a very loose organization with no clear membership? They're just a bunch of scholars / adventurers who share info?

I think it could be interesting if played as people who get together by chance, fate or when the need arises... They know each other but not that well...

Also, about VR himself, can't you show him at the beginning, sort of a prologue and then switch to your main story and still have him narrate it like what's her name in Desperate Housewives? It would be different in the sense that there is the possibility he can/should come back. Where is he?

Just some ideas.

Patrick

[VAN]

The Vistani are an important element to add. Where the Van Richten society will add the 'coolness' to the movie, the Vistani can add some mystery, superstition, and a feeling of depth to the realm.

The Vistany can add the element of the profecy too. I think it's important and can solve many problems like where a character knows where to go or where he learns about something.

Also, about VR himself, can't you show him at the beginning, sort of a prologue and then switch to your main story and still have him narrate it like what's her name in Desperate Housewives? It would be different in the sense that there is the possibility he can/should come back. Where is he?

I think this is a very good idea. I like watch a movie where one of the most important heroes doesn't appear, just narrates and/or explains.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

And as for Van Richten - well, I have a big fear of Obiwan Kinobi-ism as well. Too much potential for it with this character. I would much rather have a member of the Society read out a mission statement speech or something at the begining of a meeting explaining Van Richten and their mission in 30 seconds. That way, you understand that this guy was important but that this story is not about him.

That or perhaps a flashback for one of the characters who actually met him instead of just reading the books.

If it was a TV series you could have the VRS play out a lot like the old Friday the 13th series, but as a movie IMO it would have to have a central hunt, and IMO the target should be "the one that got away," i.e. a creature that escaped from Van Richten.

This would be especially important to toning down the Kenobi-ism, because a crucial point in the movie is where one or more of the main characters figures out that their beloved, idolized Van Richten made a couple of grave errors. Sure, he as much as says so in VRGtF, but he goes on to make another error in the course of correcting the first--if VR ever met up with Drigor again, he'd have approached him as a lawful fiend, leading to yet another disaster.

[Igor the Henchman]

There's probably not a lot of us who haven't tried to imagine an outline for such a movie in our bits of spare time. I tried to dream up several versions myself, when in the bus with nothing to read. Some of my versions included plots around Strahd, or Azalin, or Toben the Many. Here's my personal favorite:

The heroin of the movie is a wealthy young woman from Richemulot, due to be married to a young and successful adventurer. The latter is currently on a dangerous expedition to a far-away island beyond the Mists. The young heroin, along with the audience, discover the progress of his jurney through the letters he regularily sends back. It is thus that we see him assemble an adventuring party (with, perhaps, a demihuman or two along for the ride), hiring a Barovian guide, and moving southwards down the Mistway that leads to nothern Vorostokov. In his letters, the hero confesses to his beloved an important secret: he is an orphan, and has looked for his origins all across the Core, hoping to uncover his heritage before his wedding day. He has now come to believe that his parents might reside on an Island of Terror, with clues pointing to the domain of the eternal winter.

After the last letter announcing the party's entering the Mists, the flow of letters ends abruptly. A year goes by, during which time the poor young lady mourns her vanished lover. About halfway through the movie, strange incidents start happening in the countriside, much like those you'd expect when an unnatural monster starts haunting the region. A monster-hunter (actually a charlatan) is hired, but is promptly slain by the black-pelted beast. All are frightened, except for the main character, who can't help but sensing a familiar feeling emanating from the rabid creature. Driven by a unique female instinct, she is determined to investigate, and even writes a letter to the Weathermay sisters, whose works she has once perused.

At this point, the heroin receives an unexpected visit from a ragged, horror-stricken individual whom she recognises for a member of her fiancee's adventuring party. The poor man looks like he is a sole survivor of some great tragedy. With very little explanation, he thrusts a pile of poorly preserved papers in her hands. The papers is the last, longest letter from her fiancee, where the rest of his voyage through Vorostokov is described: trecking through eerie silent woods, meeting queer villagers whose language he does not understand, and sighting supernatural beings the likes of which he has never seen in the Core. The hero records finally meeting the lord of the realm, none other than Gregor Zolnik himself, and, with great difficulty, manages to explain the goal of his visit. At Zolnik's request, he stays in the domain as its lord's guest, allowed to continue his researches. Those avail to nothing, but noticing ominous patterns in the behavior of his host, whom he quickly discovers for a merciless tyrant. One by one, his adventuring companions are found dead in the woods around the village, "slain by wolves" or so Zolnik claims.

Finally, led by his adventurer's sixth-sense, the young hero sets to flee the domain and the grip of his monstrous host. He is cought, after a long chase through the woods, by Zolnik's loup du noir minions. He is finally brought to Gregor, where the mystery of his origins is finally explained: he is actually one of Zolnik's bastard sons, whose mother sent him beyond the Mists before being slain himself. In a macabre parody of a family bond, the hero is "awarded" his wolf's pelt, and becomes one of Grefor's minions. What's more, Zolnik has heard of his "son's" projects for marriage and decides to give him his blessing, provided he brings her in Vorostakov and weds her according to local customs. In his last moments of fleeting freedom, the hero pens his last letter to his fiancee, warning her to flee as far as she can, lest she is cought by the monster he has now become. Unfortunately, the messenger, the last surviving member of his adventuring party, was delayed in bringing the message to destination in time.

The final episode would be, of course, an ultimate confrontation between him and her. The hero has been fighting Zolnik's orders for some time, but his control over himself is rapidly slipping. The heroin, forced to improvise herself a monster hunter, makes an ultimate attempt to capture him, so a cure can be saught.

I don't really know how the story would end - but knowing my tastes, it would probably be tragic.

[Samael Hands of Stone]

Solid plot, good character potential, maybe a tad domain specific, but good nontheless.

bravo

[alhoon]

Sounds like a good character background for me... I'll steal your idea for an interesting NPC mid-level Werewolf hunter lady... Thanks Igor...

[Boccaccio Barbarossa]

Solid plot, good character potential, maybe a tad domain specific, but good nontheless.

bravo

For the purposes of a 2-hour movie, domain specificity is good - it means you can worry about capturing the flavour of just one place.

[Samael Hands of Stone]

Solid plot, good character potential, maybe a tad domain specific, but good nontheless.

bravo

For the purposes of a 2-hour movie, domain specificity is good - it means you can worry about capturing the flavour of just one place.

Damn you you devil's advocate, DAMN YOU TO HELL!