Café de Nuit

I agree. And the name "Castle Ravenloft", I think it will be more than a single adventure, but I don´t risk to guess what it will be.

Wow...

Reprint? New version? (already?)...

For October. Just a Halloween special or something else?

Also, Wyatt, Cordell. Hum... Two strong writers in my opinion, although I've never seen Cordell do horror.

My only fear: Do we need "I, Strahd" in 3e?
I would prefer new material.

But it does appear as if Wizards might be trying to get a feel for the RL market post-WW, with the release of some old novels too.

I have my fingers crossed.

Patrick

PS: I still can't wait for the Souragne Gaz anyhow! Wizards beware the FoS!

Jonathan Winters wrote:Wow...

Reprint? New version? (already?)...

For October. Just a Halloween special or something else?

Also, Wyatt, Cordell. Hum... Two strong writers in my opinion, although I've never seen Cordell do horror.

My only fear: Do we need "I, Strahd" in 3e?
I would prefer new material.

I really don't believe this will be I6. Although the title suggests that, it is too long for an adventure. Cordell.... I only remember him from Illithid things and Psionics. I'll rather wait for someone to say what this is about.

Ail

Also by Cordell: ''When the Sky Falls''.

Pretty interesting book. I always pictured Ilithids coming out of a crashed space thingy or something...

A lot of scientific stuff thrown in. He does have a scientific background.

Which is why I am wondering how he will do horror. I don't remember reading anything else by him OTOH.

Patrick

Bruce R. Cordell has done a lot of books. Here are just the ones I could find on the D&D website.

Bastion of Broken Souls
Complete Psionic
Enemies and Allies
Epic Level Handbook
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Forge of Fury, The
Grasp of the Emerald Claw
Heart of Nightfang Spire
Lady of Poison
Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead
Magic of Eberron
Manual of the Planes
Planar Handbook
Sandstorm
Sunless Citadel, The
Tome and Blood: A Guidebook to Wizards and Sorcerers
Underdark
Weapons of Legacy

He has also done a fair amount of material independently of WotC, including a number of books from Malhavok Press and several accessories from TSR (Including Return to the Tomb of Horrors).

I personally think he is one of the better writers out there, but I know some people can't stand his writing. He has gotten some pretty venomous reviews in the past.

BBG

Monte: Both fellow professionals and game consumers have identified a "Bruce Cordell style" to your work. If you had to define it, what would that style be?

Bruce:Use of overly large words, pseudo-science-y plots, tentacles, subtle story threads that connect seemingly unrelated projects, and psionics.

Monte: I think you're being modest -- many fans and reviewers have said that your designs encourage or facilitate a certain style of play that goes well beyond the simple medieval fantasy model. What kinds of things do you do to accomplish that? What goes into your thought process when you're designing an adventure or some other product?

Bruce: I don't really have anything up my sleeve when I do adventure design -- I just try to come up with plots that are a little more engaging than, "Let's get that powerful item the monster is guarding." I'm sure most designers do the same.

.............from A Talk with Bruce Cordell

Check out also Bruce's site here. He's apparently been involved in a Horror Game product already: the Betrayal at House on the Hill boardgame, which won an Origin Award.

James Wyatt has some Masque of the Red Death and some Ravenloft stuff on his publication list. He also hosts this MotRD site

A lot of Cordell's stuff involves heavily elements of a Lovecraftian nature. He's done a lot of development on the Far Realms, beginning with the Gates to Firestorm Peak, a 2E AD&D module.

Jonathan Winters wrote:A lot of scientific stuff thrown in. He does have a scientific background.

Which is why I am wondering how he will do horror.

Hey, us science geeks can get into horror, too!

Rotipher,

About the science comment, it really wasn't meant as an insult (which you understood, but just in case).

BTW, what exactly do YOU do?

Patrick

If he was involved with Betrayal at House on the Hill, he's got the feel of RL down pat. That's one spooky game. hopefully he's got someone else doing the rules crunch, though. As much as I love the game, there are many rules in some scenarios that are extemely vague.

After years of not publishing big adventures and watching other (d20) companies make $ selling theirs (mainly as pdf on the net), WotC just might have decided it was high time to "milk the cow" again (so to speak).

Witness, Red Hand of Doom next month.

Now, if I was a WotC executive and I had to choose another adventure to publish, what could go through my mind?

a) it must have a cool title
b) it must be something that will induce buyers to buy more D&D products (if possible, those that didn't sell too well up till now)
c) it has to please both the "old gang" and the new generation

Looking back at the sales from TSR, one product stands out among many: I6 Ravenloft.

Hey, didn't we just get back the license from WW? Moreover, didn't we just publish Heroes of Horror?

Old castle + undeads + an adventure old enough that newcomers won't know about it but not so old that the oldies would have forgotten about it = $$$

Bingo!

Hence the Castle Ravenloft mega-adventure.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Strahd "converted" to a Dread Necromancer <snorts>

Jonathan Winters wrote:Rotipher,

About the science comment, it really wasn't meant as an insult (which you understood, but just in case).

BTW, what exactly do YOU do?

Patrick

I'm guessing stuff with electrodes, lightning and stolen corpses.

Drinnik Shoehorn wrote:

Jonathan Winters wrote:BTW, what exactly do YOU do?

Patrick

I'm guessing stuff with electrodes, lightning and stolen corpses.

HAH! Actually, my division made a bunch of gag pin-on buttons for the science adjuncts at my college this semester, that show a mad scientist plugging electrodes into a disembodied brain! I've got a bag full of the leftovers sitting by my chair, right now!

Seriously, I teach anatomy & physiology at a small college. We can't get (and can't afford) actual cadavers for students' dissection labs -- or for secretly constructing golems in the back of the prep-room, gosh-darn-it! -- so we use cats instead.

And no offense taken, Patrick: I just forgot to add a to my post of "outrage", to show it was a joke.

Mortepierre wrote: I wouldn't be surprised to see Strahd "converted" to a Dread Necromancer <snorts>

Wisely spoken.

Strahd being a dread necromancer - wouldn't that be really brutal? - After all, from what I understand, Dread Necromancers aim for lichdom... Could there be anything more oppsed to the idea of Strahd than that?

In any case, I figure this will be THE megaseller for WotC this year... Good for RL...

FWIW, I couldn't care less how they stat Strahd out. It'd not as if we all don't scale villains up or down as we see fit, anyway; with 160 pages to fill, they could even give him more than one set of stats, with levels and so forth differing for each, depending on how DMs plan to use him.

But please, please, PLEASE: let them FINALLY lose those blasted puns, already! Two decades is much too long to drag out a joke, even if it had been funny the first time...