Café de Nuit

Speedwagon wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 7:31 pmindividual also made maps of Sturben, Levkarest, and Lechberg, like these:

Could someone upload these cause I had saved them but lost them when my computer crashed last summer.

Mephisto of the FoS wrote: Sun May 25, 2025 3:25 am

Speedwagon wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 7:31 pmindividual also made maps of Sturben, Levkarest, and Lechberg, like these:

Could someone upload these cause I had saved them but lost them when my computer crashed last summer.

Yeah let me go find them again, sorry about that Meph!
EDIT: Here they are! Once again, thanks to @CrowberryCake (aka himbeerkuchen) on the Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft Discord fan-server for these (she is also within the Fraternity of Shadows Discord fan-server as well if you want to reach out, or at least she was circa 2022)!
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... eight=1080
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... eight=1080
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... eight=1080
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... eight=1080
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... eight=1080
https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... eight=1080

Speedwagon wrote: Thu May 29, 2025 8:18 pm Yeah let me go find them again, sorry about that Meph!

Thanks, unfortunately it still doesn't work it says the site can't be reached.

Mephisto of the FoS wrote: Fri May 30, 2025 12:41 am

Speedwagon wrote: Thu May 29, 2025 8:18 pm Yeah let me go find them again, sorry about that Meph!

Thanks, unfortunately it still doesn't work it says the site can't be reached.

Oh, that's strange. And unfortunate. Here Meph, give me some time tomorrow and I'll see if I can try to figure something out that might be of use to you? I have some ideas and I don't want to leave you high & dry, especially since this is a lovely resource!

Joël of the FoS wrote: Sat May 24, 2025 3:05 pm And voilà sessions 108 and 109 - we are now deep in the Servants of Darkness adventure.

Use this link

Joël

Thanks for posting as always, Joël! Always interesting to see how you modify pre-existing 2e content with all of the knowledge on Ravenloft you've accumulated.

The dire goblin bear encounter is lovely for its mundanity, and I think that's something that I want to try and emphasize more in my own running of Ravenloft games. The lack of the supernatural or the overtly horrific does not mean that little things like this aren't useful. Without flavoring or further exploration, it's just a random encounter, but the details of the cubs and the creatures being native to Tepest makes it a nice part of worldbuilding and environmental storytelling.

I also appreciate the sort of character you bring to Loebe and his dialogue, regarding Bryonna and their family's part in the Servants of Darkness adventure. The more I read of this account, the more I think "huh, even more reason to run a game in Tepest, even if it isn't SoD!" I also like the detail with Marla and how Petrak remarked on if she believes her story is true then it'll ping as such. The party is really savvy in how they handle things, and I'm always appreciative of protagonists with wit!

Also, thanks for providing some of the music that you use in your sessions! The siren singing definitely works for Castle Island. Great job making a place that I've always overlooked seem super scary! The use of Love, Death, & Robots for inspiration & imagery is a good touch. And on the note of good touches, that symbol Edric found looks quite a bit like the Brand of Sacrifice from Berserk. Was that another inspiration source?

Thanks for the comments, and sorry it took me time to answer. Personal life is quite busy, more then I would like.

Speedwagon wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 12:15 am Thanks for posting as always, Joël! Always interesting to see how you modify pre-existing 2e content with all of the knowledge on Ravenloft you've accumulated.

The dire goblin bear encounter is lovely for its mundanity, and I think that's something that I want to try and emphasize more in my own running of Ravenloft games. The lack of the supernatural or the overtly horrific does not mean that little things like this aren't useful. Without flavoring or further exploration, it's just a random encounter, but the details of the cubs and the creatures being native to Tepest makes it a nice part of worldbuilding and environmental storytelling.

When I bring the players into a new domain, I try to read everything that relates to this place before, then making A) a list of things I will definitely use, and B) a list of atmospherics and « possible distractions ».

As you noticed, I try to make the description of these worlds as rich as possible (without being overly descriptive as it would be boring), and before a game, when I have an idea of what the players will choose, I try to add a few items from the B list in the game.

And some of it is impro during the game, of course.

I also appreciate the sort of character you bring to Loebe and his dialogue, regarding Bryonna and their family's part in the Servants of Darkness adventure. The more I read of this account, the more I think "huh, even more reason to run a game in Tepest, even if it isn't SoD!"

Again, trying to make them alive and multi dimensional. I’m quite bored with NPC that have only one line to say

I also like the detail with Marla and how Petrak remarked on if she believes her story is true then it'll ping as such. The party is really savvy in how they handle things, and I'm always appreciative of protagonists with wit!

Players with 40+ years of experience, I think it shows sometimes

Also, thanks for providing some of the music that you use in your sessions! The siren singing definitely works for Castle Island. Great job making a place that I've always overlooked seem super scary! The use of Love, Death, & Robots for inspiration & imagery is a good touch.

I always found the siren of castle Island to be boring and somewhat predictable. Also, another monster in a lake? No. Tepestani go there to fish. Doesn’t work.

Also, I think the 3.5ed Lady of the Lake background is confused, and the PC has about no chance of learning it in a way or another, as nobody knows anything about her. But her background makes her have many interactions with before-the-mists Tepestani and even the hags. But now nobody remembers her?

So switching her for the fey in Love Death & Robots made a lot of sense for me. She really scarred the players and they found her very interesting to interact with.

And on the note of good touches, that symbol Edric found looks quite a bit like the Brand of Sacrifice from Berserk. Was that another inspiration source?

Probably yes and no

I do not know Berserk, but I make many searches on the web to enrich my visuals, and one search possibly gave me this result! I think I was asking for images of “runes on a tree” or something similar.

I’m an avid Comic reader, so I will be looking for this one.

Berserk is a great (but tough) read! You can find it in lots of places, with Dark Horse Comics having the Deluxe edition volumes with the official translations of the manga!

And the 40+ years of experience really show themselves with regards to your players & their characters! I'm glad you've managed to keep the game going despite having to wrestle with the Great Scheduling Beast so often, Joël! Felicitations à vous!

Speedwagon wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 8:51 pmAnd the 40+ years of experience really show themselves with regards to your players & their characters! I'm glad you've managed to keep the game going despite having to wrestle with the Great Scheduling Beast so often, Joël! Felicitations à vous!

We take a whole Sunday for a game (noon to 9 pm), and we play around 12 games a year.

It used to be difficult for those with children, now it's the old parents we have to take care of

---

And here's session 110 - still in the Servants of Darkness adventure. Hags!

Use this link

Joël

Very impressive! I am new here and looking forward to reading these. Given when this campaign started, is it still being run under 3rd edition (or 3.5) rules?

And Berserk is one of the most classic of Japanese comics and certainly relevant for Ravenloft fans, imo.

moonglum wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 5:31 pm Very impressive! I am new here and looking forward to reading these. Given when this campaign started, is it still being run under 3rd edition (or 3.5) rules?

Thanks, you have a lot to read Yes, 3.5!

And Berserk is one of the most classic of Japanese comics and certainly relevant for Ravenloft fans, imo.

OK!

Have you exclusively run Ravenloft since this campaign started? If so, do you or your players ever find that there is a downside to such a long term campaign in the setting? Any limitations? And do you feel the need to always be "on" as far as hitting the tropes and creating scenarios that play to the genre etc etc?

moonglum wrote: Mon Jul 21, 2025 8:45 am Have you exclusively run Ravenloft since this campaign started?

Yes, my campaign is a 100 % Ravenloft campaign since its start in 2004!

We are old enough to have experienced the Weekend-in-hell style of adventures in Ravenloft back then. So before 2004, with other PCs, we did jump from FR to RL then back, then RL again, etc. I was the RL DM, while a friend did the FR DM part. So we alternated DMing one after the other. We shared the same PC when we were players. That campaign started in 1987 and is still going! Now it is 100 % FR and my friend DM it completely.

But when RL 3e came out, the books were clearly oriented at a campaign where PCs were RL natives, which was absolutely new at the time, and a change from the Weekend-in-hell RL.

This pleased me a lot, so that is when I started DMing, in 2004, a full campaign with new 5th level Gundarakites natives PCs.

If so, do you or your players ever find that there is a downside to such a long-term campaign in the setting? Any limitations?

Once every few years, I ask the players about the campaign and what they like and what I should I change, but I usually get only thumbs up. We are all grownups, this is an adult campaign where role playing and social interaction take a great part of the game. Sometimes, during a whole session, there is no battle at all.

The players appreciate it and like that this campaign is different, more exploratory (while the FR campaign has many battles).
In the last 21 years of campaign, they met many NPCs and once in a while, an old friend, and old nemesis or acquaintance pops in. They appreciate the campaign being rich with details and mysterious NPCs. I do not do a lot of dungeon crawls exploration type adventures, but when I do, they are dangerous and fun.

The only complain I had over the years is the slow level gaining and mingy treasures found. But they understand that a high level campaign isn’t fun anymore if set in RL. I really think this is a limitation as the only high level challenge is meeting lichs and darklords! If they are 15th, they probably can boss around most darklords, and I feel it’s missing the spirit. So they know it’s for the best if I keep their level very slowly increasing (from level 5 in 2004 to only 8th or 9th in 2025!). Still playable and fun!

And do you feel the need to always be "on" as far as hitting the tropes and creating scenarios that play to the genre etc etc?

I feel I’m about 85 % gothic, 15 % fantasy. The feel of the campaign is really RL. The players avoid getting their PCs out at night if they can, and they are scared of cannibal zombies

Importantly I tried to vary and never do the same type of adventure twice, let’s see what I did, in the last twenty one years (!), in brief:

- Effigy of Ivan Szimin revengeful golem (BoSecrets)
- Evil Eye (greatest RL adventure ever)
- Baron Evensong’s time prison
- Some experiments with the Nightmare Lands and dreams
- Time changes in Ashington Manor (DT&DL)
- Howls in the night’s ghosts and hounds
- Horror’s Harvest (the doppelganger plant)
- Using the Transubstancial Halo and irritating Lord Wilfred Godefroy
- Azenwrath’s (golem attacking a village)
- An adventure about heretic texts that could shake the Ezra church – fetch them and secure them
- The Midnight Market (fey market) for an errand
- Killing a lycanthrope PC
- Running after an evil cult, trying to stop them from summoning a lich wizard tyrant, meeting powerful witches, exploring Hunadora’s dangerous basement, and ending it in our world’s Siberia to fight Rasputin!
- Harrowstone prison (Pathfinder’s great haunted prison – it's a great dungeon crawl)
- SS Bonniville (Sea Wolf Dungeon mag), a who done it murder mystery while stuck on a boat at sea
- Going to Dominia to save Van Richten (escape from Dominia asylum), but finding themselves stuck in Bleak House to replay the same thing over and over (a kind of Groundhog day of horrible events at the House where Van Richten was raised)
- Flirting with Ivana Boritsi (yep!), protecting her from the Gargoyle of the Cathedral (golem of obsession), learning many Borca secrets and generally trying to stay alive and not to step on a darklord’s toe in Borca (social dealings)
- Being the tool of revenge of an infuriated Falkovnian mother, learning about the Black Stone in Ivana’s basement, then going to Har’Akir to get more information. While there, why not the desert adventure of Touch of death as a bonus and being forced to explore a cool tomb as well (Pathfinder’s Pact Stone Pyramid – a great dungeon crawl)?
- Then going to Tepest at Ivana’s orders, and now Servant of Darkness is happening (bigotry, superstitions, burning pyres, hags!).

See, quite varied! After 21 years, that never-do-the-same-thing-twice is getting more and more difficult!

Joël of the FoS wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 8:29 pm We are all grownups, this is an adult campaign where role playing and social interaction take a great part of the game. Sometimes, during a whole session, there is no battle at all.

I ran a non-Ravenloft campaign from 1995 to 2020. For me as a DM, one of the best sessions we ever had was the one in which my players spent most of the afternoon happily discussing the nature of the divine in my homebrew world.

Joël of the FoS wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 8:29 pm The only complain I had over the years is the slow level gaining and mingy treasures found. But they understand that a high level campaign isn’t fun anymore if set in RL. I really think this is a limitation as the only high level challenge is meeting lichs and darklords! If they are 15th, they probably can boss around most darklords, and I feel it’s missing the spirit. So they know it’s for the best if I keep their level very slowly increasing (from level 5 in 2004 to only 8th or 9th in 2025!). Still playable and fun!

In the campaign I mentioned above, the PCs started at 3rd level and by 2020 had advanced to 8th level. By then my players had long since accepted that I am stingy with XP and magic... but that I work hard to make the game worthwhile regardless.

Glad to hear I'm not the only DM who takes this sort of approach!

IanFordam wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 7:34 pm but that I work hard to make the game worthwhile regardless.

Indeed, otherwise the campaign would not last long, players would complain or leave But I see what you mean, and indeed my players appreciate my efforts.

Glad to hear I'm not the only DM who takes this sort of approach!

I think other approaches (normal leveling up) could work too, but for campaigns that do not last 20 years

Thank you for the extensive answer. Your players are very lucky indeed. Do the players ever have different characters for different adventures. Are there adventuring groups? Or has each player only ever had one character until if/when that character dies?