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Re: Joël's campaign (Servants of Darkness - meeting Tristessa!)
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 12:17 pm
by Joël of the FoS
Been a while, here's sessions 113 to 115. Basically the end of Servants of Darkness:
Session 113 - after meeting with Loht, and hearing his hostage ultimatum, a trip to Keening, meeting angry widderrìbhinn, and climbing Mt lament.
Session 114 - exploring the (expanded) entrails of Mt Lament.
Session 115 - going deeper in the mountain, and meeting Tristessa for a trade!
As I wrote elsewhere here, I really like the way I portrayed Her Sadness, it was fun roleplay, and the players liked it a lot.
Link!
Re: Joël's campaign (Servants of Darkness! - meeting Tristessa!)
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 2:04 pm
by Rock of the Fraternity
Great googly moogly, that was tense!
And getting tenser all the time, with that damn' sword in play.
Re: Joël's campaign (Servants of Darkness! - meeting Tristessa!)
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2026 12:57 pm
by Joël of the FoS
Ah ah ah, indeed!
I like to vary the pace of my scenes, and this one was made to pressure them into a very dangerous situation.
Re: Joël's campaign (Servants of Darkness! - meeting Tristessa!)
Posted: Tue May 12, 2026 10:54 am
by Joël of the FoS
Three more journals, for those following.
116 - return to Loht with Arak's sword. Doesn't go as planned - Loht doesn't free the kidnapped girls from Viktal. Battle with powries. Travel to a goblin lair to save the girls!
117 - Nasty nasty goblin lair. Slaying the boss and rescuing the girls.
118 - Exiting a goblin lair isn't as simple as planned when you have slayed their chief, and meeting the wondrous Queen Maeve.
Last session will be later followed by a rewrite of the Shadow Rift adventure.
link!
Re: Joël's campaign (transition toward Shadow Rift adventure))
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2026 5:07 pm
by moonglum
I am only a tertiary Ravenloft fan (my campaign is a Greyhawk one, using 3e rules, and Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Eberron, Scarred Lands and Dark Sun are my other favorites).
Your journal entries and the wonderful 3e sourcebooks make Ravenloft so attractive to me. My hang up is always that I am not very interested in horror, but am interested in dark fantasy and fair tales, but the 3e books make me believe that I could really focus on this as the genre and ignore the horror angle almost entirely (although a bit of horror has its place in pure dark fantasy as well). Elric, Conan, Castlevania and HP Lovecraft would be among my influences.
Regarding your journal entries: You put a good amount of work into these. Over the course of so many years, do you still do them out of habit or does it really make a difference in the feel and enjoyment of the campaign for you to write these? I have considered such a practice, but figure one or two players will read them on occasion, and maybe a few people on the internet. I am unsure if it is worth the effort, though I do enjoy writing for the sake of it.
I am also curious how you organize your campaign and setting notes, details, resources etc.?