If they were going to re-release a demiplanes of dread?

[Igor the Henchman]

EtCR should be forgetten as a very bad dream, not in the least for the Strahd come Dread Elf pirate of Lake Baratok artwork.

Barovia has never been closed to trade, save for in winter and that is not Strahd's fault. Barovia has been closed to foreign domination.

Strahd pre-EtCR is and should remain the unbeating heart of Ravenloft.

And I won't even begin to revisit the folly of turning Madame Eva into a hag and debasing the Vistani generally.

What next? The Volo Guide to Dark Powers? Dark Empowerment: 10th level spell, raises caster into the ranks of a Dark Power?

Well, with the latest 4e news meaning EtCR is about to become as obsolete as an old Spelljammer book, the point is moot, now. Oh well.

[Lucius]

With 4e coming, and the new novels, who knows if they will not release a 4e Ravenloft, maybe with a pirate elf version of Strahd in it

Anyway, this helps to explain the cancelled licenses of Dragon and Dungeon, Dragonlance, etc...

[LordGodefroi]

Anyway, this helps to explain the cancelled licenses of Dragon and Dungeon, Dragonlance, etc...

This is a very important point. If a company wants to license dead game worlds from WOTC in the future, they'll be required to publish them under 4e rules in an attempt to move the game world's fans to the new edition.

Fortunately, 3e RL has loads of usable material with the old edition.

[vipera aspis]

Emphasis the importance of skills gothicism, and roleplaying as opposed to combat, spiked chains and crazy-awesome new prestige classes.

[NykylaiHellray]

Another thing I would like is to expand the idea of mist/grave/pyre/blood elementals. By making domains which are mockeries of the elemental planes.

The idea of RL versions of the inner planes to visit would be very cool.

A field of endless open graves, would be an interesting place to visit, with tons of grave elemental gravediggers.

Also the shadow rift seems to have a connection to the great wheel plane of shadow, so seperating it from the great wheel, and making the shadow rift a transitionary plane which only goes as far as RL could solve a few problems.

[Jonathan Winters]

Just a quick note...

If I were to remake RL, I think I'd get rid of all demi-humans...

They are mostly an ill fit into any campaign the way RL stands since the 3E WW era. Just my opinion (but not half-vistani or calibans, even though the latter needs some tweaking).

I feel they are not needed. But I would probably keep SOME as NPCs: Sithicus' elves... Maybe some dwarves in Darkon's mountains, etc. Add them in as dark and mysterious figures...

Patrick

[cure]

Another thing I would like is to expand the idea of mist/grave/pyre/blood elementals. By making domains which are mockeries of the elemental planes.

The idea of RL versions of the inner planes to visit would be very cool.

A field of endless open graves, would be an interesting place to visit, with tons of grave elemental gravediggers.

Also the shadow rift seems to have a connection to the great wheel plane of shadow, so seperating it from the great wheel, and making the shadow rift a transitionary plane which only goes as far as RL could solve a few problems.

I hope you realise that someone here on the boards has pushed quite far in developing just that.

[NykylaiHellray]

Yeah I remember the cosmology thread, and some of us wrote darklords for them.

=)

[WolfKook]

Just a quick note...

If I were to remake RL, I think I'd get rid of all demi-humans...

They are mostly an ill fit into any campaign the way RL stands since the 3E WW era. Just my opinion (but not half-vistani or calibans, even though the latter needs some tweaking).

I feel they are not needed. But I would probably keep SOME as NPCs: Sithicus' elves... Maybe some dwarves in Darkon's mountains, etc. Add them in as dark and mysterious figures...

Patrick

Hehe... I have get rid of all demihumans, and replaced them for something else...

Not elves, but children of the arak switched before birth.
Not halflings, but children-of-the-corn-like children, cursed to remain as children, despite their age.
Not dwarves in the fantasy version, but dwarves in the RL version...

I'm pretty happy with the results...

[JinnTolser]

My wishlist:

Drop the Ban of Secrecy. Put everything in one book, from player options to darklord identities. Unveling the secret lore might increase the setting's popularity with the player crowd.

You know, I think Igor might be on to something here. Right now Ravenloft is a *very* DM-centric setting, to the point that there is very little you actually *can* tell PCs. But why?

The whole surprise/scary unknown factor only works once, and if you really want something the PC's don't know about, make it yourself. While on the flip side it might make people appreciate the setting more.

There's something to that. When I DMed Ravenloft for the first time in 2002, I was very open about the secrets of the setting. And y'know what? The whole group loved the setting (most of them to this day couldn't care less about the Realms). In fact, more than half of them signed up on the Kargatane site, and a couple of them at Monte Mal and here, though they post probably even less than I do.

I think that players knowing what the setting is all about DOES make them more interested in the world, though you of course have to keep some secrets, as with any game.

[LordGodefroi]

I think that players knowing what the setting is all about DOES make them more interested in the world, though you of course have to keep some secrets, as with any game.

Absolutely! One of the things I do before starting a new Ravenloft game is "make" players read Vampire of The Mists. I keep five extra copies of the book to loan out.

Since the book is the first in the RL series, it has to establish the world to readers who've never played D&D. So, it has the high-fantasy sword & sorcery elements from the Forgotten Realms prologue which is contrasted to the gothic elements of Ravenloft. Then, the odd nature of the world is communicated via the Mists and Jander Sunstar's conversion from standard D&D vampire to a Ravenloft vampire. Plus, the novel captures the tone of Ravenloft perfectly. And, of course, it features one of the greatest villains in the D&D stable: Strahd.

Using Vampire of The Mists as an introduction immediately immerses players into the world, gets them invested in it, and ramps up enthusiasm for playing. Plus, it makes the DMs job of establishing the world and its tone MUCH easier. Even though new characters may not know Strahd, you know the players do when they say "Oh, sh*t!" at their first encounter with him.

[Bluebomber4evr]

The idea of RL versions of the inner planes to visit would be very cool.

A field of endless open graves, would be an interesting place to visit, with tons of grave elemental gravediggers.

No offense, but I always found that idea to be rather silly. The dread elementals are iffy as it is, but they can work as being corrupted by the demiplane--but an elemental plane of blood is kind of pushing it. I mean, whose blood is it anyway? And who'd be buried in all those graves?

[cure]

The idea of RL versions of the inner planes to visit would be very cool.

A field of endless open graves, would be an interesting place to visit, with tons of grave elemental gravediggers.

No offense, but I always found that idea to be rather silly. The dread elementals are iffy as it is, but they can work as being corrupted by the demiplane--but an elemental plane of blood is kind of pushing it. I mean, whose blood is it anyway? And who'd be buried in all those graves?

I too think it is a rather dubious idea insofar as it is cosmology or at least standard cosmology. But as a sort of quasi-reality fusing dreamstuff and shadowstuff it has some appeal. Or put differently, we would not be dealing with the elemental foundations of existence, but rather with thematic echoes of the plane of dread itself. Among other consequences, rather than being infinite, these echoes would be finite and perhaps very small indeed. Or least escaping them would involve discovering that they are very small rather than the endless expanses that they masqueade at being.

[WolfKook]

The idea of RL versions of the inner planes to visit would be very cool.
A field of endless open graves, would be an interesting place to visit, with tons of grave elemental gravediggers.

No offense, but I always found that idea to be rather silly. The dread elementals are iffy as it is, but they can work as being corrupted by the demiplane--but an elemental plane of blood is kind of pushing it. I mean, whose blood is it anyway? And who'd be buried in all those graves?

I kind of agree... An endless sea of blood, an endless field of graves... They sound as interesting places for the PCs to visit... In their nightmares. Having dread-elemental-planes, OTOH, sounds kind of over-the-top (However, I kind of like the idea of submarine travelers going through areas of blood instead of mists when they go to another domain)

I guess, however, that the dread-elemental-planes could work for 3E-spawned young D&D players whose RL characters have reached enough levels that the simple core is not enough for them (Have anyone considered to make the level progression slower?). Off course, in that order of ideas, those planes should be terrible!

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

2 setting books sound about right given that WotC love to milk everything they can out of a setting. everyone will need the core book and all the DM's will need the DM book.