Resident Evil in Ravenloft?
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2025 12:37 pm
Would it be an absolute travesty to try to run an adaptation of the Spencer mansion as a Ravenloft adventure? I know that Res Evil isn't gothic horror, but I was hoping to use Toben the many in conjunction with a couple of "scientists" (a cancer mage from Book of Vile Darkness, and an alchemical philosopher form VRA) to create a kind of Toben's fun house. Basically treat the mansion like an island of terror, (not an oubliette because it would technically have a dark lord) and The Cancer mage was experimenting with modifying his viral ally, trying to give it the ability to control it's host. The dark powers reward him, but with Toben as the newly emerging consciousness of the disease. Realizing the potential of an ally that can infect and control a legion of soldiers, or even an entire populace, they either kidnap a good or persuade an evil alchemical philosopher into creating alchemical bodies for Toben to possess, though due to their alchemical nature, they break down quickly, and it begins to shatter Toben's sanity, corrupting the bond between Cancer mage and viral ally to put even the antagonists of the adventures at odds.
My plan is to try to use map assets and maybe a puzzle or two from the first resident Evil video game, and try to create that sense of survival horror with limited item availability, constrictive corridors that only allow for single file travel through them, firearms of course, and an absolute horde of Toben zombies, gleeful at their new playthings. Could even recreate the idea of a crimson head from the res evil games (a zombie that you kill but didn't headshot or burn that rises later as a much faster, clawed, frenzied kind of undead) maybe even have a plot twist that the party themselves are merely alchemical children, grown from the blood of a long since dead adventuring party that happened upon the mansion and failed to eradicate the evil within. So even if they do manage to escape, what life, what purpose do they even have? I guess that would make the themes of the adventures light body horror, the nature of consciousness; whether organic or synthetic, and some good ol fashioned gothic horror survival aesthetics.
Maybe I just really want to play out one of my fandoms in DnD, but I do really think there could be something there worth exploring. Definitely wouldn't make for a long form campaign, but as an origin story for the party, or even for Toben, it could work. Especially if you draw parallels to Toben and the Joker from batman as I think might have been intended, in that there was never just 1 Toben, but he is almost like an entity that arises again and again whenever the conditions are right for him to manifest in that age. (I know there was a vague backstory for him where he was a thief and he pissed off a Vistana, but that's kind of bland and formless, and he is too cool for such a humble beginning in my opinion)
Anyway, would love thoughts or feedback, and definitely have more information available if anyone is interested.
My plan is to try to use map assets and maybe a puzzle or two from the first resident Evil video game, and try to create that sense of survival horror with limited item availability, constrictive corridors that only allow for single file travel through them, firearms of course, and an absolute horde of Toben zombies, gleeful at their new playthings. Could even recreate the idea of a crimson head from the res evil games (a zombie that you kill but didn't headshot or burn that rises later as a much faster, clawed, frenzied kind of undead) maybe even have a plot twist that the party themselves are merely alchemical children, grown from the blood of a long since dead adventuring party that happened upon the mansion and failed to eradicate the evil within. So even if they do manage to escape, what life, what purpose do they even have? I guess that would make the themes of the adventures light body horror, the nature of consciousness; whether organic or synthetic, and some good ol fashioned gothic horror survival aesthetics.
Maybe I just really want to play out one of my fandoms in DnD, but I do really think there could be something there worth exploring. Definitely wouldn't make for a long form campaign, but as an origin story for the party, or even for Toben, it could work. Especially if you draw parallels to Toben and the Joker from batman as I think might have been intended, in that there was never just 1 Toben, but he is almost like an entity that arises again and again whenever the conditions are right for him to manifest in that age. (I know there was a vague backstory for him where he was a thief and he pissed off a Vistana, but that's kind of bland and formless, and he is too cool for such a humble beginning in my opinion)
Anyway, would love thoughts or feedback, and definitely have more information available if anyone is interested.
