Café de Nuit

I made an STL file for Nathan's steamboat The Virago. In the Evil Eye adventure it is described as a 50ft scow or river schooner but in the Black Box Nathan's portrait in the Portrait cards is on a steamboat. Since steamboats are described in the 3e Gazetteers sailing the Musarde I decided to make the Virago into a steamboat. This is for the upcomming Arkandale Gazetteer which I started a few years ago but stopped when my computer crashed. I will take that disk for file recovery in a few weeks so I hope I will be able to retrieve all my Ravenloft lost files. Here is a taste of what I am about to print in a few days. I am pausing the Great Colosseum of Lekar for a bit to see if the files I made for the Virago are OK.

Amazing work! I would like to print it someday.

Lucius wrote: Wed Sep 03, 2025 10:26 pm Amazing work! I would like to print it someday.

Thanks!
I have to add sails to the masts and magnet positions to the floors so that it can move as one if need to.
This is how the plain version (without the ships name, finished masts and sliced wheels) will look like (also the deck double door is missing from these pics)

Just as an aside, there are steamboats in 2e as well, namely the S.S. Bonniville from "The Sea Wolf," an adventure cut from Chilling Tales and published instead in Dragon #55. It's a sternwheeler that runs from Martira Bay to Mordentshire with stops at Ludendorf and Port-a-Lucine. It would be a good-sized riverboat at 200 feet long and 38 feet wide, but there were bigger ones historically (and River Dancer is larger as well, although IIRC it ran on magic).

The Dark wrote: Sun Sep 07, 2025 4:17 pmS.S. Bonniville from "The Sea Wolf," an adventure cut from Chilling Tales and published instead in Dragon #55. It's a sternwheeler that runs from Martira Bay to Mordentshire with stops at Ludendorf and Port-a-Lucine.

Yes I am planning to use this adventure though it will take place on the Musarde, travelling from Mortigny to Karina via Arkandale. Since the captain didn't pay Nathan for protection he has a small furry problem on his ship.

I hope the file recovery goes well, Mephisto! It's nice to read your work so any chance you have to get back to it intact would be lovely for you, I'm sure!

Speedwagon wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 7:47 pm I hope the file recovery goes well, Mephisto! It's nice to read your work so any chance you have to get back to it intact would be lovely for you, I'm sure!

Thanks!

That steamboat is awesome... but I am not 100% on board (heh, heh, heh) that steamboats should be used in Arkandale. For starters, who is repairing these things? Steamboats of the 1700s were hard to fix I think. Dementlieu may have some but how Nathan got his?

That said: If you want a steamboat, then steamboat it is, and my comments should not detract from the effort you put for this one. I really like it.

alhoon wrote: Wed Sep 10, 2025 1:50 am That steamboat is awesome... but I am not 100% on board (heh, heh, heh) that steamboats should be used in Arkandale. For starters, who is repairing these things? Steamboats of the 1700s were hard to fix I think. Dementlieu may have some but how Nathan got his?

That said: If you want a steamboat, then steamboat it is, and my comments should not detract from the effort you put for this one. I really like it.

Nathan originates from Mordent (an advanced domain) and he has been traveling the domains before becoming a darklord. The Musarde river has steamboats as mentioned in Gazetteer III p. 83.

Also I have made the Virago a mixture of dark science/magic and a curse.

My concept for Arkandale is that it used to be an advanced domain (CL 10 Enlightment if not CL 9) in its false history, but due to its small population, its "recent" false history as well as the werewolves controlling most of everything it stayed stale with no further advancements.

I decided on this due to Alfred Timothy's hate for humans and probably his abhorrence for technology mirrored by his backdrop domain, so during the Grand Conjunction the lands of Arkandale were ravaged by tornados and storms destroying almost everything and killing many, this event is known as Wrath of the Wolf God or something like that, cementing more the Cult of the Wolf God and Alfred's power in those lands.

Hmmm... in short, you see Arkandale as "the forests - with their few loggers on the periphery of what was a 18th century place"
Well, I don't think you have to adjust a lot. I doubt a 18th century login cabin or a small forest village of 12 houses was that different in culture or technology from a 13th century one.

alhoon wrote: Wed Sep 10, 2025 5:56 pm Hmmm... in short, you see Arkandale as "the forests - with their few loggers on the periphery of what was a 18th century place"
Well, I don't think you have to adjust a lot. I doubt a 18th century login cabin or a small forest village of 12 houses was that different in culture or technology from a 13th century one.

Νot that small, you 'll see when its ready.

Lucius wrote: Wed Sep 03, 2025 10:26 pm Amazing work! I would like to print it someday.

READY!!!

You can download for free the STL files from the following link.
Happy printing!
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7160803

I will soon upload some pics too.