How to use Van Richten in my campaign?

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

So I'm planning my campaign. I don't know a lot about Ravenloft lore yet (I don't have any books other than VRGtR yet so I'm trying to piece things together from our very confusing wiki), but I know enough to decide I love Rudolph. Bro's gonna be part of the story sooner or later.
But I'm not sure how.
Like, my first thought was to put him from the beginning as that wise old mentor who guides them through the mists. Have them look up to him at first, then gradually over the course of the adventure discover his darker and more tragic sides as recent events bring back horrors from his past. I already have in mind plots hooks.

But then I thought 'this must have already been done. Let's give it a twist'.
So I thought about this: let the campaign take place in the 750s or 760s. Have the party make its way on its own or be mentored by another NPC, and hear of Dr. Van Richten as of that legendary figure, the amazing monster hunter that did so many important things - but mysteriously dissapeared a few years ago. Make his absence and his legacy felt in every place where people try to strike back against the darkness (and not always positively. Some NPCs will be suspicious of adventurers and prejuidced against them, considering Rudolph 'the worst of their kind' despite probably owing their lives to him, and some of his fellow monster hunters will note that with all due respect he could be obssessive and ruthless at times. Maybe at some point the party will have to save a village from a dread golem, only to find out it was built by local teens who found all of the instructions in 'Van Richten's Guide to The Created' and wonder who's the fool who wrote a guide to hunting dangerous constructs that also explains exactly how to make them.)
Take them at first through a few more 'monster of the week' style arcs, then start forshadowing about a bigger threat: The Time of Unparalleled Darkness is coming sooner than we thought, giving the adventure a more epic 'saving the world' turn. Then, at the 2/3 of the campaign, their quest leads them to Bleak House, where they hear from the ghosts his full backstory, face some challenges, and at last find Rudolph himself, now a Reborn (a type of sentient undead found as a racial option in VRGtR) - non-hostile and clearly preserving some of his old personality, but the memories of his past life bleary, including much of his knowledge. He will have an important role in the victory, but by then, instead of him mentoring the characters, they (at that point already accomplished heroes) will have to protect and update him.

I love both options. What do you think will be best for campaign that would be our first-ever in Ravenloft, both for me and for the rest of the party?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

The complaint about the Guide to the Created also being a "how-to" guide was made by Agatha Clairmont of the Divinity of Mankind in Paridon. So that could be a useful link.

It could also be interesting to have a recurring villain, a monster, that keeps causing trouble and getting away because it also read the van Richten Guides, and used them to compensate for its weaknesses and anticipate the actions of hunters.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Thanks for reminding me Agatha's name. Can you tell me more about her?
Cause I saw that complaint randomly mentioned while browsing Mistipedia, no context added, and I thought 'well, here's a funny plot hook if I ever saw one'...

[Rock of the Fraternity]

She's a LN Cleric/Monk/Alchemical Philosopher of the Divinity of Mankind, uniting the body, mind and soul-aspects.
She appears Shadow of the Knife, I think, and is statted out in Van Richten's Arsenal.
While helpful to the Weathermay-Foxgrove sisters, she's very much a human supremacist who sees other intelligent species as 'advanced animals'. She is against constructs, especially after the events of Shadow of the Knife, and never forgave van Richten for publishing his Guide to the Created. Too many people used it as a "how-to" guide, in her opinion, to justify its utility to those who would fight dread constructs.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

She's a LN Cleric/Monk/Alchemical Philosopher of the Divinity of Mankind, uniting the body, mind and soul-aspects.
She appears Shadow of the Knife, I think, and is statted out in Van Richten's Arsenal.
While helpful to the Weathermay-Foxgrove sisters, she's very much a human supremacist who sees other intelligent species as 'advanced animals'. She is against constructs, especially after the events of Shadow of the Knife, and never forgave van Richten for publishing his Guide to the Created. Too many people used it as a "how-to" guide, in her opinion, to justify its utility to those who would fight dread constructs.

Fascinating.

[The Dark]

One of the oddities with Van Richten in 2e is how much of a menace he is. The various Van Richten's Guides have him as the lone survivor of multiple TPKs, and Chilling Tales is full of Van Richten making mistakes. Even Bleak House starts with the party rescuing Van Richten when one of his plans goes disastrously wrong.

Dragon Annual #3 (1998) had an Investigator kit for Ravenloft whose special ability I'd borrow for Van Richten. Any time they hear local legends about the supernatural, they have a 1% chance per level of knowing relevant information off the top of their head, and a 5% chance per level if they can consult their personal library. For Van Richten (who ranges from 3rd level in the Black Box to 10th level in Bleak House), this reflects how he starts out enthusiastic but uninformed and gradually becomes more knowledgeable but still often has incomplete or incorrect knowledge, and if his plan goes wrong it's often a disaster if he has to adapt on the fly. Basically, when he's right he can be a font of useful information, but when he's wrong he'll tell the party to load up on things that the target is immune to.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

One of the oddities with Van Richten in 2e is how much of a menace he is. The various Van Richten's Guides have him as the lone survivor of multiple TPKs, and Chilling Tales is full of Van Richten making mistakes. Even Bleak House starts with the party rescuing Van Richten when one of his plans goes disastrously wrong.

Dragon Annual #3 (1998) had an Investigator kit for Ravenloft whose special ability I'd borrow for Van Richten. Any time they hear local legends about the supernatural, they have a 1% chance per level of knowing relevant information off the top of their head, and a 5% chance per level if they can consult their personal library. For Van Richten (who ranges from 3rd level in the Black Box to 10th level in Bleak House), this reflects how he starts out enthusiastic but uninformed and gradually becomes more knowledgeable but still often has incomplete or incorrect knowledge, and if his plan goes wrong it's often a disaster if he has to adapt on the fly. Basically, when he's right he can be a font of useful information, but when he's wrong he'll tell the party to load up on things that the target is immune to.

Wow, this is an important warning.
In his defence, the multiple TPKs could be attributed to his curse, but...
Like, every tip I found earlier was about how smart and well-prepared he's supposed to be. It's nice to know he can be a dumbass too once in a while. (I'm cracking out laughing right now)

[The Dark]

I had to go find the write-up of Chilling Tales that I was trying to remember. Over the course of the book:

1. He falls for an obvious set of lies because of how much he hates the Vistani.
2. He decides a ghost is a harmless poltergeist and leaves the PCs to handle it.
3. He murders and decapitates three innocent bards after being tricked by a vassalich's illusions.
4. While hunting lycanthropes, he sees three people being attacked by wolves. Despite their clothes being ripped but them being completely uninjured by the wolves, he decides to trust them.
5. He gets kidnapped going alone into a back room to see "magical monster-hunting items."
6. During a hospital stay, he falls in love with a vampire nurse. He decides to lure the vampire into an ambush by hiring three goons and equipping them with non-magical weapons.
7. He goes to Har'Akir to pick up a magic item. When some slaves escape, he suggests the PCs go recapture them, then stays where he is to eat dinner while they confront the villain.
8. When arriving at a town surrounded by a weird shimmering haze and full of soldiers imprisoning people who break bizarre laws, he decides to march into the mayor's office and confront him (an old friend) about what's going on rather than investigate. He's promptly captured by the fiend-possessed mayor.

Surprisingly, The Sea Wolf (an adventure cut from Chilling Tales and placed in Dungeon #55 for space reasons) only has a minor foolishness in that Van Richten hires the PCs to be his bodyguards on a trip in case someone he helped imprison years ago tries to get revenge; the person in question died in prison a year earlier and has no bearing on the adventure (but neither does Van Richten).

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I had to go find the write-up of Chilling Tales that I was trying to remember. Over the course of the book:

1. He falls for an obvious set of lies because of how much he hates the Vistani.
2. He decides a ghost is a harmless poltergeist and leaves the PCs to handle it.
3. He murders and decapitates three innocent bards after being tricked by a vassalich's illusions.
4. While hunting lycanthropes, he sees three people being attacked by wolves. Despite their clothes being ripped but them being completely uninjured by the wolves, he decides to trust them.
5. He gets kidnapped going alone into a back room to see "magical monster-hunting items."
6. During a hospital stay, he falls in love with a vampire nurse. He decides to lure the vampire into an ambush by hiring three goons and equipping them with non-magical weapons.
7. He goes to Har'Akir to pick up a magic item. When some slaves escape, he suggests the PCs go recapture them, then stays where he is to eat dinner while they confront the villain.
8. When arriving at a town surrounded by a weird shimmering haze and full of soldiers imprisoning people who break bizarre laws, he decides to march into the mayor's office and confront him (an old friend) about what's going on rather than investigate. He's promptly captured by the fiend-possessed mayor.

Surprisingly, The Sea Wolf (an adventure cut from Chilling Tales and placed in Dungeon #55 for space reasons) only has a minor foolishness in that Van Richten hires the PCs to be his bodyguards on a trip in case someone he helped imprison years ago tries to get revenge; the person in question died in prison a year earlier and has no bearing on the adventure (but neither does Van Richten).

[The Dark]

One caveat - in the 2e timeline, van Richten vanishes in 750 during the Bleak House affair. He's 79 when that happens (born in 671). He's 4 years older than "Old Lord Jules" Weathermay.

A couple other people worth thinking about as well:

George Weathermay - an early companion of Van Richten's, who split ways with him to get revenge on a werewolf that seduced him and attacked his nieces. In 2e, he fell from Ranger to Fighter because he slaughtered the werewolf's entire family to try to get information on where she was, including children (2e Rangers had to be Good). Born in 709.

The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins - Laurie (a Fighter) and Gennifer (a Mage). The aforementioned nieces. In 3e continuity, they take over Van Richten's herbalist shop, network, and writings after his death. Born in 731. The twins are in the 5e Ravenloft. There's a mild implication in 5e that George has stopped adventuring or vanished or died or something, since Laurie has his sword, and I believe Gennifer was changed to a druid. All of them were active in 3e.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

One caveat - in the 2e timeline, van Richten vanishes in 750 during the Bleak House affair. He's 79 when that happens (born in 671). He's 4 years older than "Old Lord Jules" Weathermay.

A couple other people worth thinking about as well:

George Weathermay - an early companion of Van Richten's, who split ways with him to get revenge on a werewolf that seduced him and attacked his nieces. In 2e, he fell from Ranger to Fighter because he slaughtered the werewolf's entire family to try to get information on where she was, including children (2e Rangers had to be Good). Born in 709.

The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins - Laurie (a Fighter) and Gennifer (a Mage). The aforementioned nieces. In 3e continuity, they take over Van Richten's herbalist shop, network, and writings after his death. Born in 731. The twins are in the 5e Ravenloft. There's a mild implication in 5e that George has stopped adventuring or vanished or died or something, since Laurie has his sword, and I believe Gennifer was changed to a druid. All of them were active in 3e.

I know, but thanks for summing it up.

[Jeremy16]

One caveat - in the 2e timeline, van Richten vanishes in 750 during the Bleak House affair. He's 79 when that happens (born in 671). He's 4 years older than "Old Lord Jules" Weathermay.

A couple other people worth thinking about as well:

George Weathermay - an early companion of Van Richten's, who split ways with him to get revenge on a werewolf that seduced him and attacked his nieces. In 2e, he fell from Ranger to Fighter because he slaughtered the werewolf's entire family to try to get information on where she was, including children (2e Rangers had to be Good). Born in 709.

The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins - Laurie (a Fighter) and Gennifer (a Mage). The aforementioned nieces. In 3e continuity, they take over Van Richten's herbalist shop, network, and writings after his death. Born in 731. The twins are in the 5e Ravenloft. There's a mild implication in 5e that George has stopped adventuring or vanished or died or something, since Laurie has his sword, and I believe Gennifer was changed to a druid. All of them were active in 3e.

Not to toot my own horn, but there is a group of heroes I wrote up in this year's QTR (The Bright Triad) that could serve as alternative guides / mentors. I know Van Richten, and to a lesser extent Alanik Ray, are strong archetypes that have survived thru every edition of the game, but I felt like the campaign setting could use more good supernatural investigators thrown into the mix.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

One caveat - in the 2e timeline, van Richten vanishes in 750 during the Bleak House affair. He's 79 when that happens (born in 671). He's 4 years older than "Old Lord Jules" Weathermay.

A couple other people worth thinking about as well:

George Weathermay - an early companion of Van Richten's, who split ways with him to get revenge on a werewolf that seduced him and attacked his nieces. In 2e, he fell from Ranger to Fighter because he slaughtered the werewolf's entire family to try to get information on where she was, including children (2e Rangers had to be Good). Born in 709.

The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins - Laurie (a Fighter) and Gennifer (a Mage). The aforementioned nieces. In 3e continuity, they take over Van Richten's herbalist shop, network, and writings after his death. Born in 731. The twins are in the 5e Ravenloft. There's a mild implication in 5e that George has stopped adventuring or vanished or died or something, since Laurie has his sword, and I believe Gennifer was changed to a druid. All of them were active in 3e.

Not to toot my own horn, but there is a group of heroes I wrote up in this year's QTR (The Bright Triad) that could serve as alternative guides / mentors. I know Van Richten, and to a lesser extent Alanik Ray, are strong archetypes that have survived thru every edition of the game, but I felt like the campaign setting could use more good supernatural investigators thrown into the mix.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I had to go find the write-up of Chilling Tales that I was trying to remember. Over the course of the book:

This is an amazing recap list!!!

[The Dark]

One caveat - in the 2e timeline, van Richten vanishes in 750 during the Bleak House affair. He's 79 when that happens (born in 671). He's 4 years older than "Old Lord Jules" Weathermay.

A couple other people worth thinking about as well:

George Weathermay - an early companion of Van Richten's, who split ways with him to get revenge on a werewolf that seduced him and attacked his nieces. In 2e, he fell from Ranger to Fighter because he slaughtered the werewolf's entire family to try to get information on where she was, including children (2e Rangers had to be Good). Born in 709.

The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins - Laurie (a Fighter) and Gennifer (a Mage). The aforementioned nieces. In 3e continuity, they take over Van Richten's herbalist shop, network, and writings after his death. Born in 731. The twins are in the 5e Ravenloft. There's a mild implication in 5e that George has stopped adventuring or vanished or died or something, since Laurie has his sword, and I believe Gennifer was changed to a druid. All of them were active in 3e.

Not to toot my own horn, but there is a group of heroes I wrote up in this year's QTR (The Bright Triad) that could serve as alternative guides / mentors. I know Van Richten, and to a lesser extent Alanik Ray, are strong archetypes that have survived thru every edition of the game, but I felt like the campaign setting could use more good supernatural investigators thrown into the mix.

One idea I've also had is pulling together a list of the various people (that aren't explicitly said to be dead) that are mentioned as having interests in different topics that monster hunters would be interested in. Examples would include Lord Balfour de Casteelle or Perseyus Lathenna for general magic, Fennelstock for magic items, Dr. Alexander Penarrow for Mistways, S. H. Williby for shapeshifters, etc. They might not necessarily be adventuring companions, but they could be useful correspondents for a party that doesn't have a member knowledgeable in a particular field. Many (but not all) are probably under the "The Van Richten Society" category in Mistipedia.