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I'm starting a ravenloft campagin soon and I was wondering what guidelines other dm's use (point buy, race/class restrictions, etc). Also since character background plays an important role in ravenloft what do you do to get your players to become more involved in the process and create characters beyond fighter bob who uses a long sword.

I don't use race/class restrictions, as long as the character has a good back story that can explain it. Also, I give the player a questionaire to fill out. Its fairly extensive, and fills up stuff from goals, typical non-adventuring day, to favorite foods. To encourage them to invest their time in this project, I offer experience points if it is well done, possibly a bonus feat if its really indepth.

I also explain that this questionaire allows me to make adventures that have focus on their character and ensure that they'll have something to do. After all, the more we know about the character, the better.

If your players are new to Ravenloft, it's probably a good idea to limit them to the setting's core races, and with a majority of humans. Where background is concerned, have them tell you which class they'd like to play, and then tell them a bit about the various nations which that class is most likely to arise from: giving them a sense of cultural flavor can go a long way to getting them thinking about personality (as opposed to dry statistics).

One reason first-time Ravenloft players are sometimes leery of creating a full background for their PCs is -- suspicious of the setting's reputation -- they're afraid you'll use it against them, e.g. by having the friends and/or relatives they concoct for their character turned into monsters. Reassure such players that you're more than capable of inventing your own NPCs to do such horrible things to, and that having allies from their past can be of great benefit to their characters. Then make good on that promise, by using the background-contacts as an avenue for providing information or resources to the PCs ("Werewolves...? Hmmm, I think my uncle told me about them once, let's go ask him!"), and likewise keep the monsters' mits off those same NPCs ... until you need to REALLY make the PCs mad at a major villain IYC.

Hi Chemist,
I started a ravenloft campaign about a year ago. It was my first ravenloft campaign ever and it goes really well.
To get the players involved in the character creation process I first told them a bit about ravenloft and then told them what sort of campaign I wanted to run. That way players who do not like your plans can back out or exert some influence.
I also gave them pretty stritc restrictions. They all had to play humans and they all had to come from Mordent. This way, they immediately feel some kinship with each other and feel closer connected to an area they know.
Then I gave them a small questionaire to fill out, to help them formulated some background. Important questions on that form are: Who are your friend, family and enemies? What is your reason for adventuring? Why did you choose this class. My players came up with very nice backgrounds. You can check out "jennifer's campaign" in the smoking room, read the introduction to see what they came up with.
Then I really used those backgrounds in my campaign. That is very important too, use the background your players come up with, so that their work was not for nothing.
It is also important to provide a background for your characters yourself. I started my players all in the same small village, where they had their families and had lived for a long time. The first few sessions had taken place in the village as well, so they felt really connected to their village. When danger threatens their village now, they rush back to check on their loved ones.

I hope this helped you.
Jennifer

I agree with the previous comments. More important than restrictions is conveying a sense of the Ravenloft you want to play. Once the DM and PC's are on the same page, you shouldn't have to worry too much about anything too wacky.

Part of me wants to say: Humans, 1/2 vistani and calibans only. Core classes plus those from RL books only. No necromancers, no paladins. No Evil alignments. But I know if I made those rules, I might miss out on some good characters. Better that I convey to the players how difficult the world can be for anyone who isn't (or can't pass for) human, and let them use that as a guide.

As with anything in DMing, it's always best that the players do what you want them to of their own volition, and not beacuse you forced them to.

No necromancers, no paladins. No Evil alignments. But I know if I made those rules, I might miss out on some good characters.

I think limiting characters too much can definetly hamper some of the great moments that you might have in your game. I started my game almost 2 years ago with a group who was mostly players who had never even role-played before. Because I didn't restrict thier character creation, several of them came up with some very interesting backgrounds that allowed me to weave a great plot for the campaign. For instance, one of the players chose to be a 1/2 elf Paladin. However, whether from laziness or wanting to creating something different, he chose to have his background be that he had amnesia and could only remember being found at a monestary where he began his training 10 years ago. The only distinctive thing that told him anything about his past was the fact his ears had the tips clipped off. Since it was left up to me I was able to create a tale of a half-elf who, ashamed of his heritage, used the Apparatus to try to seperate his human and elf halves. Instead it split his good and evil halves leaving the PC and an evil Blackguard who is DL of a new Island.

I allow anything, usually restriciton only frustrate the players. As for the history well if the character is to lazy to write is history I write one for him...

I'm a little nontraditional, and tend to like to "pump up" monster encounters to match powerful PCs rather than restrict the players on what they can play. I play more than I DM, but here are a few guidelines I typically use for Ravenloft:

1.) No evil alignments. Good is preferred, and neutral is okay, but the players have to explain exactly what they mean by "neutral." And most of the time, these characters end up failing Powers Checks and becoming evil anyway...

2.) No more than one encounter with a Darklord in any given campaign. The domain lords are too powerful (with rare exceptions), and it's my feeling that even the lowest-level darklords could barbecue the PCs if they're well-played.

3.) Islands of Terror--use them, use them, USE THEM! Can't stress this enough. I love the Core, but the islands have their own kind of fun (and can offer truly alien experiences, a la Kalidnay, Saragoss, and of course, Bluetspur).

A few thoughts--use or ignore as you will.

One of my pc's wants to play an avariel. He does good character backgrounds and such. Of course he could simply cast a fly spell and accomplish the same ends sans wings. But the whole flying elf thing doesnt sit well with me.

chemist wrote:One of my pc's wants to play an avariel. He does good character backgrounds and such. Of course he could simply cast a fly spell and accomplish the same ends sans wings. But the whole flying elf thing doesnt sit well with me.

Perhaps an escapee from the Carnival or something like that?

Given how out-of-touch Ravenloft natives are with the nature of other planes, and especially the Outer Planes, an avariel may actually discover that the natives mistake the winged elf for some kind of angel. This may only seem awkward (or even amusing) at first, but it's also likely that the PC would be mobbed by commoners begging for a dose of the "angel"'s presumed healing and/or protective powers, interrogated by suspicious agents of the Churchs of Ezra and the Lawgiver, and (worst of all) singled out as a potential political pawn by various powerful evil beings, darklords included. (What better way to convince the restless peasants you couldn't possibly be a vampire, than having an apparent angel standing firm [and dominated] at your side...?)

Hi all,
I too would find an avariel difficult to place within Ravenloft. A character that stands out like that is sure to attract way to much trouble. I agree with Rotipher. a character like that would be used by all who see him.

Perhaps you could use that though. allow the avariel and then let him become so tangled in politics that the character soon dies off or becomes unusable for play. I allowed the same in my campaign, Darien was a heartless wizard who had killed his own sister when he was younger. the other characters found out about it and tried to bring him to justice/ kill him outright, after which he was swallowed by the mists.

Jennifer

I only have a few guidelines:

1) At least a rudimentary backstory is a must. I make sure to tell players that having a more-than-rudimentary backstory is its own reward, because I always work character plot hooks into the campaign. That means that characters with complex backstories get all kinds of dramatic roleplaying opportunities, while characters who are fighter Bob with a longsword are frequently reduced to spectators.

2) I'm leery of most non-core classes (other than PrCs), but I'll allow some of them if there's a good enough story. I'm very leery of non-core races; I'd theoretically allow them, I suppose, but I haven't heard a good enough story for any of them yet. A lot of them strike me as overpowered and not terribly Ravenloft.

3) Only one caliban and one half-Vistani per party, since they're so rare. A whole party of gnomes can be explained by having them met in Mayvin, but three or four calibans is another matter entirely.

4) Absolutely no evil characters. I'm all for a dramatic character arc that eventually results in a character becoming evil, but characters who start out evil tend to become NPCs in the first three sessions and usually really disrupt the party.

Run your character idea by me first (usually just race,class, main goal or story of the character) -this is so I can prevent having 3 clerics of Ezra on the party (almost happened) and stop multiple half-vistani or calibans showing up as they're supposed to be rare as Dominique said.

Point buy -I like to think Ravenloft adventurers are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. So having the threat of huge stats from lucky rolls or a character with really weak stats they won't survive an hour isn't good for me. My games are campaigns with character focus, those character each need an equal chance and the same amount of time in the spotlight.

Answer some questions- those in the Ravenloft PHB are good enough

Write background- at least 3 pages

I have final say on your choice of feats -one character I was DMing only had combat feats (4 of them) so I persuaded him to drop one for a more 'story enhancing' feat. Usually though one's feat choice isn't that big a deal.

That's about it. Perhaps too stringent or perhaps not depending on your view. Evil isn't an issue as everyone in my group knows what happens to evil PCs, however they're actions are corrupting them and digging up old memories.

Other than this I'm pretty leniant on the character story and the character itself. However for my Ravenloft game I wanted a more 'real' feeling so crazy character ideas were not really on the table. A request for tragedy was put in by me and everyone has their own little secrets and painful past.

Coan wrote:Write background- at least 3 pages

Is that single or double spaced? How do you get your players to devote the time to write that much?