General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
Keen! I'm a fan. I like the idea of Ravenloft's domains being in the Shadowfell. Significantly unnatural, but close enough to the mortal world to allow accidental mist-slippage.
Though this does mean that 4e's treatment of Ravenloft is likely to be "side-quest" oriented and not "campaign setting" oriented, I'm pretty okay with that.
Yay! This bodes very well for the book, very well indeed.
Everyone sees Ravenloft of course... but the mist and having to beat a curse to escape makes me thing of Chateau d'Amber (Castle Amber), the module for BECMI D&D.
Perhaps I'll do a 4E conversion of that one - always a favorite.
__________________ I'm one of the lucky ones. I married a "gamer-girl."
"Build 'em like a powergamer, but play 'em like a roleplayer." - firesnakearies
I liked what I read. Manual of the Planes and Deities and Demigods are two books that I consider important to my game. I love mythology and planer travel has always interested me sense before Planescape.
What were the hints for Spelljammer? The Astral Sea?
Yep. Likely it won't be quite the same as the old Spelljammer, but a number of people are starting to talk about the Astral Sea being the sky that they see from 'The World'.. add in ships and you definitely have the concept of 'sailing through the sky' even if gone in a different direction. Same could be said for removing the blood war from planescape and making Ravenloft a bunch of little islands within the shadowfell.
Color me excited (I believe that's a variant of fuschia). Can't wait to get my hands on this book.
While I would have loved separate books for each major plane (feywild, shadowfell, astral sea, Elemental chaos, etc..) seeing how much info could be crammed in, I'm equally happy to get a book with everything all at once (nothing like running a game in the shadowfell, only to have the feywild book coming out first).
Ktulu
__________________ "..Death greets me warm; Now I will just say goodbye.."
Color me excited (I believe that's a variant of fuschia). Can't wait to get my hands on this book.
While I would have loved separate books for each major plane (feywild, shadowfell, astral sea, Elemental chaos, etc..) seeing how much info could be crammed in, I'm equally happy to get a book with everything all at once (nothing like running a game in the shadowfell, only to have the feywild book coming out first).
Ktulu
I'm hoping their plan is everything in the MoTP with extra coolness being added through the DDI. (and maybe a MoTP II at some point...)
I think what generally has me the most excited about this is a sense that they figured out that they weren't doing anyone any favors by having 'special cases'. People don't go to the planes so they can fumble around in the deep ethereal. They have all this old IP so why not put it out there as default from the start so they don't have to strain to flesh it out later on.
This has me pretty excited. I like how the Shadowfell is shaping up, conceptually.
The Domains of Dread are great for multiple reasons. Most important of these is the fact you can do adventure, story arc or campaigns built around them. Very cool.
People don't go to the planes so they can fumble around in the deep ethereal.
Speak for yourself
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They have all this old IP so why not put it out there as default from the start so they don't have to strain to flesh it out later on.
There's a difference I think between say, the 3e Manual of the Planes introducing a sort of Planescape-lite for its edition, and the 4e Manual of the Planes shoehorning a stilted version of Ravenloft into its edition. The 'domains of dread' don't feel the same to me, stripped out of context as they are, presented in the 4e MotP excerpt.
The level of detail also seems to be less than the 3e MotP, which was already slimmed down as it was an edition prior to now, but I can't say that I'm all too terribly surprised given the design focus of 4e to this point. Still hoping to be surprised by something awesome and planar, but so far not seeing anything that really sparks my imagination (and they're capable of it I know, given how much I adored Cordell's 2e 'Guide to the Ethereal' especially the deep ethereal, which apparently nobody goes to fumble around in.)
__________________ "I can just see the 4e adventure anthology "Tale from the Limited Staircase"." - Ken Marable
Is this one on the "pay" side of DDI? I have this thing where when I go to the link, I see a brief flash of the page, then the content in the middle (black text on white background) disappears and all I see is a wide gray strip where it should be.
There's a difference I think between say, the 3e Manual of the Planes introducing a sort of Planescape-lite for its edition, and the 4e Manual of the Planes shoehorning a stilted version of Ravenloft into its edition. The 'domains of dread' don't feel the same to me, stripped out of context as they are, presented in the 4e MotP excerpt.
Is it really stilted and shoehorned to someone who's never actually experienced the original Ravenloft Campaign setting though?
There's a difference I think between say, the 3e Manual of the Planes introducing a sort of Planescape-lite for its edition, and the 4e Manual of the Planes shoehorning a stilted version of Ravenloft into its edition. The 'domains of dread' don't feel the same to me, stripped out of context as they are, presented in the 4e MotP excerpt.
I feel certain I'm going to regret asking this -- but how so? Sure, there's not much detail on what the domains are, but what's so horrible about saying "there are mysterious and unknown demiplanes out there which cannot be escaped; they tend to be solipsistic about a single dark point, which can provide a clue or method for escape". Sure, it doesn't sketch them out; given that it doesn't provide detail to what those Nuggets of Evil are, just that they exist... what's wrong?
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Originally Posted by Shemeska
The level of detail also seems to be less than the 3e MotP, which was already slimmed down as it was an edition prior to now, but I can't say that I'm all too terribly surprised given the design focus of 4e to this point. Still hoping to be surprised by something awesome and planar, but so far not seeing anything that really sparks my imagination
I dunno. I didn't find a lot in this excerpt to fire my imagination, but how long is the book + how much is in it? I imagine that the entry-page entries for _all_ of the planes will be tedious & skippable for me, but the sites of interest and so on will prove more entertaining. I'll have to see
The detail doesn't seem so far down from 3e, which was fairly condensed and spotty in places anyway. We'll see, though; it's entirely possible you're right.
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Originally Posted by Shemeska
(and they're capable of it I know, given how much I adored Cordell's 2e 'Guide to the Ethereal' especially the deep ethereal, which apparently nobody goes to fumble around in.)
<common misconception>isn't the deep ethereal empty?</common misconception>
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