D&D General Ravenloft: Monsters vs Darklords

[Paul Farquhar]

Ravenloft is not the only way to run Gothic horror D&D.

It was before the boxed set though. The original Ravenloft modules were both Gothic, and it's the way I like my Ravenloft.

Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud reading Ravenloft material, especially all those hilarious novels back in the 90s.

They were hilariously bad. Far worse than Hammer. But sure, the authors clearly hadn't got the joke.

It's pretty clear to me that you just don't care for Ravenloft as a setting.

I love Ravenloft, I'm running a Ravenloft Campaign at the moment. But I love the original version, that VGR made a pretty good stab at getting back too, not the terrible misrepresentation that was the 2nd edition boxed set.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you go to Massachusetts and interact with no one from Massachusetts and experience none of the culture of Massachusetts, did you experience Massachusetts?

I've never been to Massachusetts, but I hear it has spectacular scenery. So I would have to say "yes" to that.

 

[Minigiant]

It was before the boxed set though. The original Ravenloft modules were both Gothic, and it's the way I like my Ravenloft

It's not the only way though. Not today. Not with Today's WOTC that converts their MTG settings to D&D setting and officially props up 3PP setting on DNDB.

There are more was to run horror today in major circles. So Ravenloft cannot revert back to being a generic horror setting or it loses all meaning.

That is unless y'all what Ravenloft to become like ... err... Forgotten Realms.... and become a lore bloated mass of grey nothing that needs a reset every 15 years.

 

[Shardstone]

The darklords are just...so cool

 

[Remathilis]

Please tone down the edition debate. This is supposed to be for fans of all versions of the setting.

 

[Bedrockgames]

There are more was to run horror today in major circles. So Ravenloft cannot revert back to being a generic horror setting or it loses all meaning.

I don't think Ravenloft ever had a generic horror feel. When it came out, it was not in step with the horror of the time, it was very much a throw back to earlier forms of horror. I mean it took them ages to incorporate stuff like Halloween as an influence and even then it did so through flesh golems in a way that felt true to the setting (if you look at the black box for example the language is very anti-slasher, anti-modern horror movie). And I say that as I was a kid who loved the horror movies that were coming out at that time, but I also appreciated the classic and gothic horror that Ravenloft was shooting for (which was much more rooted in the soundstage era of horror in terms of film and more gothic)

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Ravenloft is not Innistrad or other gothic horror setting by 3PPs because it is a cursed realm where the mysterious and unknown Dark Powers seem to enjoy causing psychological torment to the dark lords. In my opinion The dark lords have at their disposal the means to achieve redemption and free themselves from their torments, but blinded by their vices and sins they reject them, and for my point of view it makes them even more monstrous.

Some dark lords should pay for their crimes, but the D&D is full of worse people who haven't become dark lords. Are they punished because they were criminals in a previous life? But in the D&D there isn't reincarnation, is there?

Some times I miss in Ravenloft some touch of palace intrigue, like a gothic horror version of Games of Thrones, with some touchs of "World of Darkness". (But if you add too many supernatural factions then there aren't enough "preys" for those "supernatural predators").

The plot created by the DM shouldn't be easy to be guessed by the players. These shouldn't know what will be the future menace.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I've never been to Massachusetts, but I hear it has spectacular scenery. So I would have to say "yes" to that.

It does, the coats are lovely and feel like something out of Lovecraft. Beautiful forests as well inland. And lots of historical buildings

EDIT: Coats should be coasts (though we do also have lovely coats)

 

[Bedrockgames]

It was before the boxed set though. The original Ravenloft modules were both Gothic, and it's the way I like my Ravenloft.

That is fair. I can see how it would have an influence

They were hilariously bad. Far worse than Hammer. But sure, the authors clearly hadn't got the joke.

Many of them certainly don't stand the test of time. But they recruited some good writers for them as the line went on. And some stood out. Others were what you might expect from TSR era novels. Knight of the Black Rose is a book that stood out to me (I haven't read it in a while but I do recall that one really holding my attention). The sequel was also quite good. I Strahd was pretty good too (obviously the writer was limited by the subject matter though). And I recall liking Tapestry of Souls. Also I read a lot of horror novels in the 90s. There was a ton of trashy horror at that time all over the place (especially vampire books which were pretty huge). Sometimes though they were just good for helping bring a domain to life as a GM (I read Heart of Midnight soley because I wanted to have a more fleshed out sense of Kartakass).

One book I remember really not liking was Mordenheim and I think it suffered from what a lot of TSR novels suffered from which was liberalizing setting and mechanical conceits (a good example of this is the forgotten realms books, Drizzt being told by a character "You're a ranger" when Drizzt is on a path of self discovery after leaving the under dark---that intrusion of the mechanic class into the story always felt weird to me). In Mordenheim the book has to justify his doubts about magic even though evidence of it is presented to him, and he starts calling it the 'new science'.

I love Ravenloft, I'm running a Ravenloft Campaign at the moment. But I love the original version, that VGR made a pretty good stab at getting back too, not the terrible misrepresentation that was the 2nd edition boxed set.

Oh man, I love the black box. The red box was good too, but for met hat first black box, realm of terror is what defined Ravenloft and it is what I look for in Ravenloft

 

[Micah Sweet]

It was before the boxed set though. The original Ravenloft modules were both Gothic, and it's the way I like my Ravenloft.

They were hilariously bad. Far worse than Hammer. But sure, the authors clearly hadn't got the joke.

I love Ravenloft, I'm running a Ravenloft Campaign at the moment. But I love the original version, that VGR made a pretty good stab at getting back too, not the terrible misrepresentation that was the 2nd edition boxed set.

I feel the complete opposite. I loved the 2e version and the 3e continuation, more than the original module, and much more than the (IMO, just like your opinion above) the terrible misrepresentation that was VGR.