Expidition to Castle Ravenloft - Spoilers and Answers

[Cam Banks]

And that's where that stands.

Why are we still debating this?

I think we've all pretty much come to the same conclusion, strange as that may sound.

Cheers,
Cam
PS: The Fiendish Codex is wrong. Everyone knows the book is full of errors. Ask John Cooper.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(humor)

None of this is relevant.
What IS relevant are the following questions:

Which place would you rather have to escape from? Castle Ravenloft, or Castle Dargaard?
Who would you rather not get on the bad side of? Count Von Strahd, or Lord Soth?
And who would your exalted character better prefer to capture and convert to good alignment under the exalted rules? Count Von Strahd, or Lord Soth? (assuming the DM allows both as options.)

And finally ...

Who would you rather meet up with after you emerge victorious from your adventure?
Strahd's infuriated vampiric maid (very beautiful girl, that one) out to kill you for destroying her master?
Or a group of merry kender who wish to give everybody big hugs (with the subsequent result and NO saving throw) ?

 

[Cam Banks]

Here's an on-topic question:

Is Ismarck the Lesser in the new adventure? I know Ireena is, but what about her dour and overprotective brother?

Cheers,
Cam

 

[BOZ]

The Fiendish Codex is wrong. Everyone knows the book is full of errors. Ask John Cooper.

he did a review?

 

[Cam Banks]

he did a review?

Yes, here.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[takasi]

In an earlier thread someone suggested using this book to create a survival horror D&D game similar to Cthulu. What level would you recommend starting your players at to make the game extremely dangerous yet also playable? What percentage of encounters would you say allow players to avoid or escape combat?

 

[Swedish Chef]

Here's an on-topic question:

Is Ismarck the Lesser in the new adventure? I know Ireena is, but what about her dour and overprotective brother?

Cheers,
Cam

Yes, he has been updated to 3.5 as well.

 

[Swedish Chef]

In an earlier thread someone suggested using this book to create a survival horror D&D game similar to Cthulu. What level would you recommend starting your players at to make the game extremely dangerous yet also playable? What percentage of encounters would you say allow players to avoid or escape combat?

According to the module as written, there are three options for playing this module.

1) Long campaign. Start the players at about level 6 and they should be level 9/10 by the time they confront Strahd for the last time.

2) Short campaign. Start the players at about level 7/8. Again, they should be 9/10 by the time they confront Strahd for the last time.

3) One shot. Start them at level 9/10.

As I stated earlier, a number of the encounters are going to be very dangerous for the party. One potential encounter includes 1 annis hag, 2 advanced ogres and 10 (or 15, I don't remember off the top of my head) human/halfling rogues/fighters. That's going to be tough for a party of 4 LVL6 characters. To make it worse, if the annis hag escapes, the party will confront her later with 2 more advanced ogres and 2 hill giants. (My memory might be a little off on the total numbers - I'm at work and the module is at home). And the ogres/giants and annis hag all have the Power Attack feat, amongst others.

 

[teitan]

Which two books are those? The three campaign setting books he had stats in (Black Box, Red Box, and Domains of Dread)? The adventure module he was the central character in (When Black Roses Bloom)? The two novels and a short story he was in (Knight of the Black Rose, Spectre of the Black Rose, and "Rigor of the Game")? The gazetteer of Sithicus that talks covers Soth as the previous darklord of the domain (in Ravenloft Gazetteer Vol. IV)? All the other interconnected references to how Lord Soth influenced things in Ravenloft? Heck, even the crappy Iron & Blood Ravenloft video game had Soth in it.

I think you'll find a lot of designers who worked on Ravenloft that disagree with your statements.

Chris Nichols

Soth wasn't in the black box...

 

[takasi]

Thanks Swedish Chef!

What percentage of encounters would you say allow players to avoid or escape combat? I'd like to know if I could run a group of 7-8 players with 3rd-4th level characters that focus on avoiding combat as much as possible. Are most of the encounters "Go kill x to get y" or are there other ways of accomplishing campaign goals?