I would like to discuss how to run a Ravenloft campaign using 4E rules and cosmology, but before we get to the actual rule proposals I would like to discuss why PCs play in a Ravenloft campaign (rather than Core D&D). What’s the story being told? What’s the basic, universal story to Ravenloft campaigns? We need to answer that before we know what rules we’ll need, and what they’re supposed to achieve.
I think the discussion went too quickly into the rules proposals that you sought to discuss "later", and I think the OP's lack of control of the direction of the discussion has caused emotions/tempers to rise.
Getting to the original point, I'd have to say that the reason why people play in a Ravenloft game is the same reason they go see a scary movie--they want a good scare. They want to get involved, invest more in their characters than generating stats and picking skills and feats and proceeding to kill monsters. Sure you can go to a scary movie and not get scared and enjoy it, but when you start projecting yourself into the characters, you start to feel some of their tension and gradual horror.
Players want something like that out of a Ravenloft thing--not a "I'm trapped in Ravenloft, I've got to get out" kind of thing, as is suggested. First, that attitude is a little too meta-gamey. The only PCs outside of Ravenloft that would know anything about Ravenloft would be those from a Planescape type of setting, and even then not everyone knows about it. As far as anyone else is concerned, their world just got turned on its head, ala Twilight Zone/Tales from the Darkside.
There is no heroic journey, no epic destiny in Ravenloft. This isn't the kind of campaign for that sort of stuff unless you're shooting for something like a band of paladins "growing up" until they're capable of facing a darklord. But, in Ravenloft, by the time said paladins (or heroes, whatever) were prepared and able to face and defeat a darklord, they would have realized there would be more dire consequences to be had if the darklord was deposed or slain. As an example.
Perhaps the best way to state it is that in other D&D games, the end result is what is important; killing the dragon, saving the princess, leveling up and getting the new sword/artifact. In Ravenloft, its the journey that is the focus. The hero may win or lose, but in a Ravenloft game, its all about the choices that the hero made (or didn't make) along the way that matter.
As was mentioned recently, there is no 'universal' story/theme/whatever to a Ravenloft campaign. Its whatever the DM and Players agree upon. One Ravenloft DM will run a game far different from another. The adventures are all different with any underlying themes being largely limited to a story arc. And I would say that this part of the OP's OP should be considered achieved and if this thread is continued, perhaps now would be the best time to start/resume discussing rules and details of the game the OP wants to run.
Whatever that story is, I think it must engage the core concepts of Ravenloft: The existence of the Darklords, the Mists, and horror and madness. Which Domain(s) and Darklord(s) make cameos in your campaign must not be allowed to be as important, otherwise you’ll never be allowed to leave Barovia (or wherever) without the whole campaign unraveling. It needs to be more basic than that (just like how in Core D&D it doesn’t matter which dungeon your explore or dragon you defeat).
Actually, this is not true at all. The core concept of Ravenloft is a Gothic Horror theme, the rest are just tools to use to set the theme. The existence of Dark Powers is largely a myth, the truth of their existence known to pretty much a handful of people (Strahd, Azalin, Van Richten, and perhaps less than a dozen others)--but even then they are not known as Dark Powers (Azalin knows them as his 'tormentors', while Strahd knows of them as 'Death').
Dark Lords are also not known as Dark Lords, much like the Dark Powers are not known as Dark Powers. No one says "Oh yeah, Strahd's our Darklord." This term is a meta-game title largely for the DM's benefit of identifying the true power behind a domain. Vlad Drakov of Falkovnia is known as the Kingfuhrer, not as Falkovnia's Darklord. The exception to this is mostly between Darklords themselves, or certain NPCs such as Van Richten or the Weathermays. Strahd recognizes Azalin and others as Darklords, largely because he is aware they are as cursed as him.
The Mists, likewise are a tool to either hinder or help the PCs. Strahd's Choking Fog in Barovia is not the Mists. BIG difference. The Mists convey the Vistani around, allowing for their improbable appearance and possibly as a source of rapid transit for the PCs. It can be used to 'fence off' an area as the populace largely is afraid of the Mists. --An earlier argument about the Mists parting to reveal an ocean is not improbable or ridiculous as the prevailing fear of the Mists would have kept people from exploring them; the Mists part and, there ya go!, what you thought was a sea/end of the world, is just a fog shrouded ocean!
I don't understand the statement about Domains/Darklords and not being allowed to be important and ruining the game if it is. Each setting IS important, and each, to a degree, dictates how things will be in the game. If you're in Barovia, then maybe the idea is to get past the Choking Fog, and to do that maybe the PCs need to take out a bothersome Hag or upstart Vampire that's annoying Strahd, or maybe Strahd is wanting to "question" them about something and they've got to convince the Vistani to allow them to hitch a ride with them when they leave. The Domain/Darklord issue shouldn't even be an issue, its a setting. Just because the PCs are in Nova Vaasa doesn't mean that Malken is their foe, or that he should even be a concern.
I'm totally disagreeing with the last part in that in Ravenloft it IS important which domain you're in (unlike in Core D&D where one dungeon or the other doesn't make a difference). A party heavy in wizards and clerics is going to have a more difficult time in Tepest rather than Darkon or Hazlan while a group of knights would be stymied by the lack of conventional enemies in the woods of Sithicus and rogues would find the abject squalor and poverty of Falkovnia to make for slim pickings, especially considering the penalties for being caught! Characters designed for urban adventures would be at a disadvantage in the jungles of Sri Raji or the tundra of Vorostokov, while barbarians and druids would feel greatly out of place in the advanced cities of Mordent or Lamordia. Which domain the game is played in can tip the scales when it comes to the life or death of the PCs.
Further, the story must have some form of hope, however slim. The odds of any particular 1st level PC actually making it to 30th level are incredibly slim, but there’s hope. There’s no fundamental rule that it cannot be done. The same must be true for Ravenloft if it’s going to be an enjoyable campaign. So what do Ravenloft PCs hope for? What’s the meta-goal everyone agrees on?
The odds of ANY PC going from 1 to 30 is pretty slim anyway but Ravenloft is not a place devoid of hope. Yes, there are terrible things but the setting of Ravenloft is also one of great beauty and strong communities. The chances of advancement for PCs are roughly the same as any other setting. However, its hardly emphasized because power and epic traits are not always compatible with gothic horror. The zombie that scared the PCs at level 1 won't scare the level 10 PCs and the Zombie Lord that frightened the level 10 PCs won't have the same effect on the level 20 PCs and beyond that, its difficult to explain why your character is shaken or horrified by something less powerful than what they vanquished the week before!
Someone earlier posited that PCs are in a 'survival' mode of sorts, defensive adventuring, mitigating bad things, cutting losses, etc. and that is not too far off the mark. Ravenloft is not as magic/wealth heavy as the Realms or Greyhawk. Getting the next best widget is not the goal of a Ravenloft game, but rather accomplishing some goal is the driving force; saving a village, finding a cure for something. Basically, Ravenloft adventuring is living life, not so much a monster-hunting, treasure-hauling excursion. You make choices and you have to face the consequences (and rewards) those choices bring. You go through a Ravenloft adventure done right and you're going to have a character--not a set of stats and numbers, but a character as real as any you've ever read about.
One caveat before I end this post: I think the 2E Ravenloft CS was really, really neat, but fundamentally did not allow for a story about the PCs. The Darklords were too omnipresent and omnipotent. There was no clear focus on the PCs as the Heroes of the tale being told. Like Dragonlance, it made for a few good novels, but not great adventuring. Further, there wasn’t enough hope; remember how Jandyr Sunstar “beat” the Mists by committing suicide? Yeah …, I think most players are going to need something a little more cheery than that to look forward to. So what I’m really looking for is a core story that can be inspired by the legacy of Ravenloft, not a faithfully perfect recreation.
Again, disagreeing here. 2E Ravenloft definitely allowed for PC stories. I've DM'ed just about all of them, some of them several times, and I've never had complaints from any players that the adventures were too linear, too focused on the Dark Lords or didn't allow them the chance to be heroes. Hell, the PCs never even knew about Dark Lords until they read the books on them.
I don't know where you got that stuff or the part about not enough hope. I'd guess that you maybe like Ravenloft alot, have even read some of it, but haven't ever DM'ed it, or rarely so. The only time I've ever had PCs feel hopeless or defeated was when I wanted them to, when they were tired and running out of ideas, but otherwise, with plenty of sleep/Mountain Dew, they were all excited to be playing and never felt like there was no point to it.
Just as a side point, Jander attempted suicide, he didn't succeed. Ravenloft wasn't quite done with him and didn't let him 'escape' that easily. The Mists rose and whisked him away from the sun before he could be destroyed.
I'm not sure also by what you're asking for a 'legacy' of Ravenloft and not a recreation. What exactly do you mean by that? You want a Ravenloft game without the Ravenloft? What a horror game outside of the Ravenloft setting?
If you want a Ravenloft "lite" game, try Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and adapt that to 4E. It has plenty of guidelines for using Barovia as a setting outside of a Ravenloft campaign setting. And with the Open Grave 4E guide to undead just recently released, you've got all kinds of undead goodies just waiting to be thrown at the PCs along with an updated 4E Strahd ready and waiting for them!
