D&D General The goal of your Ravenloft campaign

[Bacon Bits]

I mostly think of Ravenloft as gothic fantasy. Undead, the inevitability of death and bleak fate of mortals. It has the trappings of gothic horror, but is almost never actually gothic horror. I don't really think of it as a horror setting any more than the Hammer films are actually horror films. I don't think D&D is a good system for horror. The PCs are too tough.

 

[overgeeked]

I mostly think of Ravenloft as gothic fantasy.

It was in the old days. They detail several subgenres of horror and provide a lot of tools and ideas for making horror stories in D&D using those subgenres.

I don't really think of it as a horror setting any more than the Hammer films are actually horror films.

When they came out they were horror movies. The genre isn't static, it moves.

I don't think D&D is a good system for horror. The PCs are too tough.

There is a lot of advice on how to manage horror in D&D. Including making monsters tougher and providing weaker characters for the players to use in the form of survivors.

 

[GlassJaw]

It's almost like the writers know the player base.

They don't know my players. I do.

"The advice here emphasizes structures that work for all players, including those with different tolerances for being scared or who have certain topics that are off-limits for them. Always consider what you can do to make players feel comfortable with your game, even if no one entirely knows how the horror might unfold. Never assume you know your players' deepest fears--no matter how long you've been roleplaying with them."

Then you'd be wrong.

Have you actually read any horror? Horror 101 is explicitly making the audience or reader uncomfortable. That's what horror is.

The players aren't their characters. The players should consent to playing a horror game even if the characters don't want to be trapped in Ravenloft.

My players trust me. They've told me so, multiple times on many occasions.

WotC currently has an audience of unprecedented numbers and diversity. They have to tread lightly, which I understand, wholly support, and I applaud them for. But when you've known the players in your group for decades, I'm confident I know what their boundaries are.

 

[Zaukrie]

Remember when this wasn't two people arguing the same argument already happening in every other ravenloft thread? I almost got three hours of comment on the goals.....

 

[overgeeked]

They don't know my players. I do.

You're assuming you do. This assumption comes up a lot. Like a lot. I've been playing with one group of people for 37 years. Some of them are family. And even they don't know me as well as they assume they do. Nor do I know them as well as I assume I do. It's a dangerous assumption to make, especially with horror gaming.

Have you actually read any horror? Horror 101 is explicitly making the audience or reader uncomfortable. That's what horror is.

Yes, I have. Quite a lot, actually. What's the one thing a person picking up a horror book or turning on a horror movie has done that a player at a bait-and-switch horror game has not done? Consented to engage with horror media. Taking away someone's ability to consent is a rather...nasty thing to do.

My players trust me. They've told me so, multiple times on many occasions.

Good for you. So why do you want to shatter that trust by forcing a bait-and-switch game on them?

But when you've known the players in your group for decades, I'm confident I know what their boundaries are.

Again, a common assumption. A dangerous one at that.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't plan on running a ravenloft campaign because it doesn't really interest me as a setting, I only own the book on DnDbeyond due to how cheap it was. What I do plan on doing with the book though is to mine it for adventure location ideas. I think I mentioned it either on ENworld or Reddit, but the travelling carnival would be a great Feywild location and the egyptian site is great for a section of my world loosely based on Stygia from the conan stories. Most, if not all, of the domains of dread I think could easily be used in other settings without the whole ravenloft mists/darklords, etc being used. Some of them I think will end up in the Shadowfel if my games ever end up in there.

 

[Older Beholder]

I love Ravenloft's ideas and themes....but have always used it as a side story of sorts.

How do you (or plan to) use Ravenloft for a long-term campaign? What is the goal, if no one can ever leave or be saved? I'd think a goal of somehow temporarily killing darklords so others could somehow escape would be interesting (though, others will eventually be brought in by the Dark Powers.....). I'm not sure I want to run/play a bleak (how I'd feel about it) if the only goal was survival.

The last campaign I ran included a 3 session adventure loosely based on the Ravenloft idea.
I tend to treat any venture into the mists as more of a 'bottle episode' to break up a campaign rather than an entire campaign in itself.

So my version was called 'Neverdawn' it's little more than a pocket dimension trapped in the mists where the sun refuses to rise over a small village and it's nearby cemetery. I scrapped the Darklord element, instead it was more a case of defeating some demons and closing the portal they came through to rescue the village. There were hints that the town had been left to the mists as a way of quarantining the breach but my players never really dug too much into that side of things.

 

[hopeless]

I was thinking of using the Witcher as inspiration.
You have an unexpected situation so help is summoned, but because of the nature of the help required they're never fully trusted or liked as often than not they end up becoming the menace if not slain by the problem.

Even have an idea for the opening adventure with a good session zero it should be possible to establish that as when the group first meet up and maybe explain why they continue travelling together?

I'm wasn't initially interested in this at all, but I do like the Witcher so that might be worth a look!

 

[Azzy]

Yes. You would need a consent form in a game store that details every monster and encounter in advance So u don’t accidentally detail a scene that may be traumatic to someone like a murder scene or spiders or mental illness. There are insane asylums in ravenloft. And I don’t think they meet fda standards.

How droll. Your dismissiveness is very edge-lordy.

 

[ccs]

Good thing I know my players. They can handle it. And I'd argue it's the absolute BEST thing you can do for horror; horror is fear of the unknown. Heck, the entire concept of The Mists is that it takes those who are unwitting about what is happening to them.

That said, I fully concede it's not something you should do if you are DM'ing for a bunch of randos at the local game store.

Why not? I don't care about the randos.
In normal times they've served as the guinea pigs playtest for things I'm going to do to my friends in our non-shop games.