D&D General The thread where I review a ton of Ravenloft modules

[Stormonu]

I love Night of the Walking Dead.

I did a 4E conversion of it - it stops just short of the module's climax (entering the Cemetery on the night of the Blood Moon).

I'm attaching it here if anyone is interested - should need only a minor conversion and finishing for 5E.

 

[Voadam]

Castles Forlorn (god have mercy on my soul)

Heh.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I love Night of the Walking Dead.

I did a 4E conversion of it - it stops just short of the module's climax (entering the Cemetery on the night of the Blood Moon).

I'm attaching it here if anyone is interested - should need only a minor conversion and finishing for 5E.

Night of the Walking Dead was one of my favorite modules

 

[der_kluge]

You are aware that the exact start of the Pathfinder Strange Aeons adventure path?

Never heard of it. Not that familiar with Pathfinder stuff. I'll have to look into that. Thanks!

 

[Voadam]

Strange Aeons Pathfinder 1e AP.

In Search of Sanity​

(1 of 6): The adventurers awaken within the walls of the eerie Briarstone Asylum, their minds wracked and memories missing. As they work together to recover their missing time, they soon learn that the cause of their eerie amnesia is but a symptom of a much greater cosmic menace. As they struggle to retain their sanity, the heroes must ally with other asylum residents and fight against the monstrosities that have taken over the asylum and plunged it into nightmare. Can the adventurers defeat the terror that stalks the halls and free themselves from their prison of madness?

 

[der_kluge]

I love Night of the Walking Dead.

I did a 4E conversion of it - it stops just short of the module's climax (entering the Cemetery on the night of the Blood Moon).

I'm attaching it here if anyone is interested - should need only a minor conversion and finishing for 5E.

My god, man! That's incredible! Yea, I'm definitely stealing this. Thanks so much!

 

[der_kluge]

Strange Aeons Pathfinder 1e AP.

In Search of Sanity​

(1 of 6): The adventurers awaken within the walls of the eerie Briarstone Asylum, their minds wracked and memories missing. As they work together to recover their missing time, they soon learn that the cause of their eerie amnesia is but a symptom of a much greater cosmic menace. As they struggle to retain their sanity, the heroes must ally with other asylum residents and fight against the monstrosities that have taken over the asylum and plunged it into nightmare. Can the adventurers defeat the terror that stalks the halls and free themselves from their prison of madness?

Well, I'm certainly not paying $20 for that, but it sounds a little different. Mine is a little more .. mundane, I guess? I'm planning on them interacting with all the other patients and trying to find a way to escape. Nothing externally weird going on...

 

[der_kluge]

Also, can we talk about how heavy-handed these modules are with werewolves? I mentioned this in my review of Feast of Goblyns.

To me, werewolves are a bit like dragons. These aren't mindless killing machines. Well, ok, a werewolf kind of is a mindless killing machine, but the body it inhabits certainly isn't. Point being, dragons in my campaign are clever, and as such, they don't get to be long-lived if they're out there drawing undue attention to themselves. To that end, most are likely going to keep a low profile by killing animals in a distant land. The moment they attack some sort of trade caravan, adventurers are going to get hired to hunt them down. Only the most arrogant of dragons would do that, and those would be short-lived.

A werewolf is going to be the same way. A werewolf is going to kill one (and only one!) person whose close to them. After that, assuming they don't and their own life in their guilt-ridden grief, is going to manacle themselves to an iron bed post every night.

That's what I intend to do with Captain Timmothy in Evil Eye. In the module, he attacks the party. But I think it's just as well-served if he has them sleep on the shore, and he ties himself up in his cabin. The party could hear him at night jerking the chains around, and baying at the moon. Then they get to decide whether they want to continue traveling with him the following day, and certainly puts them on edge. To me, it makes the NPC more sympathetic.

Thoughts?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Also, can we talk about how heavy-handed these modules are with werewolves? I mentioned this in my review of Feast of Goblyns.

To me, werewolves are a bit like dragons. These aren't mindless killing machines. Well, ok, a werewolf kind of is a mindless killing machine, but the body it inhabits certainly isn't. Point being, dragons in my campaign are clever, and as such, they don't get to be long-lived if they're out there drawing undue attention to themselves. To that end, most are likely going to keep a low profile by killing animals in a distant land. The moment they attack some sort of trade caravan, adventurers are going to get hired to hunt them down. Only the most arrogant of dragons would do that, and those would be short-lived.

A werewolf is going to be the same way. A werewolf is going to kill one (and only one!) person whose close to them. After that, assuming they don't and their own life in their guilt-ridden grief, is going to manacle themselves to an iron bed post every night.

That's what I intend to do with Captain Timmothy in Evil Eye. In the module, he attacks the party. But I think it's just as well-served if he has them sleep on the shore, and he ties himself up in his cabin. The party could hear him at night jerking the chains around, and baying at the moon. Then they get to decide whether they want to continue traveling with him the following day, and certainly puts them on edge. To me, it makes the NPC more sympathetic.

Thoughts?

Some humans are murderous unthinking thugs, and some wolves are clever and careful. It’s your story you can play them how you like.

However, Ravenloft is a realm of raw emotion, not logic. Do you really want to run a Ravenloft game, or generic dark fantasy horror?

And no matter how clever the monster is it only needs to be careful if they are afraid of something. If they are certain nothing can threaten them they can do whatever they like.

 

[Stormonu]

Nah, the curse of the werewolf slowly warps and twists the mind of the infected. As the curse grows near, the victim doesn't want to stop from rampaging, and it actually revels in it. The curse they are afflicted with plays mind tricks on them - they forget the moon is coming, they thought they locked themselves up, that little runt laughed at them ... and if that miserable little quavering man-thing in its noggin does manacle that bestial heart to the bed It'll just use its supernatural strength to rip free - or gnaw off its own hand at the wrist (it'll grow back, right?) to wriggle free. It turns them into a ravening beast that normal weapons have no effect upon (damage IMMUNITY to non-magical weapons - and most of the populace don't have magic weapons in the first place). It also starts messing with their minds.

That is the curse of werewolfish, of vampirism of the returned dead. You say it's not you, but its every deep and dark thought you've ever had made flesh and ready to tear the throat out of those around you. You say you want to stop, but you're the one who had those savage thoughts in the first place. And now, you can't hold it in anymore. And worse, you're starting to like it.