D&D General Reading Ravenloft the setting

[Paul Farquhar]

I always treated Verbrek like Main or Vermont but with Lycanthropes.

Everything I know about Maine I learned from Stephen King.

 

[Remathilis]

On the other hand, it's probably not the best setting for some other sorts of werewolf stories, where you have a peaceful village suddenly beset by savage murders by a claswed creature and you'e not sure who/what is responsible and which villager has the deadly secret. There's just Too Damn Many werewolves here, you lose shock value. The locals are just going to be 'oh crap, someone got infected, who is it this time?' Best run that sort of story in a more cultivated domain, Richemulot or Mordent or even Darkon or somewhere.

As a fan of werewolves, I always found this true of Verbrek as well. The werewolves have won, and the humans are basically livestock, so the obvious tension of shapeshifters among us is lost. It felt like Camp Crystal Lake with an infinite number of Jasons. If the roles were reversed (humans the dominant number, but werewolves act as apex predators that serve as an evil aspect of nature's revenge) you'd have some tension beyond "survive the night".

 

[Remathilis]

Everything I know about Maine I learned from Stephen King.

Stephen King doesn't write horror, he writes Maine travelogs...

 

[Tonguez]

As a fan of werewolves, I always found this true of Verbrek as well. The werewolves have won, and the humans are basically livestock, so the obvious tension of shapeshifters among us is lost. It felt like Camp Crystal Lake with an infinite number of Jasons. If the roles were reversed (humans the dominant number, but werewolves act as apex predators that serve as an evil aspect of nature's revenge) you'd have some tension beyond "survive the night".

Yeah, very much this, If nit was up to me I’d just turn Verbek into a Pocket Domain that sits within some other forested region and which a GM had the option of invoking if they wanted to do a wild hunt scenario but which otherwise was just a background rumour,

 

[Paul Farquhar]

As a fan of werewolves, I always found this true of Verbrek as well. The werewolves have won, and the humans are basically livestock, so the obvious tension of shapeshifters among us is lost. It felt like Camp Crystal Lake with an infinite number of Jasons. If the roles were reversed (humans the dominant number, but werewolves act as apex predators that serve as an evil aspect of nature's revenge) you'd have some tension beyond "survive the night".

Turn it round. The PCs are werewolves, and suddenly there is a mysterious and apparently invincible killer slaughtering everyone with silver bullets.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Yeah, very much this, If nit was up to me I’d just turn Verbek into a Pocket Domain that sits within some other forested region and which a GM had the option of invoking if they wanted to do a wild hunt scenario but which otherwise was just a background rumour,

This is exactly why Ravenloft shouldn't be all Islands and why islands for certain domain concepts, I think, can be a problem. I almost always used Verbrek like Keening or Falkovnia, or even Bluetspur, where they are great 'survival domains. You can certainly have adventures in them. It is ultimately up to the GM how Verbrek gets used. But they are domains that serve a good purpose in terms of the structure of the core (places you occasionally choose to venture into, knowing they are dangerous, in order to get somewhere more quickly or by a different route when you are being pursued).

 

[Bedrockgames]

Stephen King doesn't write horror, he writes Maine travelogs...

I don't particularly care for Stephen King's writing, but I think it is unfair to say he doesn't write horror. He is a giant of the genre and has had a very big impact (and it isn't like his books and the films based on them aren't scary, they are just one style of horror that isn't one I especially like)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't particularly care for Stephen King's writing, but I think it is unfair to say he doesn't write horror. He is a giant of the genre and has had a very big impact (and it isn't like his books and the films based on them aren't scary, they are just one style of horror that isn't one I especially like)

I think it was a joke, implying that Mr King's books are a true and accurate depiction of the state...

 

[Remathilis]

I think it was a joke, implying that Mr King's books are a true and accurate depiction of the state...

Exactly.

 

[tetrasodium]

]

I don't particularly care for Stephen King's writing, but I think it is unfair to say he doesn't write horror. He is a giant of the genre and has had a very big impact (and it isn't like his books and the films based on them aren't scary, they are just one style of horror that isn't one I especially like)

It's not a slandering of his books, More like a tongue in cheek highlighting of a trope that is pretty unique to him that he largely drove into existence. I'm pretty sure I've even seen the phrase come up in puff interviews with him.