Bedrockgames
Legend
I agree it isn't a comedy. I just mean it is a bit hammy. It is populated with 'not Frankenstein', 'not dracula', etc. And it uses a lot of over the top language. And the text clearly has humor in it
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D&D General Ravenloft: Monsters vs Darklords
- Thread starter Remathilis
- Start date
I agree it isn't a comedy. I just mean it is a bit hammy. It is populated with 'not Frankenstein', 'not dracula', etc. And it uses a lot of over the top language. And the text clearly has humor in it
Remathilis
Legend
Oh for sure, but there have been some Ravenloft works that have tried a little too hard to be dark/edgy that it loses the fun of horror.
Bedrockgames
Legend
The line is pretty varied. Which works were you thinking of?
Remathilis
Legend
There were some 3e materials that tried to push the envelope regarding "no joy, only dark!" Style of design. I'll be honest, I didn't pay much attention to 3e era stuff (didn't own it, barely read it) to name names. I may also be mixing up some late 2e/ 3e era Netbook stuff that was a lot more casual in its pizza-cutter design (all edge and no point).
Bedrockgames
Legend
I agree very much on the 3E material. I didn't really like the tone they hit with the S&S books or with WOTC's 3E castle ravenloft book. Something about those S&S books just felt too serious and sombre to me. They did some interesting things with the setting in the core book. But it just wasn't the Ravenloft I wanted
The late 2E stuff could really be hit or miss. Around the time they start changing the layout to white pages, is when I remember feeling disconnected from the material. I don't recall off hand if it was super serious in that era. But I do remember not liking it, and there were moments where it felt to me like they were playing catch up with vampire in the late 90s
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
The 3e stuff was my favorite. It's where all the most detailed worldbuilding came in.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
This is some straight up badwrongfun nonsense, although not as aggressively so as Minigiant's take on it.
You can have all of those themes in Ravenloft without ever having a Darklord show up. Given that Ravenloft is just Gothic fiction with the names not even particularly well filed off, I'd say that Poe, Shelley, Stevenson and company all showed that it's 100% doable.
"You're not using the setting right unless you're doing it the way I and my fellow gatekeper say" is hot garbage. Negative internet points for both of you.
humble minion
Legend
Some of my very favourite Ravenloft material was the 3rd Ed gazetteers which really made the place feel lived in and real. But there was some dreadful drek published in that era too - the players option books Heroes of Light and especially Champions of Darkness being right at the top (bottom?) of the list. There was a fair bit of turmoil and politics happening around the direction of the line at the time, some major personnel changes midstream, and this resulted in the editorial approach being inconsistent to say the least.
Um... excuse me? Did you not read the FIRST paragraph too? I said specifically there were TWO ways to look at it... and considering you made NO mention of what I wrote in the first section, either you skipped right past it, or you just conveniently ignored it so that you could allow yourself to get all high-and-mighty about the second one.
Jeezus hell. Trying to throw around the 'badwrongfun' and 'gatekeeper' tags in order to make your tenuous claims feel like they have merit? No. Sorry, but no. Just because you don't happen to agree with or like one of the sides doesn't mean me pointing out that that side exists is wrong. Especially because I happen to state quite clearly the other side being a completely valid way of looking at things too.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Hammer was, for the most part, played straight, and most of the cheesiness was due to low budgets. But anyone who deliberately tries to emulate that low budget fog machine cheesiness is clearly aiming for comedy.Hammer is very campy, but not a parody. It's not attempting to mock or satirize, but it's very over the top, theatrical, and kitsch. Much of classic horror is (be it Universal, Hammer or Corman). Likewise, much of D&D is solidly camp, though a large chuck of the player base thinks it is Serious Business
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