D&D 5E Barovia's world

[evilbob]

So apparently Barovia was enshrouded my mists, ripped from the world it was part of, and is now a demiplane.

Do we know anything about the world Barovia was once part of? Are there any supplements or Dragon articles about it? From reading Curse of Strahd I am getting a sense that this world was sort of a low-magic, low-monster world, where demihumans are uncommon in human lands, and closer to a Renaissance social and tech level. But do we know anything specific?

My interpretation is that the world is just the normal world, and the demi-plane thing is just a standard player-counter. Strahd came in, made a horrible pact with "dark powers," and then the dark powers removed Barovia from the world - not because it was ambiguous where Barovia came from, but as a complete railroad to make sure players can't leave with tricky magic. Teleport would solve the "you can't leave" problem in a heartbeat - but it doesn't work if you're trying to leave the plane. It's more of a "gotcha" than a land ripped from a world of gothic horror that otherwise exists somewhere. The point is that Barovia is gothic horror because Strahd made it so, and kept it that way. If Strahd had been an evil drow from FR who made a pact with the dark powers, Barovia would look different - but still be on another plane to confound player- er, I mean adventurers who were sent there.

 

[noface0711]

I would trade my left arm for an entire campaign world of Gothic horror.

 

[77IM]

They could have easily written the mists to block teleport in addition to planar travel. Heck, the mists could block any magical effect, to prevent divination and communication spells from penetrating.

I'm curious about the world Strahd and Barovia came from because I'm wondering if the adventure would be more interesting if the PCs came from that world too instead of some random generic D&D world like the Forgotten Realms. I'm thinking if I run this, I might get the PCs up to level 3 via adventures in that world rather than running Death House. (Or maybe in addition to; Death House is pretty scary even at 3rd level.)

 

[77IM]

Is anyone here very familiar with the Ravenloft campaign setting? are any of the other Domains of Dread from the same world as Barovia? or are they all pulled from different worlds?

 

[Tyranthraxus]

77IM: Ive got all my old 2e products still when Ravenloft was at it's height. No reference is ever made to Barovias world, and there comes to be a lot of domains and not just in the core region. Very few Domain entries actually list with any details where the Darklord and his domain actually came from, just what the current domain feels and runs like. Many of these could be from the same prime that B arovia was.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Well, a few of them could be from the same world. Many are from defined worlds (Oerth, Faerun, Athas). And many weren't drawn from a given land at all, but were created around the Darklords out of whole cloth.

 

[MechaPilot]

It's been a couple of years since I've read it, but so far as I know the only description of Barovia pre-annexation by the Dark Powers is in the beginning of the novel I Strahd. However, given that I Strahd is Van Richten's reading of Strahd's own journal/diary, there's no real way to know if those recollections are accurate or influenced by the Dark Powers.

Also, to the best of my awareness, it's not as if Barovia is the only domain of unknown origin. I think most of them are unknowns, with Soth and the other Darklords of defined origin being in the minority. My favorite Darklord is Jaqueline Renier, darklord of Richemulot, and I don't recall any indication, in either the novel Scholar of Decay or in the Ravenloft setting books, of where that land was ripped or copied from.

 

[Henry]

I would trade my left arm for an entire campaign world of Gothic horror.

There's a great seed for a horror story in that statement... a person makes the statement frivolously, a man in a dark business suit shows up with an axe and a wondrous book, and when the dark Suit leaves the book and takes his price...

...victim finds out that the pages are stuck together, requiring two hands to pry them apart...

 

[Sunseeker]

I would trade my left arm for an entire campaign world of Gothic horror.

The larger Domains of Dread in Ravenloft not good enough?

 

[Ath'kethin]

I would trade my left arm for an entire campaign world of Gothic horror.

I would recommend Masque of the Red Death. It was a 2nd Edition self contained sub-setting of Ravenloft, set in an alternate 1890s Earth where the Dark Powers held sway. It was revived for 3rd Edition by White Wolf, but the 2nd Edition boxed set and first supplement (the Gothic Earth Gazetteer) are pure gold.