Castle Ravenloft as a Victorian era d20 Modern game

[JPL]

You could tweak the Shadow Slayer AdC from d20 Modern, or the Shadow Hunter from Urban Arcana. Mix that with d20 Past campaign model, [smallcaps]Shadow Stalker.[/smallcaps]

I thought about the Shadow Slayer and Hunter classes as starting points...they would be especially nice to represent some sort of ancient order with mystical powers...the Knights of St. George the Dragon Slayer, perhaps?

But I'm also thinking of a Vampire Slayer class inspired by Van Helsing and by Quincy Harker and his crew from "Tomb of Dracula"...no overt powers, just skills and knowledge and experience.

It would also be nice to come up with some invocations (a la Urban Arcana) specially tailored to the vampire-hunting trade...one of the differences in a d20 Modern game vs. D&D would be that all of the spellcasters would be at least 3 levels behind in spellcasting ability, so this could help balance things out.

 

[jezter6]

In addition to invocations, I'm also thinking of heavily using Ritual Feats from Blood and Relics as well.

 

[Frostmarrow]

To keep this discussion moving...

I would like to play this as a fairly normal d20M Victorian game, except for a few supernatural elements...ironically, as few as possible.
I've already ruled out a few of the more fantastical elements, but I'm finding it difficult to come up with enough baddies to keep PCs busy.
Vistanis are all human - check.
Wolves as antagonists - check.
Strahd as a vampire - out there, but check.
Ghosts - maybe, but that's pushing my limits.
Gargyoles - check.

I have no intention of using dragons or any of the other traditional fantasy beasties. What could I replace some of these bad guys with? A bunch of evil humans just don't cut it, but I want to keep the amount of fantasy somewhat in check.

I've been thinking of having some mad scientist types with some special creations (a la Frankenstien), but I'm having trouble coming up with anything else that's not too out there. Creatures with damage resistance except for magic will not cut it, as there will be likely 0 magic items/weapons available.

Looking through my Menace Manual:
Giant Anaconda?
Dread tree...sounds fun.
Jynx...maybe, but pushing it a little.
Sasquatch? hehe

Opinions welcome...

Basically you only got men and beasts to work with. Maybe a construct or two. But, luckily there are things that can be done to men and beasts to make them more interesting. In the world of comics you can always makes something bad worse by electrocuting it, shower it with radiation, meddle with it's DNA, or inject nanomachines into the bloodstream. Whichever you go for depends on what era you chose. My personal favorite is always men damaged by radiation down to a zombie-state. -That could fit the bill. Viral-disease works too. You are going to need a mad scientist in Strahd's employ.

 

[JPL]

To keep this discussion moving...

I would like to play this as a fairly normal d20M Victorian game, except for a few supernatural elements...ironically, as few as possible.
I've already ruled out a few of the more fantastical elements, but I'm finding it difficult to come up with enough baddies to keep PCs busy.
Vistanis are all human - check.
Wolves as antagonists - check.
Strahd as a vampire - out there, but check.
Ghosts - maybe, but that's pushing my limits.
Gargyoles - check.

I have no intention of using dragons or any of the other traditional fantasy beasties. What could I replace some of these bad guys with? A bunch of evil humans just don't cut it, but I want to keep the amount of fantasy somewhat in check.

I've been thinking of having some mad scientist types with some special creations (a la Frankenstien), but I'm having trouble coming up with anything else that's not too out there. Creatures with damage resistance except for magic will not cut it, as there will be likely 0 magic items/weapons available.

Looking through my Menace Manual:
Giant Anaconda?
Dread tree...sounds fun.
Jynx...maybe, but pushing it a little.
Sasquatch? hehe

Opinions welcome...

I like the notion of keeping the supernatural elements shadowy and ambiguous.

I would say that some properly templated animals would work. Maybe half-fiend (minus the wings) or shadow / shade / umbral. Dire animals might work, too, although you might need to tone the descriptions down just a tad, so these are freakish yet plausable creatures.

Fiends in human form would be appropriate.

You could use humanoid stats for the various weird degenerate townsfolk.

Ghouls would work.

Some nice swarms?

The Menace Manual has stats for bogeymen, maniac, and attorney. Scaaary stuff, kids!

 

[jezter6]

Yeah, the mad scientist is a given.
After hearing some neat things from Cold Steel RPG, I can think that Strahd is building a mad science army (instead of zombie army) for himself. That would give a ton of different creatures to fight, all of which are basically human with some interjection of other things.

Now of course, I'm getting into Strahd's other goals for the adventure, which I haven't thought much of yet. Sure, he wants the woman who looks like Tatyana, but what is a bigger goal?

Since Strahd doesn't leave Barovia, I don't see him as having much to do. If you kill off all the citizens of Barovia, you have nothing, so he wouldn't be bent on doing that (and could have done it already).
What longer term higer goals would Strahd have for his mutant science army?

 

[JPL]

Maybe he's building himself a new immortal (but non-vampiric) body?

Of course, there's the simple pleasure of being God. Since Strahd has been forsaken by God, he has in turn disavowed his Creator and decided to set up shop as God to his own race of humanity.

A variation on that theme...he's trying to build the Ultimate Vampire (a la "Blade"), with all the strengths and none of the weaknesses, in the hopes of making himself invincible.

Another great monster idea...moreaus! Fits in nicely with the Victorian milleau.

 

[jezter6]

Yeah, since werewolves are a staple of Victorian horror, I see no reason not to have bear and other creatures.

I was actually thinking of making the dwarf a covert bear moreau just for an extra 'oh my god!' from the players when they take him on.

The wolves and Vistani will play a very big part of it, but like criticism of AoW and Shackled City, I don't want to just have a big repetitive cliche of "and today the wolves attack you, just like yesterday, and the day before."

The options for the 'Strahd Spies' following around the PC's should really instill a good sense of horror in the PCs. Every time they turn around they see a pack of salivating wolves watching and waiting...

 

[Azgulor]

Yeah, the mad scientist is a given.
After hearing some neat things from Cold Steel RPG, I can think that Strahd is building a mad science army (instead of zombie army) for himself. That would give a ton of different creatures to fight, all of which are basically human with some interjection of other things.

Now of course, I'm getting into Strahd's other goals for the adventure, which I haven't thought much of yet. Sure, he wants the woman who looks like Tatyana, but what is a bigger goal?

Since Strahd doesn't leave Barovia, I don't see him as having much to do. If you kill off all the citizens of Barovia, you have nothing, so he wouldn't be bent on doing that (and could have done it already).
What longer term higer goals would Strahd have for his mutant science army?

Build off of the Tatyana theme - companionship. Strahd is king (ok maybe even god from the Barovians' perspective) of his realm but he can build no lasting relationships. He's eternal and the villagers are short-lived cattle. In the mind of nobility, a noble without retainers is a poor noble. Strahd wants his bride, but also trusted advisers and loyal retainers. Vampirism is reserved for the select few, but a way of extending the lives of his followers is desireable. The village can't sustain all of them as vampires, so Strahd turns to science.

Perhaps the mad scientist was employed before Tatyana resurfaced solely for the reason of reanimating his lost love. You may have to make her remains available for this to work, I seem to recall Tatyana's body isn't "available" so to speak.

He could also be looking to science as a means to escape his realm. Perhaps rather than- or in addition to- genetic experimentation, the mad scientist is working on temporal or extra-dimensional experiments. This would allow you to incorporate Outsiders and/or aliens into the mix of potential hostiles depending on how far you want to run with it.

Combining the two, Strahd doesn't just want to escape, he wants to escape and rule a new land. He needs his cybernetic/mutated/undead army to conquer the realm that he will escape into via the dimensional/temporal portal.

The temporal travel/mad scientist connection was utilized in the original Ravenloft sequel "House on Gryphon Hill" (I think that was the name). If you can find it, you could mine it for ideas or run it as an alternate universe/teleportation style story. Rather than the sequel taking place in the future (from the Ravenloft perspective), both areas exist in the same time period. Gryphon Hill in western Europe (England probably) and Barovia in eastern Europe (Transylvania?). Strahd is trying to leave the realm physically, but thus far has not been able to do so. He's able to appear in an alternate form and/or possess bodies in the Gryphon Hill area. The mad scientist is working on solving the transportation problems while building Strahd's invasion force.

(Damn, now you've got me thinking of running Ravenloft with d20M!)

Azgulor

 

[Ranger REG]

But I'm also thinking of a Vampire Slayer class inspired by Van Helsing and by Quincy Harker and his crew from "Tomb of Dracula"...no overt powers, just skills and knowledge and experience.

You might want to model the class after the 3.5e ranger and hunter of the dead PrC.

 

[JPL]

You might want to model the class after the 3.5e ranger and hunter of the dead PrC.

That's a fine idea.

Trying to decide whether this would work better as a ten-level advanced class or a five-level prestige class...I tend toward the latter, since it's a rather narrow specialty.

Maybe a prereq of K: arcana (X ranks) plus Iron Will plus Special: Must have participated in the successful slaying of X number of vampires. Keep the requirements simple enough that everyone in the party can take a level or two.