Concluding "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" (Spoilers)

[Crothian]

Man, I can't believe the amount of stress this is causing.

You can't believe this is causing zero stress? Because I doubt it is causing anyone any stress unless you really read into these complaints and see people pulling their hair out over it. This is a discussion board, so people discuss things. It is up to the readers though to not read so much into it.

 

[Nikosandros]

You can't believe this is causing zero stress? Because I doubt it is causing anyone any stress unless you really read into these complaints and see people pulling their hair out over it. This is a discussion board, so people discuss things. It is up to the readers though to not read so much into it.

Once again I fully agree with Crothian... I have zero stress and as a matter of fact, yesterday I was reading the book and also doing some comparison with I6.

 

[Nikosandros]

I just don't understand all the confusion... plug-n-play modules must be a foreign concept to today's d20 gamers...

Well, first of all I've started playing quite some time ago and still also play AD&D, so your comment is doubly misplaced.

How about having people who don't see any problem with the book and also don't want to participate in a discussion about the conclusion just refrain from posting here? Is that too much to ask?

 

[Herobizkit]

Well, first of all I've started playing quite some time ago and still also play AD&D, so your comment is doubly misplaced.

I was referring specifically to the field of players who began their D&D experience with d20. I find that d20, more so than previous incarnations, hand-feeds the DM all sorts of extraneous and unnecessary information (specifically the "history" of an adventure, something I personally skip over completely) that they themselves would normally make for their own worlds. And that's great. But the moment it's suddenly NOT there, cried of "Fie" and "Foul" abound.

I dunno, maybe someone peed in my corn flakes when I wrote that. :x

 

[Le Noir Faineant]

Now that you beat me to it:

EtCR had a couple of flaws, starting with a general lack of consistency: If there is no fog, why don't people just flee? -Especially if the game is set in FR, as the intro suggests, why don't move to Waterdeep, when you have to live in Barovia.

Second, the lack of motivation of the main antagonists: Why does Madame Eva help Strahd? Why hasn't Strahd left Castle Ravenloft already? Why do the Vistani first help, and then act against the count... The list is endless...

Third, the lack of logic: So a Knight of the Raven has to spend one night in Castle Ravenloft's cathedral?! - How's that possible with the present situation, or even in general?!

Now, of course, one can fix everything, but it's the purpose of an adventure to give instructions on how to run a scenario, isn't it? - And I measure a good adventure mainly on how clear and free of mistakes such instructions are.

- Back to the original topic, there's really one hope, I think, which is that the campaign fixes itself while running. EtCR is more a scenario, but not a dynamic adventure as I6, and I personally would prefer the later if I had to run a short game. The strength of EtCR lies in the way that you can stretch things, insert more background as you like it - but this fragmentaric setup is also the module's greatest flaw, because it leaves more questions open than it resolves.

 

[Klaus]

I can handle some of these:

1 - Check page 49, "The Mists". The fog is no longer poisonous, but it keeps people in or out with fear.

2 - Madame Eva is ruled over by Strahd, but doesn't like it. She can be convinced to help the PCs, as per the rules on page 55.

3 - Sir Urik is the last living Knight of the Raven, and he's Pal 4/KoR 2. Maybe he spent a night in the Chapel of Ravenloft, and was a Pal 10, but eventually got drained and had flee the castle as a Pal 4, barely enough to earn his levels in KoR...

 

[Le Noir Faineant]

Thank you! Yet, though these are problems that can be fixed, I would have preferred them to solved more clearlier within the book. And the *fear* element with the fog is very cheap, since people have kept living there for... How long? - Wouldn't there be at least one heroic peasant to dare to venture through the fog...?

 

[billd91]

Wouldn't there be at least one heroic peasant to dare to venture through the fog...?

Eaten by worgs. Though, a bit more seriously, people never venturing far from their homes isn't abnormal in a quasi-medieval setting. And if Barovia is fairly remote to begin with, the locals are doubly encouraged to stay put.

 

[Le Noir Faineant]

Yeah, maybe, but still, I don't think this is a valid explanation - okay for a player, but not necessarily for a DM.

 

[Klaus]

Thank you! Yet, though these are problems that can be fixed, I would have preferred them to solved more clearlier within the book. And the *fear* element with the fog is very cheap, since people have kept living there for... How long? - Wouldn't there be at least one heroic peasant to dare to venture through the fog...?

Sure is. But the fog has a fear effect. At DC 18 (iirc), it's a bit more than a regular peasant can take.