Curse of Strahd - Can Borovia be situated in Forgotten Realms?

[MonsterEnvy]

I just find the whole demi-plane thing weak and distracting. I think it was introduced as a blunt solution for the fact that Ravenloft world seems more Georgian/Victorian hinterland or Late-Renaissance era than medieval.

How is it distracting. While moving around people find mists. When they enter it they end up in Barovia and can't leave. It was done this way so that Ravenloft could be put anywhere and take people from anywhere

If they do find a way out the Mists and Barovia are gone. No evidence exists of it other then that the mists may reappear somewhere else one day. Anyway the fact that it is a Demiplane separate from any setting is a plot point in the book and allows for cool cameos and other details. [sblock]Mordenkainen himself shows up there and if you just put in the realms somewhere then he can't do that[/sblock] Overall I find putting it in the realms somewhere weakens it a lot more. As it means that anyone in it are just people from the area you put it in that wandered in and limits the diverse number of people that come into the land from different worlds. Plus it ruins the plot point of the mists showing up anywhere to bring people to Barovia. If all of it is bound to the same region.

Also Ravenloft is very medieval, not at all victorian or renaissance like. I am guessing you don't know much about Ravenloft or Barovia.

 

[Bruce Vistani]

Also Ravenloft is very medieval, not at all victorian or renaissance like. I am guessing you don't know much about Ravenloft or Barovia.

I know a lot about history, garb and architecture. What Ravenloft is going for is not medieval-ism. Its almost Dickensian.

 

[pukunui]

I have to agree. There is nothing medieval about "Death House".

 

[CrusaderX]

You can download this from the DMs Guild:

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/172467/Classic-Modules-Today-I6-Ravenloft

Its a pay-what-you-want conversion guide for running the original I6 Ravenloft AD&D module using 5e rules. And in this conversion guide are suggestions for placing Ravenloft in the Forgotten Realms.

 

[infinitum3d]

Thanks for taking the time to respond Aaron. The thing is that I don't want Borovia to be situated in an uncharactistic location. I want it to fit within its surroundings. For example it wouldn't seem appropriate in the tropical jungles of Chult or in the cosmopolitan areas around Waterdeep or Turmish.

What I'm asking is: is there a region of Faerun that resembles the imaginary Transylvania of Bram Stoker?

I respectfully disagree. Being a "demiplane" it could be in the jungles of Chult, or even Waterdeep, just as the Astral Plane overlaps the Prime Material Plane. For Chult, you could be wandering through the jungle and stumble into a foggy swamp, and then realize that you are at the foot of a mountain that wasn't supposed to be there. For Waterdeep you have a fog roll in at night off the bay, and you notice the pavement under your boots is now crunching leaves and as the mist dissipates the city is gone and you're looking up a mountain at a castle. . .

-Infinitum3D
Click here for a Solo Play module, no DM required!

 

[infinitum3d]

Sorry. Double post. Stupid phone.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My suggestion is to add demiplanes like haunted hauses what appear and disappear because really they are in the shadowfell. This allows to use the vanighing places like joker card to be put where you want.

 

[jayoungr]

Overall I find putting it in the realms somewhere weakens it a lot more. As it means that anyone in it are just people from the area you put it in that wandered in and limits the diverse number of people that come into the land from different worlds.

If you mean PCs, that is only a negative if your group wants to have characters coming from all over. If you mean NPCs, there's no reason the mists can't suck people from other worlds into Barovia even if it's in the realms. It's a little weird, but characters from other worlds have been deposited in the Realms before (see: dragonborn).

Plus it ruins the plot point of the mists showing up anywhere to bring people to Barovia. If all of it is bound to the same region.

Why couldn't they be misted into Barovia from the other side of the world?

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Setting Ravenloft in a demiplane also means that there is no conflict of the Dark Powers with the deities of actual material plane worlds.

Given that the Dark Powers are pretty much omnipotent in Ravenloft, and mess with mortals in ways that a number of the active gods of the Forgotten Realms for example would object to, this is important if you actually want to do a campaign in Ravenloft rather than a one-off.

 

[infinitum3d]

Setting Ravenloft in a demiplane also means that there is no conflict of the Dark Powers with the deities of actual material plane worlds.

Given that the Dark Powers are pretty much omnipotent in Ravenloft, and mess with mortals in ways that a number of the active gods of the Forgotten Realms for example would object to, this is important if you actually want to do a campaign in Ravenloft rather than a one-off.

If you're considering a total conversion of the module to FR, then you can probably find a counterpart in the FR pantheon that matches the Dark Powers, don't you think?

Infinitum3D
Click here for a Solo Play module, no DM required!