D&D Beyond teases Project Lamordia, a modern reinterpretation of Ravenloft

D&D Beyond has released a teaser video for Project Lamordia, a new adventure that reimagines Ravenloft's Domain of Dread Lamordia into a private technology company. An article, since pulled from D&D Beyond, hinted that Project Lamordia would be a Level 1-Level 3 adventure that uses character options from Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. In keeping with the horror theme of the adventure, there would also be options to create “citizen” characters (aka Level 0 characters) that allow the players to explore a survival horror theme more closely.

Lamordia is traditionally a Ravenloft Domain of Dread that borrows heavily from Frankenstein. While originally ruled over by Adam, a creation of Dr. Victor Mordenheim, the Domain’s lore was updated so that its Darklord was Dr. Viktra Mordenheim, who resurrected her lost love Alice using an artificial heart. Viktra Mordenheim will be featured in Project Lamordia as a genius technologist obsessed with ending death.

The full Project Lamordia will be released on October 13th. In the meantime, enjoy this teaser video.

 

[Chaltab]

Sounds interesting and I won't say no to more Lamordia & Dr. Mordenheim. Interesting to see how they update it to modern times.

 

[Starmaster]

But citizens also work if you want to play kids from the mid 80s thrown into a fantasy world by a shoddy roller-coaster.

Citizen PCs also remind me of "The Mansion of Mad Professor Ludlow", a module from Dragon issue 42 that I DMed way back in 1980. The module is set in contemporary times and the players are boy scouts exploring a haunted mansion. One of my first sessions as a DM.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Don't you realize what this could mean? This could be like the "pilot episode" of a spin-off subfranchise to be adapted to videogame or Hollywood production. This "Lamordia 2.0." could work as Hasbro version of "Resident Evil".... or Silent Hill. This makes me to remember the upcoming "UN:ME" and "Psycho Dead", videogames following the "same school".

How would be the plane of the infinite staircase reimagined like a space of liminal horror style "backrooms"? Or a monster post-apocalyptic world where the megacorporation Cobra work "Umbrella". And the franchises of Visionaries, Robotix and M.A.S.K reimagined with a touch of soft-horror in a hyrborean-punk fantasy world.

What about the firearms? Magic should be more expensive but civilians could choose "nerfed magic" to defend their homes without using lethal force.

* "Citizen classes" could be useful for (one-session) horror games where a faster creation would be more important than the power level.

* How would be playing soft-horror style "British schoolgirl comic" (like "Misty" magazine)? Set in 1979 as an "uncanny valley" time, too modern to be "classic" but too "old" for standars of the current generations.

* How would be to play in "Lamordia 2.0" a d20 version of Onyx Path's "Curseborn" or While Wolf's "Chronicles of Darkness"?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Citizen PCs also remind me of "The Mansion of Mad Professor Ludlow", a module from Dragon issue 42 that I DMed way back in 1980. The module is set in contemporary times and the players are boy scouts exploring a haunted mansion. One of my first sessions as a DM.

Its quite easy to do for one-shots in a single location. Cars and transport aren't relevant 'cos there is nowhere to go. Phones are easily turned off by the scenario. Modern people don't have fantasy superpowers, and are very bad at actually creating technology - they expect to be able to buy it from a shop. So the only tech is what the DM chooses to put in, as they would magic items.

Roll20 put out a "summer camp slasher" scenario a couple of years ago using OGL 5e rules in a modern setting. They didn't need to create additional rules.

 

[LordLothar]

What about the firearms? Magic should be more expensive but civilians could choose "nerfed magic" to defend their homes without using lethal force.

Firearms already exist in the rules. And "citizen" PC were already a thing in 5.0

 

[Remathilis]

Firearms already exist in the rules. And "citizen" PC were already a thing in 5.0

There was "survivor" rules printed in Van Richten's Guide. You got a simplified NPC statblock and gained "feats" for levels that added new things to the block (like a new spell or extra HP) when you "leveled"

 

[stonemage]

Lamordia is the realm of Adam, the Frankenstein-like creature created by Dr. Mordenheim... so the science will be Victorian in nature (think of the settings of almost every Frankenstein film ever) and be of a body horror/existential type.

Definitely won't be modern and will still be in the realm of what we might expect in a traditional D&D setting, with Dr. Mordenheim's labs being slightly more "futuristic", at least for those of that time.

The lore was updated, a "different" Dr Mordenheim and a resurrected lover "Alice", no Adam.

 

[Remathilis]

The lore was updated, a "different" Dr Mordenheim and a resurrected lover "Alice", no Adam.

Elise. Not Alice.

The Horror Within did reintroduce Adam though. He was created to hunt her down. He turned on Mordenheim, but actually thinks her experiments have merit and is interested in following in his Creator's footsteps...

 

[Desdichado]

Years ago, I never would have suspected that of all of the Legacy 2e stuff that Ravenloft would be the one with the most legs. I'm quite surprised, honestly, how popular it has become in the 5e era in general.

 

[Remathilis]

Years ago, I never would have suspected that of all of the Legacy 2e stuff that Ravenloft would be the one with the most legs. I'm quite surprised, honestly, how popular it has become in the 5e era in general.

Horror is timeless.