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.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

In which the game was dragged kicking and screaming into the 19th century?

Modernity began when Byzantium ended IMHO

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

We could say Ravenloft is a hybrid or mixture of epic fantasy and gothic horror where the players choose the tone to be given. The monster hunsters my suffer a lot but relatively they survive more times than characters from horror fiction

https://lxg.fandom.com/wiki/League_of_Extraordinary_Gentlemen_Wiki

I doubt Wotc to publish an updated version of "the Mask of the red Death" because when you use conent from public domain others can follow your steps and it would be legally allowed. It is not enoughly exclusive. 3PPs could publish their own version of Victorian urban fantasy. Today the publishers would rather to create their own IPs.

Without the lore "tMorD" is practically "Shadow Stalker", the subsetting from "d20 Past".

If the plot is mainly about the supernatural factions then a fictional world should be a better option, for example a reimagination of Teath (7th Sea). Didn't John Wick want to publish the steampunk spin-off "7th Sea 1868" or was an April's Fool? or a steampunk setting like "Iron Kingdoms"'.

The teaser has got vibes of modern action-horror videogames where PCs have to fight against "anomalies" or weird creatures.

 

[Marandahir]

So frikkin pumped for liminal horror Ravenloft! They teased the Backrooms in the new setting book, and even created a backrooms noclip gate as a bastion plugin, but I'm psyched we'll get a full domain of dread in this modern horror genre!

 

[Stormonu]

I must admit to mixed feelings about this announcement. On the one hand, I really don't like what they did with Lamordia in Van Richten's Guide (or much of the rest of that book, really). On the other hand, a total reinvention sounds like a rather better idea, and this reinvention sounds like fun.

And on the other other hand, if it's a DDB exclusive, then never mind...

I fully agree, the butchering of Lamordia in Van Richten's was a real turn off for me as well. But this as a modern setting has me intrigued, and I'm not so concerned with it being DDB only, if I get it I'll make an off-line copy for myself as a backup or to reformat for my use at the table.

 

[LordLothar]

What exactly they "butchering" in the new Lamordia? i see it was a way more interesting to use in the table.

 

[Remathilis]

What exactly they "butchering" in the new Lamordia, i see it was a way more interesting to use in the table.

They "butchered" old 2e Lamordia, which was a paper-thin retelling of Mary Shelley's original plot with a few different proper nouns and plot devices from later Frankenstein adaptations thrown in to show they weren't copying their homework 1:1.

 

[LordLothar]

They "butchered" old 2e Lamordia, which was a paper-thin retelling of Mary Shelley's original plot with a few different proper nouns and plot devices from later Frankenstein adaptations thrown in to show they weren't copying their homework 1:1.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

What exactly they "butchering" in the new Lamordia? i see it was a way more interesting to use in the table.

They didn't just put lesbians in Ravenloft, they put... emotionally obsessive lesbians in it! That's never been done before in gothic fiction.

 

[TravDoc42]

They didn't just put lesbians in Ravenloft, they put... emotionally obsessive lesbians in it! That's never been done before in gothic fiction.

I have a few lesbian friends, and I think I'm committed to running a Lamordia one shot for them now!

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I have a few lesbian friends, and I think I'm committed to running a Lamordia one shot for them now!

A statistically baffling number of my exes realized they were lesbians after dumping me. The weird thing is my lesbian exes still make up half of my D&D table.