NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8211030" data-attributes="member: 6915329">There's lots to do in Barovia without ever touching Strahd. Off the top of my head, the Ba'al Vezri and the Red Vardo Trading Company, and racial tensions between the native Barovians and the Gundarakites. And Vallaki--at least pre-CoS--was described as being full of arcane secrets. Yes. That's actually it, exactly.You wouldn't have to let them hear about it. Unless some of the players decided they wanted to be from Barovia or thereabouts, of course. The Core and the Amber Wastes are separated by both physical distance and by the Mists, and I imagine the same will be true in the 5e books. Most of the Domains--outside of those pocket Domains brought up earlier--are fairly large. Like, many towns with miles of space between them. The difference between the Domains is usually not very jarring until you really start looking into it. It's generally not a case of Romania sharing a border with Egypt. It's more like... As an example, the people in Barovia are oppressed by their superstitions. They're terrified of the things that go bump in the night. As one book put it, a Barovian mother wouldn't open the door at night even to save her own screaming child, because of her fear of the wolves and other monsters. Right next door is Borca. Those people are also oppressed, but by the horrible taxes they must pay for nearly everything they do or need. They don't fear wolves, they fear that the seemingly perfect grain they just harvested is actually a deadly poison. They don't. For one thing, the cultures between Domains is usually different. Often not radically so, but there is a difference. The Gazetteers did a good job with the cultures. Also, they don't share languages. There are numerous different human languages, and no Common. Balok is spoken in Barovia, Borca, and some other countries. Mordentish, which is divided into Low and High Mordentish, is spoken in Mordent, Dementlieu, and Richemulot, and dialects are spoken elsewhere, such as in Souragne. Vaasi is spoken in Nova Vaasa and Hazlin. Some languages are only spoken in one country, like Lamordian and Falkovnian.</blockquote>

Verification