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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8211792" data-attributes="member: 6801228">It could also be because you keep referring to "the line" while I am trying to talk about "the setting" and I think those are two different things. From the perspective of "the line" then you are talking about every single thing ever released that tied into Ravenloft, but from the perspective of "the setting" I am just trying to talk about the place and the story of that place. It is like, to use a car analogy, I'm trying to talk about the new Ford Mach-E, and you are talking about every vehicle ever sold by Ford. Truck, Car, Van, ect. Yes, those are all sold by Ford, but since I'm talking about something much more specific than you, it gets frustrating for you to keep talking about the hauling power of a Ford Truck.It doesn't feel gamey at all to me. And yeah, it does feel a bit artificial, but it is a world created with a specific purpose, so it feeling artificial is a bonus to me. It shouldn't feel completely realistic. I also don't see the nuisance in travel or diplomacy. Those will take different forms, but they aren't any more of a nuisance than any other way of dealing with travel and diplomacy. And, I guess since I lack the details, I don't understand why the road from Valachan to Forlorn is different than say, the road from the Village of X to Forlorn. But, I think one thing I do like is tying all these realms together with a single interconnected piece. That works for me. Maybe it doesn't for you, but the islands being physically separated, visually separated and connected by a Dark Sea with its own mysterious properties just works as a whole for me.I agreeI think the issue is that there is an obvious reference, and then they take one of the things that Tepes was most famously heroic for, and turn it into the villainous drive of this Falkovian version. Vlad Tepes was a military man, he fought wars constantly. Mostly (if I am remembering my history) defensive wars. The reason behind the staking of individuals was in part as a deterrent. He wanted to horrify his neighbors so they would stop attacking him and his people. And that tactic was necessary because he was smaller and weaker than his neighbors. And so, seeing a version of him that is blatantly taking his inspiration (dining while surrounded by staked individuals was a tactic Vlad used to horrify diplomats) but then turning his desire to be powerful and respected by his neighbors into some twisted evil motivation, making it about personal glory when it was in part a desire to stop being bullied by neighbors far more powerful than him... it kind of grates. It takes the thing I can respect about the man and makes it something to be reviled. It could entirely be a personal issue, but seeing it laid out like that really struck me with what was being said earlier, when you take a historical figure and make them a villain, you have to be careful. Some are easy to villify. No one is going to step up to defend Jim Jones after all, but sometimes you can accidentally take what makes them respected and turn that into a negative, which will rub people who respect them the wrong way.</blockquote>

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