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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8212014">I think based on what I've seen of your posts, we probably have very different tastes here (we seem to like very different systems and settings). So I doubt what I find breathes life into a setting is going to be the same for you. With Ravenloft I think they are trying to do an odd balance of surreal and yet make it feel plausible enough that you connect to it as a real place. For example for a lot of people I think the Nightmare lands pushed the balance too far in the surreal direction, and maybe that is why they removed it from the core. But to answer this: It is important to me that it feel real enough. It is a balance like I said, and I think the core helps get that balance right. Real world places are not just about what is inside their borders, but the context they exist in. Locations don't exist in a vacuum. And I find it harder to believe in a land where everything is just isolated and surrounded by mists and there isn't some amount of cultural exchange going. Further, this is a setting, like I said before, inspired by classic horror, and I think for that it makes sense to have something that approximates the kinds of places you would see characters in classic horror movies: so having a place that feels like England, a place that feels like eastern europe, etc and having them be connected, helps for me. Also, we don't know for sure why the lords are imprisoned in Ravenloft, but I think if the purpose is to torment the dark lords, then you are going to be much more successful if there is familiar surroundings and a sense of normality to provide hope. If every place is an island like that, it feels all kind of self contained, not connected to other places, and very different from how real world places operate in my mind: so it is lacking an ingredient of familiarity. Also having things like neighbors instantly makes the lives of the residents seem more real (they are not just people trapped in a prison bauble surrounded by mists, they can cross the border and trade with people from a different culture (and this creates interesting back and forth). As I said before it opens up lines of adventure that wouldn't be as easy otherwise in terms of political intrigue. Political intrigue may not be central to horror, but it can certainly be a part of it, and I think it is important for settings to not be so focused that they lose that kind of flexibility and range. That may not be the case for you. Which is fair. I can just tell you, from years and years of play, I found having the core really helped provide a bed for the campaign. And I found the islands to be a useful part of that geography too (a more perilous, less familiar and harder to navigate place to venture into). I see them as complimenting each other.</blockquote>

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