Expidition to Castle Ravenloft - Spoilers and Answers

[JRRNeiklot]

Oh, Strahd, what have they DONE to you?!

That picture alone is enough for me not to buy it, regardless of the quality of the module. Ugh.

 

[Aeric]

I've always hated the Boris Karloff look for Strahd. It's what turned me off to Ravenloft in the first place. His look was envisioned at a time when artists felt that all vampires had to look like Count Dracula. I am so glad movies, books, and television have helped to get us away from that ridiculous pigeonhole!

 

[Asmo]

That picture alone is enough for me not to buy it, regardless of the quality of the module. Ugh.

You are prepared to ditch a potential fantastic product because of one picture?

Asmo

 

[Shadowslayer]

The pictures aren't a deal breaker for me. Having said that, the idea of Strahd/Barovia being a D&D version of a Bela Lugosi-esque Dracula and his Castle was freaking cool to my eyes. The old look was extremely appropriate for the material, if you take into account the flavor of the setting.

But what the hell, I have the cover pic from I6 on my DM screen. I can still point to it and say "this is the guy you see"

However, put me down as one of the guys who thought it was pretty frigging stupid to post Strahd's stats. Even though it doesn't much matter technically, it still blows the "Mystery that is Strahd" all to hell.

(Karloff was Frankenstein's monster, by the way)

 

[GQuail]

You are prepared to ditch a potential fantastic product because of one picture?

Asmo

I have to echo this thought. Yes, the picture of the very Elven looking Strahd might turn some people off - and for those it would, I suspect they've probably got another product with the man on it somewhere in their games collection. ;-)

I think it looks like a top books, even if you don't like the art style, and in paticular the fact that it's theoretically runable as anywhere between one session and a whole campaign is pretty cool.

 

[GQuail]

Apples and oranges. It's one thing to go out of your way to do the things you suggest, it's quite another to simply see it on the official webpage of the D&D game that is easily and readily accessible to anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

I think it's fair to say that if you think there's trust issues of that sort with your group where they might go and look up those kind of things, it's a problem whether they need to pay cash or not to see it.

Still, I agree that publishing his entire stat block is an odd one, considering as a horror adventure the nature of his powers (and how they differ from normal Vampires) will be part of the tension. Something more player oriented like the prestige classes or organizations might have been a safer choice, but perhaps they thought enough old timers would say "I won't buy it if I don't know what they've done with Strahd"?

 

[Felon]

I think it's fair to say that if you think there's trust issues of that sort with your group where they might go and look up those kind of things, it's a problem whether they need to pay cash or not to see it.

There are players out there right now looking at Strahd's stat block who don't know that they could at some point in the future be playing Ravenloft. I don't think players can be expected to assiduously avoid looking at any and all adventure-related previews in existence just because a DM might consider using it down the line.

Here's the scenario: a DM speaks up some point and says "I'm thinking about running the new Ravenloft adventure--nobody's read through it, have they?"

To which the players reply "No, never looked at the book--but of course, his stat block was featured in an article on the WotC web site. He has those extra abilities and we have to go destroy some sites or something, right?".

It was just not a good idea. That particular little preview probably cost them more sales than they made.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

You are prepared to ditch a potential fantastic product because of one picture?

Asmo

Yep. A man's got to stand by his principles.

 

[demiurge1138]

Odd principles, those are.

The new picture of Strahd isn't bad, per se. It's just different. It fits with the overall style of modern D&D, and he still looks like a right mean sort, even if he's a wee bit elfy and has overdone trim.

That said, Klaus' Strahd is badass. He looks like he'd just love to tear open a PC and drink from his still-twitching corpse.

Demiurge out.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Odd principles, those are.

The new picture of Strahd isn't bad, per se.

I beg to differ. I suppose I could buy it and tear the front cover off.