How do you escape from Ravenloft?

[adndgamer]

I plan on picking up the Ravenloft guide fairly soon, and taking my PCs into Ravenloft. However, I'm a bit strapped for cash at the time being.

I would like to work on an adventure for leading them there, which will take up time while i get the cash for the book. I plan on them being transported there by a powerful wizard or something to that effect. Then, their main goal will PROBABLY be to get back to their homeworld. However, i remember that in previous incarnations of Ravenloft, it was rather difficult to get home (if possible at all). What's it like in the 3e Ravenloft?

Thanks

-Paul

 

[RogueJK]

You are correct; it's virtually impossible to escape Ravenloft. Ravenloft is a demiplane which is specifically crafted by the Dark Powers so that you can't escape back to your native plane. In fact, the 3rd Edition Campaign Setting states that "nothing short of a major artifact or the intervention of a deity can provide passage to other planes."

The 2nd Edition Domains of Dread Campaign Setting, however, mentions a couple of other means of escape:
"Portals: While there are no permanent portals out of Ravenloft, temporary gates to the Prime Material Plane do exist. As a rule, however, these gates must be triggered by some natural or supernatural act. Examples of such triggers include astronimical phenomena (like eclipses and conjunctions), the completion of certain arcane rituals, and the fulfillment of macabre prophecies.
When and if a portal to the Prime Material Plane can be found, it can seldom be directed or controlled. Indeed, these fleeting gateways are often as hazardous to use as they are to ignore. When stepping into such a portal, the user usually has no idea where he will emerge. Of course, more than one adventurer has noted that almost any place is better than the Demiplane of Dread."

"The Mists: Just as they draw people into Ravenloft, so can the Mists transport them out. While this is not a common occurence, it has been known to happen from time to time. This is by far the least common and least reliable means of escaping from the Demiplane of Dread. A hero who decides to simply sit back and wait for the Mists to return for him is likely to grow old and gray before he actually gets home, if he ever does."

 

[JacktheRabbit]

About the only way out of Ravenloft is via major artifact. Gods cannot do it since there is at least one subtle hint in the Ravenloft Book that there are no real Gods in Ravenloft at all.

 

[Jamdin]

I just finished "Knight of the Black Rose" today, which is the second book of the Ravenloft series. I highly recommend it to get a sense of frustration of trying to find an escape.

 

[RogueJK]

Gods cannot do it since there is at least one subtle hint in the Ravenloft Book that there are no real Gods in Ravenloft at all.

There's at least one explicit statement that they can.

 

[adndgamer]

Thanks everybody, for the quick responses

I think that I might allow the players to quest for a way back, but it will be very difficult mind you. I'm not going to totally wussify my Ravenloft setting

Hm. Maybe they'll have to quest to find a major artifact, or to get the components to create a temporary gate (and they have to do it at just the right time too).'

Thanks again!

 

[Isida KepTukari]

Escape? You can't. Our party went there two years ago and hasn't gotten back yet...


j/k

I believe we found a small gate of some sort, just before being nearly slaughtered by many evil things. It was baaaaaaaaaaaaaad trip....

 

[JacktheRabbit]

What statement would that be?

The hint I am talking about is the description of the god the MorningLord. This "God" has clerics who do receive spells and have all the abilities of normal clerics.

Yet there is no MorningLord God. The "God" is actually from one of the Ravenloft books. Its a Sun Elf Vampire that saved some commoner from a wild beast.

This at least suggests to me that this god and probably the others as well do not really exist. Their prayers are merely answered by the Dark Powers to keep the people of Ravenloft happy for whatever reason.

There's at least one explicit statement that they can.

 

[HeavyG]

You know there's a problem with a campaign setting when it has to put in rules to keep players in.

 

[adndgamer]

What statement would that be?

Reread his first post, where he quotes from the 3e campaign setting material

I think that perhaps the whole morninglord thing is like clerics who only follow ideals. They don't follow a god, and yet they recieve spells.

Though, since I don't know a whole lot about the morninglord subject, this whole post might not make much sense

-Paul