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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8628672" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 50: Nov/Dec 1994part 5/5Felkovic's Cat: Ah, now this is a name I'm familiar with, as they mentioned it was run as a tournament adventure earlier in the year. The tale of Baron von Kharkov, rapacious panther vampire darklord of Valachan, and the artifact that could be his downfall. Felkovic created it when it looked like his wife was going to be taken as the vampire's bride. This didn't save either of their lives, and now he's a ghost bound to the cat, determined to get revenge. The PC's get sucked into Ravenloft, appearing right next to the figurine so it's near impossible to miss. If they take it, they have 7 nights to figure out what the cat's deal is and get it to Castle Pantara or become it's next dinner. That railroady beginning aside, they're actually given complete freedom in where they wander and how they deal with the challenges of the domain. (for which further details from other books will be very helpful, as more than half of this is info on Castle Pantara itself and the monsters that lurk within) So while this has tournament origins, it's easily expandable so the PC's can take their time, enjoy the scenery and you don't have to rush them into doing it all in one session as a home adventure. Like the original Ravenloft module, the location of some of the elements is determined randomly, so it can still surprise you if played through multiple times, plus the castle defences are quite different depending on if you enter during the day or night and if you use stealth or just charge in the front gate. Not an easy challenge, given the sheer number of vampires you'll have to face, but a fair one, and written with a decent amount of atmosphere. It actually lets you kill the Darklord permanently in your game and make a positive difference. (or wind up as the new one if you accomplished the deed in a particularly ruthless way) Not original, as it's basically a slightly smaller and lower level relative of the original I6, but you don't play Ravenloft for the originality anyway. You're here for the scares and the scheming to overcome seemingly impossible odds and this delivers those quite satisfactorily. A decent enough issue overall, but nothing special in any way, with no expanded page count, no greater use of colour, no big cut-out centrefold or anything. Just another day at the office. That definitely feels pretty underwhelming when both Dragon and Polyhedron did put the extra effort in for their big round numbers recently. Are they ever going to get less conservative with their content? Let's find out what happens when they hit their 10th anniversary and any other landmarks beyond that.</blockquote>

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