D&D 5E Masque of the Red Death as an earth or non-earth campaign setting

[Kobold Avenger]

Masque of the Red Death I know was originally introduced as a sub-campaign of Ravenloft that took place on "Gothic Earth" which was basically 19th century earth as depicted in many 19th century horror novels.

But as a 5e setting would it be even necessary to have it even on Gothic Earth, or simply as a bunch of thematic 19th century campaign ideas that could be dropped on to other worlds?

The original campaign setting made it an isolated campaign, removing most of the standard fantasy elements of D&D (like non-human PC races) and completely redid classes and a lot of the system and everything, because it was sort of grounded in Earth. You could certainly go to London and try and stop Jack the Ripper, and there most certainly would be Dracula lurking in Transylvania, and many familiar elements such as that.

But could something based on Masque of the Red Death, also work on any other world, even something like Oerth or Toril where those 19th century elements of gothic horror are dropped on? And the DM can pick and choose which standard elements of D&D they want to keep or change. Would it be the same if there wasn't a London, but there still was some serial killer targetting women of the night, much like Jack the Ripper?

 

[Astrosicebear]

If you wanted this to work in Eberron, you would place the campaign within Karrnath.

 

[bleezy]

Isn't MotRD intended to let DMs adapt Ravenloft monsters and adventures to 19th century Earth? If it was set in Greyhawk or FR, what exactly would you be adapting?

If you take MotRD, add back all the demihumans, take away all the firearms and trains and telegraphs and real world history and locations, what are you left with? Vanilla Ravenloft?

If you want your PCs to solve a murder on a train or take a riverboat up the haunted Mississippi, just run a one-shot or mini-campaign in MotRD. Your players would probably love it. On the other hand, tracking serial killers or solving a Mousetrap-style murder doesn't really require any sort of specific campaign setting.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I see the ability to pick and choose elements as being more of a sliding scale of things. Yes the example above would be one extreme, in almost nothing added.

But if one wants something like a standard fantasy world that has trains, firearms, and telegraphs with very 19th century characteristics. Or maybe it's sort of a 19th century Urban Arcana, where the Dwarven Rogue is from Glasgow (I know typical Dwarf ethnic stereotype) and the Elven Necromancer is from Mexico. Or something that literature has been doing a lot of the time in that you have a world that's not Earth, but loosely based on Earth in that historical period. This thought experiment is mostly about how integral would Earth be for a Masque of the Red Death sourcebook/adventure path.

 

[prosfilaes]

This thought experiment is mostly about how integral would Earth be for a Masque of the Red Death sourcebook/adventure path.

It seems like asking the question of how integral Faerûn is a Forgotten Realms sourcebook/adventure. It varies; some you can drop into Greyhawk or Eberron without hesitation, some are incredibly hard to do so. Gothic horror could be run in any setting, though full-on D&D can make it hard*. But there's something about our home planet that keeps horror authors coming back to it, whether it be the original Dracula and Frankenstein or the more modern settings of Lovecraft and King. It's easier to get people scared when they can imagine the monster prowling around their backyard.

* "The horrific monster pieced together from many bodies lunges out of the trees. 'I will introduce you to the horror that is my life.'"
"I make a Knowledge (Arcana) check. 37; is he immune to enchantment?"
"Hey, I got a higher init; how about a 32; is he vulnerable or resistant to fire?"
"I have 25 init, and my paladin does not see fit to just kill the creature out right. 'Surrender yourself for trial, monster', and I hit it with the blunt side of my sword for non-lethal damage."