D&D General Need wheat. Too dangerous. (worldbuilding)

[Fenris-77]

So gimme a second. Someone is saying that NuRaveloft makes no sense because we have language issues? Seriously? OK.

 

[Tonguez]

Well, this is CoS, which came out a long time before they decided Ravenloft relied on nightmare logic.

Yeah making most of the Ravenloft population hollow shades derived from Strahds curse was probably a sound idea to go with

 

[Hussar]

Use manpower to build physical barriers ( put them dwarves to work on special commission from the king!)
Use magical power to build physical barriers ( wall of stone, plant walls, force fields)
Use magical power to build magical barriers ( zones of anti monster types such that they feel shocked when crossing the boundary)
An entire troop type dedicated to agriculture guarding ( not just city wall guards but field guards) to protect, possibly in conjunction with one of the other above ideas

or maybe the fields are grown elsewhere ( a regular place on the mountain tops where monsters don’t easily reach, and the transport to civilized lands is magical), or maybe the fields are in a pocket dimension inside a globe thus easily portal and safe on someone’s mantle in their city home …

One addition that I really liked in Ghosts of Saltmarsh is that the main bridge in Saltmarsh causes Fey to become physically ill when crossing it. Doesn't really do any damage or anything, but, it's very visible. One way to get around shape changers I suppose.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Well, this is CoS, which came out a long time before they decided Ravenloft relied on nightmare logic.

Wasn't a huge fan of some of the nu-Ravenloft changes but I feel like old Ravenloft was always pretty nightmare logic driven. The ability for the setting to defy logic, have a dream-like quality like a lot of Gothic stories, is baked into its cosmology. People are going to disagree on where that leads in terms of content (becomes we will all find some creative choices in that respect lacking or not). While I think cheering for a more realistic Ravenloft is a perfectly valid preference, the setting veering into nightmare logic isn't some recent change (I am less familiar with CoS, so maybe there is something in there people find particularly egregious I am unaware of).

 

[Bedrockgames]

Yes, but that was because the difference between a village and a town was not the size but if it had a wall or not.

I have a feeling this is going to vary considerably by time and place

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, this is CoS, which came out a long time before they decided Ravenloft relied on nightmare logic.

They did decide most of the populace were just empty shells without souls, so this was already starting to become a thing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Snort, yeah, because Ravenloft was always designed to make sense and this is just an issue with current D&D products.

They made more of an effort in Domains of Dread and the 3rd ed White Wolf products.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So gimme a second. Someone is saying that NuRaveloft makes no sense because we have language issues? Seriously? OK.

Mostly we were talking about a lack of farmland to feed its population. Of course, since much of the population is fake now, maybe they dont need to eat.

 

[Bedrockgames]

They did decide most of the populace were just empty shells without souls, so this was already starting to become a thing.

This has long been one interpretation of Ravenloft. Because the dark powers create whole domains in an instant, populated with people and ancient ruins, yet it’s history only goes back centuries, that has been a viable contention (typically in older Ravenlift products the tendency is to ask questions and not answer them: something I think works better than answering them). Personally I am not as into the empty shell thing. It is pretty in keeping with existing lore and speculation in the books though.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Mostly we were talking about a lack of farmland to feed its population. Of course, since much of the population is fake now, maybe they dont need to eat.

I get this complaint with a setting like HARN, but never understood it with ravenloft. Also the map has plenty of space for implied farmland. If you look at the maps of settlements many of them have farmland and homesteads and farms while not keyed on the map, are I think presumed to exist. But fundamentally it is a gothic world of dreams and nightmares. Counting grain to make sure the world building achieved some kind of realism just isn’t the genre it belongs to. People can prefer that, they can like it. Some later books veered into (though not by a lot, when you consider that the WW books for example stated that Ravenlift doesn’t have fixed distance (a journey that takes 1 day on Thursday may take 5 on Sunday because the labs is always changing). Even DoD seemed more about creating consistency in terms of tech levels and language—-and bringing in more dark fantasy (but you could still have a domain in the Stone Age next to one in the Renaissance period)