No Ravenloft anytime soon (if ever?) No problem!

[Feeroper]

Hey everyone.

I, like many others, was saddened and dismayed to hear that the Ravenloft game/setting was delayed/canceled at this years DDXP. I had been really been anticipating it since they announced it at GenCon last year.

Alas, if they say its not ready, then I suppose its best that they dont rush something out that is sub par.

I had been thinking of creating a dark and gothic campaign for my players, and had just kijnda assumed that Ravenloft would fit this bill later in the year, but now that it is no more, I got to thinking what is stopping me from creating some dark/gothic themes into a game? It is still very do-able. Already we have Open Grave, and a section in Manual of the Planes on the Shadowfell, not to mention the Domains of Dread articles from Dungeon.

The more I though about this, the more I realized that it seems like alot of the things that I was really excited for with Ravenloft are still possible regardless, and I dont mean just coverting a older edition sourcebook.

The obvious thing to look at is the upcomming Shadowfell box set. From the sounds of it, this will pretty well cover what i was hoping for with the Ravenloft game. At the same time, it sounds like I will be able to shape something a little more customized to my (and my players) liking. Also, despite the amount of hate that has been flung about recently regarding tthe influx of cards into the game, Im really digging the idea of the Despair deck included in the Shadowfell box.

Anyways, just wanted to start this thread to spark some discussion of ways to bring the spirit of Ravenloft out in your game despite not having an official Ravenloft set this year. If anyone else was kinda bummed out about it like I was, I suggest looking into what is available already and what is still coming out.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Did hey officially announce it last year at Gencon? I must have missed that.

Well, the Shadowfell sounds right up Ravenloft's alley, just use more or less isolated parts of the plane for the domains. 4E likes to connectthe planes together, so a mist-like passage there sounds just right. I wonder if or what God/dess would be good for running the domains?

I know in 2E it was left vague (to the best of my knowledge) but it seems in 4E it might be better to tie it to a god.

 

[The Human Target]

Yeah I'm fairly bummed about it too.

I was excited to see a 4E version.

 

[Dice4Hire]

As an addendum, I think Ravenloft is a good setting to tailor to the party anyway.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Yeah I'm fairly bummed about it too.

Trust me when I say: Not as much as I am.

 

[DonAdam]

There's some great stuff at this site for 4e Ravenloft: Ravenloft: Net Books

 

[Feeroper]

Did hey officially announce it last year at Gencon? I must have missed that.

Yeah, it was announced at the end of their product seminar at GenCon (I was there). They said at the time it would likely see an October 2011 release. After that though there was no talk of it until someone asked about its status at the DDXP seminar and they said it had been shelved for the time being as it was not ready.

 

[MrMyth]

I think it is a shame, since I was already working on writing up my next campaign as a Ravenloft game. Of course, the game was likely to start well before the release of the product, so the actual impact on me is pretty small - as it is, I think I'll still have plenty of mechanical content to plunder from Heroes of Shadow and the Shadowfell boxed set. (Despair cards? Yes please!)

I also think that with the general framework for Domains of Dread easily established, it isn't that hard to snag material from earlier editions and easily use the background and story content of it while updating mechanics to 4E. So I may go E-bay hunting for some older Ravenloft products - anyone have any recommendations?

 

[The Little Raven]

So I may go E-bay hunting for some older Ravenloft products - anyone have any recommendations?

I recommend stuff from the 3e line, since it's the most like 4e and would easier to find and convert.

Gazetteers 1-5. These are gold for 3e Ravenloft. They give you an updated sense of what is going on in the Core, and are presented in an in-setting method, rather than omniscient narration.
Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends. A collection of classic horror stories spun to be Ravenloft adventure hooks.
Denizens of Dread. 3.5 reprint/update of the original monster book, Denizens of Darkness.
Ravenloft Player's Handbook. 3.5 reprint/update of the 3.0 Campaign Setting. While you could get this and convert it over, a lot of it is either available in other sources (you could just use the Vistani heritage feats in place of the half-Vistani race in here, f'rex) or doesn't necessarily fit in 4e (some of the class changes). I'd drop their Fear/Horror/Madness system for the Despair Deck, and probably replace the Power Checks system with a Corruption system derived from Concordance.
Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide. Useful info for running a horror/Ravenloft game, along with systems for Tarokka and Dikesha.

I found the rest of the line to be so-so.

 

[GameDoc]

To be honest, when I read the Domains of Dread article back when, the first thing that popped into my head was "this is how they're going to do Ravenloft in 4e."