Product page for Volo's Guide to Monsters updated

Oh that is a nice preface.

 

[PMárk]

And I don't agree with that. Or more acurately, I don't agree with the implementation and the end result.

Strahd was a tragic figure, a hero, who succumbed to his darkest desires and worst emotions. He never was anything else than a villain in the game, but an interesting villain. A character that generated questions and doubts in the reader. I'll always prefer that to a 2 bit bad guy.

I don' think it was needed to strip away all his nuances and complexity just to make a point: vampires are eeeeevil! I think it is an overly balatant reaction to the above trend. Strahd never was a poster-boy for over-romanticised cute vampion guys. For me, it was absolutely unnecessary to change his backstory.

I understand there's a lot of people who don't want to deal with morale questions in D&D, just want to bash in the face some orcs and stake a few bad vampires. I'm just not that kind of person. I like heroic fantasy, but I also loved the old Ravenloft's more grey morality and thought-inducing nature and CoS took that away, at least in the main villain's backstory.

That "he was a villain, did bad things, got his punishment and prison, while dragged with him innocent people as collateral damage" is just infinitely inferior to the original story.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Following up what was said a few posts back, if you want to talk about vampires (or any other subject), please go ahead and make a new thread for it. Some of us here are valiantly trying to keep this one on topic discussing what will be in VGtM...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

And I don't agree with that. Or more acurately, I don't agree with the implementation and the end result.

Strahd was a tragic figure, a hero, who succumbed to his darkest desires and worst emotions. He never was anything else than a villain in the game, but an interesting villain. A character that generated questions and doubts in the reader. I'll always prefer that to a 2 bit bad guy.

I don' think it was needed to strip away all his nuances and complexity just to make a point: vampires are eeeeevil! I think it is an overly balatant reaction to the above trend. Strahd never was a poster-boy for over-romanticised cute vampion guys. For me, it was absolutely unnecessary to change his backstory.

I understand there's a lot of people who don't want to deal with morale questions in D&D, just want to bash in the face some orcs and stake a few bad vampires. I'm just not that kind of person. I like heroic fantasy, but I also loved the old Ravenloft's more grey morality and thought-inducing nature and CoS took that away, at least in the main villain's backstory.

That "he was a villain, did bad things, got his punishment and prison, while dragged with him innocent people as collateral damage" is just infinitely inferior to the original story.

Also, Bram Stoker's Dracula was a fallen hero turned into a monster, trapped in a loop of despair and obsession, becoming a yawning void of death into which all things he touched were pulled.

That's a villain you can watched endless Christopher Lee movies about. Evil dingus that gets thrown into a punishment realm along with his, innocent, people? Feckin boring.

 

[Mouseferatu]

That "he was a villain, did bad things, got his punishment and prison, while dragged with him innocent people as collateral damage" is just infinitely inferior to the original story.

That is the original story. Any moral ambiguity he had was added later.

That said, I agree that I dislike the backstory changes CoS made to him.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

While I do want to continue the Strahd discussion. We should change it to a new thread.

 

[PMárk]

Ok, I'll create one!

 

[Parmandur]

The page has been updated again, with page 23, featuring tables Traits-Ideals-Bonds-Flaws specific to Giants, and the beginning of some Cloud Giant specific lore!

 

[flametitan]

This seems to give a bit of a better perspective on how the actual writing style will flow. The book does not seem to be overloaded with the mannerisms of Volothamp (making it much easier to read through for note taking) while Elminster's notes seem to be limited to "Hey, here's an extra tidbit" here and there, and not focused on mocking Volo. I like that there's personality, but it seems to be striking more of a balance between personality and usability.

 

[gyor]

This should be in the other thread so I removed the original post.

Back on topic, while the Cloud Giant and Giant traits preview was interesting, I'd have prefered the table of contents instead, anyone else?

 

[Leatherhead]

What's up with that dual-tower-shield wielding thing in the new preview?