Ravenloft 3rd edition - worth getting?

[amethal]

Are any of White Wolf's Ravenloft products worth getting?

I already have the first book they produced, and I'm wondering whether to buy any more since they seem to be selling them off at half price following the reversion of their licence to Wizards of the Coast.

I've got a fair number of 2nd edition Ravenloft products, so I don't need any 3rd edition stuff to run a game, but I'd like to buy some good 3rd edition books if such things exist. Any suggestions?

 

[Drowbane]

If you have the 2e Books, you really don't need the 3e. They offer nothing new. All you need is an understanding of Ravenloft's favor and enough knowledge of the Rules (2e and 3e) for conversions if/when you need them. To this day I still mock one of my friends for his having been sucker enough to buy the Limited Edition 3e Ravenloft book. What a waste of paper that was....

 

[Voadam]

I was happy enough with the 3e ravenloft monster conversions in Denizens of Dread/Darkness.

I was sorely disappointed in Secrets of the Dark Lords (as a book although the DM screen was alright), Heroes of Light (terrible, terrible convention breaking book allowing detect evil in return for stricter paladin type codes) and champions of darkness (bleah with bad mechanics).

I'm enjoying Van Richten's Guide to Undead and I got the fifth gazetteer when DTRPG.com had it for free as a download, but I haven't read anything but the monsters from that yet. I would expect the guide to shadow fey to be good as well.

 

[Aus_Snow]

If you have the 2e Books, you really don't need the 3e. They offer nothing new. All you need is an understanding of Ravenloft's favor and enough knowledge of the Rules (2e and 3e) for conversions if/when you need them.

Indeed.

There's a downloadable conversion book (pdf) at the wizards site, for updating earlier edition characters etc. It might help to grab it, if you don't already have it.

I personally think the 2nd ed. Ravenloft stuff is simply better. OK, some of it is quite bad, but it's not in the same category of bad, somehow. Or it's a matter of taste as usual.


edit --- though hang on a sec...

I was happy enough with the 3e ravenloft monster conversions in Denizens of Dread

Same here, actually. It's not so bad. Or I'm a monster junkie.

 

[GeorgeFields]

I stuck with only the core book and Denizens of Darkness. The only reason I got those was because I'm too lazy to working on conversions myself.

 

[Voadam]

Same here, actually. It's not so bad. Or I'm a monster junkie.

At first I thought the descriptions were poorer than the 2e ones and was disapointed in it (similar to the 3e MM descriptions), but it includes things that are either new or from sources I didn't have and it is mechanically useful. It grew on me and I've enjoyed using it in my 3e games.

 

[amethal]

Thanks, that was kind of what I was thinking.

I might pick up some monster books then, but I won't bother with anything else.

 

[Cynik]

If you are interested in more details to each domain of the core you should check out the Gazetteers. They give much depth to the land of the mists. 90 % Fluff and about 10 % Crunch (the stats for the most important npcs in the domain, sometimes spells or prestige classes).

You can read some reviews of the gazetteers here:

http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=product&productid=118186
http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=product&productid=119038

 

[devilbat]

I quite liked the Gazeteers. I prefer fluff to crunch, and the Gazeteers provide fluff in spades. Plenty of plot hooks, and interesting information on each of the core lands.

 

[Joël of the FoS]

If you have the 2e Books, you really don't need the 3e. They offer nothing new.

Absolutely false! If I may assume, I don't think you read the same books as me.

Au contraire, allow me to say I think the 3e Ravenloft line is very good. The best books of the Ravenloft line have been released with 3rd edition.

Want a proof of it? The last book of the line - Van Richten's Guide to the Mists - was released as a free downloadable PDF. Get it here: http://download.white-wolf.com/download/download.php?file_id=410

The quality of the book is excellent, IMHO. But do not take only my word, read the PDF!

Then, if you like what you see, then let me assure you the rest is as good (minus one or two). Particularly good are:

Van Richten's Arsenal (2002) - new tools to hunt undead and monsters. Very cool tools and spells, close to the flavor of Ravenloft and making Ravenloft different from the other settings.

Gazetteer Volume 1 (2002), Volume 2 (2003), Volume 3 (2003), Volume 4 (2003) and Volume 5 (2004) - a large section devoted to all the Core's domain. You never got that much info in any 2nd edition book, even all of them combined.

VRG to the Walking Dead (2003) and VRG to the Shadow Fey (2004) - one of the writer of these books was involved in VRG to the Mists. New stuff on lower undead and on fey. Never printed or developped in 2nd edition books.

Dungeon Master's Guide (2003) - highly suggested - a lot of flavor ideas for a RL DM.

Legacy of Blood (2004) - new family secrets. Do you want to play a Boritsi? Never seen in 2nd edition.

Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends (2005) - new cool adventure hooks.

Also, don't just take my word again: there are plenty of fan reviews you can read on Ravenloft books here or at the FoS site (follow my sig, reviews area).

Joël