Ravenloft and Scarred Lands: Co-exist?

[Lopan]

Well, I'm kinda stumped... I love Ravenloft. I always have since the original box set came out(not he original adventure). I love the gothic terror and magnificent roleplaying that the setting allows. However, as soon as the Scarred Lands stuff started coming out, I gobbled up all of it... I'm still buying everything that comes out, cuz' truth be told, I love that setting too. Recently I had the chance to sit down and read some of the hardcover Ravenloft book and I was blown away by how tightly they've woven the lands together. I love the idea of culture rating, having limited steam power and gun powder, dark powers, power ratings, etc..

However, since I own so much Scarred lands material, I can't just abandon it for the limited Ravenloft material. So, what I'm looking for is ideas on how I can bring the ideas and feeling of ravenloft to the scarredlands. I want the scarred lands to have that gothic flavor. I want the characters to feel like someone is always watching them. I want the bad guys to be tragic, not terrible(maybe both ). Any ideas, guys? What would work for the scarred lands and what wouldn't. Thanks for your help.

 

[mmadsen]

Recently I had the chance to sit down and read some of the hardcover Ravenloft book and I was blown away by how tightly they've woven the lands together. I love the idea of culture rating, having limited steam power and gun powder, dark powers, power ratings, etc..

For me, the allure of Ravenloft is not the setting geography but the feel -- in particular, the way you can't trivially see through subterfuge with a spell, and the way dark magic taints you. You can easily fit that into the Scarred Lands, right?

 

[Lopan]

hmmm..

Yeah, I suppose it's possible. If I'm not mistaken, though, isn't one of the main powers of the priesthood of Hedrada the ability to detect good/evil/guilt/?

I'm sure I could drop a ton of rules into the game like that to make it more difficult to detect the motivations of others, but would it make things more gothic for the scarred lands? Perhaps...

 

[mmadsen]

Re: hmmm..

If I'm not mistaken, though, isn't one of the main powers of the priesthood of Hedrada the ability to detect good/evil/guilt/?

I don't know much about the Scarred Lands, but wouldn't it make the Priesthood of Hedrada more interesting if they were the only ones who could detect evil? And what if it wasn't infallible? Maybe the spell grants a Sense Motive roll against the target's Bluff?

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Ravenloft SPOILER alert

Well, the thing about Ravenloft is that it steals most of its domains from Prime Material worlds. Ravenloft can take lands from any Prime World, including that of Scarred Lands. All it needs is a suitable villain to become a dark lord and that can be tormented to rule over the land. In 2E Ravenloft, the designers were fond of making fiendish personalities from other settings into Ravenloft darklords. Lord Soth from Dragonlance, referred to in as simply the blackguard in the third edition Ravenloft products, was the darklord of Sithicus in AD&D 2E. Easan, the darklord of Vechor, was originally from Oerth, and Hazlik was originally a Red Wizard of Thay from the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Heck, even Vecna and Kas were darklords for a time, and there was even a domain from Dark Sun. You could create a domain or even a small cluster of domains coming from the Scarred Lands setting. Or perhaps some evil beings akin to the Dark Powers of Ravenloft were let into the World of Scarred Lands when the gods and titans were fighting each other and have slowly and subtely grown more powerful, like the Red Death did when it was summoned to Gothic Earth in the Masque of the Red Death setting.
Or less drastic combination might simply be to use monsters from the Creature Compendiums in a Ravenloft game, as there are a great many monsters in these books that go well with Ravenloft. Or vice versa.

 

[Green Knight]

and there was even a domain from Dark Sun

Nevermind Vorostokov, from Birthright. Oh yeah, and Odiare came from Gothic Earth.

But yeah, I agree. Just stick a Deadlands domain into the Ravenloft setting. Attach it to the edge of the core, or make it an island of terror. Hell, create an entirely NEW core some distance away from the original. Just a couple suggestions.

 

[Nightfall]

Well if you REALLY want to have some fun, and since the Psionics are now OGL, perhaps you could use the Slacerians. See since they had some mastery of planar hoping/dimension hopping, perhaps they unwittingly managed to FLEE to Ravenloft. There, a small cabal of them have set up shop, using the human populace there as their own little guinea pigs. Or perhaps there's a strong resistance group. In any case, I think you could have some REAL fun ultizing them AND perhaps even a few druids with clerics working together, even though they both HATE each other and call the other heretics and what not. Regardless of that, they could fight to eliminate the Slacerians..or perhaps just fight.

Howse that for fun?

 

[Green Knight]

and since the Psionics are now OGL

Are you serious? If so, sweet! I can't wait til the Kargatane sets to work on a supplement for using psionics in Ravenloft. Be nice to know what powers require Power Checks besides the obvious ones. That and, IMO, psionics just fit so well with Ravenloft. Especially when taking into account the Dark Sun domain, and the domain of Bluetspur with the Illithids.

 

[Nightfall]

Well I know that people use them in adventures. So I imagine that the former Dark Sun domain might be altered some but they'll probably have rules for Psionics.

 

[Green Knight]

Well I know that people use them in adventures. So I imagine that the former Dark Sun domain might be altered some but they'll probably have rules for Psionics.

Yeah, I while back I wanted to play a Psychic Warrior in a Ravenloft game I was going to play in. Unfortunately, the Psychic Warrior skill selection sucks. I wanted to have more ranks in skills like Gather Information and Wilderness Lore, so I ended up with a Rogue/Ranger multi-class, instead.

Hmm. I have no idea what the format will be, as the Ravenloft Gazeteer 1 won't be out til next month. But it'd be pretty cool if the Gazeteer which has either Bluetspur or Kalidnay (Dark Sun domain) will include rules for psionics in Ravenloft. It'd certainly be appropriate.