Ravenloft anyone?

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

It's really hard to take your opinion as a fan of Ravenloft seriously when you don't appear to know the name of the darklord in question. I seriously had to think hard as to who the Hell you were talking about.

Whatever, man. I misspelled Azalin, it happens. If you're going to disregard my whole opinion based on that, that's your problem.

Anyway...

It's been awhile since I picked up the books or ran the setting. 3.X fell a bit flat for me, and while I'm not sure why, I'd love to see Arthaus try again, since he had some very talented writers on the staff along with many good ideas, and is himself a very good writer.

The books were very technically correct, with few mechanical errors, but just seemed as if something had gone out of them. Not sure what it was.

That said, I'd like to see them roll back the setting to post Grand Conjunction, or maybe slightly before it. Maybe rereleasing all the old modules, only instead of the original order, have the modules in order of recommended level, so that the players can gradually approach the Grand Conjunction.

Just my little opinion.

----------EDIT--------

I forgot the main point I was going to post because I was laughing too hard...

Anyway, I still use my older Ravenloft stuff. I bought the 3.X books so I could convert everything, did the necessary conversions, and put the hardbacks away. I still recommend Ravenloft to people, and like it.

I'm glad to see that netbooks are coming out again, although I'd have been willing to pay for PDF's if they had the same good ideas and stuff in them as the old 2E netbooks do.

One of my favorite things about Ravenloft has to do with the fact I game with a rules lawyer. He can't count on memorized monster descriptions in Ravenloft, and the most frightening thing isn't that it might be monster out there, but the monster may be standing next to him.

If there's a new Ravenloft Site, I'd love to catch a link to it.

 

[jdrakeh]

1) Arthaus resold the rights of Ravenloft back to WotC
2) WotC published a horror supplement to DnD D20 (Heroes of Horror)
3) WotC is (re)publishing this (as well as other) Ravenloft novels

4) If I recall correctly, 'Heroes of Horror' was also the title of the unofficial Kargatane designed Ravenloft rules for D&D 3.0 published as a PDF (c. 2000).

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ralts, "Arthaus" is the name of one of White Wolf's studios, not the name of a person.

While I wouldn't mind seeing White Wolf try it again, I'd prefer to see it done with WotC production values.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Ralts, "Arthaus" is the name of one of White Wolf's studios, not the name of a person.

Yeah, I know.

But for some reason, it always felt like a "him" to me, ya know? Maybe because I keep thinking that the guy in charge of the old 2E website that used to be up was in charge of the whole Arthaus thing. I can't remember his name any more, so when I think of Arthaus, I think of the guy who used to be in charge of that site/those forums.

That was something I liked about it, it felt like one person was driving the whole thing, one unified vision.

Plus, it's past 2AM here, and I'm more along the lines of personalizing things. Even to the point where I read your post and it kind of felt like you were a skinny guy leaning behind a keyboard, up way to late, and poking at me saying: "Pssst, it's a company, not a person, buddy."

Eh, too much Jack Daniels and not enough sleep.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Yeah, I know.

But for some reason, it always felt like a "him" to me, ya know?

That was something I liked about it, it felt like one person was driving the whole thing, one unified vision.

Plus, it's past 2AM here, and I'm more along the lines of personalizing things. Even to the point where I read your post and it kind of felt like you were a skinny guy leaning behind a keyboard, up way to late, and poking at me saying: "Pssst, it's a company, not a person, buddy."

Eh, too much Jack Daniels and not enough sleep.

Trust me. I am not even remotely skinny.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

LOL No sweat.

On that note, I think I'll put away this here square bottle and hit the rack.

Morning will come bright and early.


----EDIT----

PS: When I read that, the mental image ballooned into a chubby black lab mouse with spectacles laughing.

 

[Le Noir Faineant]

Personally, I am sure RL will come back some time in the future.

Now, it's only natural that the line was abandoned, IMO. After all, RL is the best documented setting for 3e after FR and Scarred Lands, at least as far as I know. With those 18 books around, gamers will have far enough for the next years to come. - The question would have really been: Apart from closer descriptions of the domains already presented in the CS and the DMG, what more material would have been needed? - The setting already received an immense amount of coverage, and I personally doubt that more material would really have sold well...

Now, if Mr Marmell still feels the need to present us fans another great book, I#ll be the last to say: "No no, I can't afford this!"

 

[Joël of the FoS]

If there's a new Ravenloft Site, I'd love to catch a link to it.

Well, you're my guest at www.FraternityOfShadows.com

4) If I recall correctly, 'Heroes of Horror' was also the title of the unofficial Kargatane designed Ravenloft rules for D&D 3.0 published as a PDF (c. 2000).

Nope, the Kargatane did produce many excellent books, but none with this title (and they never did a netbook on 3e conversion).

Joël

 

[Ripzerai]

The decision was probably based on the name recognition of the author and the success she has had with the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series after Death of a Dark Lord came out.

Edit: She has a huge following, and all those people who bought her Anita Blake books will get that email from amazon.com saying, "As someone who has bought books by Laurell K Hamilton in the past, we thought you might be interested in..."

No kidding; it's a no-brainer for WotC. It's like if J.K. Rowling wrote a Dragonlance novel before she did Harry Potter. Even if it were the worst Dragonlance book of all time (Harry Majere and the Kender's Scroll!), it'd sell like hotcakes, and WotC's novel division would be able to justify its existence for a little longer.

My mom loves Laurell K. Hamilton. She'll probably buy this book, despite knowing nothing about Ravenloft.

(Although, she liked P.N. Elrod too, and I don't think she ever bought I, Strahd).

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Well, you're my guest at www.FraternityOfShadows.com

Thank you kindly, and I'll see you there.

Same name.