Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="wolfkook" data-source="post: 4662518" data-attributes="member: 82436">IMO, the meta-point for a campaign in the dread realms should be something like this: "Explore the land, get scared, discover that something's not right, delve into the secrets of the land, discover the Dark Powers, the Mists and the Darklods, get horrified, decide if you want to fight for the people or for yourself, find a way to battle the darklords, get enough XP, gold and loot to make the world a better place, striving to keep yourself pure and sane in the process." In that way, your Epic Destiny becomes something like "Getting enough power to make things right". Historically, Ravenloft has been seen as a some kind of hopeless setting, where nothing people do is really meaningful.  In 3E, the concept shifted to make Ravenloft a setting "worth fighting for", and thus, somehow hopeful. Now, relying on the five elements you point out: Cliché: Nothing as cliché as gothic monsters.  We all know about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, frankenstein monsters and such, and we all like to fight them in our fantasy campaig. Combat: Fighting gothic monsters, especially in Ravenloft, is not your typicall combat scene.  It requires much more previous research, and better tactics.  This is not just a Brute or a Skirmisher, this is a character that requires a stake through the heart / silver weapons / cold iron (And probably to know the story behing it) to be really defeated. Fellowship: Against overwhelming odds, the fellowship aspect becomes more important, and with lots of investigation, the characters have plenty of opportunity to interact.  Furthermore, as the characters strive to protect the innocent / keep their purity / make the right choice, they become involved in moral dilemmas that create a sympathetic link to one another, and make them more three-dimensional. Anarchy: Well, that's a common link in all D&D. Enigma: Few other settings have such a strong dosis of Enigmas: Prophecies, mysteries to be sold, whodunits, ways to (permanently) kill a monsters, even the secrets of the mists, the dark powers, and the inner workings of the demiplane.</blockquote>

Verification