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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gonzoron" data-source="post: 4662655" data-attributes="member: 31753">See, here's where I disagree.  First, you're making the assumption that the Dark Powers exist to be defeated, or at least to be pitted against the PCs.  They don't.  They exist as a plot device to allow for a world where all the horror archetypes exist side by side.  It's deliberately not even established that they are evil.  Competing theories peg them as good, or even neutral.  But again, regardless of alignment, they aren't the enemy, they're just the basis of the world, like the Lady of Pain in Planscape.  Ravenloft PCs can go an entire campaign without even knowing the Dark Powers exist. And how is this any different than standard D&D, where there are evil gods that can do the same?  There's always a bigger fish.  Again I disagree.  Firstly, not everything in Ravenloft is a creation of the DPs, some domains are ripped or copied from Prime Material worlds.  Second, regardless of the circumstances of their creation, every person in Ravenloft has the same potential for good or evil as in any other world.  There are great heroes as much as there are great evils in Ravenloft, and innocents as well.Also, there's no guarantee that the darkness can't be beaten back in Ravenloft.  The darklords are given great power, but also cursed and imprisoned.  The Dark Powers don't like to see their pet prisoners happy, that much is clear.  Enough good people rising up to fight could concievably carve out a nice safe place, even in Ravenloft, much to the darklord's chagrin. I would disagree here too.  If the villagers don't have to worry about being replaced by pod people tomorrow, the world is a better place.  If the deranged ghost mother stops returning to nurse her son, the world is a better place.  If Strahd is forced into hibernation for another generation, the world is a better place.And what campaign setting has the possibility of permanently fixing the world?  There's always another dragon to be fought, always another cult of Vecna springing up, always another band of roving orcs.  If there wasn't, adventuring would get awfully boring, wouldn't it?    Just because there's an infinite number of demons in the Abyss doens't mean it's not heroic to destroy the one that's taken over a kingdom.  And just because there's another vampire in the next town doesn't mean it's worthless to stake the one in front of you.Ravenloft's problems are pure perception, IMHO, not any fundamental flaw in the setting.</blockquote>

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