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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DarkKestral" data-source="post: 4665404" data-attributes="member: 40100">Yeah, that's what I tried to get across. It's not one single "campaign arc" it's a set of thematically interconnected possible campaign arcs. Gothic horror, for all of it's similarities, shows a pretty wide range of plots. Plus, if you were to do as I'd be wont to do, and open up Ravenloft to a variety of sub-settings that include the classic ones already written about, and then expand them to "modern day" ones that emulate other forms of horror fiction, the thematic range could be quite extensive without leaving the general themes behind. For example, I've got some ideas for a "final girl" type sub-setting. (I'm not yet sure how to deal with the big bad for that type of game, but in 4e-isms, it would probably be a Lurker-type monster/NPC that can do extensive damage in a short timeframe, but is easy to escape if the players can survive the initial assault.) The point of leveling up in that game is that it enables them to take bigger, longer assaults as the thing gets more desperate/willing to kill, with the goal to eventually traverse the domain and enable escape through the Mists. It would still be rather Gothic-flavored; no tech past early 1800s, and would be pretty Eastern European in thematics.Likewise, I think it would be possible to do a sort of Oriental Adventures-themed version of Ravenloft, and maybe ones set clearly in the modern day or near future, without losing that Ravenloft edge. Orientalism featured heavily in the writings of many of the writers we know for their Gothic horror, so I think those two would blend really well if you don't go too far with ninjas and other "wuxia" or "jidaigeki" type character classes, favoring ones that are more perhaps a bit less flashy, even if they do big magical effects, (ninjas, while stealthy, are flashy stealthy... rogues are "just there" stealthy) while more modern campaigns would require a bit of tweaking and some careful consideration to the setting. That said, modern urban dark fantasy owes a great deal to Gothic horror, which lends me to thinking it could work, if done well. I've seen ideas for a near-future cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk Barovia, so there is that...EDIT: Now that I've thought about it some more, personally, I'd nix any classes that are clearly derived from Japanese sources, for the simple fact that Japan and the West hadn't had contact yet by the time most classic Gothic horror was written. The reason I'm not totally convinced of the idea is that if you can do a cyberpunk Ravenloft, you could probably do a Ravenloft that included Japanese elements. I think. The reason Chinese- and Arab-derived classes would probably work pretty well is that most D&D gamers are Westerners using stereotypes of Asian/Middle Eastern culture when they use them at all, which is totally analogous to the way the Romantic writers who made Gothic horror what it was used such sources. They were less interested in the actuality, and cared more about the feelings that were evoked, so for them consistency with reality wasn't a major issue. Given that, all of the inconsistencies that will develop as a part of building up a game system become far less verisimilitude-destroying.</blockquote>

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