Andrew D. Gable
First Post
Kesh said:
Oh, Elena, when will you learn that crazy dragon's not real?
[Ravenloft] Curious
- Thread starter Azure Trance
- Start date
Oh, Elena, when will you learn that crazy dragon's not real?
Argus Decimus Mokira
First Post
Hey
Personal experience has shown me keeping the PCs in a home-base region for as long as possible works the best (for my group, at least) in Ravenloft - it allows for establishing what is normal for the campaign world, creating bonds between PCs and NPCs, and gives the local bad guys time to notice and plot against the PCs as the rise in prestige. I ran a (short-ish) campaign in Mordent where the PCs never left the county they were born in, nevermind the domain. The hodge-podge nature of the domains means that travelling leads from an obviously German culture to the rutted lanes of a pseudo-English countryside to vineyards reminiscent of France - in an easy day's journey (assuming the Land doesn't decide otherwise, natch). I feel it's hard to instill a sense of supernatural wrongness and ... um .... out-of-place-ness when the world around the PCs is radically different in each domain. Anyway, that's my opinion.
The other thing that really irked me about Ravenloft modules was the seemingly necessary involvement of the darklord. I really hate this, especially in the earler adventures where the death of the lord was acceptable (Castles Forlorn suggests that you use a magic marker and black out the domain of Forlorn on the poster map should the PCs kill Lord ApBlanc
). I avoid personal contact between darklords and PCs like the plague, and only very rarely have the PCs suffer from the effects of a darklord plot, even in the periphery. Again, this is just a personal taste thing.
Concerning the cultural levels of the domains, the general trend is a Renaissance culture in the northwest, degressing southeastward to medieval domains on the opposite corner of the Core. I generally interpret the medieval domains as somewhat more advanced than indicated in the book, and the Renaissance domains to be a little less advances - very similar to the Empire in the Warhammer world.
Oh, quick question - has anyone ever thought of naming the Core? Do you have the people of ravenloft refer to their home continent as "the Core"? I generally have them call the place the land of Mists, but maybe someone has something more suitable?
Later
-Matt
Personal experience has shown me keeping the PCs in a home-base region for as long as possible works the best (for my group, at least) in Ravenloft - it allows for establishing what is normal for the campaign world, creating bonds between PCs and NPCs, and gives the local bad guys time to notice and plot against the PCs as the rise in prestige. I ran a (short-ish) campaign in Mordent where the PCs never left the county they were born in, nevermind the domain. The hodge-podge nature of the domains means that travelling leads from an obviously German culture to the rutted lanes of a pseudo-English countryside to vineyards reminiscent of France - in an easy day's journey (assuming the Land doesn't decide otherwise, natch). I feel it's hard to instill a sense of supernatural wrongness and ... um .... out-of-place-ness when the world around the PCs is radically different in each domain. Anyway, that's my opinion.
The other thing that really irked me about Ravenloft modules was the seemingly necessary involvement of the darklord. I really hate this, especially in the earler adventures where the death of the lord was acceptable (Castles Forlorn suggests that you use a magic marker and black out the domain of Forlorn on the poster map should the PCs kill Lord ApBlanc
). I avoid personal contact between darklords and PCs like the plague, and only very rarely have the PCs suffer from the effects of a darklord plot, even in the periphery. Again, this is just a personal taste thing.Concerning the cultural levels of the domains, the general trend is a Renaissance culture in the northwest, degressing southeastward to medieval domains on the opposite corner of the Core. I generally interpret the medieval domains as somewhat more advanced than indicated in the book, and the Renaissance domains to be a little less advances - very similar to the Empire in the Warhammer world.
Oh, quick question - has anyone ever thought of naming the Core? Do you have the people of ravenloft refer to their home continent as "the Core"? I generally have them call the place the land of Mists, but maybe someone has something more suitable?
Later
-Matt
