Ravenloft for 3.5...what's a guy to do?

[Atom Again]

Quick question for you Ravenlofters...if one wants to play Ravenloft for 3.5, does one need:

Ravenloft Campaign Setting (3.0)
Ravenloft Player's Handbook
Ravenloft DM's Guide

OR...

Ravenloft Player's Handbook
Ravenloft DM's Guide

In other words, is the Ravenloft Campaign Setting book, originally published for 3.0 rules, still used with 3.5, or was it replaced by the "Player's Handbook" and "DM's Guide"?

 

[Voadam]

the Ravenloft 3.5 PH redoes everything in the 3.0 Ravenloft CS, including the monster templates. The Ravenloft DMG has mostly DM advice including some stuff on prophecies and fortune telling.

Already owning the 3.0CS I did not get the 3.5 PH after checking it out. I also passed on the 3.5 RL DMG.

If you don't have the 3.0 CS you don't need it for 3.5, and you probably don't need the 3.5 RL DMG either unless you want more DMing advice.

 

[Treebore]

If you own nothing go option two, plus the monster book is pretty cool/useful.
I was surprised at how much I liked the DMG.

 

[M.L. Martin]

The RAVENLOFT PHB is the 3.5 update of the RLCS . . . but it's $5 more expensive, incomplete in updating to 3.5 standards (the changes to the paladin's mount aren't addressed at all, to pick just one example, and given how summoning changes in RL, that's pretty drastic), and the new rules additions seriously handicap PCs and don't make very much sense within the setting. In addition, they shuffle the monster templates and expansions into the 3.5 monster book (Denizens of Dread) and replace those sections with tactical advice.

IMO, the best bet is to find a cheap copy of the 3.0 RLCS and do 3.5 updates on your own. For the monster books, either version will work just as well--neither one is particularly good at complying with the rules set. :-(

Matthew L. Martin

 

[Treebore]

That is true to. On another note I ran Ravenloft every weekend for a year without the DMG. So the DMG is by no means necessary, but I still liked it and am glad I bought it. The DMG is the only 3.5 book I own, and I haven't found anything difficult to "upgrade" to 3.5. Of course I haven't found much that needed to be upgraded, except for monsters and some spells.

So I would also go the cheap way if I was you. As for the Gazetteers, those books are nothing exceptional. They provide you with setting information is a semi-entertaining format. There is nothing in them that is in anyway essential, unless you feel it is important to run campaign settings that are as "canon" as possible. the equipment book was useful to me. the dark, light, walking undead, and fey books really didn't add a whole lot to my campaign. There were things I used as DM, but my players largely ignored the material. So I wouldn't spend money on them unless you really want more inspiration for your Ravenloft campaign. They did give me a lot of that.

As for the monsters in Denizens of Darkness, I didn't find that to be the case, but I do a lot of "editing" on the fly, so any problems i had would not have been written down by me. So, as a result, I wouldn't/don't have a catalogue of problems for the books. Also a number of the monsters are very powerful, even for their CR rating; but I found that fit well with the basic concept of Ravenloft, which is the monsters are supposed to win. I also found a fair number of the monsters were pretty underpowered for their CR as well. All were easily edited in my opinion.

 

[Trickstergod]

Just throwing in my agreement with Matthew.

The fewer people who buy the Ravenloft Player's Handbook, the fewer people there are who will be misled by the idea that any of the new (not 3.5 updated) rules are in anyway part of the campaign setting.

Urgh. The current Ravenloft developers really need to get fired...everytime I read about people just getting into Ravenloft, or just only as of now up-dating from 2nd edition, it gets me angry. Ahh. Sorry.

 

[MDSnowman]

3.5 Ravenloft Player's Handbook

It's good, I bought it because I like to be up to date on everything. The magic rating by Domain is nifty... but if you already have the lowly RLCS you don't need to buy the 3.5 RL PHB. Of course I'd require any players you have to buy it, the RLCS isn't very Player friendly.

3.5 Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide

At first I didn't get a lot of use out of this, but as I read it I found it's a great wealth of ideas for the campaign and it's great for helping to set the mood, even if you choose not to use the rules in it.

Denizens of Darkness vs. Denizens of Dread

Denizens of Darkness is the 3.0 book.... and it sucks, hard. Stats are screwed up more often than not and it only seems to lead to headaches. Denizens of Dread is markedly better in my opinion if only because it includes more monsters.

Others?

I can't recomend The Gazeteers enough, Van Richten's Arsenal (while 3.0) is still one of the best player's supplements I have ever read for ravenloft. Also VanRichten's Guide to the Walking Dead and VanRichten's Guide to The Shadow Fey are both stellar books that introduce villains perfect for Ravenloft Characters on the lower end of the level spectrum.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I agree re: the Gazeteers. They rock hard!

 

[Trickstergod]

Denizens of Darkness vs. Denizens of Dread

Denizens of Darkness is the 3.0 book.... and it sucks, hard. Stats are screwed up more often than not and it only seems to lead to headaches. Denizens of Dread is markedly better in my opinion if only because it includes more monsters.

...though it is worth mentioning that Denizens of Dread is essentially 3.0, as well. Only the damage reduction apparently had a face-lift, whereas the stat blocks are still essentially using normal 3rd edition rules, as opposed to revised. The changeover to 3.5 tripped up the current Ravenloft muckity-mucks quite horribly (and they didn't do so great with 3rd edition, either, as Denizens of Darkness apparently had 2nd edition mechanics in it until one of the Kargatane came along to fix at least some of the sloppiness).

 

[Voadam]

And I'd advise against getting the Heros of Light and Champions of Darkness supplements, they are fairly bad. CoD doesn't add much interesting and has very unbalanced mechanics while HoL adds in horrible super good mechanics that break ravenloft mood rules like on detecting evil.

I found the 3.0 RL CS to be a great players book with information a native of the realm could know on each of the domains with hints about the secrets and true powers but no overt spoilers. The only jarring point there was the monster templates at the end.