Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume III

[Messageboard Golem]

Lands of Mystery, Landscapes of Intrigue

The Renaissance-like intrigues of Dementlieu; the ambitious machinations of Richemulot's rulers; the ghost-riddled land of Mordent — in these ways and more does twisted evil permeate the warped realms, each reflecting the perverse desires of its ruling darklord.

The third installment in the Gazetteer setting sourcebook series provides in-depth information on the domains of Dementlieu, Mordent, and Richemulot, including stories of Mordent's lost families and rare insights into the peculiar customs of Dementlieu and Richemulot. Daring and subtle adventurers may take their place among the elite of Ravenloft's schemers and plotters, if they dare — or pit themselves against the unexpected horrors that lurk in the shadows of these three realms.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

If you want the higher level of detail for the areas of Mordent, Dementlieu, and Richmelot this book is for you. Otherwise there is no real reason to buy it. My current Ravenloft campaign is centered in Richmelot and I found the info in this book to be a great background enhancer as well as help me firm up the political arena and add a few layers of sub-plots. In other words , these books do what they are supposed to do. This book has even given me ideas to help move my campaign into Dementlieu. so I am happy with this book. It gave me what I wanted (background depth) and a fair amount of what I hoped for (game inspiration).

If their layout and organization have bothered you in the past, they still will. Their format does not lend itself to easy indexing, so if you go looking for specific info highlight it so you will find it easier the next time. Another thing I found annoying, Their info on the Darklords was almost completely a repeat from othe sourcebooks, so if you have those books you will feel as I do about their inclusion in this book, a waste of space. I suppose they had to include them, though, just in case you do not own the other sourcebooks like I do.

My other complaint is the price tag. $24.95 for 139 pages of a Softbound Black and White book. As I understand the printing industry, this is probably necessary for Arthaus because Ravenloft is a small print run campaign world. So I will live with the price to maintain the support for this campaign world. They may want to do some research into the marketing viability of .pdf sales for these products. Since there are no important original maps included I personaly would have no problem purchasing this as a .pdf for about $8.00.

That is another problem Arthaus is missing the boat on. Maps. New maps of the cities and abodes within these domains would have been a very nice inclusion. Of course there are ways to obtain old versions via the internet, if you don't already own them. New DM's and players would probably be a lot happier with new maps. I know my group loves the fact that I have the old maps to show them. Maps definitely help them bring the world to life in their mind's eye. It also helps me when deciding on adventure ideas. I like having that concrete view of where I am thinking of having things happen. Maps of the buildings are a big help in determining tactics as well.

If you are a lover of Ravenloft you will probably want this book, especially if you use any of the areas covered. Otherwise, you don't need it.

 

[MDSnowman]

The map thing has always bothered me as well. What gets me even more angry is in the RL Core books, they have a map but no Scale ::growls::