Ravenloft: I6 or House of Strahd?

[Shawn_Kehoe]

Hiya all,

I'm planning on downloading the Ravenloft module from RPGnow at some point, and was curious whether you recommended the original AD&D module (I6) or the remixed version that was released in 2nd Edition for the Ravenloft Campaign Setting (House of Strahd). In either case, I'll need to do some conversion work. I probably won't run it in my home campaign setting, so the horror / madness check info from HoS isn't essential?

Anyone who has read both care to comment? (Those who have only seen one of the two are welcome to chime in too. )

Thanks,

Shawn

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I would recommend the remake as it will be easier to convert to 3E.

 

[Klaus]

I have both modules.

When I6 came out, Ravenloft as a setting was a ways away. So many of the things we came to associate with Ravenloft (like Fear/Horror/Madness checks, the Mists and Dark Powers, etc.) weren't created yet. House of Strahd fully incorporates this elements.

Since HoS offers everything I6 does (including the awesome David C Sutherland III map of Castle Ravenloft) and more, I recommend HoS.

HoS also reflects Strahd's current (at the time, pretty close to 3e) stats, whereas he was much younger and weaker in I6. For those in a nostalgic mood, HoS offers both sets of statistics for the ol' bat.

 

[barsoomcore]

Can't compare the two, but I do have a conversion of I6 already done. Help yourself.

 

[HellHound]

I never even heard of the House of Strahd version...

The whole 2e thing kind of passed me by, I might add. Love the original.

 

[Shawn_Kehoe]

Since HoS offers everything I6 does (including the awesome David C Sutherland III map of Castle Ravenloft) and more, I recommend HoS.

The inclusion of the map is actually a very important point for me. Thanks for mentioning it!

I'm beginning to regret getting rid of my old 2e Ravenloft material ... hopefully once Heroes of Horror arrives in October, I'll soon add a few new countries to my still loosely defined game world.

EDIT: Was the map a fold-out? I'm wondering how well it will translate to printing on 8.5"x11" paper.

Shawn

 

[Mercule]

HoS is somewhat better. It did a couple of things to make sense, like not putting four red dragons in a 10'x10' (20'x20'?) room (gargoyles, in HoS). That said, I don't think there are any substantive differences between the two.

The map for HoS is a rather large poster map. IIRC, it's about the size of eight sheets of letter-sized paper. Pretty snazy, though.

 

[billd91]

I prefer the original I6 to the House of Strahd version. The changes in the HoS version strip away some of the soul of the original.

 

[jsewell]

Can't compare the two, but I do have a conversion of I6 already done. Help yourself.

Gott sei Dank! I was (this week) going to start on this conversion!!!

 

[jsewell]

Can't compare the two, but I do have a conversion of I6 already done. Help yourself.

Gott sei Dank! I was (this week) going to start on this conversion!!!

Shawn, I've read multiple times that RPGNow's TSR scans are horrid. I'd recommend looking for it on e-bay. (I got a decent copy for less than RPGNow).