D&D 5E Ravenloft= Meh

[MechaPilot]

After playing and running several Ravenloft modules, I've come to realize that the setting isn't about hopelessness as some are suggesting.

The setting's modules are typically about mystery, suspense, a sense of imprisonment, redemption, and poetic justice. In fact, the party is usually the very embodiment of hope. Entire domains can collapse as the result of character actions.

IMO, the moment you start to make the players feel as if they can't make a difference is the moment Ravenloft isn't being played correctly. That might work for other horror games, but it's not what Ravenloft is about.

I agree with you that Ravenloft is not about hopelessness. If anything, from the Ravenloft novels that I've read, I've seen that Ravenloft is very much about hope. . . distant hope. . . seemingly your only hope. And then come the challenges that stand in your way of taking hold of that hope, a hope that seems to shine like the only light in a world of ceaseless darkness, and the choices (often dark ones) between doing what's right and choosing to relentlessly pursue that hope despite the sins piling up all around you.

 

[iserith]

I just know we're going to start cracking jokes during play, so I think it's just best to go with this:

[video=youtube;SAMhKjVfuBg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMhKjVfuBg[/video]

Embrace the silliness of D&D and put a thin veneer of classic horror tropes on top of it and you can't go wrong.

 

[Sunseeker]

After playing and running several Ravenloft modules, I've come to realize that the setting isn't about hopelessness as some are suggesting.

The setting's modules are typically about mystery, suspense, a sense of imprisonment, redemption, and poetic justice. In fact, the party is usually the very embodiment of hope. Entire domains can collapse as the result of character actions.

IMO, the moment you start to make the players feel as if they can't make a difference is the moment Ravenloft isn't being played correctly. That might work for other horror games, but it's not what Ravenloft is about.

And that stands true of any D&D game. If players don't feel like they can make a difference (in the way they intend), they typically stop trying, which is of course, the definition of hopelessness. But a lot of horror games aren't about hopelessness, they're about survival. You can be hopeless, and still want to survive and thus press on.

I don't think a sense of hopeless futility is good for any game. Even if you're running a setting that is designed to be a no-win scenario, you can still give the players minor victories. Being hopeless isn't about lacking all hope. It's about having hope, and shattering it. If you run a hopeless setting, you WANT the players to hope, that's what makes it truly hopeless.

 

[Arnwolf]

After playing and running several Ravenloft modules, I've come to realize that the setting isn't about hopelessness as some are suggesting.

The setting's modules are typically about mystery, suspense, a sense of imprisonment, redemption, and poetic justice. In fact, the party is usually the very embodiment of hope. Entire domains can collapse as the result of character actions.

IMO, the moment you start to make the players feel as if they can't make a difference is the moment Ravenloft isn't being played correctly. That might work for other horror games, but it's not what Ravenloft is about.

This exactly!!!

I love Ravenloft and believe it does gothic horror as well as CoC or any other game.

 

[Tshiow]

Ravenloft is scary and frustrating. The mists meant you were at the DM's mercy no matter how powerful you were, if he wanted u stuck in a certain domain, u were. Lords of the domain also wielded ultimate power, they could turn the very land against you, negate your abilities, weaken your spells etc. So yeah, Ravenloft was scary..

It was also the games in which we did the most in character role playing rather than hack and slash.

 

[Jabborwacky]

On a side note, Ravenloft requires an attention to detail that I'm not really getting a good vibe from WotC on. In the first few pages of death's house, they've chosen some weird clothing standards and even mention houses having wallpaper. For those that may have forgotten, Barovia is supposed to be a medieval setting. While it is possible for wallpaper to exist in a medieval setting with some stretch of the imagination, the technology would be used for expensive wall prints, which really aren't the same thing as wallpaper as we know it.

Model houses and porcelain dolls fall into the same exact situation, so how is it that this row house has fineries that only royalty could afford? Barovians are notoriously suspicious of outsiders, and trade would be decidedly limited considering the brutal taxation of its citizens under Count Strahd. If they want Amityville horror, they need a Renaissance level setting at the very least. Ranting aside, I'm sure any of us could wing up an explanation, but these kinds of things are going to throw veterans off in the completely wrong way.

 

[Morrus]

On a side note, Ravenloft requires an attention to detail that I'm not really getting a good vibe from WotC on. In the first few pages of death's house, they've chosen some weird clothing standards and even mention houses having wallpaper. For those that may have forgotten, Barovia is supposed to be a medieval setting. While it is possible for wallpaper to exist in a medieval setting with some stretch of the imagination, the technology would be used for expensive wall prints, which really aren't the same thing as wallpaper as we know it. Wikipedia is a wonderful thing.

It's fiction. Vampires aren't really either. You're really concerned about wallpaper?

I have a horrible feeling this will end up as one of those infamous "hat of d02" or "Christmas pen" posts.

 

[Jabborwacky]

It's fiction. Vampires aren't really either. You're really concerned about wallpaper?

I have a horrible feeling this will end up as one of those infamous "hat of d02" or "Christmas pen" posts.

The 3rd edition Ravenloft books published under the Sword and Sorcery brand covered details like this for each domain. It's not unreasonable to expect the same attention to detail out of WotC. I know the 3rd edition iteration had its downfalls, and I don't really mind revisions, but isn't nostalgia the whole point of capitalizing on the Ravenloft brand name?

Investigation tends to be a big part of Ravenloft games, so details like these are important. They can tell players about where the inhabitants have been. A model house is a strong indicator of an architect living at the residence, a connection to a more advanced society, or a resident being from outside the domain of Barovia.

 

[MechaPilot]

The 3rd edition Ravenloft books published under the Sword and Sorcery brand covered details like this for each domain. It's not unreasonable to expect the same attention to detail out of WotC. I know the 3rd edition iteration had its downfalls, and I don't really mind revisions, but isn't nostalgia the whole point of capitalizing on the Ravenloft brand name?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole point of capitalizing on the Ravenloft brand name actually this:

 

[Jabborwacky]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole point of capitalizing on the Ravenloft brand name actually this:



View attachment 75001

... which is only possible because of said nostalgia.