D&D General Ravenloft: Monsters vs Darklords

[Micah Sweet]

I'm not saying a DM has to make the party face a darklord to make it Ravenloft.


What I am saving is if you make the darklords a true background character with no impact on the party, what other things must a DM do to make it still Ravenloft.

If Strahd and Ivan sit in their castles and do jack squat, is it still Ravenloft if the party only interacts with Joe the Random Serial Killer and Jane the Random Cultleader, both who have little connection to their domain's darklord?

Why not? It's set in a Ravenloft domain, after all, and in addition to the physical worldbuilding that assumes, every domain by its very nature is shaped by the nature of its lord. They don't have to be present to feel that. Borca is a poisonous land of deadly intrigue whether you meet Ivana Boritsi or not, for example, because the lord shapes the land. And it's the same with all the others.

 

[Minigiant]

Why should any given person care about a comparison to Innistrad? That's just barely an RPG setting at all, and has nothing to do with Ravenloft other than possibly taking some inspiration from it.

Because they want to play Ravenloft.
Because the DM hasn't displayed the differences between them.

It's a valid question to state what the uniqueness of Ravenvolt is and how it separates itself from Innistrad or the Old World if the darklords are shifted even out the background.

Think of it this way

A DM pitches FR but reduces, removes, or make generic the Faerun gods, NPCs, and major areas. Could a player invite another potential player by calling their game Greyhawk and not be telling untruths?

 

[Minigiant]

Why not? It's set in a Ravenloft domain, after all, and in addition to the physical worldbuilding that assumes, every domain by its very nature is shaped by the nature of its lord. They don't have to be present to feel that. Borca is a poisonous land of deadly intrigue whether you meet Ivana Boritsi or not, for example, because the lord shapes the land. And it's the same with all the others.

And that's what I mean.

Ravenloft is defined by their darklords.

If you are running Borca but sic random machete mask maniacs at the party who are unconnected to Ivan or Ivana then is it still Borca and still Ravenloft?

 

[Bedrockgames]

I'm not saying a DM has to make the party face a darklord to make it Ravenloft.


What I am saving is if you make the darklords a true background character with no impact on the party, what other things must a DM do to make it still Ravenloft.

If Strahd and Ivan sit in their castles and do jack squat, is it still Ravenloft if the party only interacts with Joe the Random Serial Killer and Jane the Random Cultleader, both who have little connection to their domain's darklord?

I don't think they need direct involvement with a domain lord for it to be Ravenloft. Again I am in favor of doing it once in a while, preferably with lesser known lords. It is one aspect of Ravenloft, but to me not the essence. The essence of it is the powers check process and how people who commit evil form a connection to the mists and land. That doesn't mean domain lord. A random serial killer in ravenloft is very different from a random serial killer in forgotten realms. The Ravenloft killer is going to be warped by the dark powers and will have abilities that reflect his crimes. The point I am making is virtually any monster they face is effectively like facing a dark lord but simply on a smaller scale. They don't need their own domain in order to be a product of the process that creates dark lords

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because they want to play Ravenloft.
Because the DM hasn't displayed the differences between them.

It's a valid question to state what the uniqueness of Ravenvolt is and how it separates itself from Innistrad or the Old World if the darklords are shifted even out the background.

Think of it this way

A DM pitches FR but reduces, removes, or make generic the Faerun gods, NPCs, and major areas. Could a player invite another potential player by calling their game Greyhawk and not be telling untruths?

It depends I suppose. To me, if your PCs are in the world of a campaign setting, you're playing that setting. If you're on Krynn, it's a Dragonlance game, even if you never encounter a dragon.

 

[Bedrockgames]

If you are running Borca but sic random machete mask maniacs at the party who are unconnected to Ivan or Ivana then is it still Borca and still Ravenloft?

Yes, you just aren't meeting the dark lords of those domains. But you are still there. I have never met the governor of Massachusetts, but I still very much live in Massachusetts and feel the effects of each administration

 

[Micah Sweet]

And that's what I mean.

Ravenloft is defined by their darklords.

If you are running Borca but sic random machete mask maniacs at the party who are unconnected to Ivan or Ivana then is it still Borca and still Ravenloft?

Are you in Borca? Then you're playing a Ravenloft game. Now if your game reflects the themes of the domain you're in it's probably a better Ravenloft game, I'll admit.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Because they want to play Ravenloft.
Because the DM hasn't displayed the differences between them.

It's a valid question to state what the uniqueness of Ravenvolt is and how it separates itself from Innistrad or the Old World if the darklords are shifted even out the background.

I used to just run Ravenloft regardless. If people played with me, they knew I would be running Ravenloft and it wasn't a product of a pitch. I think with any GM you are going to get their version of the demiplane of dread. For some GMs that might mean a focus on the dark lords. But for others it might be something else.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Here is a question for people debating what Ravenloft was, how many ran it as a weekend in hell, and how many ran it as its own campaign setting? I do think with Weekend in Hell campaigns, facing dark lords makes more sense because there is that fish out of water element the players have, and dealing with a dark lord is a very concise way of conveying the setting. But when running it as a regular campaign, my groups were far more likely to be hunting individual werewolves, flesh golems and ghosts. Doesn't mean Dark Lords were never a factor, but also definitely not the focus of play for me

 

[Micah Sweet]

I came up with another one. If you're watching Andor, are you really watching Star Wars? I mean, there's no Jedi in that story.

It is set in the Star Wars universe though, so for me the answer is yes.