Ravenloft Players, Please Help

[Taloth]

A few of my friends and I have decided to play 2nd Edition AD&D (We haven't played yet, because our DM doesn't have his books, but he'll get them shortly). Anyway, we were planning on playing in the Ravenloft setting through the boxed set Ravenloft: Realm of Terror. (It's by far the cheapest, and none of us have much money, being jobless highschoolers.)

I was wondering if anyone had played the Ravenloft setting in 2nd ed. and how they felt about it. I've read some reviews, but they're surprisingly scarce. We're all a little skeptical about the whole horror-themed thing, but we think it might be really fun. So yea, any critiques or reviews or just any pointers would be much appreciated

 

[Celebrim]

Ravenloft is a great game. It in my opinion plays to some of D&D's best strengths, and Ravenloft is the setting that gets some of the best writing of any of the 2nd edition products. If I was to play 2nd edition as a nostalgia game, it would be either Ravenloft or Planescape.

Atmosphere is of absolute importance to a Ravenloft game. The setting is inspired by 19th century Pre-Lovecraftian horror, but really anything that is suitably horrific and builds tension is good. It's not a setting for orcs and the like. It's not a setting for disposable monsters. It's a setting where the monsters are truly frightening, proactive, and powerful. The monsters are meant to have character and depth, and one of the most distinctive things about Ravenloft is the lavish detail it pours out on the backgrounds of the villain. And, that feature is probably the most influential area that Ravenloft had on my own DMing.

I would advise beginning with some published Ravenloft material. There are a fairly large number of Ravenloft modules and some of them - unlike the majority of 2nd edition fare - are quite good. I would also advice the DM to go to the Kargatane fan site and download all the fan material he/she can get his/her hands on there. Also the Kargatane used to maintain alot of reviews of Ravenloft products, but I don't know how much is available now that they've closed up shop. Anyway, there should be some introductory modules worth running.

The one thing you (or whoever is DMing) should try to avoid too much of is using the setting to railroad. Overuse of the 'you are trapped in the adventure and can't leave' - which is a staple of Ravenloft since the begginning - can end up feeling too confining. Unless you have reason to believe otherwise, I prefer to assume that the PC's have no special interest to any Dark Lord and their comings and goings shouldn't be something that causes excitement all the time - just when dramaticly appropriate.

I'm sure there are some real experts in the setting around if you have some specific questions, and if they don't pipe up, I'll do my best to answer them.

 

[Taloth]

I'm sure there are some real experts in the setting around if you have some specific questions, and if they don't pipe up, I'll do my best to answer them.

By my standards I'd say you sound like quite the expert yourself

Thanks so much, that really answered my (few) questions about the game. One thing though: you mentioned something about the PC's being trapped. Is Ravenloft the sort of setting where you begin in another world and somehow get trapped in Ravenloft? If so, could you just pretend your PC's are native to the realm, or is Ravenloft more of a demiplane than an actual world?

Sorry if my questions seem a little trivial, I'm still very new to the setting.

 

[Celebrim]

By my standards I'd say you sound like quite the expert yourself

Thanks, but I'm sure by EnWorld standards I'm just a comparitive expert. There are a few subjects where I might be one of the leading authorities (Tolkien... maybe), but I'm sure this isn't one of them.

Thanks so much, that really answered my (few) questions about the game. One thing though: you mentioned something about the PC's being trapped. Is Ravenloft the sort of setting where you begin in another world and somehow get trapped in Ravenloft? If so, could you just pretend your PC's are native to the realm...

Either one is possible. There are natives to Ravenloft, and at various times things from other planes are being trapped in Ravenloft. So either way is fine and how you want to start is up to you. For newbies, getting trapped in Ravenloft from elsewhere has a certain attraction because it captures the mystery and horror of the setting to have your PC's literally know no more about the setting than you do.

or is Ravenloft more of a demiplane than an actual world?

If you aren't the DM then I don't know how much I should be giving away. I will say that Ravenloft is a fairly large and very diverse setting - sufficiently large that to its inhabitants it is certainly a world and percieved to be a world. But that it has certain special mechanics that tend to compartmentalize it. You can not only be trapped in Ravenloft in its entirety (or if native, not realize you are), but you can be trapped in specific parts of it as well. I guess the way to put it is that world it is, but it is a haunted world and being haunted is its most distinguishing feature.

 

[Dirty Magurdy]

Not to answer for Celabrim, who probably has a more informative response at the ready, I'll just let you know how I did it when I ran 2nd edition Ravenloft.
It did seem geared toward bringing in characters from outside of the Demi-plane. The whole idea of adventures wandering into a mist in an otherwise familiar place and then exiting the mist in a strange, horrid realm, everything, including many of the rules of magic and science are different, and generally in a dark and horrific way.
So the contrast between what was normal makes the demiplane seem all the more dreadful, at least that was my take on it.

Later campaigns, including a second 2nd edition and a 3.0 Ravenloft campaign I ran started the characters as natives of the demi-plane, since the first campaign made them familiar with some of the mysteries and made them, in my opinion, less likely to be influenced by the sudden shift of realms. The Ravenloft hardcover core book for 3.0 really went into detail about playing native heroes, something I don't recall the original 2nd edition boxed set doing.

Having said that, there's no reason running a native group through Ravenloft can't be just as mysterious and horrific for them, but for me, if the players are new to Ravenloft I think it's fitting that their characters should be also. If the characters are native I think it's only fair you fill them in on certain specifics of the demiplane that a native might know, such as the transporting powers of the mists and the fear of anything that moves outside of your securely locked window at night.
Just seems that the secrets and mysteries of Ravenloft are best experienced by new players using characters new to the realm.

Just my two cents, if you have any questions fire away.

 

[shadzar]

Loads of fun, you might want to try checking out the wizards.com archives for downloads of older edition Ravenloft modules. not sure what all modules were offered, but there might be a few Ravenloft, there was Planscape and Birth Right.

 

[Taloth]

Thanks everyone for your help

Yea, I agree that it seems more mysterious if the characters unkowingly stumble into Ravenloft. It seems like it would add a good deal of roleplaying to it, too. we might even have one player play a native who joins the other PC's for some reason, maybe acting like a guide of sorts or something (just an idea, though.)

And Shadzar, i've looked at the wizard's site before. Trying to access old modules just redirects me back to the homepage

 

[shadzar]

And Shadzar, i've looked at the wizard's site before. Trying to access old modules just redirects me back to the homepage

Seems they messed it up but the wayback machine has the page:

Previous Edition Dungeons & Dragons Downloads

Any link found will work if you remove everything before the second http:// and you should be able to download it all still on the WotC servers.

Maybe someone should tell them the page redirects back to the homepage, or maybe they planned it to discontinue offering any of that for free?

 

[Taloth]

YEA! I've been trying to access this page for awhile now, wondering if they gave it only to DnD Insiders. Thanks man

I'll look at the info to this Ravenloft II: The House of Gryphon Hill. If it looks like it's a module that doesn't need the campaign setting, i'll give this to my DM and we'll play this to figure out if we want to purchase the real deal (although from all the great things that have been said about it here, i'm pretty sure the answer is a unanimous 'yes' )

 

[Celebrim]

I'll look at the info to this Ravenloft II: The House of Gryphon Hill. If it looks like it's a module that doesn't need the campaign setting, i'll give this to my DM and we'll play this to figure out if we want to purchase the real deal (although from all the great things that have been said about it here, i'm pretty sure the answer is a unanimous 'yes' )

Ok, I'd probably recommend against that one.

Ravenloft is masterpiece, albiet probably one of the deadliest modules ever written (IMO, it's a good deal more challenging than Tomb of Horrors).

Ravenloft II is a bit more problimatic of a module, and its not really either a true sequel or truly part of the latter setting. There is a lot of concept there, but I'm not sure it ultimately hangs together as a module and it would take alot of work and skill to run it. Also, it's quite high level (character level 10-12, IIRC) which is pretty much about as high level as you'd want to for 2e.