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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Ravenloft - your experiences?
- Thread starter Quasqueton
- Start date
Wraith Form
Explorer
That's my take on it, too--I was 14 when I bought it, and it was one of the finest pieces of "literature" I'd ever read...at least for a D&D product. It was among such "luminaries" as Tolkien, R E Howard, Fritz Lieber and Mr. Gygax himself! (I didn't have a D&D group to game with at that time, so I have no play experience.)The Grumpy Celt said:
Wraith Form
Explorer
That was a beautiful story, especially the chicken part. It warmed the c0ckles of my heart....sigh.....Style said:
Get it? Chicken / c0ckle? Heh heh heh...!
(What's a c0ckle, by the way?)
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Wraith Form
Explorer
Excellent idea! I love it! (Fun story, too!)Etan Moonstar said:
Ron
Explorer
I played once back in the 80s and I had a great time. Everybody was scared during the adventure and many characters died and near all survivors lost a few levels. As a matter of fact, my character was the only one to survive to the end with all his levels. He was the party wizard and thus, he was protected by his peers. The most interesting/despairing point was just before confronting Strahd in the crypt. The only other character that was in prime shape tried to experiment some of the unidentified treasure in the hope of getting something extra to fight the vampire. He drank poison, he failed the saving throw and died. The clerics couldn't help him so we endured the last fight even more weakened. We barely made it, but it was worthy of playing it.
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Boy, this module conceals one of my "Bad DM" stories... I played through this one - or at least, halfway through it. We never finished it, but if we had continued it would have been a TPK.
The DM in this particuklar instance had foisted an NPC on us, an illusionist. Unbeknownst to us, he was in fact the DM's uber-PC from a prior campaign, who was an Archmage who now wanted to make it to 18th level in Illusionist (remember, this was 1st edition, where they were a seperate class with totally different spell lists).
In order to balance (ha!) the adventure for his 21st level wizard, he boosted Strad to 16th level Wizard himself.
We were 7th level.
We had no chance to do anything but sit back and watch the DM fight himself. All of the PC's were spectators, collateral damage. Oh, and all the women in the town had Charismas of 17. The girl Strahd wanted to marry? Charisma 17. Her 60 year old mother? Charisma 17. Gypsy Seer? Charisma 17. Homeless woman, sleeping in the gutter? Charisma 17.
Still we had some good moments. We had a dwarf with a 6 Intelligence who had picked up two rats as pets. We ended up in some sort of flooded level of Strahd's castle, and the rats drowned. We berated the dwarf for never having named his pets, so he pulled them out of his backpack, and said, "I name this one Sqwoosh, and this one Moosh."
That DM had some moments, but he had a real tendency to have NPC's steal our thunder. It wasn't the only adventure where we played second fiddle to a bunch of more powerful NPC's who basically had the adventure while we got killed in the crossfire. We eventually rebelled in a subsequent campaign. My PC and another decided we wanted a vacation, so we ignored his plot hooks whilst going from bar to bar, drinking up a storm and having fun.
The DM in this particuklar instance had foisted an NPC on us, an illusionist. Unbeknownst to us, he was in fact the DM's uber-PC from a prior campaign, who was an Archmage who now wanted to make it to 18th level in Illusionist (remember, this was 1st edition, where they were a seperate class with totally different spell lists).
In order to balance (ha!) the adventure for his 21st level wizard, he boosted Strad to 16th level Wizard himself.
We were 7th level.
We had no chance to do anything but sit back and watch the DM fight himself. All of the PC's were spectators, collateral damage. Oh, and all the women in the town had Charismas of 17. The girl Strahd wanted to marry? Charisma 17. Her 60 year old mother? Charisma 17. Gypsy Seer? Charisma 17. Homeless woman, sleeping in the gutter? Charisma 17.
Still we had some good moments. We had a dwarf with a 6 Intelligence who had picked up two rats as pets. We ended up in some sort of flooded level of Strahd's castle, and the rats drowned. We berated the dwarf for never having named his pets, so he pulled them out of his backpack, and said, "I name this one Sqwoosh, and this one Moosh."
That DM had some moments, but he had a real tendency to have NPC's steal our thunder. It wasn't the only adventure where we played second fiddle to a bunch of more powerful NPC's who basically had the adventure while we got killed in the crossfire. We eventually rebelled in a subsequent campaign. My PC and another decided we wanted a vacation, so we ignored his plot hooks whilst going from bar to bar, drinking up a storm and having fun.
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Wraith Form
Explorer
Etan--the more I think about your post, the more I like the idea. Could you give me more details about way you set up House/Strahd for a modern CoC adventure? Feel free to email me at wraith_form@msn.com and I'll pick your brain for a bit...instead of hijacking this thread....lol.
Thank you!
Thank you!
DarrenGMiller
First Post
I too thought that this was not only a great adventure, but quality literature. I actually used the cover art for a mood piece I had to write in English 111 my freshman year of college. We had to set the mood expressed in a piece of art through writing.
I ran this a few times, but the best started on a very rainy day, complete with thunder and lightning. We played in a little travel trailer with dim lighting and the mood was really set that day. There were several much loved characters who bit the dust in that adventure. I loved all things Ravenloft for many years after this one.
DM
I ran this a few times, but the best started on a very rainy day, complete with thunder and lightning. We played in a little travel trailer with dim lighting and the mood was really set that day. There were several much loved characters who bit the dust in that adventure. I loved all things Ravenloft for many years after this one.
DM
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
Fantastic module, one of the best of all time. Weis & Hickman did some great module writing until they took up Dragonlance (and promptly produced some of the most craptastic dungeon modules of all time).
As a player, I made the mistake early on of wandering off into the woods ... where I became wolf chow.
I felt much better when I ran a 3.5 conversion one-shot for my gaming group as a Halloween special, and one of the players wandered into the woods ... and became wolf chow. Sadly, midnight came early -- one of these days, we'll finish that session.
As a player, I made the mistake early on of wandering off into the woods ... where I became wolf chow.
I felt much better when I ran a 3.5 conversion one-shot for my gaming group as a Halloween special, and one of the players wandered into the woods ... and became wolf chow. Sadly, midnight came early -- one of these days, we'll finish that session.
BlueBlackRed
Explorer
Module: Excellent.
Campaign: Despised it.
Campaign: Despised it.
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