D&D General Reading Ravenloft the setting

[Bedrockgames]

Almost certainly, if they use it at all. I feel it's a domain that could have been quite interesting if they ever bothered to really expand upon it. And maybe if they toned down slightly on the enforced starvation, which doesn't make sense. Eventually, you'd have a populace that couldn't actually do anything at all, including growing the crops that Zhakata demands. There are plenty of other things that can be sacrificed instead of just food.

There was a module that expanded on it (circle of darkness), but honestly I found the stuff I came up with on my own fit my campaigns better than the module material. I quite like G'henna though as it appeared in the core book. I always read the starvation thing as it was extremely common, and most people were hungry, but actual death was rarer. Humans can definitely live on the edge of starvation. There are places all over the world where food scarcity is a real thing. This is a food scarce location the only difference is, instead of being a pure product of environment it is a product of the twisted religious delusions of Yagno. I always found that a pretty cool concept. I think even more though, i really felt the core started to just look like Europe after they took domains like G'henna away and made them islands. G'henna was at least something a bit different from the surrounding domains. Broke up the flavor nicely I thought

 

[Faolyn]

Honestly, I think the most interesting part of G'Henna is that Yagno can turn people into... well, let's not call them mongrelmen anymore, but inhuman, bestial, vaguely man-shaped things. The false religion thing is OK, but almost every single other faith in Ravenloft could count as false as well, with only the Morninglord and Bane/Lawgiver as being based on "real" gods.

I do like the idea of the "supernatural thinness" rather than forcing everyone to starve, but that could also be due to just poor soil that don't support crops or grazing animals. And perhaps it's combined somehow with Yagno's ability. The unnatural aura of the monsters he creates chases normal animals away, so hunting is also hard. Or he does a Dark Sunian type of thing and he draws power from the earth to create a monster, and each time he does, he depletes the soil a little bit more.

Or maybe there's some sort of fat-sucking vampire unique to the domain.

 

[Voadam]

Or maybe there's some sort of fat-sucking vampire unique to the domain.

That has a lot of promise as a premise. Some rich noble who grew fat off the underclass cursed to literally subsist on them.

 

[Tonguez]

That has a lot of promise as a premise. Some rich noble who grew fat off the underclass cursed to literally subsist on them.

Do an adaption of Matron Corfelia, an alien midwife from Dr Who (10) who came to earth to suck adipose tissue from Human victims in order to breed more of the Adipose species

 

[Bedrockgames]

Honestly, I think the most interesting part of G'Henna is that Yagno can turn people into... well, let's not call them mongrelmen anymore, but inhuman, bestial, vaguely man-shaped things. The false religion thing is OK, but almost every single other faith in Ravenloft could count as false as well, with only the Morninglord and Bane/Lawgiver as being based on "real" gods.

I do think that is an interesting part (do they have an equivalent monster to that in 5E?). However I also really did like his particular delusion where he effectively created the god. And I like how the power he has to turn people into mongrelmen is connected to his this. In the black box I don't recall it really getting into stuff with deities that much. It does say that the connections to priest and their gods are weaker, but a lot of domains just had vague references to churches and temples without even saying who the gods of them were. A little fuzzy though on this point from the black box (been meaning to re-read it this week, so will keep an eye out for religious entries). The line definitely got a bit odd around religion in my view as it evolved. It moved from Gothic to Gothy a little too much IMO.

 

[Faolyn]

I do think that is an interesting part (do they have an equivalent monster to that in 5E?).

They included the mongrelfolk in Curse of Strahd. They're fairly low-key (4 HD, exceedingly average stats except high Con and low Cha, two attacks, all of which do d4 damage) but each one has a special feature, like Spider Climb or Keen Senses or Two-Headed.

However I also really did like his particular delusion where he effectively created the god. And I like how the power he has to turn people into mongrelmen is connected to his this. In the black box I don't recall it really getting into stuff with deities that much.

All the religions came in later products. Ezra "came" to someone who had a seizure and the Morninglord was created by somewhat delusional kid (from the Realms) who mistook Jander Sunstar for Lathander. Bane, Belenus, the Har Akir gods, and the various gods of the Eternal Order all come from other settings (or the real world), but I can't recall if religions centered on Hala, Yutow, Ancestral Choir, or others have actual origins or if they were just invented along with the rest of the false history.

It does say that the connections to priest and their gods are weaker, but a lot of domains just had vague references to churches and temples without even saying who the gods of them were.

Very vague. Remember that Van Richten's Guide to Vampires specifically said that holy symbols didn't need to be "traditional" crosses or stars to work.

 

[Voadam]

Realms of Terror has the Wolf God in addition to Zhakata.

Strahd also mentions he conquered Barovia in the name of a just god.

Barovians in general believe the gods abandoned them.

Souraignians believe in a pantheon of nature gods including the Lord of the Dead who watches over the swamp.

Sri Rajians are devout believers in their gods including Kali.

Victor's story involves unnamed gods.

Markov is called The God who Walks Among Us by the beast men he created.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Very vague. Remember that Van Richten's Guide to Vampires specifically said that holy symbols didn't need to be "traditional" crosses or stars to work.

I think the religious lore behind monsters is often so strong, it sometimes might not be such a bad idea for a place like Ravenloft to use real world religions (you can have religions from other worlds too, but crosses and vampires are such an iconic thing). I am thinking of doing this myself if I run another 2E Ravenloft campaign this year. Findley was one of the line's best writers IMO, but that first Van Richten book certainly had quirks (The guide to werebeasts is really stellar and the guide to vampires was wonderful despite its flaws: most of which were just due to it being the first Van Richten book). I distinctly remember there not being a good deal of consistency in keeping Van Richten's voice and perspective straight (for example pretty sure there were moments Van Richten started talking about game mechanics....later books made this distinction a much clearer wall).

I actually like the lack of a consistent and rigid canon early in the line (one of the reasons I stopped playing forgotten realms was the canon got too extensive and canon lawyers became a big thing: much more a fan of GMs putting their own elaboration on a setting or the details being more pick and choose). The Book of Crypts has a character announce "Welcome to Ravenloft" even though it became canon that the world wasn't actually called Ravenloft. It seemed like writers were either given a great deal of liberty on that front or there just wasn't much oversight (I suspect part of it was just finding their footing).

 

[Bedrockgames]

Markov is called The God who Walks Among Us by the beast men he created.

I never really saw this as a proper god, more just like how Doctor Moreau became a godlike figure to his creations in the story the domain was based on.

 

[Voadam]

I never really saw this as a proper god, more just like how Doctor Moreau became a godlike figure to his creations in the story the domain was based on.

Right, and the Lord of the Dead who watches over the swamp sounds like a particular Zombie Lord and not an actual deity either.