Starting a PBeM Ravenloft Game - Domains, Darklords and Questions!

[Angelsboi]

ok, i know the key factor here is description. I have no problem with that. What about those who come from different worlds? I mean, how would the general populous react to someone screaming ZOMBIES! or FOUL UNDEAD MAN-BEAST CREATURE!!

How would the common folk take to all of this since the majority will spend their entire life seeing nothing more than a 1st or 2nd level spell or any creatures of the night?

Also, how do the common folk explain their rulers? I mean Strahd has had to have been thereforever and has gone by the same name. Wouldnt people get suspicious after, say, 500 years and the man hasnt changed?

This goes for all the other darklords as well. The girl who is a wererat and doesnt age. Or who would want to live in a 'kingdom' ruled by a banshee?

Im still fairly new to the campaign world myself although i have always liked Ravenloft.

Im just looking for some pointers on how to run this as they are all coming from 'outside worlds'. So i know first off, people will think they are crazy.

Also, whats the best domain to start in?

Help please!!!

 

[Dark Psion]

Well, yelling Zombie would probably get a reaction since I have always made the inhabitants of Ravenloft very superstious.

As to Strahd and the other Darklords, remember in good Horror stories people never suspect the bad guy of being bad, but always suspect the good guys. The people of Barovia probably assume that Strahd's castle is full of his family and friends living regal lives. Those who know better are running or dinner.

As to Tristiana the Banshee, not all Darklords are "recognized" as such. Very few would suspect that the mad doctor and his creation are lords, or guess that the haunted mansion on Gryphon hill has more than just a ghost in it. In some domains, finding the darklord would be like what Sherlock Holmes went through to find Moriarty.

Here is a link to Alanik Ray Library, it has lots of good Ravenloft stuff, including 101 uses for Skeletons.

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/3090/rlpage.html

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Also, whats the best domain to start in?

I remember posing that exact same question. Darkon's a good one, particularly if you're porting over players who are used to normal, fantasy DnD campaigns - nice big landscape, plenty of nonhumans. Barovia of course is a giveaway, but that's cause it's pretty much the classic domain.

I'd really say pretty much any of the Core domains, except for the exotic or heavily oppressive or bleak ones (Shadow Rift, Tepest, Keening, Forlorn, to some extent Hazlan), would be good starting points.

 

[Angelsboi]

but what happens when the darklords reach a decrepid age? I mean, they cant die. So she keeps getting older and older and then wouldnt the people start getting suspicious?

 

[JacktheRabbit]

You are looking at things from the wrong point of view. The average person from Ravenloft doesnt think anything is odd at all. To them this is how their world operates.

Their leaders can and do live forever. Its not odd because they don't know of any other way that things were.

Another example is the mists. To the average person it is entirely normal to know that the mists can steal a person and throw them across the continent or make a 2 hour walk take weeks. That is just how their world works and their acceptance of these "facts" is second nature.

You also though need to look at how the world operates at another level. Sure Strahd has ruled for a few thousand years. So what really. The average village citizen will be born, live, and die all within about a 5-10 mile radius. To them their village is their entire world and to them government is the local village mayor who is quite human and dies or gets replaced quite normally. The average villager may have heard rumors about Lord Strahd but those would be nothing more than rumors. The average person really is nothing more than an ignorant peasant.

but what happens when the darklords reach a decrepid age? I mean, they cant die. So she keeps getting older and older and then wouldnt the people start getting suspicious?

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

but what happens when the darklords reach a decrepid age? I mean, they cant die. So she keeps getting older and older and then wouldnt the people start getting suspicious?

Take the Darkon example, for instance. It's likely the people know that King Azalin is a magic-user. So even though they don't know his "secret identity", they may not find it too unusual he's been around for a while.

 

[faete]

There was an ingame reason given for this kind of question...

Ravenloft has an odd effect on the memory. Those in Barovia can think that Sergei was killed only half a generation ago. Those in Falkovia remember things that happened to their ancestors. Darkon actually changes the memory of anyone who has lived there more than a few months so that they recall no other home.

Most of this modification is related only to the Darklords and their pasts.

 

[Angelsboi]

ok that makes a little more sense.

 

[Voadam]

Also in half the realms there are normal mortal political leaders who are not darklords: Lamordia, Dementlieu, Tepest, Nova Vaasa, Mordent, until recently Kartakass, etc.

Keening is not a problem, all the residents are dead so they don't really think about their lord as unnatural. . .

For others, here are facts outsider PCs have gathered in my campaign.

In the realm of Barovia the ruler is the Devil Strahd who is said to dabble in the dark arts and has lived longer than a man should, as did his father and his father before him, back to the original von Zarovich who conquered Barovia. In the north there is a wizard king who is said to know life extension magics and also somewhere in the south there is another wizard ruler.

 

[Voadam]

The general population's reaction to cries of monsters varies from place to place but in most (Barovia, Kartakass, Tepest) they are freaked out by the terrors of the night and will bar their doors and hope the beasties don't come after them. Anyone left outside is left to their own. Most people are superstitious (except in the renaisance cities) and believe in beasties and don't want anything to do with them.