Tell me about Ravenloft

[M.L. Martin]

So (If I understand the novel correctly) Ravenloft is a realm designed to hold The Dark Powers. Since they cannot escape, they bring other evil individuals into the realm. The hope that these individuals can escape (even though one of the Domain Rulers [Vecna] is a god, and he hasn't escaped). Or maybe he has??

Vecna did escape. As for the rest . . .

Maybe.

Lord of the Necropolis was written during one of the worst decisions made by Second Age TSR Management--that there was to be no communication between books and games. Thus, the book went off on its own and defined matters that were supposed to be left explicitly alone. When it saw publication, fans and game designers pretty much concurred that the book's explanations were non-canonical. It stands as one of only three items in the 2E line to merit that distinction--the other two being the novel The Enemy Within and the entry for the half-golem Desmond LaRouche in the second RAVENLOFT Monstrous Compendium Appendix. (No one's developed a non-canon list for 3E yet, although a lot of fans toss Champions of Darkness out the window, and aren't too fond of Heroes of Light either.)

As the setting developed into 3E, the basic explanation is that the revelations of the last third or so of the novel are a bad dream/trip on Azalin's part.

Matthew L. Martin

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

What did Desmond and The Enemy Within do to merit being stricken from the canon?

I have the MC with the former, but don't recall the details of his story, and I don't remember the latter.

Also, wasn't the entire "Lord Soth's Bogus Journey" part of Ravenloft stricken from the canon, at least from a Dragonlance perspective?

 

[Treebore]

I ran Ravenloft very differently than previous posters have described, and that is probably why Ravenloft gets a bad rap. It is an awesome setting.

Yes, it is oppressive and can be depressing. I ran it differently though. It was still oppressive/depressive but the heroes were shining beacons of hope in a very dark and horrible land. The odds were very stacked agianst them. Allies ended up being just as evil as their enemies, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend until our enemy is destroyed.

The horror/insanity checks can be very game destroying. If used at every drop of the hat. If used when something is truly horrifying, such as seeing a child tore limb from limb by a werewolf/vampire/zombie or whatever. Or discovering this beautiful woman you are kissing is turning into this disease ridden corpse right under your very lips. That is when I use horror checks.

As for curses and becoming "tainted" when you commit evil acts, you get what you deserve in the land of Ravenloft.

The Kargatane site has been shut down since Christmas, of 2002. Fraternity of Shadows is the site you want to go to for help/inspiration.

Ravenloft is a great setting as long as you are willing to do what it takes to make the game fair enough to be surviveable. Otherwise it will be an exercise in frustration and no one will have fun. The Draklords are not all-powerful. Most can be beaten by a 10th level party. the trick is to start out as a 1st level party and survive to become powerful enough to destroy a Darklord. now Strahd and Azlin are going to require parties of around 15th+ level. They are Darklords of CR22 or greater.

Ravenloft is very role playing oriented. You have to make friends and allies, in some cases with creatures you would prefer to kill, but need to use in order to destroy a greater evil. Don't worry as the DM. Your NPC knows that sooner or later that the "arrangement" is going to end in betrayal. Just the NPC is sure s/he will be the one doing the betraying first.

I Dmed a group of five players up to 10th level and we had a blast. They survived from first and know they accomplished a lot, including saving a lot of lives from the evils of Dementlieu (sp?).

 

[M.L. Martin]

What did Desmond and The Enemy Within do to merit being stricken from the canon?

I have the MC with the former, but don't recall the details of his story, and I don't remember the latter.

The background of Nova Vaasa and Tristen Hiregaard/Malken is a horrid mess, and the solution adopted was to just take one (from the Red Box) and strike through the other two, given in the sources mentioned above. The 3E material has worked on reintegrating elements of those two; see the recently-released Gazetteer Vol. V for the latest work, although the sidebar on Desmond got cut.

Also, wasn't the entire "Lord Soth's Bogus Journey" part of Ravenloft stricken from the canon, at least from a Dragonlance perspective?

That's what they're saying.

Matthew L. Martin

 

[Voadam]

I don't know much about Ravenloft except it's more horror-oriented than regular D&D. What's the background of the setting? How is it different? And does it use all the same rules or are there any unique variations?

Background is that unknown dark powers that use mists to take powerful evil personages from various worlds and imprisons them in a new land, giving them power but tormenting them. Whole realms are created around these darklords and more than just the evil ones can be sucked into the realm. This creates an ingame reason for a hodge podge world of different cultures and tech levels (stone age to victorian era) offering different background options for PCs and cultures to interact with. Evil is granted power but horribly cursed. So there are vampires and werewolves and Cthulhu influences in a D&D setting.

Mechanics, no detection of good/evil. Summoned things don't disappear at the end of their spell but are no longer controlled. There are ways to curse people based solely on the perception of being wronged. Evil acts can lead to supernatural corruption and turning into an NPC monstrosity. There are rules for horror, fear, and madness based on will saves. Many necromancy and evil spells are boosted a little in power while travel and divination magics are restricted in some of their capabilities. Many supernatural things are corrupted by evil. no half-orcs but identical stat wise are calibans, humans who were cursed in the womb.

No direct contact with gods, prayers to false gods get answered with clerical power.

 

[mmadsen]

Frankly, I think you can get a lot of mileage out of the mechanics, even if you totally ignore the canonical setting:

Mechanics, no detection of good/evil. Summoned things don't disappear at the end of their spell but are no longer controlled. There are ways to curse people based solely on the perception of being wronged. Evil acts can lead to supernatural corruption and turning into an NPC monstrosity. There are rules for horror, fear, and madness based on will saves. Many necromancy and evil spells are boosted a little in power while travel and divination magics are restricted in some of their capabilities. Many supernatural things are corrupted by evil. no half-orcs but identical stat wise are calibans, humans who were cursed in the womb.

 

[Desdichado]

This thread would've done better in the main page. Ravenloft is, after all, a D&D setting, not a d20/OGL game.