Yep, I took a bit of a hiatus. Work and life was busy. But I forced myself into doing a few more reviews!
Felkovic’s Cat (Dungeon #50) 
This module has one of those names that make it sound like it could be good. Like, when you’re at a high school band concert and they program a piece called “Symphonic Elegy in Bb” – you know it must be hard to play, and thus be very good. This module is set in Valachan (this author’s modules all are) and is for levels 6-9. The module proceeds to list out a ton of applicable resources that DMs should review which is no less than 5 different books - but does say that all the necessary information is included in the module. It then informs the DM that “only by defeating the baron (von Kharkov, the domain lord), can the PCs escape”, which in this case is Ravenloft itself. There are only a handful of modules that present that reward as a possibility, but what you do at the conclusion of this is up to you, obviously.
The backstory here is a little bonkers. Kharkov is a panther, turned human, turned vampire, who was created specifically so that a wizard could get revenge on a woman who spurned him. No wonder women choose bears. Long story short, Kharkov ends up in Valachan as the lord, where he rules with an iron fist, and takes a new bride every year. Good to be the king, I guess. Felkovic is a small-time wizard who gets privy to a plot where he learns that Kharkov intends to take his bride, and he sets out in creating a magical cat statue that can animate and kill Kharkov. However, Kharkov finds and charms Felkovic before he can activate the cat statue and dies, but not before his spirit enters the cat statue. Eventually (again, long story, short), the statuette ends up in the woods where the PCs chance upon it when they enter the domain. The statuette animates as a cat every night and wills its owner to go where it wants it wants – south, in this case, to Kharkov’s castle. It will transform into larger and larger cats every night until the 7th when it turns into a Smilodon and attacks the party. It gives them this much time to “prove themselves” by attacking Kharkov before this happens.
The PCs start in the forest, find this curious cat statuette, and then head (presumably) to Habelnick, a town to the south. There, they learn about a “Lottery” which is a system Kharkov has designed to randomly choose a bride for the coming year. Personally, I wouldn’t leave my marriage to a draw out of a top hat, but that’s just me. A name is drawn, the were-panther town guards take the woman, although an old woman protests – she is struck down. At this point, the PCs could intervene, in which case a massive fight is now on their hands, which could culminate in the townspeople themselves attacking the PCs because Kharkov can charm and control most of them at a distance.
On a theoretical 3rd night, the PCs are attacked by Nadia, Felkovic’s former bride-turned-nosferatu. This is a brief encounter, and the PCs can kill her, which ends her curse, and she asks the PCs to avenge her, and gives them a tip about killing Kharkov (by using a bone weapon).
The cat statuette uses these encounters to gauge the worthiness of the PCs, and ultimately might choose to reveal itself in ghost form to the PCs to enlist their aid in killing Kharkov. Though, it has nothing to really offer them in terms of a reward, it suggests that it can grant them a wish, although it can’t.
What follows from here is over 10 pages of dungeon crawl as the PCs assault Castle Pantara (which sounds like it was ripped right out of a Thundercats episode, TBH), which culminates in a battle with Kharkov, and ultimately the PCs being released from the domain of dread, happily ever after.
I kind of like this module. The lead-in is kind of weak, but the item has a nice backstory, and unlike some modules with lengthy backstories, here the PCs can learn about the backstory, as opposed to only the DM being privy to the information. The lottery encounter is short, but could go in several directions, and Nadia’s encounter is also super brief, and depending on when it occurs, can be kind of poignant. The module gives information about Felkovic’s tower, but it’s not clear when the PCs would explore this, or why they’d have a reason to do so. That is, the PCs aren’t aware that the cat statuette IS Felkovic until he reveals himself as such. That only happens possibly after the first, or maybe the second encounter. But the timeline given is somewhat vague.
My criticisms of this module are minor, overall. Firstly, the PCs could decide the statuette is cursed, or is a bad thing to keep around. One possible scenario could have the PCs find this thing, have it turn into a cat the first night, and they are like “Nope, let’s get rid of this thing!”. Incidentally, one of the PCs in my current Ravenloft game acquired a fear of cats from Dr. Heinfroth’s asylum, so he would be on board with just tossing the thing in the river! But that’s unlikely to happen, but it would certainly derail this module.
Secondly, the structure of the module itself, while not exactly linear, is kind of bare-bones. The PCs arrive in town, they see this weird bridal ceremony on day 1… and then on day 3 have an encounter with a Nosferatu who just happens to be Felkovic’s widow. The module is a bit lacking otherwise, so good preparation here would mean filling in this space with at least some other small side-quests perhaps.
Third, the castle itself is a bit complex, and has a lot of “80% chance this vampire is here, otherwise it’s in one of 7 rooms…” kind of stuff. It almost feels like a board game in a way. Like, you pick up a card that says “There’s a vampire here! Roll for initiative!”, so there’s a fair amount of planning on the DM’s part to figure out where the various vampires are located, and that can change based on the time of the day, and if they killed were-panthers in the city, then their numbers are depleted here. It’s all rather cumbersome, and probably doesn’t need to be.
Lastly, I like the statuette, but feel like the execution is a little clumsy. I feel like it might work better if the party didn’t just find it randomly lying on the ground in a forest (amidst orc bones), but rather as part of a treasure cache somewhere else. Then, slowly over time, Felkovic reveals himself to the party. It’s not like he’s got a timeline for his revenge scheme. He’s a ghost trapped in a magic item, and his target is a literal immortal vampire. Time is inconsequential here. What would be most important for Felkovic is to ensure success by properly vetting his owner.
Jigsaw (Dungeon #61)
This is a Masque of the Red Death module, set in Switzerland, presumably in the 1890s which is the time-period of that setting. It is for levels 4-6. There are very few modules for Masque of the Red Death, and none set in Switzerland that I’m aware of, so this one is pretty much destined as a one-shot. It is written by Christina Stiles (who’s written a lot of stuff) and Professor Dungeon Master – Dan De Fazio.
The setup here is an interesting one. Basically, a decidedly clever woman wants to enroll in medical school, and aces the exam, but because of the patriarchy, she is bullied, and is forced to leave. Though, out of spite decides to research resurrection medicine on her own, and through the power of science, creates a flesh golem. She tries to kill the golem, but pities him instead, and leaves him to the fates. Then, sometime later, she sees him at a traveling “freak show”, and he also sees her. He follows her home, and demands they be wed, even though she’s already engaged to another. She’s to give him an answer in 7 days. The party becomes involved when they see the couple at a park in the city, and I guess the scene is somehow interesting enough, that the party will want to move in closer to eavesdrop on the conversation, where they will witness the creature slap her.
The creature, Udo, is amazing, and has no ability score less than a 17 (although curiously his wisdom isn’t listed, he’s described as “very cunning”). Yet, he works in a freak show, and lives in the sewers. There’s also the problem of the setup, which is very shaky, and triggering, frankly. Some of the women in my group would not take kindly to me just randomly slapping a woman NPC in my game, and I’m sure I’d hear about that if I were to let that happen. The only setup the party is given here is that they see a woman in the park, and a “dark shape” emerge behind her from the trees. The only reason this is significant at all is because it’s in boxed text, and the players will assume this is what they need to investigate.
They can chase him into the sewer, where the authors spend an inordinate amount of time, frankly, in describing all the various diseases one could contract if they fall into the filth here. In fact, the extra layer of “realism” the authors add in here is almost comical – the golem is reading Kierkegaard, and the PCs could have come out of a recent performance of Richard Strauss’ opera
Don Juan, which would have premiered at this time.
The “scenes” here are confusing to follow. If the PCs chase Udo, it indicates that he goes to the Freak Show to hide, though he goes to his lair first. And all of this apparently happens at 5 o’clock in the morning, though the chance encounter in the park is at midnight. So, it’s not clear why it takes 5 hours to get to his lair in the sewer. If they skip this encounter, or they lose him while tracking him, they can meet with Victoria on the second day at Notre Dame Cathedral in the old town district. Here, she’ll provide mostly truth, but lies through omission about what’s going. She certainly paints herself as a victim, and it’s a plausible story.
The PCs can investigate the traveling freak show, which is an interesting scene, full of all kinds of interesting characters, and set dressing. If the PCs cause too many problems, they might have to deal with the police, which would most likely be game-ending, since they’d probably spend a few days in jail. Though, at some point it’s assumed that Udo meets at least one of the PCs where they are sleeping and through threat of violence, tells his side of the story, which is to create a kind of moral dilemma in the party.
Scene 6 takes place at Victoria’s Uncle and Aunt’s residence, where she is staying. Here, Udo attempts to kidnap Victoria, and if he manages to do so, he heads to the Swiss Alps to live in a cave. This aspect of the quest is not detailed It’s also possible that the PCs could kill Udo here, which ends the adventure (albeit abruptly) or best-case, he’s injured, and flees, which opens scenes 8-11. Scene 8 isn’t really a scene – it just gives the PCs a chance to prepare for the coming wedding. Scene 9 is the wedding, in which the DM is invited to play up the paranoia of the party, but it goes off without a hitch (unless they happen to find Udo in the attic), in which case he might fight briefly, but most likely flees from.
Scene 10 is a dinner, in which Victoria is served the head of a dead cat. Not much for the PCs to do here. Scene 11 is the Ball. It’s a lavish affair, and the DM has a list of interesting characters they can meet, including Sigmund Freud and his wife.
The Final scene here is intended to be cinematic and epic in scope – a speeding carriage, an ice-covered lake, a frantic fight for survival, etc. “The DM should convey a sense of urgency and suspense” it says. If the DM can pull this off, it would truly be a great ending to this adventure. That does feel like a big “If”, though. Also, it suggests that the PCs would be riding in the carriage with the bride and groom, which feels strange to me.
This module would work way better as a novel, honestly, but perhaps not a very long one. Even clocking in at about 20 pages, some of these scenes are quite short, and there’s an absolute mountain of fluff backstory and window dressing here that all but the most seasoned of DMs are going to be able to both remember and utilize. The crux of the adventure is solid, and even somewhat interesting, although there are many, many places where it could either be completely derailed, or could just end way early. Clever PCs could likely find ways to trap Udo early on. A successful entangle spell could probably finish this adventure before it even starts, honestly. I could envision a scenario very easily where a PC traps the golem, and the DM rolls poorly on a Dex check, and game over. To make it truly work, it needs to go all the way to scene 11.
This feels like it could fit rather nicely into a 4-hour convention timeslot and could make for a decent evening’s worth of entertainment. It would take a fair amount of work to convert this to 5e, and it could probably work well in a normal Ravenloft game. There’s nothing particularly specific about this (aside from the heavy-handed inclusion of Gothic Earth elements) that requires this to be in Switzerland.
