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<blockquote data-quote="Paul Farquhar" data-source="post: 9342578" data-attributes="member: 6906155">It's interesting to here you say that. When I mention the inherent campiness of Ravenloft I usually encounter a lot of pushback. I'm of the view that the original module what written as a parody/pastiche and wasn't trying to scare the players at all. You can run a Ravenloft game as a series of horror movie/novel pastiches without worrying about &quot;is it scary&quot;. That kind of requires your players to have some knowledge of the source material to work though. Once you have done Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and the Werewolf you are getting into less well known stuff.It certainly requires care and empathy to avoid pushing too far. I made sure none of my players are actually coulrophobic!Yes, I mentioned the &quot;mindscrew&quot; approach. The second module, House on Gryphon Hill, treads this path, although it remains heavy on the horror-culture references (e.g. Griffin is the name of HG Well's Invisible Man). Given that the OP is worried about a lack of realism, I don't think this approach would work for them.The thing is to remember it's the players who you have to fool about &quot;what has been going on the entire time&quot;, not their characters. Which seems to be something those 2nd edition Ravenloft modules overlook. You need to assume they are genre-savvy, and let that fool them. And remember that if everything is not what it seems, that will become predictable too. Sometimes a vampire is just a vampire, stake it and move on.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Paul Farquhar, post: 9342578, member: 6906155"] It's interesting to here you say that. When I mention the inherent campiness of Ravenloft I usually encounter a lot of pushback. I'm of the view that the original module what written as a parody/pastiche and wasn't trying to scare the players at all. You can run a Ravenloft game as a series of horror movie/novel pastiches without worrying about "is it scary". That kind of requires your players to have some knowledge of the source material to work though. Once you have done Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and the Werewolf you are getting into less well known stuff. It certainly requires care and empathy to avoid pushing too far. I made sure none of my players are actually coulrophobic! Yes, I mentioned the "mindscrew" approach. The second module, House on Gryphon Hill, treads this path, although it remains heavy on the horror-culture references (e.g. Griffin is the name of HG Well's Invisible Man). Given that the OP is worried about a lack of realism, I don't think this approach would work for them. The thing is to remember it's the players who you have to fool about "what has been going on the entire time", not their characters. Which seems to be something those 2nd edition Ravenloft modules overlook. You need to assume they are genre-savvy, and let that fool them. And remember that if [I]everything[/I] is not what it seems, that will become predictable too. Sometimes a vampire is just a vampire, stake it and move on. [/QUOTE]

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