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Message: <blockquote data-quote="der_kluge" data-source="post: 9771008" data-attributes="member: 945">Thread necromancy time! (appropriate for Ravenloft) Time for an update!My original Ravenloft campaign kind of got derailed since a lot of my players decided it was a good time to bow out of gaming. Still not entirely sure why.Anyway, I met up with some other folks who game (I now game 4 days a week!) and I've mostly switched to Shadowdark now - I run a 5e game on Fridays, we play Shadowdark on Saturdays, and I'm now running my Ravenloft campaign on Sundays using SD rules. I also play Delta Green on Wednesdays, in case you're curious.The Ravenloft campaign is going great. We're 4 sessions in. So, time for a few thoughts!<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Shadowdark is great for Ravenloft, but the default "feel" of SD isn't entirely compatible. I built out a whole set of house rules, and added a bunch of classes, some 3rd party. So, total classes I'm allowing: the 4 core ones + Arcanist, Bard, Paladin, Duelist, Witch, Warlock, Witch Hunter, Barber/Chirurgeon, and Knight of the Old Code. I reviewed several others but they seemed kind of broken or just mechanically unsound.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I set the technology level in the game to around 1800 - that gives me things like insane asylums, psychology as a discipline, opium, steamboats and guns (at least simple ones). It seems to work very well.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I added half-elf and gnome a ancestries, since those are fairly common D&D classes, and obviously I'm running D&D modules.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I added several new items of equipment - ball bearings, compass, field lantern (lasts longer), perfume, pocket watch, for example.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I revised the default background list. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All my PCs have a phobia, that I introduce in session 1.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I created my own set of gods, mostly based on Greek and Celtic mythos.</li> </ul>Session 1 was kind of an homage to Bleak House (a super terrible module I've reviewed), but I liked the idea of starting in an insane asylum ran by the mad Dr. Heinfroth. When I switched to SD, I made it a gauntlet. Shooting one of the characters in the face with a dueling pistol was fun. Their only goal in session 1 was to escape. I have a 3-level Dungeon Alchemy map detailing the entirety of the space, and it's populated with a bunch of NPCs - some of whom tie into other modules I plan on running. It's hard to run so many NPCs, so if I were to revise it, I would put specific NPCs in specific rooms, so I could control a little better which ones they interact with. But they had a lot of fun with it. Because the PCs had been tortured here, they all gained a phobia. In case any PC gets lycanthropy, the phobia is what will set off the transformation. This allows me to not have to track the phases of the moon.All of the characters have this mysterious background where they start with amnesia (they still have a background which they get glimpses of from time to time) but they don't actually know their names, or where they are from. That sets up this sort of "lore" story that kind of helps me tie these adventures together. They've learned that some mysterious "Bearded man" seems to be behind it.First up was "Night of the Walking Dead". This was my second attempt at this (but did manage to actually finish it this time!). I had totally forgotten about the notes [USER=52734]@Stormonu[/USER] had uploaded before, but took advantage of those this time around (they're really good!). Unfortunately, I completely deviated from the module after the PCs emerge from the swamp. I kept the scene of the guy in the coffin banging away at it from the inside. But a big premise of this module revolves around the brother becoming a serial killer because his twin brother became a zombie. That was a bridge too far for me. Instead, I introduced a voodoo witch doctor into the swamp who convinced the brother that, by murdering an innocent, he could raise his brother, but because he was killed in an unnatural way (by a wight in a second, older cemetery) the resurrection magic didn't quite work. It worked for a little bit, but he became corrupted, and started killing others and turning them into zombies. I also had an NPC the PCs met in the asylum who was sort of a catalyst for this - he was a rogue that had convinced the first brother that there were ancient voodoo relics in the old cemetery, which is what caused him to be killed in the first place. So, long story short - I gutted the second half of this module to make it make sense.I ended up running Night of the Walking Dead in a single session, but it took us 6 hours, and ideally it should have been at least two sessions. The second half could have used some more work, but it worked out OK anyway.I then ran two non-Ravenloft modules that I felt like I could slot in fairly easily:Peer Amid the Waters (Dungeon issue #78) and Spottle Parlor (Dungeon issue #12). The first really had a Ravenloft feel to it. I had to stat out a few things for Shadowdark to support it, and created some simple rules for underwater combat (everything had disadvantage, basically). And it worked very, very well. The players really liked that one. It's very short, though! Which is why I ran a double-feature and slotted in Spottle Parlor as well (which is also very short!)Spottle Parlor is a classic module. In the module, it's kind of scripted out, but I think that was done to pad the word count. It actually plays better more randomly. I swapped the lizardfolk in the parlor with a bug bear, and had the villains at the end be lizardfolk since the PCs were in a swamp. That seemed to work better. My players enjoyed this one as well. It's also short, and can be played in about two hours.Session 3 was Chilling Tales: Undying Justice. I gave this one 4/5 stars in my original review. The premise is a little shaky, though - a noble murders a servant by setting his house on fire (with the servant trapped inside) because he believes he's having an affair with his wife. Too mundane, in my opinion, and of illogical. There are far easier ways of killing someone than by burning down your entire house. So, I revised it. In my version, the noble happened to be an opium dealer, his daughter was a witch (and addicted to opium) and the servant WAS having an affair with the wife, but mostly because the opium had made the husband impotent. Also, the wife had a hobby of killing small creatures with poisons and having them taxidermied in morbid poses. I made the ghost a poltergeist and made it so that it wouldn't leave until the truth was revealed. In the end, chaos ensued - at one point the party priest told the lady of the house she was a "whore" and the party rogue got plastered with the witch in her opium den and spent the majority of the session there with her. It was absolutely glorious. I was originally concerned this one would be too short, but it fit perfectly into a 4-hour session.Next week I'm planning on running "The Sea Wolf", which at 5 pages, might also be short. I haven't started digging into that one yet, but if I feel like it's too short, I might start the game off with "Invisible Stalker" which is one I've ran before, and can be done fairly quickly, and is also really great.</blockquote>

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