The Ultimate Ravenloft Thread

[Bedrockgames]

This is a thread for discussion all things Ravenloft, from all editions and eras. Post what you loved, what you didn't, what your favorite and least favorite version are, talk about adventures, Van Richten Supplements and the various boxed sets and hardback volumes. Anything Ravenloft is on the table

 

[TiQuinn]

To follow on a previous point you made, yes, the 3e days and the Fraternity of Shadows/Netbooks also showed how popular Ravenloft was - I don’t recall seeing anything similar with the other settings except for Greyhawk (though I could be wrong because I wasn’t looking that hard either).

I’ve always loved Ravenloft and it’s scratched an itch for me that Call of Cthulhu doesn’t. I suppose I could take CoC rules and fit them to a more gothic horror campaign but I’ve always used D&D and Ravenloft first. I’ve even used CoC adventures for my Masque of the Red Death 3e game, until I realized how poorly written those rules were. I think in my perfect Ravenloft game, the heroes are set up to be victorious over the darklords, even if the setting seems to suggest otherwise. With CoC, it seemed the rules are set up for your PCs to ultimately fail and lose their minds (and that being part of the fun.)

 

[Bedrockgames]

For me where Ravenloft really started to shine in play was during the 2E era when I began evolving my style to fit the Van Richter Guide books more. Basically focusing more on monster hunts but also really taking the advice in the black box to heart and approaching individual monstrous villains as microcosms of the dark lord phenomenon. The perfect tone for em and the perfect level of detail is the black box (I also prefer the core from the black box to the changes across red box and DoD). The perfect style of play is explored more in example in the van richten books than explicitly. I definitely like Ravenloft that leans harder on the gothic horror inspiration, leans away from straight forward hack and slash, and puts emphasis on atmosphere. Typically when I run most games these days, they are more in the style of a sandbox. With Ravenloft my preference is more structured around adventure built on monster hunting and investigations (so not sandboxes as there is often 'an adventure' but within that framework letting the players do whatever they want.

Something I would also point to are the novels. Some are very good like Knight of the Black Rose or Tapestry of Souls, others less so. But they were a great way to see how someone else imagines the setting (I would go to them less for plots and more for world building). Knight of the Black Rose is also good because it seems to take some of the advice horror in the black box and apply it to Soth's situation

 

[MGibster]

For my money, the original I-6 Ravenloft module has yet to be improved upon. I played a lot of Ravenloft in 2nd edition and even 3rd edition, but it's been so long since I've looked at that material that I scarcely remember any specifics. The only Ravenloft product I've picked up for 5th edition was Curse of Strahd which I thought was entertaining but a bit too long.

 

[Alzrius]

While the 3.X era of Ravenloft had some notable misses, I really liked how Legacy of Blood: Great Families of the Core subtly introduced up-and-coming villains who were getting ready (whether they knew it or not) to step in and replace the human darklords when old age finally caught up with them.

 

[der_kluge]

I can't honestly remember what prompted me to want to run a Ravenloft campaign. My last campaign was a very traditional D&D game (5e rules, set in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy), so Ravenloft is a departure from where I've been for a while now.

I think part of my was interested in the idea of running published modules as a way of lessening the amount of work I have to do as DM (naive, probably). We played some Ravenloft in college, I think, or at least considered running it, though I'm not sure we ever did. Al-Qadim, yes, and Dark Sun, and Shadowrun. We played a lot of that. But as Ravenloft came out around the time I was going to college, and then when I subsequently graduated and got a real job, I kind of never had a chance to really sink my teeth into the setting too much. It was always there, but kind of in the background of my life.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I can't honestly remember what prompted me to want to run a Ravenloft campaign. My last campaign was a very traditional D&D game (5e rules, set in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy), so Ravenloft is a departure from where I've been for a while now.

I think part of my was interested in the idea of running published modules as a way of lessening the amount of work I have to do as DM (naive, probably). We played some Ravenloft in college, I think, or at least considered running it, though I'm not sure we ever did. Al-Qadim, yes, and Dark Sun, and Shadowrun. We played a lot of that. But as Ravenloft came out around the time I was going to college, and then when I subsequently graduated and got a real job, I kind of never had a chance to really sink my teeth into the setting too much. It was always there, but kind of in the background of my life.

The thing that got me into it was the novel Knight of the Black Rose (which came out almost a year after the black box I think). I had heard of Ravenloft before that, and I grew up loving classic horror, but for some reason I was put off from it that first year (to that point I was more of a Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance Fan). But Knight of the Black Rose was my bridge because I liked Lord Soth and the cover intrigued me (and I had just finished reading the second Dragonlance Trilogy). I don't know what it was but something about going on this journey with Soth, who I didn't imagine should get pushed around by a vampire, really sparked my interest. I read the book in a couple of days and rushed out to get the black box and feast of Goblyns, then picked up I6 and started getting every book they put out for Ravenloft as they came out. I was pretty hooked.

I think I started out running one shots using scenarios like Bride of Mordenheim here, or bit son Feast of Goblyns there to get my feet wet before running a campaign and incorporating the Hyskosa Hexad into it. From then on I was pretty much a full time Ravenloft GM from the beginning of the 90s to the end (though I would run other things on occasion)

 

[Alzrius]

The thing that got me into it was the novel Knight of the Black Rose (which came out almost a year after the black box I think).

I enjoyed that book so much, I brought my copy with me to Gen Con for several years in hopes of getting James Lowder's autograph (which I eventually did).

 

[Shardstone]

I'd love a bespoke, Slayerpunk Ravenloft game. I wish I could get the IP to make one. The setting just seems so great for the idea. Kinda' like Grant Howitt's Hollows on Backerkit, where you're hunting down "Lords" inside their reskinned Domains of Dread, only with a bigger scope for Ravenlfot.

 

[Mark Hope]

Really glad you posted this thread. I've been reading @der_kluge review thread and didn't want to wade in and muddy the waters because it's such a cool thread. But wow, do I disagree with like 90% of the reviews there hahaha. So funny how opinions can be so far apart

We loved Feast of Goblyns. Jut adored it. Same for From the Shadows/Roots of Evil. Much of what seems to put people off the setting (the heavy-handedness, the stamping on PCs to make a point, the railroadyness etc) my groups love. Sometimes you want agency and narrative freedom and sometimes you want to be immersed in a directed narrative that delivers the goods. We use Ravenloft for the latter and it works every time.

Except for House on Gryphon Hill. Every time I run that, it sucks. Which I don't get because it looks like it should work. But I can't get it to run properly. Maybe that's on me. Shame.

But the others we've played (and yeah, I6 is still king because of course it is) all play waaaay better than they read. Touch of Death was excellent - have players who still talk about that - and Night of the Walking Dead was very cool as well. But yeah, we had people cheering when that horseman turned up in From the Shadows and started cutting heads and the players realised what was going on haha. They were like "Wait, is this Ravenloft?! Hell yeah!!!"