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Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft - A Grognard Finally Reads It (Review)
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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 8875006" data-attributes="member: 85555"><p>I would challenge this. I am not critiquing the new entries (haven't read them but I am sure they tried to make them interesting). But the Adam entry was pretty impressive, especially for that time. So I am not knocking the new entries but defending this classic one. </p><p></p><p>Just to go over some crucial differences between him and a normal Flesh Golem. Adam had an Intelligence of 16, versus a Flesh Golem's 2-4. He had a better THAC0 (9 versus 11). Impressively they really emphasized that he wasn't Borris Karloff's monster, he was visibly inspired by the original novel. That is why he was so intelligent, but also why he is described as nimble, having a 12 movement rather than a Flesh Golem's 8, and 80% hide in shadows and move silently. Like you point out he couldn't be hit by a weapon unless it was +1, and he had 25% magic resistance (and he regenerates when you cast non-damaging spells on him as he absorbs them). Finally he can use a weapon, which a normal flesh golem can't and this gives him a +8 to damage. That isn't even getting into the personality description. But this quick section from the combat portion of his entry I think gives an idea of the kind of thought that was put into it: </p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]270971[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>One thing people might not appreciate is how powerful the Boris Karloff monster image was at this time. Pretty much most people assumed Frankenstein's monster was stupid, slow, lumbering, etc. I hadn't read the book until I saw the Lamordia entry. And the Black box quoted this section of Frankenstein which was like a revelation to me, and is the thing that motivated me to go buy the book and read it right away: </p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]270972[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>That passage really impressed me as I had always pictured the monster as unintelligent with bolts in his neck. And Flesh Golems were basically the Boris Karloff monster. The Black Box did a great job of committing to making Adam more like the original monster and making that difference in the source material clear to GMs. So a party encountering Adam for the first time in the early 90s, whose only point of reference was the bolted necked flesh golem from the MM, would be genuinely taken by surprise. He is intelligent, uses good tactics, agile, stealthy and a very formidable opponent. </p><p></p><p>A number of the Dark Lords had things that made them harder to kill. Those varied though from Domain to Domain (which I think just reflected different levels of challenge they could present: permanently killing Harkon Lukas is pretty damn difficult for example). </p><p></p><p>I will say that the Guide to the Created, which remains my favorite Van Richten guide, ended up really expanding what was possible with Flesh Golems and Golems in general in Ravenloft. And it cleverly threaded the slasher film genre through them but in a way that didn't upset the gothic mood of Ravenloft. The Black Box was pretty much anti-slasher, and this was a pretty interest move by Teeuwynn Woodruff the writer, and very well done. I was someone who very much agreed with the black box approach but she made a convincing argument for this angle which convinced me and proved to be so wonderful in actual play. So I think it is fair to say had Adam been designed a few years later, after the Guide to the Created had some out, there may have been more nuances in his stat block. But overall I think his entry and Mordenheim's were two of the most effective (and I liked that they did not shy away from the source material, even saying that Victor Mordenheim was Ravenloft's Frankenstein directly in the text).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 8875006, member: 85555"] I would challenge this. I am not critiquing the new entries (haven't read them but I am sure they tried to make them interesting). But the Adam entry was pretty impressive, especially for that time. So I am not knocking the new entries but defending this classic one. Just to go over some crucial differences between him and a normal Flesh Golem. Adam had an Intelligence of 16, versus a Flesh Golem's 2-4. He had a better THAC0 (9 versus 11). Impressively they really emphasized that he wasn't Borris Karloff's monster, he was visibly inspired by the original novel. That is why he was so intelligent, but also why he is described as nimble, having a 12 movement rather than a Flesh Golem's 8, and 80% hide in shadows and move silently. Like you point out he couldn't be hit by a weapon unless it was +1, and he had 25% magic resistance (and he regenerates when you cast non-damaging spells on him as he absorbs them). Finally he can use a weapon, which a normal flesh golem can't and this gives him a +8 to damage. That isn't even getting into the personality description. But this quick section from the combat portion of his entry I think gives an idea of the kind of thought that was put into it: [ATTACH type="full"]270971[/ATTACH] One thing people might not appreciate is how powerful the Boris Karloff monster image was at this time. Pretty much most people assumed Frankenstein's monster was stupid, slow, lumbering, etc. I hadn't read the book until I saw the Lamordia entry. And the Black box quoted this section of Frankenstein which was like a revelation to me, and is the thing that motivated me to go buy the book and read it right away: [ATTACH type="full"]270972[/ATTACH] That passage really impressed me as I had always pictured the monster as unintelligent with bolts in his neck. And Flesh Golems were basically the Boris Karloff monster. The Black Box did a great job of committing to making Adam more like the original monster and making that difference in the source material clear to GMs. So a party encountering Adam for the first time in the early 90s, whose only point of reference was the bolted necked flesh golem from the MM, would be genuinely taken by surprise. He is intelligent, uses good tactics, agile, stealthy and a very formidable opponent. A number of the Dark Lords had things that made them harder to kill. Those varied though from Domain to Domain (which I think just reflected different levels of challenge they could present: permanently killing Harkon Lukas is pretty damn difficult for example). I will say that the Guide to the Created, which remains my favorite Van Richten guide, ended up really expanding what was possible with Flesh Golems and Golems in general in Ravenloft. And it cleverly threaded the slasher film genre through them but in a way that didn't upset the gothic mood of Ravenloft. The Black Box was pretty much anti-slasher, and this was a pretty interest move by Teeuwynn Woodruff the writer, and very well done. I was someone who very much agreed with the black box approach but she made a convincing argument for this angle which convinced me and proved to be so wonderful in actual play. So I think it is fair to say had Adam been designed a few years later, after the Guide to the Created had some out, there may have been more nuances in his stat block. But overall I think his entry and Mordenheim's were two of the most effective (and I liked that they did not shy away from the source material, even saying that Victor Mordenheim was Ravenloft's Frankenstein directly in the text). [/QUOTE]
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