What do I need to know about Ravenloft?

[kalani]

On a related note, does this mean that characters will have fewer opportunities to use downtime between adventures? As you yourself said, 4-4 happens the morning after 4-3 (meaning there is zero downtime between adventures). Will the ALPG or the adventures reflect this in some fashion or are we going to handwaive it, and still allow downtime to occur (in the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey way it always has)?

 

[Steve_MND]

The season is also a much tighter story. For example, I just ran 4-4 last night and it takes place the morning after 4-3. NPCs are talking about what just happened, and their opinion of the PCs is based somewhat on what they did or did not do in 4-3. The after affects of 4-3 are clearly visible and affect how 4-4 starts.

So it runs more like the hardbacks, or the Storylines-Formerly-Known-As-Encounters, with each module picking up right after last week's session in the same immediate continuity, so to speak?

I definitely like that as an Encounter-esque thing if it were provided as a single concrete whole that you and your players expected to be able to run sequentially within a reasonably frequent timeframe. I still do not think it's the correct way to go for an OP module setting where you may have several weeks (or even months) between when you get the opportunity to sit down at the table for the next one, but we're well beyond that concern at this point.

 

[skerritthegreen]

So it runs more like the hardbacks, or the Storylines-Formerly-Known-As-Encounters, with each module picking up right after last week's session in the same immediate continuity, so to speak?

I definitely like that as an Encounter-esque thing if it were provided as a single concrete whole that you and your players expected to be able to run sequentially within a reasonably frequent timeframe. I still do not think it's the correct way to go for an OP module setting where you may have several weeks (or even months) between when you get the opportunity to sit down at the table for the next one, but we're well beyond that concern at this point.

The adventures are being set up to be run both ways. We are also including more guidance like "Here's ways to can turn this 2 hour into a 4 hour if you are running in a 4 hour slot" (and how to trim a 4 hour into a 2 hour if you are time limited like in a store). We're also adding some "here's tactical advice for groups that fall outside the norm for their party strength, stronger or weaker). Since we're doing all this, putting things like "here's what to do if you are playing mod to mod" and "here's what to do if a PC is new to this or didn't play the previous stuff" is actually not that hard if you plan for it ahead of time.