Will Ravenloft require a significant revision to make it work?

[Green Knight]

Amen.

If only that the rules for Second Wind will make it much easier for PCs to survive long enough to learn to run away.

I'm looking forward to seeing the need for magic items downgraded. Ravenloft is a setting that isn't supposed to be as awash in magic items that other settings are. With the need for magic items getting reduced, that'll make it easier to cut down the number of magic items in a Ravenloft game without overly gimping the players.

I'm also looking forward to Bloodied, and hope there's more to the Condition Track then just that one condition. I like the idea of PC's getting battered and bruised as a fight progresses, rather then being in perfect fighting form, and then suddenly passing out.

Also, the eliminationg of alignment detection spells and the like makes it easier on Ravenloft. You don't have to eliminate something that won't exist, after all.

All-in-all, I'm looking forward to converting Ravenloft to 4th edition.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

IMO Ravenloft would, like Forgotten Realms need a major overhaul for it to make sense according to the 4e ruleset. for instance, the books have made it clear that spells were memorized

What books? The rulebooks? Any other references, bust out your Wite-Out and write in "rituals."

specialist schools of magic exist (Strahd's background contains extensive info on the necromancy school and how he got into it).

Wait for the arcane magic book to come out. I suspect we'll see a necromancer base class either there or in the divine magic book.

There are no dragonborn or tieflings.

Tieflings seem like a natural from a non-core domain. Tough noogies for the dragonborn, unless some of them are from the same domain.

Paladins in ravenloft were only lawful good.

House rule.

So..do you Ravenloft will see some sort of update?

I think it will. I think these issues aren't any real obstacle in running previous versions of Ravenloft under 4E, though.

 

[Klaus]

I never understood why Ravenloft was converted to a setting.

Oh, it's because it is made of 100% pure awesome. But I digress...

 

[Cam Banks]

Strahd wasn't a necromancer in 1st edition's I6 Ravenloft. And it's hardly a big deal, as it is, given that being a necromancer only provided guidance to the spells he had prepared etc etc. 3e specialists weren't so radically different from the core wizard.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Kwalish Kid]

Oh, it's because it is made of 100% pure awesome. But I digress...

I have to agree. It made for some very interesting adventures. The prime example of this is the Hyskosa series, where trying to escape the realm was a major plot point for the villains that could be made expressable to the PCs.

All in all the setting made it possible to play D&D in a slightly different way that some people found enjoyable.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I think we're all forgetting one vital Ravenlof ideal

Q: Ravenloft needs to have what? Tieflings?
A: Myst sweeps in and takes some

Q: Ravenloft needs Dragonborn?
A: Myst sweeps in and takes some

Q: Ravenloft needs different rules for magic?
A: Myst sweeps in and CHANGES THE RULES

Hooray ravenlofts built-in anything excuse!
No seriously, read Ravenloft's rules some time, it's all there already.

This really summarizes everything I loathe about Ravenloft as written. Its the whole "wizard did it" thing with the mists. The whole "weekend in hell" thing always struck me as pretty lame. And this coming from someone who liked Quantum Leap and Sliders.

Ravenloft should be its own relatively contained world, and really use its own rules. Unlike Eberron, not everything D&D has a place in Ravenloft. Nothing says gothic horror like a dragonman PC flying around, breathing fire and what not. Actually, come to think of it, that fits in well with the dorkiness of the original Ravenloft module (though better make it a were-dragon to make it extra spooooky!), so I guess it does represent a return to the setting's roots. I prefer my Ravenloft as a horrid world with a veneer of mundane covering it, as opposed to some over the top B movie. In other words, I'd like to see Bleak House kill Death Triumphant and take its stuff. Actually, no... just kill it.

 

[Irda Ranger]

IMO Ravenloft would ... need a major overhaul for it to make sense according to the 4e ruleset.

Disagree, for the reasons stated above. It is the feel and the story of Ravenloft that makes the setting, and that is no worse for wear in 4E. Some things can actually be done better in 4E, IMO. Strahd, for instance, started out as a military leader and later made a dark pact. He makes more sense as a Warlord/Infernal Warlock than as a fighter/wizard.

So..do you Ravenloft will see some sort of update? (Note the ravenloft liscense has been bought back by wotc). And if so, will they significantly revise the setting...

Yes, I expect some sort of update. And sadly I expect it to be significantly revised and not for the better. Based on my observation of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, WotC seems to think zombie-flick "horror" sells better than anything penned by Mary Shelly. A series of encounters with Hags instead of Orcs does not make for "Horror".

 

[The Little Raven]

Strahd, for instance, started out as a military leader and later made a dark pact. He makes more sense as a Warlord/Infernal Warlock than as a fighter/wizard.

I agree, with one condition: he should be a warlock that has a pact with Death, so if Shadowy Pacts cover that, then good, otherwise the setting might need a new warlock pact.

Yes, I expect some sort of update. And sadly I expect it to be significantly revised and not for the better. Based on my observation of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, WotC seems to think zombie-flick "horror" sells better than anything penned by Mary Shelly. A series of encounters with Hags instead of Orcs does not make for "Horror".

Well, I know Ari Marmell (I probably spelled his last name wrong... Mouseferatu) wrote a new novel, so there's a chance we could see submissions to the new Dragon for Ravenloft from some of the writers. Personally, I hope to see it given a total facelift to make it stand on it's own two feet, even more so than WW pushed for.

 

[Klaus]

This really summarizes everything I loathe about Ravenloft as written. Its the whole "wizard did it" thing with the mists. The whole "weekend in hell" thing always struck me as pretty lame. And this coming from someone who liked Quantum Leap and Sliders.

Ravenloft should be its own relatively contained world, and really use its own rules. <snip>

Which is what was done with Ravenloft since the Domains of Dread hardcover in the later days of 2e, and throughout the Arthaus 3e stint, where the emphasis was on Ravenloft-native heroes, not imported ones.

 

[Roland55]

Besides all that, Ravenloft is about as "points of light" as you can already get without making it Warhammer. Heck, the very land under your feet is ruled by some hideous creature so evil that he's bound to it and can't leave it.

In Ravenloft, there aren't points of light settlements: YOU are the "point of light."

...and there are DARN few of ya!!

[Always loved that setting.]