Opinions and suggestions requested on my Campaign plan - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Opinions and suggestions requested on my Campaign plan

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
veii
Dec 03, 2006 20:58:46 Hi everyone,

I was hoping to get some opinions about a Ravenloft campaign I'm planning for the future. In particular, I would love some suggestions about some houserules I want to implement.

Please keep in mind, the details are not yet fleshed out so I am welcoming all sorts of advice.

Firstly, the campaign is fairly simple in some respects. In short, they will be chasing after the trail of the missing Dr. Van Richten. In my campaign, Van Richten is trapped somewhere between the world of the living and the world of the dead. He exists now as an interemediary, a shadow between states.

The party will find the journal of Van Richten's last traveling companion, a gnome clockmaker. The key to this journal is that it will spell out the story of Van Richten's last adventure and what happened to him. The gnome, true to gnome style, has encrypted the journal. Only by finding special clock gears engraved with common letters on each tooth can the PCs decode the journal. (this idea was partially stolen from a campaign I read about online. I hope you don't mind, whoever you are!)

These gears are scattered about the various places that Van Richten went during his last journey with this clockmaker.

In my campaign, they will be whisked from the FR to Southern Barovia where I hope to recreate some of the quests from the old SSI PC game Strahd's Possession to get them up to the level where they can begin EtCR. Upon completing EtCR, they will be whisked to Har'Akir to continue the adventure where I was hoping to recreate a higher level version of Touch of Death and meld into a larger mini-campaign.

Of course, the ultimate PC goal is escape from Ravenloft with the eventual 'possibility' of saving Van Richten and returning him, curse free, to life.

To cure a potential problem of having no major settlements in the campaign for the PCs to buy equipment from, I am going to have a seperate mini-plane within Ravenloft that contains the city of Hollowfaust (from Sword and Sorcery) and nothing else. Access to this mini-plane will be based on the in game calendar. Phases of the moon or some such.

My main concerns come with my party. I want to try something different but I know at least two of the players have a powergaming mentality. One that I cannot see meshing perfectly with Ravenloft. I'm interested in knowing what sort of limitations Ravenloft DMs place on their campaigns in terms of character creation in order to maintain Ravenloft flavor and keep the PCs afraid of the Dark Powers.

Thanks for all the help.
#2
zombiegleemax
Dec 04, 2006 14:27:21 Expect the powergamers to play clerics - experienced powergamers believe that Ravenloft is all about will saves and undead (that's part of it, but not all). You need more created (Constructs) there than you'd normally have for these to challenge a powergamer with a Ravenloft cleric - maybe add a trip to Lamordia in as a red herring or another cog quest. Remember that Van Richten last offical apperance was in Bleak House (2nd Ed) where the PCs have to destroy the darklord of Dominara then rescue him from a Vampire and a Ghost that haunts his ancestral home - the offical version has them only partially successful against the ghost.
#3
The_Jester
Dec 05, 2006 11:21:08 Well, you'll pretty much have to powergame yourself to come up with challenging encounters. Focusing on traps and puzzels might deflate them abit.
Just remember to go for a mix of battles, puzzles and story. Keep everyone happy and give everyone a chance to shine.

As long as a character has a good background and is role-played in an interesting manner it doesn't matter if he's powergamed with an elite build.
#4
gonzoron
Dec 05, 2006 13:44:25
Only by finding special clock gears engraved with common letters on each tooth can the PCs decode the journal. (this idea was partially stolen from a campaign I read about online. I hope you don't mind, whoever you are!)

I assume this is me. If so, I don't mind at all, please plunder away! If not, please direct me to whatever you read, because it would fit my campaign perfectly, and I'm always looking for ideas.

(my site, in case you want to use anything else I've cooked up, please go ahead:
http:/ravenloft.home.att.net )

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 veii Dec 03, 2006 20:58:46	Hi everyone, I was hoping to get some opinions about a Ravenloft campaign I'm planning for the future. In particular, I would love some suggestions about some houserules I want to implement. Please keep in mind, the details are not yet fleshed out so I am welcoming all sorts of advice. Firstly, the campaign is fairly simple in some respects. In short, they will be chasing after the trail of the missing Dr. Van Richten. In my campaign, Van Richten is trapped somewhere between the world of the living and the world of the dead. He exists now as an interemediary, a shadow between states. The party will find the journal of Van Richten's last traveling companion, a gnome clockmaker. The key to this journal is that it will spell out the story of Van Richten's last adventure and what happened to him. The gnome, true to gnome style, has encrypted the journal. Only by finding special clock gears engraved with common letters on each tooth can the PCs decode the journal. (this idea was partially stolen from a campaign I read about online. I hope you don't mind, whoever you are!) These gears are scattered about the various places that Van Richten went during his last journey with this clockmaker. In my campaign, they will be whisked from the FR to Southern Barovia where I hope to recreate some of the quests from the old SSI PC game Strahd's Possession to get them up to the level where they can begin EtCR. Upon completing EtCR, they will be whisked to Har'Akir to continue the adventure where I was hoping to recreate a higher level version of Touch of Death and meld into a larger mini-campaign. Of course, the ultimate PC goal is escape from Ravenloft with the eventual 'possibility' of saving Van Richten and returning him, curse free, to life. To cure a potential problem of having no major settlements in the campaign for the PCs to buy equipment from, I am going to have a seperate mini-plane within Ravenloft that contains the city of Hollowfaust (from Sword and Sorcery) and nothing else. Access to this mini-plane will be based on the in game calendar. Phases of the moon or some such. My main concerns come with my party. I want to try something different but I know at least two of the players have a powergaming mentality. One that I cannot see meshing perfectly with Ravenloft. I'm interested in knowing what sort of limitations Ravenloft DMs place on their campaigns in terms of character creation in order to maintain Ravenloft flavor and keep the PCs afraid of the Dark Powers. Thanks for all the help.
#2 zombiegleemax Dec 04, 2006 14:27:21	Expect the powergamers to play clerics - experienced powergamers believe that Ravenloft is all about will saves and undead (that's part of it, but not all). You need more created (Constructs) there than you'd normally have for these to challenge a powergamer with a Ravenloft cleric - maybe add a trip to Lamordia in as a red herring or another cog quest. Remember that Van Richten last offical apperance was in Bleak House (2nd Ed) where the PCs have to destroy the darklord of Dominara then rescue him from a Vampire and a Ghost that haunts his ancestral home - the offical version has them only partially successful against the ghost.
#3 The_Jester Dec 05, 2006 11:21:08	Well, you'll pretty much have to powergame yourself to come up with challenging encounters. Focusing on traps and puzzels might deflate them abit. Just remember to go for a mix of battles, puzzles and story. Keep everyone happy and give everyone a chance to shine. As long as a character has a good background and is role-played in an interesting manner it doesn't matter if he's powergamed with an elite build.
#4 gonzoron Dec 05, 2006 13:44:25	Only by finding special clock gears engraved with common letters on each tooth can the PCs decode the journal. (this idea was partially stolen from a campaign I read about online. I hope you don't mind, whoever you are!) I assume this is me. If so, I don't mind at all, please plunder away! If not, please direct me to whatever you read, because it would fit my campaign perfectly, and I'm always looking for ideas. (my site, in case you want to use anything else I've cooked up, please go ahead: http:/ravenloft.home.att.net )