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#1 zombiegleemax Feb 16, 2007 17:48:44

Cross-Posted from Fraternity of Shadows: I've been working on my new Ravenloft campaign quite extensively as of late, but I've come to a bit of an obstacle. Being Russian, I have a great love of the motherland and I am disconcerted by how sparse the information concering Vorostokov is. Now, I've read the write up of Vorostokov recently and also the old Dark of the Moon module, but those both provide very little information about the domain itself. In my campaign, Vorostokov is a major region of the cluster and, while trade is difficult, it exports some very rare and highly demanded goods. So, I've been thinking about how to make Vorostokov more than just the handful of villages terrorized by Gregor Zolnik. As such, I've begun to brainstorm a few things: First, I'm not sure if Gregor should even by the Dark Lord. Sure he's evil, but he doesn't have the same monstrous or horrible feel that some of the other Dark Lords possess. Sure he killed his wife and basically an entire castle's worth of people in a blind rage, but his story just lacks something. I've been considering having someone else become the Dark Lord, perhaps someone that is too complacent. As a result, I've been thinking about using Piotr Ivanov as the new Dark Lord. The only survivor of Vorostokov's nobility, Piotr was exiled from the court and forced to remain isolated in his small fief that includes the village of Kargo. A man of immediate pleasure, Piotr remains content by sullying each of the local maidens on their fifteenth name day and keeping the populace under his rule with the only trained soldiers left in the entirety of Vorostokov. The fact that Piotr is the only military power in the entire domain means that, if he would only feel some compassion for the peasants that he sees as mere entertainment, he could save Vorostokov from the terror of Gregor. Piotr, however, is content oppressing his own serfs and Gregor realizes that as long as Kargo remains untouched the valley will be his. I've also tried to come up with a few other storyhooks in the Domain: -The King's old castle is still inhabited by the ghosts of the innocent servents that were unjustly murdered. -A small band of starved Nosferatu stalk the northwest forest of Vorostokov. Without amble human blood, they howl discordiantly at the night, scaring any hunters that they might gain sustenance from out of the region. Old Nicolai, however, still resides in the forest with his plethora of wives. Whenever one a girl is born they are put into service in the household and become one of his wives. When a boy is born, the babe is left out in the forest with a heavy wool blanket and a small fire as a sacrifice to the forest stalkers. -A band of heroes had once tried to stand against Gregor years ago, but all of them were killed save a fair-skinned warrior. He led the remnents of the willage of Novayalend south to the hills before Gregor and his Boyarsky reached the village. Nothing has been heard from them since, but small warbands have been seen harrying Gregor's forces recently. -In Vorostokov, the biting wind whispers in the ears of lost travellers, cynically pointing out their flaws and vices. That's about all I've been able to think of. Does anyone else have some great story hooks, ideas or changes that they've used in Vorostokov? Is there any other important information on the Domain that is not in the 3rd edition Campaign Setting or Dark of the Moon module?