So I was thinking the PCs would start near a small town in a homebrew setting (probably around level 5). They would go to some minotaur labyrinth or something, where they come across a "Knight of the Circle" that escaped Avonleigh and is trying to flee from the mists. (The Knight could even be a PC) anyway, the PCs could go kill the bad guy and the mists would come and take them away to Avonleigh.
The PCs would see the Knights of the Circle, they would hear of a prophecy that says they have to defeat Morgoloth to restore peace and all that stuff. They would have to travel around Avonleigh (I get the impression it is mostly spooky forests) and collect the mirror shards and eventually kill Morgoloth.
A couple questions: are there any cities, castles, etc... in Avonleigh??? What kind of monsters are there??? Are there any other notable things in Avonleigh?
The Mordent Cartographic Society (http://www.gryphonhill.com/) has maps of every domain as well.
I'm guessing that you picked the Domain because of its Darklord and its themes. If that's the case, isn't all the background information relative?
I know very little about Avonleigh, I personally have only read three Ravenloft sourcebooks. Just taking a look at Wikipedia, I'd probably make the Domain to be a spooky version of Arthurian England...since Knights of the Circle strongly sounds like Knights of the Round Table. ;)
So yes, dark forests where the Knights of the Circle are the only protection for the scattered, tiny peasant communities. The few castles and keeps that the Knights still control are in ruins and the majority of their brutal civil war fought as darkness fell over the land. In fact, it was in the same civil war that Alexi Shadowborn was slain by his own bastard son upon the eve of a truce.
Sound inspiring enough? Coming up with that makes me want to set up a game like that.
As for the dark lord, Morgoloth, I remember reading that you have to gather some mirror shards or something in order for him to manifest, so I've desided to make five specific encounters, the first would be at a festival in the non-ravenloft world where the prize for some contest is a very good looking frame, for the mirror. The second would be held by the Knights of the Circle, the third by a corrupt knight (blackguard) in service of Morgoloth, the third would be deep within the forest (held by I'm not sure yet), the fourth would be held by a gobin (or other suitable small-sized creature) in a land where the the PCs become VERY small (so the small-sized is now like collosal for a medium sized, if you get me), and the fifth would be within an abandoned fortress, and then when all of them are collected they get to fight Morgoloth. Hows that sound?
I'd recommend that you change up your encounters a bit. I understand that you probably just came up with those on the fly, but here are my initial reactions. First off, all of your encounters seem to be fighting the big bad guy for the item. While I'm sure this won't be the end result, try to take some different approaches. I'm sure a bunch of the people in your group are into combat, but I'd recommend that you mix in some investigation, since a major part of Ravenloft is finding out what you're even up against.
Here's an idea to spice things up. Encourage them frequently to visit the local university and when they finally do, what if one of the glass shards is being displayed there, a magical item that's been confounding Wizards for years. Sure, they could just break the case and grab the item, but that would alert the guards. It'd take wits and stealth or persuassion to actually get the shard.
Finally, I wouldn't recommend 'They get to fight Morgoroth.' He should, firstly, be there following the adventurers every move, omnipresent. He could speak to them in dreams in a false guise, guiding them to do his will. Whispers in the wind and messages in their alpha-bits. When they finally assemble the mirror, however, they should realize their fatal mistake. One of the main themes of Ravenloft is that horrible evil is omnipresent in a world of good, hidden from sight. The adventurers would have unleashed a dark power into the world once again, and what happens after that is a bitter struggle for which ever path they choose.
I beleive the canon Avonleigh is not much more than forest and Morgoroth's home, Tergeron Manor, but it's been a while and I could be mistaken.
But Avonleigh is connected to two other domains, Nidala and Shadowborn Manor in a cluster (a pocket of land surrounded by Mists) called the Shadowlands. The darklord of Nidala is a fallen paladin (who doesn't know she's fallen) named Elena Faithhold. The darklord of Shadowborn Manor is an inteligent evil sword named Ebonbane. (actually a powerful evil outsider bound into a sword, but whatever.) All three domains are connected by the Shadowborn family and the Knights of the Circle. (Elena once was a knight of the Circle alongside Kateri Shadowborn, who is the arch-enemy of Ebonbane, and haunts Shadowborn manor as a ghost. Morgoroth was in love with Aurora Shadowborn, who is trapped in a crystal coffin in Tergeron Manor.) Shadowborn Manor is just a manor in the phantasmal forest, but Nidala is a full-fledged country with cities and castles and such (albiet under the iron fist of Elena Faithold).
EDIT: for more on the cluster check out the following online sources:
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3568
"Theokos", in the Book of Sorrows at www.kargatane.com
"The Red Wolf" in the Book of Shadows at www.kargatane.com
Which, by the way, is what the canon Avonleigh is. I double checked "A Light in the Belfry" (The module that is the major source of info on Avonleigh) and all the canon version had is Tergeron Manor, the forest, some marsh, a couple lakes, and a single road. (Not to mention two moons and eternal darkness). This is before the domain merged into the cluster, but aside from gaining neighbors, things haven't changed much.In the adventure, the mirror shards are all in the manor, but you can feel free to scatter them if you like....
If you are going to do a campaign around this, then I would stick to your original 'villages and towns' idea. Maybe remove a fortress to accomadate the manor.
About the taint system. If you don't plan on buying any of the ravenloft books, then i'd keep it. If, however, you are going to do the dark powers checks, i'd stay away from taint. Ravenloft is tough enough to stay good in as it is.;)
If interested, the Dark Powers give that person a boon and a drawback. For instance, a thief may find that he can open locks better than ever now! Unfortunately, those skilled hands are now tentacles. If the person continues on this dark path, these gifts/curses increase in severity until the cursed person ultimately becomes a monster ... or even a Darklord with control of a domain.
Kwdblade is right, though: If you want to use the Heroes of Horror taint rules instead (since you don't have the RL books), that's cool -- but you may want to "design" the ultimate fate of the PC who doesn't catch on that he's on the wrong road, as opposed to leaving it up to random rolls.
I personally use the taint system in my current Ravenloft game. Rather than leaving it up to a die roll, I just hand out taint since, in my opinion, the dark powers are fairly omnipresent.
The difference is that in RL your actions might lead you to get tainted, while in the HoH taint system, it's your environment.
Still I prefer the RL gothic way to see things - assume the consequences
Joël
Taint also doesn't really go with the whole 'gothic horror' scenerio, when you can spot evil a mile away (its the squid thing with the 8 heads).
Unless your players are incredibly patient, a game like that wouldn't last two sessions. Putting players that have never or rarely ever played Ravenloft into a world where the very ground they tread on can turn them evil and every action a hero has to take can corrupt their very souls is not adviseable. One or the other man!
Taint also doesn't really go with the whole 'gothic horror' scenerio, when you can spot evil a mile away (its the squid thing with the 8 heads).
Well I have used both man, If you use taint in a good way it adds to the challenge and to the evil of the world. I use it with natural attacks of darklords, thus adding more to the evil of the darklord, if a soul is corrupt enough to be a lord in the dread realms would it not have the ability to taint other creatures with a touch?(e.g. Strahd in EtCR) Plus taint is easily cured and most clerics in my campaigns are used to healing such syptoms when they appear. Also when they enter an area that is extremely evil would it not have taint? (e.g. Where Strahd was transformed into a vampire and killed his brother.) Sink holes of evil could also have this taint as well to add to the horrific environment. I have ran campaigns where the taint of evil was received well in the setting of Ravenloft, but I didn't overdue it, only including it at certain times to emphasize the evil of an certain area or the curruption of a villain.
Also I like the powers checks with the taint, both are not encountered very often and add to the drama of the campaign if they are encountered. Power checks maybe get as high as a 15% chance with the most evil of acts in the world and low as 0 to 1% with lesser evil acts and the percentage depends on what the victim's alignment is or relationship to the character. Taint in my campaigns isn't omnipresent and is only encountered in areas of "pure evil" and the low percentage chance of failing a powers check doesn't make it a absolute nightmare for characters. Just adds something different from a standard campaign in my eyes.
I used both mechanics while running the EtRC module and it really hit home with the characters how evil and dark Ravenloft really was. My fellow players enjoyed the play and didn't complain about either. I also used it taint only when it was appropriate and only used powers checks when it was called for, which was zero in that campaign since the players were good aligned and didn't commit evil acts of that caliber.
Unless your players are incredibly patient, a game like that wouldn't last two sessions. Putting players that have never or rarely ever played Ravenloft into a world where the very ground they tread on can turn them evil and every action a hero has to take can corrupt their very souls is not adviseable. One or the other man!
Taint also doesn't really go with the whole 'gothic horror' scenerio, when you can spot evil a mile away (its the squid thing with the 8 heads).
Well I have used both man, If you use taint in a good way it adds to the challenge and to the evil of the world. I use it with natural attacks of darklords, thus adding more to the evil of the darklord, if a soul is corrupt enough to be a lord in the dread realms would it not have the ability to taint other creatures with a touch?(e.g. Strahd in EtCR) Plus taint is easily cured and most clerics in my campaigns are used to healing such syptoms when they appear. Also when they enter an area that is extremely evil would it not have taint? (e.g. Where Strahd was transformed into a vampire and killed his brother.) Sink holes of evil could also have this taint as well to add to the horrific environment. I have ran campaigns where the taint of evil was received well in the setting of Ravenloft, but I didn't overdue it, only including it at certain times to emphasize the evil of an certain area or the curruption of a villain.
Also I like the powers checks with the taint, both are not encountered very often and add to the drama of the campaign if they are encountered. Power checks maybe get as high as a 15% chance with the most evil of acts in the world and low as 0 to 1% with lesser evil acts and the percentage depends on what the victim's alignment is or relationship to the character. Taint in my campaigns isn't omnipresent and is only encountered in areas of "pure evil" and the low percentage chance of failing a powers check doesn't make it a absolute nightmare for characters. Just adds something different from a standard campaign in my eyes.
I used both mechanics while running the EtRC module and it really hit home with the characters how evil and dark Ravenloft really was. My fellow players enjoyed the play and didn't complain about either. I also used it taint only when it was appropriate and only used powers checks when it was called for, which was zero in that campaign since the players were good aligned and didn't commit evil acts of that caliber.