My Opinions (obviously on things I know):
- The atmosphere or tone (dark fantasy/horror) of the setting just seems so limited. You can design a horror or dark fantasy based campaign with any setting. Though you can’t design a normal (non-horror) campaign with Ravenloft.
- I love the idea of the Tarokka deck. When you can actually interact with something that exists in the game world it adds a whole new level of realism to the game, which is just great (I wish other settings had props like this!).
My Questions:
- Is the Tarokka deck just for role-playing fortune telling or is it also a game that can be used for gambling purposes?
- I heard something about a Sanity Meter. I have an idea of what it is but I’m unsure how it works or affects the game. Any information about it would help.
- What makes Ravenloft scarier then other settings?
- What makes Ravenloft better then other settings?
Thanks in advance,
Dan
(Not one of my best posts…
)Originally posted by DnD Master1586
[b]I have always been fascinated with the Ravenloft setting. I’ve heard so many good things about it from others who have played, but I know little of the settings details.
My Opinions (obviously on things I know):
- The atmosphere or tone (dark fantasy/horror) of the setting just seems so limited. You can design a horror or dark fantasy based campaign with any setting. Though you can’t design a normal (non-horror) campaign with Ravenloft.
- I love the idea of the Tarokka deck. When you can actually interact with something that exists in the game world it adds a whole new level of realism to the game, which is just great (I wish other settings had props like this!).
My Questions:
- Is the Tarokka deck just for role-playing fortune telling or is it also a game that can be used for gambling purposes?
If you go can get hold of the BoS series the Kargatane edited, there's some games using the Tarokka deck written by Andrew Hackard.
- I heard something about a Sanity Meter. I have an idea of what it is but I’m unsure how it works or affects the game. Any information about it would help.
This is from Call of Cthulhu. Ravenloft uses Madness saves. They basically determine if your PC goes mad or not.
- What makes Ravenloft scarier then other settings?
In a nutshell? The unknown. Is the barkeep really a friendly old man, or a werewolf? Is the missing children the result of simple kidnapping, or is a necromancer killing them and then raising them as zombies to work in his cotton mill?
- What makes Ravenloft better then other settings?
To me? The indepth characters. You rarely get that in D&D. Take Elminster, over powered pointy hat wearing man who frolicks about the Realms and is indestructable. Look at Rudolph van Richten, a doctor who started adventuring late in life to avenge the deaths of his wife and son, wrote guides to killing monsters and disappeared into the unknown.
Thanks in advance,
Dan
(Not one of my best posts…
Not some of my best answers, but it's late and I've been serving burgers to dollards all night.
Originally posted by DnD Master1586
ons:- What makes Ravenloft scarier then other settings? Ravenloft better then other settings?[/b]
I think the fact that evil has a certain sway over characters- even those that have been knee deep in monsters and zombies, if they get sucked into raveloft- fear is a palitable thing- it strikes at the soul.
in game its represented in two ways... the DM and players know this to be a dynamic of the world and role play it effecting them in a physical manner...
or there are the fear and horror effects. those that can't act- roll *wink
i think the fact that your in a pocket universe a place that just wants to break you down, or get you to join its evil is a great challange as a player. Especially for my group since we were at BEST gray. Even the lawful good paladin by the end said screw these people, lets find a way out of here. And he was the one that was alway urging us on to fight the good fight, and made sure we kept our noses clean. At least while he was in the room.
And we watched some of out party- PCs and NPC succumb to evil. Most of the time we died long before that happened.
Damn those crit charts.
and in our world i think we found 5 potions in 13 real life years. The only cleric that ever was with us worshiped hades, and there was almost no place to ressurect someone- or if there was- it would cost the entire party wealth, and none of us were willing to do something that only one of us could benefit from. so with a crew like THAT, it was great fun. Because we were just thugs and got to witness what REAL evil is.
The other neat-o thing of our DMs world was- if you look at any D&D world. the good temples are out and the official ones. and the evil is the dark secret cult
in his RL the evil cults were the official religions and the hidden ones were good. Evil temples always wanted to hire parties to destroy a good cult that had moved in. To the common people- that's just the way it was, so it wasn't "evil" to them.
I always thought that was something that fit RL well.
The second thing I like is that in Ravenloft people are encouraged to create deep personalities for NPCs and players. Current D&D trend seems to be geared towards getting back into the dungeon as soon as possible. (All those skills of information gathering and diplomacy that are meant to turn opportunities of roleplaying into encounters of rollplaying). While it is true that any game can be played in any style I find it helpful that the setting backs up my favourite style.
For me, Ravenloft is more like a place in which I can create feelings, instead of adventures.
Ravenloft can work very well as a non-horror setting. Currently, its been revised a lot to eliminate some of the very-much-not-scary-or-Gothic elements of old-school AD&D Ravenloft, but there's still enough of their memory left that you can run a pretty decent non-horror game in the setting. Still, you're likely to end up having more zombies and ghosts than goblins and ogres. (You can find plenty of goblins and ogres in Ravenloft if you look in the right places. The country of Darkon has most of the traditional D&D races in small numbers at least.) Lots of familiar classic D&D monsters are in Ravenloft, but the focus is generally on their scarier aspects. (For example, Tepest has lots of goblins, but instead of being the traditional raiding humanoids, they're presented like the forest monsters and pagans that some Puritans in the New England colonies believed in.) If you remove the horror elements (which doesn't take any effort; in fact, its easier to make them not-scary than it is to make them truly horrible), they can work like classic monsters easily.
(However, even when running not-very-horror games in Ravenloft, I usually focus more on the native monsters, just in a more combat-focused way. My non-horror Ravenloft adventures are often inspired by the feel of the Castlevania console game series.)
As for your questions...
I'm don't use the Tarokka deck much, so I'll leave that to those that do. It's a really awesome plot device, just one I forget to use most of the time.
There's no sanity meter in Ravenloft; as someone else said, that's in Call of Cthulu. However, in Ravenloft you can go mad from certain things (things that would drive people insane in Gothic books, plus things like trying to read the mind of an ancient wall that's actually a composite undead creature.) Also, things that horrify your character can have lasting effects. The official book doesn't say this, but my group always goes on the theory that Ravenloft has an atmosphere about it that makes everything seem creepier and more menacing, so even hardened adventures can get some major nightmares from things.
Basically, Ravenloft has Fear, Horror, and Madness checks. These checks are Will saves made against various DCs depending on the situation; failure causes a variety of automatic responses in the PCs, determined by how badly they failed their save and the situation. Fear checks are called for when PCs are in immediate danger (faced with a powerful foe, for instance); failure usually results in being distracted, stunned with fright, or running away. Horror saves are called for when the PCs aren't necessarily in immediate danger but experience something that gives them lasting dread or challenges their understanding of reality. (For example, learning that the abandoned old house on the hill that's rumored to be haunted isn't haunted, but rather is a living monster that eats people, or finding out that everyone in a seemingly normal village is actually an undead minion of some great evil.) Failing a Horror save causes lasting effects like phobias, paranoia, and the like; it can sometimes cause Madness instead. Madness checks are made when the PCs are exposed to something that could drive them insane; failure causes severe forms of failing a Horror check or other symptoms.
These checks don't have to be used all the time, and generally, PCs that are well role-played are less likely to be asked to make them than PCs whose players blatantly ignore the setting style and are never scared, no matter what, even if it doesn't fit their character concept. There are feats like Courage, Jaded, and Open-Minded that give +4 bonuses to the various checks, for people who want to play exceptionally toughened characters.
What makes Ravenloft scarier than other settings? Depends on what other settings you mean; there are lots of horror RPGs that are as scary, or scarier, than Ravenloft, and I actually find Planescape and the Epic Level Handbook to be more disturbing (mostly because every freakin' monster has the ability to destroy someone's immortal soul it seems like.) Still, Ravenloft has some really creepy stuff. Like you said, any campaign can be a horror campaign, but Ravenloft is designed for it. Ravenloft itself, however, is not scary without a GM that knows how to use it correctly; horror is one of the most difficult things to inspire in players, and there's only so much a campaign setting can do to help that along.
Ravenloft is one of my favorite settings, not because its scary, but because its weird and cool. I love the way the focus is on the monsters, not the heroes, and the way that even mundane monsters like zombies and ghouls are given huge amounts of attention and detail in Ravenloft products like "Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead."
Tarroka: I have a Victorian England style deck that I've (saddly) only used twice in the Masque of the Red Death Setting. Its cool to have but hardly necessary. In addition to the games in the first net book at kargatane.com (book of souls?) there are very how to rules for "faking" card readings from gypsies in the Ravenloft DMG.
San-O-Meter & Fear/Horror/Madness: No Sanmeter in this system...though its great for Call of Cthullu which I also recomend. As a sidebar: I have suggested (and continue to believe) that RL is better for a long term campaign than CoC. Sanity in CoC usually makes a one way trip down, which ultimately limits how many out of this world experiences you can suffer before your head "pops". With a good DM this can happen in one or two scenarios. =) Fear, Horror, and Madness checks are different in that they don't "degrade" a character over time. They just provide psychological impacts that affect a PC for a shorter or longer period of time.
Your PC in a Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms adventure comes to a moat of writhing zombie parts. If they're over 6th level they probably laugh and swim through it...between high ACs and magical protections they aren't likely to be hurt. And have maybe knocked off a dragon (or some such) and have seen tougher stuff. They aren't unduely phased. Now in "real life" I'd submit to you that seeing a moat of zombie parts is pretty damn creepy and swiming through it (even if protected, which in Ravenloft isn't a given by any means) while limp arms flail at you and the moans of the damned fill your ears takes it toll on the psyche. If your PC say in RL "My PC swims through the Zombie parts" (virtually a DM's prayer answered by the Dark powers) and isn't role-playing the creepiness of the scene then we start making checks.
If the PCs is in danger of being hurt its a fear check (a special will save...and no one in RL is immune to this kind of Fear). If the PC is not in any danger but the scene is worthy of a "scary moment" in a good horror flick then its a Horror check (a slightly different kind of special will save). Finally either tooooo many of the above in a short period of the time or a mind shattering event (deep telepathic communion with the mind of a ghoul that wants to eat all that lushious flesh for example) can call for a madness check.
::whew:: Okay next topics.
What makes this setting scarrier: I don't know if its scarrier. The scarry momments in my experience are because its gothic (that is human) horror and all the terrors in RL generally have the ability to blend with society or lurk just outside it in the shadows (or both). The Tarasque is scarry as in "time to run or roll up new characters". The nice apothocary next door who has helped the party with healing poltices, been something of a mentor to a PC and makes a killer soup turns out to be Hanible Lector with a dozen burried half eaten bodies under the cobblestones is more way more creepy. Especially after he decides the PCs have betrayed him for not understanding when "outed". And starts stalking all their defenseless friends.
What makes it better: Well (1) the heroes are more heroic because going out the gate you're just not going to win 98% or more of the encounters. When defeat is a credible possibility the victories are sweeter. This is true for a lot of reasons but mostly the big bad guys just have more resources/special powers than the PCs and also the ground rules of the setting favor them (eg. no one can detect good or evil through magical means in the land of Mists). As mentioned above (2) Ravenloft is very role-playing intensive, and the motivations of villians and the history of their misdeeds often have an impact on how they (might) get defeated.
For example: A ghost from someone who was tortured to death by heated irons might be vulnerable to weapons heated in a fire allowing magicless PCs to ignore the incorporeal miss chance and or DR. Researching these vulnerabilities is often the bigger part of "stopping the ghost of the forrest road".
Finally (3) there is the quality of work put out by several generations of RL authors. On the whole I believe the material put out for RL (with the exception of the art which has gone up and down, recently mostly up) is supperior to that done for other settings. I was blown away the first time I picked up a Van Ricten's Guide to Vampires (Ghosts/Werebeasts...). I have similiarly been blown away by the current group of Gazeteers. The authors clearly have passion for the product, as is witnessed by the fact that this board is regularly visited by the RL authors (thank you guys!)
So thats my take on it. I believe its a great setting.
-Eric Gorman
Originally posted by DnD Master1586
[b]- The atmosphere or tone (dark fantasy/horror) of the setting just seems so limited. You can design a horror or dark fantasy based campaign with any setting. Though you can’t design a normal (non-horror) campaign with Ravenloft.
Possibly, but in other "official" game worlds, the forces of good are at least powerful, if not actually the prevailing law of the land. Good usually triumphs, ale and donuts all around. In the 'loft, you can;t count on the cavalry to come to save you. Elminster will not be there to stop Manshoon. Strahd can and will eat your entire party for lunch.
Unless you load 'em up with magic items, and let 'em know who their enemies are. Then you can run a "standard" adventure in Ravenloft. But then why woul you employ this campaign setting?
- What makes Ravenloft scarier then other settings?
See Rant #4713567, above.
you guys knew of the existance of enough to come up with the (albeit) far fetched idea that you could have more then one?
on your person?
i think you failed your madness check my friend!
I DO remember our fellow party members were far more a danger to us then anything else, as we conspired and killed eachother fighting over the two magic items in our posession.
Many heads rolled over that +1 sword and ring of invisability. Let me tell you.
GRINS
Originally posted by DnD Master1586
- The atmosphere or tone (dark fantasy/horror) of the setting just seems so limited. You can design a horror or dark fantasy based campaign with any setting. Though you can’t design a normal (non-horror) campaign with Ravenloft.
Actually, my personal campaign (which unfortunately has been on hold for forever and a day) long ago morphed into, well, really, a soap opera romance.
There's ample opportunities for games of courtly intrigue, investigative mysteries, dungeon crawls, rollicking action, etc. Really, I think Ravenloft really only stumbles in two areas: High level, "epic" adventuring (dealing with gods and demonic armies and whatnot), and plunking adventurers down in the middle of a vast, unexplored wilderness. Wherever you go exploring in Ravenloft, someone (or something, in a few cases) is already there.
Ravenloft is physically small; that's its limitation. Any kind of adventuring that doesn't require an epic scale can do just fine.
Originally posted by John W. Mangrum
Actually, my personal campaign (which unfortunately has been on hold for forever and a day) long ago morphed into, well, really, a soap opera romance.
Now *this* is something I'd enjoy hearing more about. :D
Back to the Tarokka deck: at one point when I tried writing an article about 'fake Tarokka', ie ones either not created by Vistani or created by them but not with the ritual that imbues them, I found myself trying to hash out ideas for Tarokka-based patience (solitaire) games. Maybe I should kick my butt back into trying to outline those-- the only one that really came to mind was 'Har'Akir', a variant of Pyramid.
Originally posted by John W. Mangrum
I think Ravenloft really only stumbles in two areas: High level, "epic" adventuring (dealing with gods and demonic armies and whatnot), and plunking adventurers down in the middle of a vast, unexplored wilderness.
Even the wilderness part has a spot in Ravenloft, the Wildlands.
I'd just like to post my dissent to the "magical items are rare in Ravenloft" thing; while some games are low-magic, that's still not the official stance, and I think it does Ravenloft an injustice to imply that it is.
(Sorry, the "+1 swords are rare and awesome and nobody can ever get them" style of play never appealed to me, especially since D&D is based on PCs getting a large number of magical items and doesn't work correctly if they don't. Other people can make it work, but that's still not the official style in Ravenloft. Ravenloft tends to assume a fairly high number of magical items on PCs, and any group that doesn't have magical weapons is going to have a hard time dealing with the vampires, liches, golems, gargoyles, and similar monsters that are focused on in Ravenloft more than in any other setting.)
Originally posted by Brandi
Now *this* is something I'd enjoy hearing more about. :D
The campaign made the shift when we moved it to PBEM, after which it's all online: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/krlc/?yguid=4714165
The central thrust of the "soap opera" is a romantic triangle of sorts between Celia Whitmoor, Argent T'Bashere, and Kevin Calligarde, with lycanthropy acting as both the force that (until right before the campaign lapsed) bonds the group and exacerbates their existing interpersonal conflicts. Sort of a struggle between romantic love and lust sort of thing.
Scarcasm is in the air.
Nay the air is choked with it, perhaps its better to continue a different way and skip over this post.
Originally posted by Belac
you can add a few dozen countries out of nowhere and it fits into the setting (though I wouldn't recommend trying it, as either you'll have to put in a huge amount of work or your domains won't be anywhere near as interesting as the official ones.)
Oh my god not WORK. oh oh. And as for 'not as interesting' maybe he's not insulted but *I'M* insulted by this comment. Dion alone has come up with dozens of Domains, many of which are quite more interesting then canon ones, some- simply because they are at least original. Oooooo let's go to the Jack the Ripper domain, or the Frankenstein one. We visited those places but blessedly, the DM dropped us in a well realized land and we didn't have to fall back on the schtick. Then again Dion also happens to be a very good writer and the way he presents his products sucks you right in- his society, the characters that frequent the place, the strange (and most think mad) traveler who has seen these places. In fact the WAY he presents the material is just perfect- he COULD just be mad- he could have seen one domain and the rest are figments, all or none could be dropped in any campaign. It would be nice if the canon products adapted a more useful layout such as this to present the materials. Go back and read the older RL stuff. Right after they tell you what a Darklord and Domain are they give you some general tips in creating your own. Wait that requires work probably. Best to just avoid that.
Originally posted by Belac
I'd just like to post my dissent to the "magical items are rare in Ravenloft" thing; while some games are low-magic, that's still not the official stance, and I think it does Ravenloft an injustice to imply that it is.
I think the campain setting is going more for the "Twilight Zone effect" like the kid (Bill Mumy)who could make anything happen. The people didn't know if he took the town "elsewhere" or if he made the rest of the world disappear (in the original). In the twilight zone movie it was in an elsewhere because a woman and a few others trapped there came in and got stuck. Anyway to my point- Ravenloft is probably more like in the movie- cut off from no where, when new people do come in as soon as they aren't looking everyone pilfers through their things. (The taking of cigerettes and make-up in that movie being a good example). Darkon alone- anyone caught using a magic item comes under the attention of the Kargat. There ARE magic items- but the most useful ones are sent off to Azalin. Sure just go walk in there and take them. Van Ritchen and his band of merry adventurers waltzed right in. How hard can it be? Or the Kargat- yeah sure- take on the medeival equilivant of Hitler's SS- Sure we will just go in and demand our items back.
In the other places- why would peasnts have magic items? In the western core- victorian sensibability has taken over- most don't even go in for that magic thing. As Jester would say: How Quaint. Or something.
I always liked that they listed Strahd as having what? 5 magic items and he only wears 3? And he's the most powerful Darklord? That's cool. That also just goes to show just how dangerous he is. He doesn't NEED magic items. And also I don't know why you're complaining- the canon developers in their attempt to try to satisfy everyone have updated Hazlan in gaz 1- there is a plethera of magic now with the new school there. I'm glad our DM never brought us to that Domain. We didn't want to go anyway. The ruler we heard was completely insane and just as soon fry you the second you entered the Domain. Yeah. Lets go there.
Actually in our campaign the DM even addressed the magic item issue- sometimes thousands of magic items would be used in a ritual- Their destruction as the components for the most powerful of Rituals. Here was one reason why there were no magic items- leaders would have them confiscated for just such a contingency.
On the flip side- we had an enemy who had magic slave labor camps having captured magic users churn out items until there was nothing left in them, then the truly horrorable fate would await them.
Originally posted by Belac
any group that doesn't have magical weapons is going to have a hard time dealing with the vampires, liches, golems, gargoyles, and similar monsters that are focused on in Ravenloft more than in any other setting.)
well you know what? We DID have a hard time with them. Where do you think the terror came from? A vampire? FLEE! we have nothing we can fight that thing with! Quick! Trip the weakest party member so we can get away while the vampire feeds on him! Using up those few times you CAN do something like that to survive- you can't really go off and kill the innocent character who DOES have a magic item in his possession you can't afford. It would be nice, but you have to choose your few evil acts with great caution. That's why you keep a thief with you and beat him until you convice him its in the parties best interest if he goes and steals that magic item. We always tried to use those few chances where you have to choose between evil act 1 and evil act 2 to try and do the most 'good' in the long run. Then there were the PC characters that didn't have such qualms about moral ambuiguity, but they decended into evil.
I don't believe we ever delt with a Lich- we heard Azalin was one, but we heard that after we left Darkon. I think we came across a mummy once. I think a few died too taking it down. When i was there to play *I* never saw a golumn, or a gargoyal. We did encounter Werewolves but blessedly for a high price you could have almost any weapon made out of Silver. I think the DM used a lot of legends- like Cold Iron hurting some- You couldn't kill some things with it. But sticking a piece in them would make them dispell for a time. Plus there were always master work weapons, and blessed items you could get. Or blessed weapons.
Besides, we had more pressing antagonists after us.
I'd like to post MY discent with this new sensability that there is anything worth saving in RL. Its the worst place you can still be while still alive. Yet it can't be presented like that. The good story teller has to let the players THINK there is hope. Let them keep their denial that fighting the good fight will amount to something. If the players don't have that false hope they will go utterly mad- or join the foces of darkness once RL grinds them down. Why would such a place be allowed to exist? What madness drives the reality of such a place? Ah! the good story teller eventually addresses these issuses as well. We the foolish adventures would still struggle, still think we could escape this madhouse. Or actually do some good.
Being in RL is like being Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. Nothing makes sense, and if you think about it long enough you will go crazy. Best to keep moving. Keep looking for that way home. There has to be a way out. There has to be.
Originally posted by daffy72
Being in RL is like being Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. Nothing makes sense, and if you think about it long enough you will go crazy. Best to keep moving. Keep looking for that way home. There has to be a way out. There has to be.
Unless you were BORN there.
Originally posted by Cole Deschain
Unless you were BORN there.
My second character- a druid was from RL. While traveling with the party the fact that all good deeds never go unpunished was just the way the world worked. The party was good for balance. They would cause so much damage and death of citizens in a settlement, that clear cutting and such would slow or reverse in the areas the party visited. So I'd just stay out of the way and heal them where I could, so they could continue their wholesale slaughter of the tree killers. They also weren't allowed to kill trees for their camp fire, they had to go find dead wood on the ground, and cleaning all that stuff up is also good. Keeps fires from spreading when lightening strikes. They also couldn't kill animals bigger then what they could eat. As long as they did that stuff I let them rave on. They were completely insane talking about other worlds and such which obviously don't exist. Everyone knows there is no force more powerful then the mists. Duh. They kept talking about a "way out" too. I don't know what that was about. As I said, as long as they didn't kill trees I had no problem with them. They went along with those rules because I was the only healer among them.
Originally posted by daffy72
they had to go find dead wood on the ground, and cleaning all that stuff up is also good. Keeps fires from spreading when lightening strikes.
Forest fires that result from lightning strikes are part of the natural order of nature and can actually be beneficial to an area. They clear out the dead growth, fertilize the soil, and I believe actually help in the reproductive cycle of some trees (especially most species of pine.) I could see a druid keeping them from being careless with fire though.
I thought I quite clearly said that if you don't put work into your domains, they won't be interesting. I'm quite sure this Dion person put WORK into his domains, much like I put work into mine, and possibly would be insulted by your insinuation that he did not, in fact, put any work into his domains. What I was saying was that most people don't buy campaigns just to do a lot of work on them, which is why I wouldn't recommend trying to take on a big project like make a bunch of domains.
Anyway, your post was rude and came out of nowhere. I'm going to guess that you were just having a bad day or something, and not return fire.
Originally posted by DnD Master1586
- The atmosphere or tone (dark fantasy/horror) of the setting just seems so limited. You can design a horror or dark fantasy based campaign with any setting. Though you can’t design a normal (non-horror) campaign with Ravenloft.
Well... yeah. Ravenloft is (in theory) optimized for a particular genre.
You can in fact run a non-horror game in Ravenloft (in fact I've run a few, and been a few more, though I'm not sure if "failed attempt at horror" should count). But it probably won't be as good as in another setting. By the same token, you can run a horror game in other settings, but Ravenloft is designed to handle it more readily.
Also, Ravenloft is strangely versatile in that you can steal elements from almost any other setting and drop them somewhere into Ravenloft without too much fuss. Well, until cross-setting stuff became a little harder what with different publishers and all. Now you still can, but it takes a little more work and knowledge of the setting's history.
What makes Ravenloft scarier then other settings?
For me, it's the sense that "there is a God, and He doesn't like you." When you're a hero in Ravenloft, the very world seems to side with villainy and iniquity. While the Darklords may be cursed, their curses tend to involve the continued brutalization of innocent victims.
- What makes Ravenloft better then other settings?
Nothing. Ravenloft is a setting based on a genre, and it portrays that genre. In my opinion, Ravenloft is designed to be suited to a given gaming style, not to be the "best setting ever published."
Originally posted by DnD Master1586
- What makes Ravenloft scarier then other settings?
I would agree with some of the other posters here in saying that I'm not sure that Ravenloft is "scarier" than other settings. Call of Cthulhu is pretty darn scary. I fondly remember the old Chill game. Deadlands has been a place where I've gotten a scare out of my players (and gotten scared in return).
- What makes Ravenloft better then other settings?
Again, I wouldn't say Ravenloft is "better" than other settings. It certainly has a special place in my heart and is one of my favorite settings, but I can't honestly that it's objectively "the best setting out there."
Like others have said here, what makes Ravenloft stand out is that has its own brand of terror that is unique to other settings. That's why it's lasted so long. Most other terror games are set in modern contexts. Ravenloft, however, has created a successful combination of fantasy and horror that makes people come back for more. It's one of the only games you can play a classic knight or wizard in terror game.
I know that Ravenloft purists like to stress that Ravenloft focuses on Gothic Horror. And yes, Ravenloft's take on Gothic Horror certainly makes it unique. But I honestly think that the fantasy/horror combination is what attracts people to the setting...the Gothic Horror aspect of the setting makes them come back for more!