Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 alacar_deathstone Jun 25, 2004 8:46:05	I just got the Ravenloft PHB 3.5 (I haven't actually played in a Ravenloft Game before), and I was wondering if someone could post an example of a Ravenloft suitable adventure. After reading over the book, I've decided to DM a RL game with a few friends(After playing DnD for almost 7 years). I was thinking of having a town noble be uncovered as a werewolf, and the players either choose the "good" action and save him, or help the populace hunt him down and kill him. I don't know what domain and everything to start them in. Sorry to sound like a "noob" but any advice is appreciated. P.S. I'm not just posting this because I'm too lazy to figure it out for myself.
#2 zombiegleemax Jun 25, 2004 8:47:21	Hey Alacar. Check my sig for my RL Campaign Summary. Hopefully they'll be some stuff there you can use. Good luck. MSD
#3 zombiegleemax Jun 25, 2004 8:51:35	Oh yeah, if you look closely you'll see a bunch of live links that will direct you to the full adventure recaps (if you're interested in reading more). The live links begin at Episode #7 (the first six adventures are relagated to paperback copies only). peace, MSD
#4 alacar_deathstone Jun 25, 2004 9:03:30	Well, one of my players wants to become so evil that he gets granted/imprisoned in a Domain. He is very good at playing evil characters, and really uses the political aspect of evil to make things go his way. Is this a good idea? Is being a Darklord really an ideal goal for an evil character? Or is a Darklord what evil people strive to stay away from.
#5 zombiegleemax Jun 25, 2004 9:24:51	Read up on my manz Alexus Darkangnon in my recaps. Although his goals aren't as entrenched in meta-gaming as your players, you'll find certain similarities. See, sometimes players have this stereotype of Ravenloft being a land that fosters or ENCOURAGES evil - but the fact is, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, your player will invest all this time, energy and concentration into making the perfect evil character - getting all kinds of nifty goodies along the way (DPz, baby. DPz). Of course, those physical deformities won't seem like too much in the beginning... but sooner or later he's gonna hafta watch you scoop up his character sheet, flash your fangs in his face, and relegate his precious PC to NPC status! And really, what player wants to lose a character he's worked so hard on? But that's the breaks, my man. Karma is watching... (or is it the DPz?) peace, MSD
#6 alacar_deathstone Jun 25, 2004 9:32:08	Originally posted by The MadStepDad ... but sooner or later he's gonna hafta watch you scoop up his character sheet, flash your fangs in his face, and relegate his precious PC to NPC status! :heehee I like that. In case you were wondering, he wasn't meta-gaming. He made his character, background, personality, and decided that after certain things had happened in his character's life, he would slowly go insane. He was just curious on what would happen if he started doing evil things, and I said, If he performs truly vile and evil acts, the Dark Powers could potentially imprison him in a Domain. He immediately said, "That suits him....is there any way for him to do that?" MSD, do you think its feasible for a character to own a domain? A campaign idea could be about him warring with neighboring domains, and handling plots and schemes in his little prison.
#7 zombiegleemax Jun 25, 2004 9:57:30	ANYTHING'S feasible in Ravenloft, my man. And I didn't mean to sound condecending or anything when I said "meta-game". What I was trying to show was the difference between your player and Alexus' player. See, my guys are straight-up Ravenloft virgins. So they don't even know what a "darklord", "domain" or "DPz" check is. So Alexus could never say "I wanna fail x-amount of DPz checks, own my own domain and become the coolest Darklord ever"... cuz he doesn't even know the terminology. And yeah, a Darklord PC is another way to go. Sure, the books and some of the rules lawyers around here will say it's against the rules - but so what? A PC is SUPPOSED to converted into an NPC after a certain number of failed checks. But who cares. If it makes your Game iller, go for it. Others might suggest making your PC the lord of an island domain, so it doesn't mess with canon Ravenloft too much. And that could be good idea too, but it would limit your political plots and schemes considerably. Just make sure you tailor-make him an ILL curse that actually affects the PC - nothing he can easily overcome or disregard. Also, make sure you keep us posted as your campaign unfolds! peace, MSD
#8 alacar_deathstone Jun 25, 2004 11:04:12	Thanks for the suggestions and help MSD, I really enjoyed reading those campaign summaries, I think I might post a session by session thread like you did.
#9 zombiegleemax Jun 25, 2004 11:14:08	No doubt, man. It's all love. (Plus I'm a shameless self-promoter!)
#10 malus_black Jun 25, 2004 11:21:57	Remember, though, that people in Ravenloft haven't a shred of knowledge about the Dark Powers, Domains or Darklords. There are, of course, exceptions, but these are mostly Darklords or (mad) scholars. So a character wouldn't know that doing bad stuff would have any (external) effect on him and ultimatley make him a Darklord. Also, you might want to ask the player if he thinks his character would look forward to an existence in a prison of his own making, forever bound to a land which mimicks his own mind, tormented by that which he desires most of all but cannot have. Sucks being a Darklord, eh? And, finally, following the whole "tormented by that which you desire" line of thought, anyone who strives to become a Darklord will most likely be prevented from actually becoming one. Look at Azrael Dak. He desires to rule more than anything else, but he knows that Sithichus belongs to Inza, and his subjects are loyal only as long as he's there. Still, all that being said, a Darklord campaign could be very interesting. I wouldn't suggest making him a Darklord in the Core, as it would make things very hard for you, and an Island would be a bit constrained, so I suggest to make him a Cluster-Darklord. But you should really wait with this until you've played a few (many) more normal Ravenloft games, to understand the ways of the world better. Which leads us back to your original question, asking to give you an example of a Ravenloft-suitable adventure. Your idea with the whole werewolf-thing is a good start. You've got to give them many red herrings and good scares before revealing that the noble is, indeed, a werewolf. You could also make several more adventures based on this (killing the progenitor of the noble's line to cure him if they saved him, and trying to restore order to the now leaderless village if they killed him, etc.). For some Ravenloft-specific adventures, look at the following: Night of the Walking Dead One of my favorites, although you might want to up the subtle-factor and down the magic items. Downloadable from the main Wizards site, along with the other adventures in the Grand Conjunction series, but start with this one and forget about the remainder for the moment. Tainted Love Is a nice little adventure from the first issue of Quoth the Raven, downloadable at the Fraternity of Shadows. Nifty little thing which shows what I mean about red herrings. The Forgotten Children Not one, but many mini-adventures in a great netbook from the Kargatane. Lots of potential for longer adventures as well. They're 2E, but the great thing about Ravenloft is that the adventures are generally low on game mechanics, requiring little conversion.