How would you update some of the Darklords?
Azalin would be excellent as a Bill Gates-esque cyber-lich lord....who can never quite get enough information?
Barovia - choked by a poisonous fog....of pollution? Strahd, isolationist dictator of a North Korea-like domain?
Got any other cool update ideas? I want to put something together along these lines!
Harkon Lukas would probably be some kind of famous singer if not an out roack star - but how does he go on tour? And of course his curse is that he wants to rule a large kingdom and is stuck out in the "sticks". How is that compatible with (presumably) a much bigger population base and an electorate he can probably influence to believe anything.
One thought might be to relase them from domain boundaries but that then requires work on their curses.
Okay: here are some early thoughts:
Strahd: Dictator of a small country that defies civil/electoral reform. Strahd makes himself useful to other larger countries, (possibly by mining uranium or some other scarce resource) and so is left as the king of his own (wretched miserable) pond. Barovia is synomous with Backwardness. Curse is again Tatyana and the hunt for her. Strahd is fits better than most as an imprissoned entity. PCs go here as a mission from Amnesty International - the hardest jon they'll ever have!
Azalin: Rather than the head of a corporation (everyone expects this) I'd put him in charge of a university. I'd modify his curse slightly to also encompase the fact that he doesn't rule a large swath of territory as he wishes (feels he deserves) too. PCs no doubt go to his version of Miskatonic U to do esoteric resesarch and might even be fooled into furthering his plans or allying thermselves with him against another threat.
Vlad: Former cold war leader who has been retired by circumstances. Desires desperately to seize power for himself and put his army incomand of a number of glorious wars to prove he's the greatest general of the age. Curse - hated by the electorate who paint him as a warmonger. No fixed domain free to move around save where barred by other DLs. PCs get mixed up in his plotting or weapon procurement programs.
Harkon Lukas: a computer avatar of a great singer, or as terrible and corrupting virus. Wishes he was "really alive", has no real body. Can't be permanently killed without taking down the Internet and rebooting - just reforms elsewhere on the world wide web. Hackers are at risk of crossing his path. Might seem like a friendly mystery hacker at times who has some advice (or at least some good storries) for the PCs. But we all know what he's like when he gets peckish.
Must be more but its late.
-Eric Gorman
Originally posted by HvF
Harkon Lukas would probably be some kind of famous singer if not an out roack star - but how does he go on tour? And of course his curse is that he wants to rule a large kingdom and is stuck out in the "sticks". How is that compatible with (presumably) a much bigger population base and an electorate he can probably influence to believe anything.
All the ideas you suggest are great!
As for Harkon, not being able to tour would make for interesting roleplaying for everyone. Superstar recluse?
Originally posted by HvF
One thought might be to relase them from domain boundaries but that then requires work on their curses.
I think this would be another cool roleplaying device. Leave them in their domains. Make it an age of rationalism with mass delusion as to the Mists. Only a few realise what is happening. And internet and TV would stretch across the Core. Perhaps planes would allow movement between some domains. What do you think? So adjustments would need to be made to the mechanics of closing domains and mistways, but would be interesting to see what people come up with!
Originally posted by HvF
Strahd: Dictator of a small country that defies civil/electoral reform. Barovia is synomous with Backwardness.
I like this too! Goes back to the North Korean idea I mentioned in the first posting. I like the idea of Backwardness. The Core and it's darklords have evolved with the ages, Strahd hasn't. Interesting!
Originally posted by mephistopheless
If you want to play ravenloft in the present time I suggets instead using mostly new domain.
While that would be interesting too, I'm particularly interested in bring the old world into the new. Have you ever seen Dracula A.D. 1972 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068505/); while the movie itself is woeful, the idea is intriguing - that Dracula was still kicking around hundreds of years later in the modern world.
I think it would be really interesting to see how some of the classic darklords would interact with a modern setting.
HvF's ideas above were great stuff!!
Richemulot may have become a mid-80's New York City; full of vice and crime....and an underworld of fashionista wererats?
If you were going to make a new domain for the modern Ravenloft, what kind of ideas would you come up with?
I've only been playing D&D for a couple of years, and although I've bought and read the Ravenloft campaign setting, I've never really had the opportunity to play in the setting.
After I bought the d20 Modern setting I immediately wondered if Revenloft would ever be imported into the modern times, and how, exactly, it would be done. I've been eager to work on the project, but with my limited knowledge of Ravenloft, have been afraid to even start it for fear of doing it some injustice.
After reading this thread, however, my observation is this:
Wouldn't it be more prudent, and more accurate, to keep the domains and the darklords intrapment within them the same?
Seems the easiest thing to do would be to treat it like the Bermuda Triangle, or something to that effect. You may fly or sail into the domain, but getting out is a different story, and depending on which domain you wind up in, that is where you're stuck. Obviously arial travel would be near to impossible with instruments failing and behaving irrationally. Other attemps, such as hang-gliding or other primitive means, can be dealt with differently and more closely to the original domain closures.
As far as the internet is concerned, I envision a one-way window in which you may be able to access or view things from the material plane, but attmpts coming into Ravenloft *from* the material plane automatically fail (404 errors?).
Of course, then there is the possibility of making the internet, or cyberspace, a seperate domain unto itself, complete with it's own new darklord. Talk about Big Brother, eh?
Originally posted by industrygothica
Of course, then there is the possibility of making the internet, or cyberspace, a seperate domain unto itself, complete with it's own new darklord. Talk about Big Brother, eh?
This is why these messageboards are so great. It may seem obvious to most people, but this hadn't occured to me yet!!
Maybe the darklord of cyberspace could be sentient program (a la Skynet from Terminators II and III). What's its curse? Does it hate all non-digital lifeforms? Or does it even have emotions of hate? How would the Dark Powers punish a digital creature? Any ideas?
The domain itself would have a use, too, as it would inevitably have access, however limited it may be, to other domains as well. Wanna see what Strahd is up to? Go look through his computer.
Originally posted by industrygothica
The domain itself would have a use, too, as it would inevitably have access, however limited it may be, to other domains as well.
That is a very interesting idea! A domain that can access other domains! That opens a lot of possibilities for the forces of good in Ravenloft to keep in touch too - emailing one another!
A darklord chatroom?? Sounds silly at first, but imagine how Azalin, Strahd, and so on would plot and plan with and against one another in there!
Originally posted by industrygothica
Wanna see what Strahd is up to? Go look through his computer.
Strahd's hard drive?? There's another cool idea! Would there be yet another update of I, Strahd on there that a hacker could access.
I was thinking too, perhaps a digital darklord would be punished by having emotions!
I think the best way to do a conversion would be to work on one domain at a time. I was looking at the stats for Harkon Lukas to see what it would take to convert him to the modern world. You would first have to convert the actual wolfwere, then add the appropriate class levels to it; I guess he would be a charismatic hero-I'm not sure if there are any advanced classes to suit him--or any of the darklords, for that matter. But I think one domain at a time is best, and then to piece it all together with any modifications to the actual setting that will be necessary.
I've started working on a D&D section on my personal web site, and would be happy to host this, or any other information, on it. This is definately a project that I'm interested in, so if you're serious about it, and don't mind my obsessiveness of making sure the numbers add up, I'd love to be a part of it.
Azalin would be excellent as a Bill Gates-esque cyber-lich lord
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