Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Mar 03, 2005 1:15:15	Tonight, I felt inspired by another one of my favorite TV shows - LOST (on ABC, Channel 7 - check your local guide for listings!) - as a campaign plot. Ravenloft has plenty of island domains to get lost your characters lost upon. But the best one I feel is none other than Markovia, home of monkey-boy - Frantisek Markov. In fact, Ravenloft came up with their own idea of LOST years ago, when they published the 2e adventure Neither Man nor Beast. **I thought that was a great adventure, since it didn't use any of what I call the "stereotypes" of a Ravenloft adventure (vampires, ghosts, zombies, etc. Don't get me wrong, those monsters/villians are great, but they're a little too overdone sometimes. Years ago, when I first bought the black box set, and my players saw the cover of the box with Strahd bearing his teeth over some girl, they knew it was going to have to do with vampires and Frankenstein, and Jack the Ripper. That's why I appreciate horror adventures that break the mold and use foes and places you wouldn't expect right away). Markovia also isn't a domain of dark, misty villages, cities, or castles, but rather a beautiful island with bright sunshine, warm weather, clear blue water, etc. Not the first place you'd think of for a horror game. (It ought to be the #1 Spring Break destination for those college kids at the Port-a-Lucine University. :D ) Anyway, just like the show, the PCs wake up on this tropical island. They remember that they were all on a ship heading for Martira Bay when a storm came in and wiped them all out. Now the survivors are on this island and find they're shipwrecked. There are lots of other NPC survivors here also. Since this is a new campaign, everyone would be a stranger to one another (including the PCs). They must find shelter and gather resources to survive, learn to trust one another, and possibly get off the island. Plus anyone who knows the Markovia setting, knows that there are some mysteries about this big island in store for the survivors: the meaning of the giant Stone Men statues standing off the coast, dense forests, strange animal noises from within, sightings of very odd creatures, some very high mountains in the south, signs of other people on the island... But the coolest thing about the show LOST isn't about the island itself, but about the show's characters. In every episode of LOST, they focus on a certain character and do cut scenes throughout the show. These cut scenes show where that character came from, their personal story, and how it lead them to get on the plane that crashed on this Pacific island. Everybody has some sort of dark past or secret, and you discover that each character was actually "lost" (in life) before they came to be litearlly lost on this island. That's the beauty of the show - the title is both literal and a metaphor. I assume the writers are trying to allude that there's some bigger purpose as to why all these people's lives have crossed paths and that something "brought them here." There's no reason why this same concept can't be applied to the D&D game. You could have an unlimited variety of PCs and NPCs on this island. You could have a Dementlieu noble, a Lamordian scientist, a Mordent doctor, a Falkovnian Talon, an on-the-run Barovian burgomaster for embezzling funds, a Kartakan bard/con-man, a Vistani...anyone could have been on the ship and each one has a dark past and a reason that lead them to be aboard that ship. Each can also have his own plans/desires/thoughts on certain things - some might want to explore the island. Some might want to find food or drinking water. A character might want to build a makeshift first aid station. Another might hate the Falkovnian or Vistani who's on the island with them. Somebody might want to build a ship to get home or someone might not want to leave for some reason (maybe the guy who wants to hide forever from the lord of Barovia and this is the perfect place to be...). The DM could do short cut scenes throughout the campaign (with the player's input) that reveal a little bit more about each character. They actually get to play out these scenes in other domains. These build upon character development and past which make for great roleplaying. The roleplaying (always the most important thing, methinks) is about the interaction of the characters and everyone learning 1.)WHO THEY ARE 2.) WHAT IS THIS PLACE? and 3.) WHY ARE WE HERE? The darklord Markov of course is your villian, but you should try to keep him hidden for as long as possible. Markov might play a kindly doctor to them at first, but once Diosamblet gets going, his intentions become too obvious. The PCs will also start seeing more and more of the beast-men, but it should take them awhile to figure out what they are. Then there's the mysterious Monastery in the south mountain range - another mystery for them. And there's the old Table of Life...if stretched out, Markovia has a lot to keep everyone guessing for awhile. You can also add your own places and twists. Maybe there's a tunnel system in the mountains or a mysterious ghost that wanders the island. Maybe there was another group of survivors from long ago that apparently met a bad end. So does anyone else watch LOST? Or am I ripping off television too much now??? Hit me back...
#2 coan Mar 03, 2005 4:58:35	I watch Lost and any campaign that centres on the characters and the way they role play is aces in my book. Who cares where you get the idea from as long as it is an enjoyable game?
#3 zombiegleemax Mar 03, 2005 18:58:39	I actually don't think this is such a bad idea. The isolation has several advantages. firstly it gives a controlled enviroment, which can be aplied toways. Either the mastermind villian is controlling the enviroment and thus he/she can be a potent but stealhy enemy, or the lack of outside or unexpected intrusion enables the GM to play the PCs and NPCs against each other more effective. Secondly the whole concept of being "lost" invokes fear. Gothic horror could be applied if the setting was changed from a tropical island, to a long deserted city (in a valley circled by high mountains, or something...) Thirdly becoming lost in a unknown place enables the GM to throw in exotic monsters as you yourself and exotic NPC's without the game feeling stupid. If two huge gold dragon were walking around in the forlorn forest where you were lost it would seem strange, but not in a completly unknown place.