Ravenloft - Castlevania - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Ravenloft - Castlevania

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Jul 06, 2005 1:28:07 friend of mine has begun playing Castlevania: Lament of Innocence; and he have really like it (of course he has... as if there was another way around), he liked it so much that he wants me to put a campaing of Castlevania using Ravenloft as reference (or it was the other way around? whatever). In fact he has began reading the Ravenloft Campaing Setting book (he has been against playing Ravenloft and even reading of it for a long while).

I wanted to ask if anyone has done something like this, if someone has implemented castlevania as a setting or domain in the real fo dread.

If so i would like to hear your oppinions about it.

thank you

Montalve
_________________
“This is our time. The time of the Crusade. Our rise to power will not be halted by our enemies, let alone by incompetence.”
--Dark Prophet of the Crusade
#2
mikoto_vegeta
Jul 11, 2005 15:47:17 I've actually begun working on this very thing...to an extent. I've been trying to implement Castlevania as a modified Ravenloft setting...certain classes, certain races...but overall DnD.

One thing is that you have to just modify the video game to fit the setting. You don't just want to have historic characters (like Dracula / Vlad the Impaler) in a fantasy setting...or maybe you do (but I don't)...I am using his name in IOL...Mathias Cronqvist as the master vampire. I am using pieces of the Shackled City campaign path coupled with other adventures, the video games, and original ideas to create my campaign.

It is rather difficult to create all these elements and make them flow together. I am gonna try and keep the players out of the castle until they are about 10th level...there are plenty of cool areas that they can explore in the mean time. They will be in a domain called Warakiya with the Dark Lord being Mathias Cronqvist. Mathias, being Lord of the Night, will have several assistants / powerful monsters that not only reside in the castle, but govern parts of Warakiya.

I am starting them off at 1st level and going all the way to 20th...maybe a little higher. I want to introduce the area, the towns, and different NPCs that help them. I found it much easier to go to fan sites and gather all the info I could about the games...NPCs, town names, monsters, ect.

Let me know what you wanna do with your idea...maybe I'll get inspiration for mine... :D
#3
zombiegleemax
Jul 12, 2005 1:26:06 indeed i am interested in doing something similar to what you are intending, but i will have just 2 players... one cries to be a Belmont Paladin, the other is a Cleric (an exorcist to be precise).

So my initial idea is to make both players called by a dream travel to a distant town, that is suddenly attacked by the living dead, there they would fine a companion (henchment) depending their actions, that will help them. from there the idea is having them travel all the way to "Castlevania".

But i intend to use some opf the game characters like Shaft, Death and Dracula.

Someone reminded me of a n excelent scenario for the castle: House of thrad, the 2nd Edition Rerun of the original Ravenloft Adventure. The castle is awesome and easily will fit a Castlevania adventure.

Thank you for the input Mikoto.

Montalve
#4
mikoto_vegeta
Jul 12, 2005 4:47:11 awesome...funny, though...I have never thought of Belmonts being paladins. (though that is an interesting concept). Personally I've always thought of them as being Barbarians at first, with some ability score bonuses because of Alucard's blood running throught their veins (all Belmonts after Sonya Belmont). Later, the Belmonts began to multi-class with other classes, mainly Fighter.

P.S. - I just now remembered that Leon could have been considered a Paladin.

Anyway, other Castlevania characters and monsters in my scenario are: Death (named Nerull...the god in the PHB), Camilla (succubus that is true ruler of the city they are in), Adam (flesh golem), Scylla (monstrous sea monster), plus I'll have Medusa [like in IOL...just a big head), Olrox, Galamoth, Slogra, Gaibon, etc.

Most of the smaller enemies will be DnD, but I will have a lot of Castlevania...whenever I can fit them in...at first I was uptight about getting it just like castlevania, now I've loosened up and I am just trying to make a DnD game...

House of Strahd would be good I guess (never played it), but I am gonna build a huge castle for my players...it will take them from about 10th level to 20th...though they will be going back and forth throught the castle due to some puzzles.
#5
sabbattack
Jul 12, 2005 10:15:54
because of Alucard's blood running throught their veins (all Belmonts after Sonya Belmont).

Wow!! When did that happen? I've left the series at Symphony of the night. How did Alucard got Sonya?

Galamoth

Gee, I remember this huge sob!! He gave me a hugely hard time at Symphony of the Night!!
#6
mikoto_vegeta
Jul 12, 2005 14:18:33 Well, the whole Alucard / Sonya Belmont aspect is kinda unofficial...but many fans believe this to be how the Belmonts became stronger...in part, I think it is also why some Transylvannians had the Belmonts kicked out of the area because the villagers believed the Belmonts to have supernatural powers.

Also, it is rumored that Alucard also had a relationship with Maria Renard after Symphony of the Night.
#7
mikoto_vegeta
Jul 12, 2005 14:38:25 For my first adventure, I am heavily modifying the Shackled City adventure "Life's Bazaar" (which will be instead called "Death's Bazaar"):

The PCs come to the town of Jova, which is a town built around a large lake...[the city of Cauldron in S.C.] where there is a humongous cemetary due to an old battle with an army of fiends (which will later lead to the Demonskar adventure). In the past two months, many graves have been dug up, and the bodies stolen, as well as any personal items and jewelary that may have been buried with them. The town guards have know way of catching the culprits, even when they guard the cemetary. What happens is that the thefts are caused by a gang of Dark Creepers and Dark Lungers (my name for Flea Men, which is their nickname), which are led by a Dark Stalker. They all work for a Necromancer named Shaft, who runs a bazaar below the town where he sells body parts to the Underdark for spell components and rituals. When a client has the Necromancer's gang kidnap children from an orphanage, the city is outraged. Here the PCs must investigate the area, which leads them to a locksmith. The locksmith has been threatened into making skeleton keys for the Dark Ones so they can enter the orphanage and the masoliums (sp?)...they have kidnapped his daughter as collateral. The PCs find the entrance to Shaft's lair through a secret passageway in the Locksmith's shop, that leads to an abandoned vampire enclave called The Eternal Night. Once there, they find an elevator that leads to an old vampire fortress that was once used to protect the enclave from powerful minions of the Underdark. It is there that they confront Shaft...during this time, the god Nerull appears (Death) along with the succubus Camilla [this was Lord Vhalantru the beholder in Cauldron] to gain two body parts...that turn out later in the campaign to be parts of Mathias (Dracula) that were spread out after his defeat...so that he could not be completely destroyed. Later in the campaign, Nerull will raise the dead Shaft as a Liche, so that he can be a dark priest to help prepare the ritual to raise Mathias Cronqvist.

That is the basis of my first adventure...it will take my players from 1st level to about 3rd or 4th, depending on how much they encounter along the way. Later in the campaign, they should encounter some Merman city ruins, and visit the hut of three hag witches, and a few wierd places, before finally entering Castlevania.
#8
zombiegleemax
Jul 12, 2005 22:16:53 mmm very interesting i have read the adventure you mention and you adapt it quite well (i would begin in something more easier escenario like.. there is a second edition adventure for Ravenloft called something like Night of the Living Death :P or something like that, the idea is first to call their attention to a greater evil.

Wouldn't be Nerull as a god to powerfull for just characters?

Montalve
#9
mikoto_vegeta
Jul 13, 2005 1:21:20 yeah, Nerull is WAY too powerful, but in the adventure he just shows up to get the things he wants. I think PCs will know not to mess with him, especially since he looks like the grim reaper.

Later he will end up being the very last villain to be battled, and depending on their level, he may end up being explained away as being an avatar...just a piece of the god sent down as a mortal form. Death is eternal...
#10
zombiegleemax
Jul 13, 2005 10:45:00 neat
i was going for a different aproach, there was a creatur re in Ravenloft Second edition called Reaper who appears to take away those individuals of high level. i beliebe there is a version of that thing in 3rd edition. I plan to use it when a friend or an ally of the heries is dying and the only way to save his soul and his life is to confront this thing. If they succed they protect their ally and gain some insight on the Villians plans, if not, they lose face, resources and a friend, and the confidence of the town.

Montalve
#11
mikoto_vegeta
Jul 13, 2005 14:49:56 that thing sounds awesome...you say it might be in the 3rd edition? I might have to try and find it. Do you know the CR of the thing?
#12
malus_black
Jul 14, 2005 12:30:39 I think you're talking about the grim reaper, which might appear to dying characters. Its 3E stats can be found in Denizens of Darkness/Dread, and is CR 7, which I think is a bit low.
#13
zombiegleemax
Jul 15, 2005 14:43:08 i hate when they puto soda on the monsters ¬¬ (specialy the lich... +2 to CR... thats ofensive, and 12 lvl lichs! so much like forgotten realms)

i remember the original creature being around CR 15 (sorry for the gross traduction) or something like that.
But indeed is the Grim Reaper i was talking about... lol the name come to mind, but i put it aside just as the common name for Death.

But yeah the Grim Reaper is a nasty guy. or it was in second edition... it almost always apparead to thos se 20th lv chars who died (5% of appearing per character level).

As Ravenloft has never being into the epic leveles that was a nasty monster.

will have to check what adjustments they did to The Grim Reaper and rearrange them in accord to second edition's one.

Montalve
#14
Sigurd_van_Norhusen
Jul 16, 2005 14:30:15 I don't think you would even need Nerull. You might want to use Death, as in the Death of the Grim Harvest 2nd edition adventure cycle, the Darklord of Necropolis.
Convert him to proper stats, and have a go at it. Might even be better than a god that has no real place in the Demiplane of Dread.
#15
zombiegleemax
Jul 16, 2005 14:38:12 ahhh the Death Cycle's!! i haven't been able to find the third part, i dispair and lose humanity.

That would be a very fine idea... i don't think his stats appears in any recent book of third edition (if it does, it should appear in Ravenloft's Storyteller Secrets) or maybe Gazzetter Vol 2. where Necropolis is appointes (as being inside Darkon.

I don't trully know if there are stats for "Death" in second edition, but it would be a hell of an adversarie with Its city of the dead.

Montalve
#16
Sigurd_van_Norhusen
Jul 16, 2005 17:15:40 Oh, I know where to find the third part: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1522&

Both the third part of the Death cycle and the Requiem rules (a Ravenloft-setting where you play as undead) are therein.
I could try to whip up some stats tomorrow. If I get something nice done, I will post it here.
#17
zombiegleemax
Jul 17, 2005 1:01:56 mmm ok here there are:

Death Unchained
Death Ascendant
and
Requiem: the Grim Harvest

???

i always thought that the trilogy ended with Death Vicotious.. or something like that... that means that somoewhere in my files i have all the complete trilogy? wohoo... ok now i need to check it... tomorrow when i feel less miserable (damned luck) and less tired.

and indeed it would be a nice thing to try to convert death :D

Montalve
#18
Sigurd_van_Norhusen
Jul 17, 2005 10:32:22 Well, I managed to grab the Gazetteer #2 from someone, and there's indeed stats for Death inside. Just like in the 2nd edition, he's a level 10 ...thing.
I don't know if that is working for you, or if you can get your hands on that Gazetteer.

Death Unchained
Death Ascendant
and
Requiem: the Grim Harvest

Death Triumphant, which is in the Requiem Box.
#19
zombiegleemax
Jul 17, 2005 22:40:07 ok, i will grab Gaz II, i beliebe it woudl be easier :P

also that is fine, Death in Necropolis is not the true entity, but its good enough...

i didn't knew that Death Thriumphant was requiem... and i was looking like a madman for months :P thanks

thanks for the help.

Montalve
#20
zombiegleemax
Jul 18, 2005 12:32:59 It's too bad that the follow-up adventure to the Requiem trilogy never got published, where we would have received the real details of Azalin's return to Darkon. However, it was good that JWM released the stats for his apocalyptic-style horsemen that would have been in "Death Undaunted" recently, here... http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/Library/NewRavenloftMonstersbyJohnWMangrum.zip
#21
zombiegleemax
Jul 26, 2005 0:57:30 At last i had chance to check on them... and the Horsemen are trully terryfing... but well they could not be a thrue menace for Azalin Rex. But they are awesome.

thanks for remembering me of this "monsters".

Montalve

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jul 06, 2005 1:28:07	friend of mine has begun playing Castlevania: Lament of Innocence; and he have really like it (of course he has... as if there was another way around), he liked it so much that he wants me to put a campaing of Castlevania using Ravenloft as reference (or it was the other way around? whatever). In fact he has began reading the Ravenloft Campaing Setting book (he has been against playing Ravenloft and even reading of it for a long while). I wanted to ask if anyone has done something like this, if someone has implemented castlevania as a setting or domain in the real fo dread. If so i would like to hear your oppinions about it. thank you Montalve _________________ “This is our time. The time of the Crusade. Our rise to power will not be halted by our enemies, let alone by incompetence.” --Dark Prophet of the Crusade
#2 mikoto_vegeta Jul 11, 2005 15:47:17	I've actually begun working on this very thing...to an extent. I've been trying to implement Castlevania as a modified Ravenloft setting...certain classes, certain races...but overall DnD. One thing is that you have to just modify the video game to fit the setting. You don't just want to have historic characters (like Dracula / Vlad the Impaler) in a fantasy setting...or maybe you do (but I don't)...I am using his name in IOL...Mathias Cronqvist as the master vampire. I am using pieces of the Shackled City campaign path coupled with other adventures, the video games, and original ideas to create my campaign. It is rather difficult to create all these elements and make them flow together. I am gonna try and keep the players out of the castle until they are about 10th level...there are plenty of cool areas that they can explore in the mean time. They will be in a domain called Warakiya with the Dark Lord being Mathias Cronqvist. Mathias, being Lord of the Night, will have several assistants / powerful monsters that not only reside in the castle, but govern parts of Warakiya. I am starting them off at 1st level and going all the way to 20th...maybe a little higher. I want to introduce the area, the towns, and different NPCs that help them. I found it much easier to go to fan sites and gather all the info I could about the games...NPCs, town names, monsters, ect. Let me know what you wanna do with your idea...maybe I'll get inspiration for mine... :D
#3 zombiegleemax Jul 12, 2005 1:26:06	indeed i am interested in doing something similar to what you are intending, but i will have just 2 players... one cries to be a Belmont Paladin, the other is a Cleric (an exorcist to be precise). So my initial idea is to make both players called by a dream travel to a distant town, that is suddenly attacked by the living dead, there they would fine a companion (henchment) depending their actions, that will help them. from there the idea is having them travel all the way to "Castlevania". But i intend to use some opf the game characters like Shaft, Death and Dracula. Someone reminded me of a n excelent scenario for the castle: House of thrad, the 2nd Edition Rerun of the original Ravenloft Adventure. The castle is awesome and easily will fit a Castlevania adventure. Thank you for the input Mikoto. Montalve
#4 mikoto_vegeta Jul 12, 2005 4:47:11	awesome...funny, though...I have never thought of Belmonts being paladins. (though that is an interesting concept). Personally I've always thought of them as being Barbarians at first, with some ability score bonuses because of Alucard's blood running throught their veins (all Belmonts after Sonya Belmont). Later, the Belmonts began to multi-class with other classes, mainly Fighter. P.S. - I just now remembered that Leon could have been considered a Paladin. Anyway, other Castlevania characters and monsters in my scenario are: Death (named Nerull...the god in the PHB), Camilla (succubus that is true ruler of the city they are in), Adam (flesh golem), Scylla (monstrous sea monster), plus I'll have Medusa [like in IOL...just a big head), Olrox, Galamoth, Slogra, Gaibon, etc. Most of the smaller enemies will be DnD, but I will have a lot of Castlevania...whenever I can fit them in...at first I was uptight about getting it just like castlevania, now I've loosened up and I am just trying to make a DnD game... House of Strahd would be good I guess (never played it), but I am gonna build a huge castle for my players...it will take them from about 10th level to 20th...though they will be going back and forth throught the castle due to some puzzles.
#5 sabbattack Jul 12, 2005 10:15:54	because of Alucard's blood running throught their veins (all Belmonts after Sonya Belmont). Wow!! When did that happen? I've left the series at Symphony of the night. How did Alucard got Sonya? Galamoth Gee, I remember this huge sob!! He gave me a hugely hard time at Symphony of the Night!!
#6 mikoto_vegeta Jul 12, 2005 14:18:33	Well, the whole Alucard / Sonya Belmont aspect is kinda unofficial...but many fans believe this to be how the Belmonts became stronger...in part, I think it is also why some Transylvannians had the Belmonts kicked out of the area because the villagers believed the Belmonts to have supernatural powers. Also, it is rumored that Alucard also had a relationship with Maria Renard after Symphony of the Night.
#7 mikoto_vegeta Jul 12, 2005 14:38:25	For my first adventure, I am heavily modifying the Shackled City adventure "Life's Bazaar" (which will be instead called "Death's Bazaar"): The PCs come to the town of Jova, which is a town built around a large lake...[the city of Cauldron in S.C.] where there is a humongous cemetary due to an old battle with an army of fiends (which will later lead to the Demonskar adventure). In the past two months, many graves have been dug up, and the bodies stolen, as well as any personal items and jewelary that may have been buried with them. The town guards have know way of catching the culprits, even when they guard the cemetary. What happens is that the thefts are caused by a gang of Dark Creepers and Dark Lungers (my name for Flea Men, which is their nickname), which are led by a Dark Stalker. They all work for a Necromancer named Shaft, who runs a bazaar below the town where he sells body parts to the Underdark for spell components and rituals. When a client has the Necromancer's gang kidnap children from an orphanage, the city is outraged. Here the PCs must investigate the area, which leads them to a locksmith. The locksmith has been threatened into making skeleton keys for the Dark Ones so they can enter the orphanage and the masoliums (sp?)...they have kidnapped his daughter as collateral. The PCs find the entrance to Shaft's lair through a secret passageway in the Locksmith's shop, that leads to an abandoned vampire enclave called The Eternal Night. Once there, they find an elevator that leads to an old vampire fortress that was once used to protect the enclave from powerful minions of the Underdark. It is there that they confront Shaft...during this time, the god Nerull appears (Death) along with the succubus Camilla [this was Lord Vhalantru the beholder in Cauldron] to gain two body parts...that turn out later in the campaign to be parts of Mathias (Dracula) that were spread out after his defeat...so that he could not be completely destroyed. Later in the campaign, Nerull will raise the dead Shaft as a Liche, so that he can be a dark priest to help prepare the ritual to raise Mathias Cronqvist. That is the basis of my first adventure...it will take my players from 1st level to about 3rd or 4th, depending on how much they encounter along the way. Later in the campaign, they should encounter some Merman city ruins, and visit the hut of three hag witches, and a few wierd places, before finally entering Castlevania.
#8 zombiegleemax Jul 12, 2005 22:16:53	mmm very interesting i have read the adventure you mention and you adapt it quite well (i would begin in something more easier escenario like.. there is a second edition adventure for Ravenloft called something like Night of the Living Death :P or something like that, the idea is first to call their attention to a greater evil. Wouldn't be Nerull as a god to powerfull for just characters? Montalve
#9 mikoto_vegeta Jul 13, 2005 1:21:20	yeah, Nerull is WAY too powerful, but in the adventure he just shows up to get the things he wants. I think PCs will know not to mess with him, especially since he looks like the grim reaper. Later he will end up being the very last villain to be battled, and depending on their level, he may end up being explained away as being an avatar...just a piece of the god sent down as a mortal form. Death is eternal...
#10 zombiegleemax Jul 13, 2005 10:45:00	neat i was going for a different aproach, there was a creatur re in Ravenloft Second edition called Reaper who appears to take away those individuals of high level. i beliebe there is a version of that thing in 3rd edition. I plan to use it when a friend or an ally of the heries is dying and the only way to save his soul and his life is to confront this thing. If they succed they protect their ally and gain some insight on the Villians plans, if not, they lose face, resources and a friend, and the confidence of the town. Montalve
#11 mikoto_vegeta Jul 13, 2005 14:49:56	that thing sounds awesome...you say it might be in the 3rd edition? I might have to try and find it. Do you know the CR of the thing?
#12 malus_black Jul 14, 2005 12:30:39	I think you're talking about the grim reaper, which might appear to dying characters. Its 3E stats can be found in Denizens of Darkness/Dread, and is CR 7, which I think is a bit low.
#13 zombiegleemax Jul 15, 2005 14:43:08	i hate when they puto soda on the monsters ¬¬ (specialy the lich... +2 to CR... thats ofensive, and 12 lvl lichs! so much like forgotten realms) i remember the original creature being around CR 15 (sorry for the gross traduction) or something like that. But indeed is the Grim Reaper i was talking about... lol the name come to mind, but i put it aside just as the common name for Death. But yeah the Grim Reaper is a nasty guy. or it was in second edition... it almost always apparead to thos se 20th lv chars who died (5% of appearing per character level). As Ravenloft has never being into the epic leveles that was a nasty monster. will have to check what adjustments they did to The Grim Reaper and rearrange them in accord to second edition's one. Montalve
#14 Sigurd_van_Norhusen Jul 16, 2005 14:30:15	I don't think you would even need Nerull. You might want to use Death, as in the Death of the Grim Harvest 2nd edition adventure cycle, the Darklord of Necropolis. Convert him to proper stats, and have a go at it. Might even be better than a god that has no real place in the Demiplane of Dread.
#15 zombiegleemax Jul 16, 2005 14:38:12	ahhh the Death Cycle's!! i haven't been able to find the third part, i dispair and lose humanity. That would be a very fine idea... i don't think his stats appears in any recent book of third edition (if it does, it should appear in Ravenloft's Storyteller Secrets) or maybe Gazzetter Vol 2. where Necropolis is appointes (as being inside Darkon. I don't trully know if there are stats for "Death" in second edition, but it would be a hell of an adversarie with Its city of the dead. Montalve
#16 Sigurd_van_Norhusen Jul 16, 2005 17:15:40	Oh, I know where to find the third part: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1522& Both the third part of the Death cycle and the Requiem rules (a Ravenloft-setting where you play as undead) are therein. I could try to whip up some stats tomorrow. If I get something nice done, I will post it here.
#17 zombiegleemax Jul 17, 2005 1:01:56	mmm ok here there are: Death Unchained Death Ascendant and Requiem: the Grim Harvest ??? i always thought that the trilogy ended with Death Vicotious.. or something like that... that means that somoewhere in my files i have all the complete trilogy? wohoo... ok now i need to check it... tomorrow when i feel less miserable (damned luck) and less tired. and indeed it would be a nice thing to try to convert death :D Montalve
#18 Sigurd_van_Norhusen Jul 17, 2005 10:32:22	Well, I managed to grab the Gazetteer #2 from someone, and there's indeed stats for Death inside. Just like in the 2nd edition, he's a level 10 ...thing. I don't know if that is working for you, or if you can get your hands on that Gazetteer. Death Unchained Death Ascendant and Requiem: the Grim Harvest Death Triumphant, which is in the Requiem Box.
#19 zombiegleemax Jul 17, 2005 22:40:07	ok, i will grab Gaz II, i beliebe it woudl be easier :P also that is fine, Death in Necropolis is not the true entity, but its good enough... i didn't knew that Death Thriumphant was requiem... and i was looking like a madman for months :P thanks thanks for the help. Montalve
#20 zombiegleemax Jul 18, 2005 12:32:59	It's too bad that the follow-up adventure to the Requiem trilogy never got published, where we would have received the real details of Azalin's return to Darkon. However, it was good that JWM released the stats for his apocalyptic-style horsemen that would have been in "Death Undaunted" recently, here... http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/Library/NewRavenloftMonstersbyJohnWMangrum.zip
#21 zombiegleemax Jul 26, 2005 0:57:30	At last i had chance to check on them... and the Horsemen are trully terryfing... but well they could not be a thrue menace for Azalin Rex. But they are awesome. thanks for remembering me of this "monsters". Montalve