PDA

View Full Version : Ravenloft Campaign Suggestions



SleepyShadow
2011-05-31, 03:06 PM
Hey there, it's my turn to be the DM, so since our previous party capped the level chart, I decided to run a Ravenloft campaign. I'm using 3.5 rules, and the Ravenloft campaign setting books published by Swords and Sorcery.

The party has already been rolled up, and we had an introductory session already. However, I'm looking for some new and unusual ideas to use.

Any thoughts?

SilverClawShift
2011-05-31, 03:15 PM
In terms of what? Villains? Scenarios and monsters? Or locations?

SleepyShadow
2011-05-31, 04:02 PM
Scenarios, mostly. I've already got locations prepared, and villains are my forte, but scenarios are where I have a feeling I'm going to struggle due to the drastic change in flavor. Granted, I'm very excited about running a Ravenloft campaign, but my DM experiences are more in line with the typical high action-adventure style of game play.

As the campaign stands, I have introduced the PCs to a small tribe of Vistani as they were traveling through a small village in Barovia.

My main concern is that I do not want Ravenloft to end up being a foggy backdrop for vampire hunting. Any suggestions that you can think of would be greatly appreciated.

dsmiles
2011-05-31, 04:13 PM
Well, once they get up to level 7-ish, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is an amazing adventure.

Terraoblivion
2011-05-31, 04:14 PM
The domains are very different in terms of themes, potential monsters, character archetypes and so on. It's really quite hard to give proper advice without at least asking which domain you are playing in and what general plans you have so far.

And ninjas made all that irrelevant. If you are worried about Ravenloft just becoming a foggy backdrop for vampire hunting then I'd probably start out not picking Barovia as the starting domain, it is the vampire hunting domain above them all. However, it offers another excellent hook for scenarios; the Vistani. By making them a driving force you can involve concepts of prophecy and pre-destination, through their abilities of foresight and divination. The suspicion and fear that surrounds them, especially in Barovia where they are believed to be agents of Strahd, is also ripe for conflicts down the line, between fearful villagers, Vistani and all kinds of people and beings trying to exploit that. Another option could be the conflict between native Barovians and the Gundarakites who came to live in the country when Gundarak ceased to exist as a native domain.

As for how to avoid making it just a foggy backdrop for killing vampires, there are some general bits of advice I can give. Have a clear theme or set of themes in mind and think about how you can enforce that through the game. Use symbolism, people behaving in dramatically appropriate ways and every other writing trick to portray them, though of course you cannot enforce them completely without the cooperation of the players. Just don't go overboard so it becomes silly. Beyond that, description and non-combat encounters are your friend. You really don't want a dungeon crawl to capture the feel of the setting and no matter where the players go, make sure to describe it in an evocative manner and make sure to have NPCs on hand to do things other than provide service functions. Finally, work on those NPCs especially the villain. The scenario should be all about the villain and their passions and how and why they become depraved, corrupted beings. Morality is stark in Ravenloft, but evil is not alien. It should feel intimately familiar to the players and their characters, somehow seeming like a natural development from either understandable human emotion or from the horrifying lack of some parts of a human mind in an otherwise ordinary person. I don't think I can really give much more advice without preparation, but I hope I was of help.

And dsmiles, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is not set in the setting of Ravenloft, but is instead a remake of the original adventure, I6 Ravenloft. It also makes substantial deviations from anything established in the setting, including the nature of the Vistani and the mists. It's also a dungeon crawl in a setting that really isn't suited to dungeon crawls.

Velaryon
2011-05-31, 04:25 PM
Two things to be aware of with the 3.5 Ravenloft line:

1. The conversion from 3.0 to 3.5 was rather halfassed, and the monster book Denizens of Dread is positively riddled with errors. Monsters generally don't have the proper amount of skills and feats, because hardly anything in that area was changed when they released the "updated" book. You may find this list of fan-compiled errata (http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/TheVault/RL_Errata.html) to be handy.

2. The Ravenloft books generally assume what this board would term a fairly low-optimization party. If your players tend to make strong characters, and you plan to use villains as written in their stat blocks, they will probably walk through a lot of challenges (unless you rely heavily on darklords' special powers tied to their land, maybe).


As for specific scenarios you could use, it would help a lot if you could narrow down which part of the world you plan to play in, as there are a lot of differences from one land to the next.

Comet
2011-05-31, 04:33 PM
2. The Ravenloft books generally assume what this board would term a fairly low-optimization party. If your players tend to make strong characters, and you plan to use villains as written in their stat blocks, they will probably walk through a lot of challenges (unless you rely heavily on darklords' special powers tied to their land, maybe).


This is a good point. Ravenloft loses a lot of its charm if the characters can rip through the demiplanes with their inner strength alone. Instead, their victories should come through knowing the land and bringing the people of the domain(s) together to give the heroes information, magical trinkets or other aid. It shouldn't really matter how strong you are if you are unwilling to really soak in the atmosphere of the given domain and understand what makes it tick.

SleepyShadow
2011-05-31, 06:32 PM
@Dsmiles: I've looked through Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. It does not fit in at all. The only thing I'm pulling from that is the Knight of the Raven prestige class.

@Terraoblivion: I've already had a rather strong tie formed between the PCs and one troupe of Vistani. However, because we've already had our first session, it's a little late to not start in Barovia now.

@Velaryon: I'm already prepared to power up the monsters and NPCs to match the high-optimization party that I have to work with. I seem to be the only one not inclined toward heavy optimization. My previous adventures as a Spell Thief is evidence enough of that, I think, considering I was travelling with both a Jack B. Nimble and a Twice Betrayer of Shar build.

I appreciate the feedback. Really, my major concern is this: Last time I played in Ravenloft, the adventure quickly turned into a Left 4 Dead adventure.

I'm trying to avoid that pitfall :smallbiggrin:

TARDIS
2011-06-01, 12:02 AM
I appreciate the feedback. Really, my major concern is this: Last time I played in Ravenloft, the adventure quickly turned into a Left 4 Dead adventure.

I'm trying to avoid that pitfall :smallbiggrin:

Ahh, that old pitfall... the one where folks think horror and immediately jump to 'when Halloween Monsters attack!' - leaving the campaign to be largely the same as other worlds though with a muted colour scheeme and reskinned mooks :smallwink:

I've been there myself, done that... but I've also run three rather successful Ravenloft games since my first attempts, if I may be so boastful, so I'll try to give you what pointers I have here. I'm a huge Ravenloft fan, with my collection reaching back to the good ol' Black Box, so I've got a bit of a different view and understanding of the setting and its lore than you do, but I don't think that's essential to run a good game in the demiplane of dread.

What is important is understanding the nature of Gothic horror... and a lot of that is about the villains you set up. The villains should be tragic, flawed beings who have gone through horrible lengths to make up for those flaws. They should have depth, dimensions, and connections with your characters - start their meddling and interference early, start showing the PCs the evil of the baddie and make them hate him, before revealing his tragic portions as they learn more about their villain. An excellent villain should be thoroughly corrupt and evil, and the players should have no qualms ending him despite his past - one important thing to remember about Gothic horror is that it is still heroic, in the end the players will still win, they will still drive back a bit of the darkness and save the day - but the darkness will have corrupted and damaged them in some way, and leave them scarred.

Now, you've started off in Barovia, which is basically the distilled version of Ravenloft - the easiest place to think of and imagine, but also the easiest one to catch yourself in the monster-of-the-week trap that you wanted to avoid. However, Barovia makes a decent starter domain - not quite as good as Mordent or Darkon, but it's one of the standards, because you've got your mysterious gypsies, your villages full of oppressed and frightened villagers, your foreboding wildernesses filled with minions of evil, a hostload of tyrannical undead, and a very iconic villain sitting at the top.

Now, Barovia works so well because Strahd isn't really all that active or attentive of low-level adventurers running about unless they either stumble upon Tatyana, start messing with the grand order of the realm, or are somehow of use to him, he'll let them be. This means that if you don't want to use Strahd, you don't really have to - he's off brooding or searching for his lost love again or plotting against his myriad foes, leaving day-to-day matters in the hands of his burgomasters and boyars. This means your PCs can be the focus of other things more tailored to what you want to do and where you want to take the story.

I don't know your playing style or where you want to go with your campaign, but just try to keep in mind that horror goes beyond bloodshed, killcount, and typical monsters. A human brigand can be just as horrific for a small town as a necromancer and his undead, and there are plenty of options beyond the staples - a mad druid or witch, a goblyn mob raiding from Forlorn, ghosts and spectres, illithid cultists in Immol, death god cults in former Gundarak, et al. Start with little doses of fear and horror, and begin plotting who and what you want your bbeg to be... you've got plenty of time to tie it all in as you move forward here :smallbiggrin:

Archwizard
2011-06-01, 12:32 AM
I love Ravenloft as well, and I also have the awesome Black Box set (and a lot of other stuff).

I would say, to build on what TARDIS was saying, that atmosphere = everything in Ravenloft. The players should feel like they are being watched, followed, etc. Foreboding and suspense are wonderful tools. Poling a raft through a swamp, there should be unexpected bumps of the raft, swirling eddies of fog, sounds of movement just out of sight, etc. The idea that they are surrounded by stuff, and that in all likelihood that stuff isn't all too keen on the PCs being there, is great.

If you have, or can get, any 2E Ravenloft stuff, do it. It's well written, and can give you tons of ideas.

Chambers
2011-06-01, 09:05 PM
Two important bits to use:

1) Fear, Horror, and Madness. This subsystem is unique to the Ravenloft books and I think it works well towards making a distinction between what happens in Ravenloft and what happens in other settings. Use them.

2) Power check rules. Use these as well, but you may want to modify the results of a failed power check, and by that I mean come up with your own version of the Paths. A few failed power checks can really cripple a PC (in terms of playability). I recommend a slower progression and would consider removing most of the game mechanics (both benefits and drawbacks) and have the Paths be a mostly RP'ing thing.

You might want to consider changing how you approach the game. I've found it helps to not think of it as a D&D game, but as a White Wolf World of Darkness game, set in a weird medieval age.

SleepyShadow
2011-06-05, 10:30 PM
These suggestions have really been quite helpful. I even managed to track down a small handful of Ravenloft adventures from 2E, as well as the Domains of Dread book (Ahh, TSR, how I adore thee :smallbiggrin: ).

One of my players has already had to make a Powers Check, and the group as a whole is slowly coming to terms with the fact that the Vistani are not quite as evil as the villagers keep insisting they are.

I even managed to successfully use a vampire without turning it into a simple monster bash. The group was really taken aback when they tracked her down to her "lair" only to find that it was her father's farmstead, and the farmer was willing to sacrifice himself to protect his daughter despite what she had become.

Thanks for all the help ^_^