How does one run ravenloft?

[Shinizak]

so I've got some ravenloft books sitting around and I'm thinking of running a game or 2 in this setting. the basic idea I have for this is a game in which the players have found a map to the sword of Kas in on the Island of Lyremurk (raven loft) that has some weird happenings going on. The players must stop a half giant witch from getting the sword of Kas or else everyone in the surrounding area is screwed. the problem is that the sword doesn't want to be found by either party. as long as it's locked quietly away it functions as one of the mysterious powers in Lyremurk (raven loft). how would you run a game like this?

[Dazdya]

The first rule of Ravenloft is you do not tell the players that it's Ravenloft.

I don't know the specific campaign or storyline you're referring to, but the first rule applies almost always. Players who know that they're playing in Ravenloft play differently. What you want is to build up the moment when they realise where they are.

The second rule of Ravenloft is you do not tell the players that it's Ravenloft!

Some DMs in Ravenloft suddenly start describing atmosphere, and bad weather, and creepy stuff that they have never bothered with before. What you want is to knock the ground out from under them, but you want to make them comfortable first.

The third rule of Ravenloft is that the characters cannot win (but you don't tell them that either).

Even if they find the sword, they just make things worse. Think this through, because players have a way of upsetting plans. What you want is for the players to regret their own choices. And for that to work, they need to make choices to begin with.

... So... what I would do with this outline...

The party has a map, and they travel to this land. A new land gives us a plausible excuse to describe it as wet and windy, but don't go overboard, keep it light.
When they arrive in the area, they find a village with people celebrating a festival. Something positive, like being freed from a monster by a knight or somesuch. This allows you to pretend that the country is basically good, while introducing the NPCs.

You need a few NPCs. First is some sort of scholar, probably played by Johnny Depp, who ignores the festivities because he knows stuff and is all serious. Then there's a girl (usually), who has a personal connection with the source of the festival, so she is a good source of information. And third there's an older person, possibly a woman, in a position of respect, who arranges to meet the party to check out their intentions. He or she doesn't like the scholar. The other people are mostly background.

The point here is not to flesh out the NPCs, but to watch the party. Find the NPC that they latch onto and have him or her somehow disabled. A sickness or curse, something that gives them an extra reason to go on. Don't kill the NPC, you want the party invested emotionally, not blunted.
The NPC that they attached to tries to steer them away from the other two. Perhaps the scholar and the older person disagree over the sword business, and both may want to protect the girl. The girl may just be oblivious, or maybe the older person is steering her away from 'her' festival, who knows. If the party is anywhere near normal, they just get more curious.

By now I am practically rewriting the scenario, so I'll back off a bit. In any good Ravenloft scenario, the characters can seemingly win, but it's always at a cost. And the cost here would be in the NPCs. That is why they need to get to know them first. The sword or the witch has a link to the festival, and maybe if the two get together the knight comes back for vengeance of some sort? Maybe if the witch dies all the witches in the area will be revealed? Including the NPC they are close to? Whatever they do, something bad happens to their friend or the country at large. And neither friend nor country is evil.

Of course, it could be impossible to fit that with the particular scenario. As I said, I have not enough data. But this is the sort of campaign I'd make. And, just for completeness' sake:

The first rule of Ravenloft is you do not tell the players that it's Ravenloft.
The second rule of Ravenloft is you do not tell the players that it's Ravenloft!
The third rule of Ravenloft is that the characters cannot win (but you don't tell them that either).

[Shadowknight12]

The first rule of Ravenloft is you do not tell the players that it's Ravenloft.
The second rule of Ravenloft is you do not tell the players that it's Ravenloft!
The third rule of Ravenloft is that the characters cannot win (but you don't tell them that either).

That's exactly how you NEVER run Ravenloft.

With Ravenloft, you have two options:

A) You enjoy yourself as you watch your players suffer.
B) You and your players enjoy yourselves together.

If you want to go with A), by all means, follow that guy's rules. If you want to go with B), however, the first thing you do is tell your players you're running a Ravenloft campaign. Ravenloft plays MUCH differently from an ordinary D&D campaign, and your players should know this. They need to have the right mindset to enjoy themselves in Ravenloft, or they're going to keep expecting tropes that no longer apply, such as Black and White morality, Good Always Triumphs Over Evil, Purity Will Save You and the like. It's like watching a horror movie. You don't go there expecting it to be a romantic comedy or an action flick. You go to see it with a different mindset.

That means that your players have to be good sports and cooperate with you when it comes to the storytelling. They have to provide you with flawed, fallible characters, they have to roll with whatever tragedy befalls them and drink in the mood, themes and atmosphere to immerse themselves in the horror of the setting. None of that can happen if they're going in blindly.

Secondly, you can't make them fail all the time. You have to let them win some times. Only by contrast does failure and tragedy have meaning. If you keep shovelling their faces into the dirt at every turn, they will quickly grow apathetic and stop caring. And that is when you have failed as a DM.

Beyond that, the point of Ravenloft is that it's a toolbox for you to use. It's a very varied setting with plenty of different flavours and a whole palette of colours to paint a story with. Explore the setting, read the books, and start writing down ideas that come to you, things you want to deepen, stuff you found cool, and so on. Start small. Don't begin with a huge campaign. Run something short and isolated, like a simple murder mystery, or a haunting, but don't make the mistake of turning it into a hack and slash fest. Ravenloft doesn't lend itself well to that.

[DaragosKitsune]

An additional piece of advice: Remember that Ravenloft is basically the plane of tragedy and dramatic irony. Victory will sometimes cost more than defeat. Every realm needs a Darklord, after all.

[huttj509]

Aye, not so much "you can't win." More "You won, but at what cost?"

For a Ravenloft campaign, yeah, tell them it's Ravenloft. For a "weekend in hell" style adventure, I'd advise against telling them outright beforehand, depending on the exact situation.

[Morph Bark]

Carefully.

Differently.

Awesomely.