Ravenloft Campaign

[GunMage]

It looks like I'll be starting a Ravenloft campaign this weekend, but it seems that I've bitten off more than I can chew, so I thought I'd ask all the helpful people on the forum here for some advice.

What I'm using and what I'm not
I won't be using the newer white wolf material, on account of not owning any of the books. I'm using the old second edition setting, but I'm not sure about pre/post grand conjunction.

I also don't know what books I should allow outside of core. The complete series seems pretty solid, but what about other books?

And the more pressing matter is...

...I have no idea how to start the game. This group needs a moderate amount of combat, but all of the adventures I have seem very, very combat light, to the point of no combat at all, and incidental encounters seem a little difficult to design.

By the way, the party will likely be about six players, all 3rd level.

Thanks in advance.

[Shishnarfne]

I'm not very familiar with 2e Ravenloft, but my impression is that if you have 3rd levels doing much fighting, it'll be a rough time for them... Ravenloft is not a very nice place, if I recall correctly.

I am, however, quite familiar with the 3.5 Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. My opinion on allowables, for me, is to permit most anything that I can trust them not to turn into game-breaking (or that they try to abuse). I use my general houserule of "no diplomancers, no poly-cheese, if I don't have the book, show me your sources" for Ravenloft, and the only question is usually whether they have enough power to survive Ravenloft.

The real issue with trying to fight things in Ravenloft is that most of the things you'd like to kill are working for someone (my guess from the module), and killing too many of them attracts a lot of nasty attention. I'd say trying to thwart minor plans is likely more constructive than trying for lots of combat.

Sorry if this wasn't much help.

[SpikeFightwicky]

It looks like I'll be starting a Ravenloft campaign this weekend, but it seems that I've bitten off more than I can chew, so I thought I'd ask all the helpful people on the forum here for some advice.

What I'm using and what I'm not
I won't be using the newer white wolf material, on account of not owning any of the books. I'm using the old second edition setting, but I'm not sure about pre/post grand conjunction.

I also don't know what books I should allow outside of core. The complete series seems pretty solid, but what about other books?

And the more pressing matter is...

...I have no idea how to start the game. This group needs a moderate amount of combat, but all of the adventures I have seem very, very combat light, to the point of no combat at all, and incidental encounters seem a little difficult to design.

By the way, the party will likely be about six players, all 3rd level.

Thanks in advance.

When you say 'not sure about pre/post grand conjunction', do you mean not sure what the difference is, or not sure about what the grand conjunction was? I have pretty much all the RL books from 2nd ed. boxed set to the Domains of Dread sourcebook that came out years later if you need any specific info.

As for the PCs, do you know which classes/races are going to be playing in the group?

[GunMage]

When you say 'not sure about pre/post grand conjunction', do you mean not sure what the difference is, or not sure about what the grand conjunction was? I have pretty much all the RL books from 2nd ed. boxed set to the Domains of Dread sourcebook that came out years later if you need any specific info.

I mean I'm not sure which version of the setting I'll be using, as they don't seem all that different. I geuss i need help deciding which one I want to use.

As for the PCs, do you know which classes/races are going to be playing in the group?

We have a human rogue/wizard, and one person wants to play a warblade using Iron Heart/Diamond Mind(I hink he'll be human). Other than that I'm not sure, but I intend to find out tonight or tomorrow.

The real problem I'm having coming up with something is that while I understand Ravenloft isn't about fighting, I need to have some combat to appease the fighters of the group, so to speak. Ideas?