Favorite Gameworld (Day 4)
Ravenloft!
Easily my favorite D&D gameworld has to be Ravenloft. Specifically, AD&D Ravenloft from the mid-nineties, not the 3e+ "conversions" they tried to make in the early 2000's. Something was lost in translation when the campaign book contains actual player Feats to gain a mechanical bonus to avoid being affected by Horror and the all-mysterious Ravenloft Powers Checks. Instead of rolling strange percentiles to avoid fainting at the sight of the ghoul ballroom dinner, players get a +3 skill bonus versus horror (will) checks or are frightened (-4 to attacks and AC). Meh.
I love Ravenloft not because its the most exciting for the players (few campaign settings will elicit such eyerolls from players as the Gothic Mists), and not because it has the smoothest mechanics (95% of the iconic Ravenloft-specific dark powers/mists mechanics are "because the DM says so"), but because of the loads of fantastic gothic fluff they crammed into every Domain splatbook and Van Richten's Guide that was printed in the 90's. This is a campaign setting for those DMs who never actually get to play, but just love to read about settings.
And the Van Richten guides! There were like 15 of those things! Guide to Ghosts, Vampires, Constructs, Mummies, Demons, Lycanthropes...you name a gothic monster, they had a whole splatbook dedicated to it. A splatbook that read like a series of journal entries (introducing the suggested plot hooks and ideas) from Van Richten's point of view! They were superior to the Volo's Guides (of Forgotten Realms) because they had the overarching ominous tone of Ravenloft, where you read on to see what horrible thing will happen to Van Richten or his friends. This is versus Volo just talking about drinking in Taverns and stuff, and just read like a rather ho-hum travel guide.
And then there's the novels. Like many D&D novel, some were so badly written to be all but incomprehensible as to what was going on, but others introduced iconic characters and plotlines. Vampire of the Mists, Knight of the Black Rose, and I, Strahd are three of the better novels set in the Ravenloft universe. Vampire of the Mists introduced Jander Sunstar, the good-hearted elf vampire trapped in the mists who you wanted to root for even though he was a vampire. Knight of the Black Rose gave us Lord Soth, a major Dragonlance character being transported to Ravenloft, showing us they were serious about the 'no one is safe from the mists' angle (they were willing to move a major character from another whole campaign setting!). And I, Strahd gave us Azalin, the Lich arch-enemy of Ravenloft's Dracula, Strahd.
Ravenloft is the B-horror gothic movie setting of 2nd ed. AD&D.
3 comments:
I'm going to try to get my heart under control after your jab at Volo's guides. Personally, I want to know if the rosemary eel skewers are overcooked at the Jack and Sabre tavern in Port Llast. But that's just me.
Yes, about Ravenloft. I read every one of those books you gave me, and I liked them all. I enjoyed the Jander Sunstar one the best. He was pretty much Louis from Interview. Oh so conflicted, but still a stone cold killer. The detail that stands out in my mind is that he wore white leather gloves while he gardened at night, so his evil touch wouldn't wilt the plants. How cheeseball is that? I still liked it.
And Lord Soth. In my mind all he does is just walk around pointing at people doing Power Word Kill on em.
Oh, and I'm sure that I was a source of many mist induced eye-rolls.
C: You should get on this rickety raft and drift into the dense mist in brackish waters.
B: Screw that. Why would I want to get on a raft when I don't even have a destination? I can't even tell where I'm going. So no thank you. I'll just kill the carnivorous ape coming out of the woods.
C: Actually you now see three carnivorous apes, so the raft seems more inviting.
B: Naw, I might be a tad outclassed, but I still think I can kill em.
C: 10 apes.
B: Hey look guys, this raft looks totally awesome. Let's just go in some random direction in the dense fog.
I guess I'll play along with the 30 day as well, but I'll do it in the comments. I know I have a strong opinion on some of those questions, but some will have pretty funny non-answers.
(Day 4) Forgotten Realms, of course.
Ha ha! Yeah, I totally overdid it with the endless carnivorous apes just to get you on the raft. That is pretty much exactly how that encounter went. Very accurately described. Ah to be a young DM again...
Yeah, I figured you'd appreciate the Volo's Guides jab. The Van Richten Guides always had some overarching plot of how Van Richten was trying to save some village from a demonic predator or lycanthropic curse, so were written in an almost detective-solving-the-mystery sort of way.
The Volo's Guides would describe how Volo had heard a rumor that the Harpers make a very potent berry wine and he wanted to try it.
Naturally, Forgotten Realms. I know Greyhawk is supposed to be the standard D&D generic fantasy setting, but I think we all know everyone really played in Forgotten Realms.
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