Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Ravenloft: Domains of Dread

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Ravenloft: Domains of Dread - 1997

The hardback reprint of the Ravenloft campaign setting was a thing of beauty. Black and while horror art, full descriptions of each Darklords motivations, and great theme-specific character classes for 2nd ed AD&D, like ‘The Avenger’ (a wronged fighter/ranger type) and ‘The Arcanist’ (a bookish Van Helsing type).

 More pics below the jump.

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Van Richten’s Guide to the Created

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Van Richten’s Guide to the Created - 1994

Another of my favorite Van Richten’s Guides, this one is all about Golems. My favorite part is in the back, where they introduce rules for golems made from the body parts of a Player Character. I love how unsanitized AD&D was in the 90′s, they just rolled with their ideas and didn’t really worry about moms getting upset.

 I can imagine one of the writers must’ve said: “Hey, what if the player dies and his brain and some body parts are transplanted into a golem? Should we have rules for that in this book?” and the unanimous response was: “Of course! Why wouldn’t we?”

Gotta love Ravenloft in the 90′s.

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Van Richten’s Guide to the Ancient Dead

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Van Richten’s Guide to the Ancient Dead - 1994

The Van Richten’s Guides for Ravenloft are what got me into Ravenloft in the first place. They are written from the point of view of a monster hunter, talking about how to track a particular monster, its strengths and weaknesses, and how to interact with the locals who may live near the hunter’s quarry. Almost all of the Guides are extremely entertaining to read. Especially this one, the Guide to the Ancient Dead breathes more life into mummies than one could ever expect. This is the first actual Ravenloft book I ever owned and still my favorite supplement ever written.

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Book of Crypts

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Book of Crypts - 1991

A book of nine short adventures for Ravenloft, I didn’t stumble onto this gem until late in my Ravenloft mania. The artwork in this book has a great “Topps trading card” vibe (like “Mars Attacks”), especially when people are getting pulled into horrific undead walls!

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - When Black Roses Bloom

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - When Black Roses Bloom - 1995

The crossover storyline where fans of Ravenloft found out what Dragonlance was, and fans of Dragonlance complained about the loss of one of their best villains to this upstart TSR world Ravenloft (also see the novel: Knight of the Black Rose). Lord Soth the Death Knight from Krynn gets trapped in Ravenloft and granted his own domain, complete with emo elves running around out in his yard and a werebadger sidekick. It makes almost no sense, but was a fun crossover event nonetheless.

For the Knights of Solamnia!

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Night of the Walking Dead

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Night of the Walking Dead - 1992
 

My well-worn copy of the only first level Ravenloft Adventure.

These penciled-in notes go all the way back to my adventuring days in middle school.

Hi first level adventurers! Now make a Save vs Poison or have a 1/6 chance to become an insta-zombie!

Probably my most-run Ravenloft adventure, simply because it was one of the few 1st level adventures written for Ravenloft. I’ve taken at least four completely different player groups through the Swamps of Souragne and into the Crypt of Marcel D’Tarascon. A fun adventure with a New Orleans Voodoo zombie vibe, this first-level adventure was still punishingly hard for new players, thanks to the dreaded Zombie Lord Stench. It could kill anyone within 30′ and make them lose Constitution permanently, or even turn them into a zombie with a failed save vs. poison (and the first-level players are forced to encounter the attack and make saves for at least twice in the adventure)!

Super duper Ravenloft fun. Love it.

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - The Forgotten Terror

Ravenloft – The Forgotten Terror - 1997.

A very cool premise where the heroes have to try and escape from a cursed dagger of life-trapping, after having been stabbed by it in their sleep by a super-assassin, or other DM-railroading reason. One of the strangest maps published for Ravenloft (barring the Nightmare Lands), it still is surprisingly use-able. The Forgotten Terror was meant to be used as a sequel to the Forgotten Realms adventure, Castle Spulzeer, as a cool way to introduce your FR players into Ravenloft without over-using the Mists.

Meant to be used a sequel to the Forgotten Realms adventure: Castle Spulzeer.

One of the strangest maps in Ravenloft, players had to navigate their way around facets of a gem in the pommel of a cursed dagger.

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - Thoughts of Darkness

Ravenloft - Thoughts of Darkness - 1992

Taking place in the strange Mind Flayer-controlled Ravenloft domain of Bluetspur, this adventure is about the deadliest Ravenloft adventure ever published, all because of one ridiculously powerful attack: the dreaded Psionic Blast.

Countdown to Curse of Strahd - A Light in the Belfry

From the VC Bookcase -

Ravenloft - A Light in the Belfrey. 1995. w/ Interactive Audio CD! 

The Ravenloft boxed adventure A Light in the Belfrey came with a sound effects CD back when cassette tapes were still the norm. 

Rumored to be the worst Ravenloft adventure ever released, ALitB will remain locked in a never ending battle vs. “Thoughts of Darkness” (the Mind Flayer one) for that honor. 

Still, I love them all.

#CountdowntoCastleRavenloft

Mini Wizards and Warriors

No, this post isn't about the incredibly difficult but fantastic NES game Wizards and Warriors, though in retrospect it probably should be. I loved that game.

Really I just wanted to post up some pics of a couple Reaper Bones minis I've been painting up to use with Frostgrave and RAVINGSPIRE! In this case it's a Wizard ("Marcus the Runelord") and a Warrior ("The Crimson Reaver").

Now just 147 more Reaper Bones minis to go.

Paint on!