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I'm all for more Mordent and most definitely the idea of darklords being redefined (I love "what if" like that), but simultaneously developing three evil beings in a limited page count would serve no purpose but to piss on their individual evil(s). At least in my opinion.Dion of the Fraternity wrote:
Think about it:
More villains in Strahd, Azalin and a potential Godefroy reboot;
A barely-touched horror domain/demiplane (Mordent) that can be as fleshed out as Barovia;
The concept of darklords possibly redefined.
I always thought the biggest weakness of I-10 was that there was no connection to the villagers before they began getting transpossessed. I tried to remedy this by running an entire campaign leading up to I-10, but I admit I tried to shoehorn the story into a more combat-style of play that I have never been good at running and it all fell flat.Dion of the Fraternity wrote:Addendum: Yes I'm happy with "Curse of Strahd," but I guess I would have been much happier if they decided to make super-adventure/reboot of "House on Gryphon Hill" instead.
Think about it:
More villains in Strahd, Azalin and a potential Godefroy reboot;
A barely-touched horror domain/demiplane (Mordent) that can be as fleshed out as Barovia;
The concept of darklords possibly redefined.
I actually don't think that the classic "Van Richten set zombies on the Vistani" thing is present in this module. Yes, Van Richten's profile says he "sought revenge on the Vistani" after his son's vampirization, but that's all it says. And, on the Ezmeralda profile, it says she was a "little girl" when it happened, she lived with her family until she was 15, and then she sought Van Richten out, having been impressed by his initial act of mercy towards her parents despite their role in Erasmus' fate. So, to me, that line is more an explanation why he does things like hunting down and killing Vistani who he thinks have sworn allegiance to evil than referencing his original lore.Zilfer wrote:Not sure what is considered spoilers so I just did the whole thing spoiler. XD
Edit: I'm kind of surprised there's no new lycanthropy rules or anything like that for if someone gets infected. I will say I have not read that chapter yet so maybe it's tucked away there.... <.< I still probably need to see if 5e Lycanthropy is different too!VIEW CONTENT:
Look in the back of the book where it has the TOMB of Strahd and the letter from Van Richten.... in it is the Exerpt from one of the other Van Richten guides and i'm like 80% sure I saw it last night where he tales the tale of Erasmus from his point of view and it says he set the zombies upon them.Hell_Born wrote:I actually don't think that the classic "Van Richten set zombies on the Vistani" thing is present in this module. Yes, Van Richten's profile says he "sought revenge on the Vistani" after his son's vampirization, but that's all it says. And, on the Ezmeralda profile, it says she was a "little girl" when it happened, she lived with her family until she was 15, and then she sought Van Richten out, having been impressed by his initial act of mercy towards her parents despite their role in Erasmus' fate. So, to me, that line is more an explanation why he does things like hunting down and killing Vistani who he thinks have sworn allegiance to evil than referencing his original lore.Zilfer wrote:Not sure what is considered spoilers so I just did the whole thing spoiler. XD
Edit: I'm kind of surprised there's no new lycanthropy rules or anything like that for if someone gets infected. I will say I have not read that chapter yet so maybe it's tucked away there.... <.< I still probably need to see if 5e Lycanthropy is different too!VIEW CONTENT:
As for the Lycanthropy rules, that's because there's already rules for PCs contracting lycanthropy in the Monstrous Manual (page 207, the sidebar "Player Characters as Lycanthropes"). Wereravens just slot into the existing rules rather than being exceptions.
Good to cover all bases. I'll probably do some sort of combination. Again maybe a little drama between Protoege and Master or maybe that was the thing that broke them up for a long period of time but possibly having gotten over it or wanting more in depth answers she seeks him. Who knows? xDYeah, I'd noticed that, and wondered about Rahasia too. I'd heard the Hickman's mention it in a podcast, as another adventure in the "series" that originally held Ravenloft back when it was called "Vampyr". But, not knowing anything about it, I didn't know what they might have pulled in for CoS. I haven't gotten up the "Wizard of Wines" part yet, but the name has been dropped a couple times in the text, and frankly, the name doesn't fill me with confidence. It reminds me of the humor of the crypt names, really. I hope I'm mistaken.Joël of the FoS wrote:Interesting "material and inspiration" list :
I6 Ravenloft
EtCR
I, Strahd novel
Rahasia by the Hickmans (1984) What is it ? (edit Found it, under the B7 TSR number. It has the Wizard of Wines)
Realm of Terror 1990
Fair Barovia, Claudio Pozas' article in Dungeon, 2012
VRMHC I and III
It's not really like "Expedition." It doesn't pretend the rest of the campaign setting doesn't exist, for one. Van Richten is described as being from Darkon and his entire history with the Vistani and Baron Metus is fully described. The Vistani are the same as they were in the campaign setting instead of the "humans and halflings and now Eva's a hag for some reason" that Expedition pulled. The map of Barovia has Krezk, Vallaki and Berez, Mt. Baratok and Mt. Ghakis, and Lake Zarovich in all the same places they were before, and Vallaki's map is identical to the one in Roots of Evil. The Blue Water Inn of Vallaki is described and run by the Martikov family of wereravens as a hideout for the Keepers of the Black Feather. It has the Dark Powers, darklords (well, just the one darklord) and mentions that Barovia is now a "domain of dread" demiplane. There are clerics and shrines to the Morninglord.Mortavius wrote:Very cool write up Hell Born. Thanks!
I can see that my prediction was correct; this is "Expedition to Castle Ravenloft" for 5E. Not that there is anything wrong with that; I just figured this was not going to be a guide to the campaign setting as a whole.
Some interesting changes made. Not sure how I feel about Madame Eva; I liked her original portrayal and her bit of story with Jacqueline Montarri, etc.
Also the bit about Van Richten having a saber-toothed tiger made me raise my eyebrows. But I don't have the book yet, so I'll reserve judgement.
One thing I would suggest is alhoon, you made a comment about "reality wrinkles aren't cannon anymore." I wouldn't view anything in this module as "canon." Yes, technically it's an official product, but I personally see it as merely one adventure (or series of adventures). I mean, if you consider the number of things printed in 2E that are in books but have been decided as "non-canon" to the setting as a whole, it's easy to picture.