Café de Nuit

D&D is loads of fun, but plenty of other games can handle the fantasy gothic of Ravenloft too! What games have you used to run the setting? Likewise, which ones did you like the most?

I have done some minor experimentation, but nothing worked as well as D&D with the Ravenloft rules for me, to be honest. 3.5 D&D I mean. I love 5e, and it works but not as well as 3.5e did. But back to your questions and other systems: When a world is built for D&D, it kinda feels different in other systems. There are systems that can deal with gothic horror as you said. But not Ravenloft as we know it, when it comes to the "how it should feel" from mechanics to reality. Vampire in Ravenloft means certain things, including immunity / heavy resistance to normal weapons (or weapons not enchanted enough), a ton of hp (with 65 hp = 10 sword blows) etc.

Given how White Wolf made Ravenloft content, I thought it was appropriate to run the setting with World of Darkness rules. A few things require fiddling around, especially on the Mage side of things. A mix of Dark Ages and Victorian rules proved quite helpful overall.

The only non-D&D game systems that I've ever used extensively were Champions, Star Frontiers, and various editions of Gamma World...

... none of which seem particularly appropriate for Ravenloft.

I've wanted to try with Advanced Fighting Fantasy for a while, now.
I think it would actually suit the setting pretty well.

doctornecrotic wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2024 8:05 pm Given how White Wolf made Ravenloft content, I thought it was appropriate to run the setting with World of Darkness rules. A few things require fiddling around, especially on the Mage side of things. A mix of Dark Ages and Victorian rules proved quite helpful overall.

World of Darkness is not working well for Ravenloft though. Nevermind that mages have practically unlimited versatility - you simply don't use mage but second sight or an ad-hoc system where they have spells. That can be solved.
However, Vampires are much more developed and nuissanced, they are made to hide in the darkness instead of being monsters that are practically immune to usual attacks, four people with sticks can take down a veteran warrior in plate armor etc.

I've seen proposals to reign in the mage mechanics to fit more into the Mists. Is it a bit clunky? Yes. But, it fit for my prior purposes. They twist vulgarity as magic that doesn't involve temptation or embrace... among other odd ideas. But hey, it worked at the time. It probably would be easier to just use Thaumaturgy, Gifts, and other mechanics though. But, oh well.

Has anyone tried Burning Wheel for Ravenloft?

My friend was explaining the system recently and it sounded like something that could work for Ravenloft.

While I have yet to use it for Ravenloft, I prefer the Savage Worlds system for my TTRPGs. Might want to consider that if you are weighting options.

I used "the Mortal ruleset" (Aka, the base mechanics) of the 3rd Edition of Exalted to run Ravenloft campaigns for quite a few years.

Under the glitz and glamor of the Exalted, the actual mechanical ruleset is quite grim-and-gritty: combat hurts, since the game uses a Wound Track (with penalties for being wounded!) instead of an all-or-nothing HP system, which in turn makes combat something you seek as a last resort instead of the first option. Social "Combat" is fun. The ability of players to introduce Facts about the setting via Lore skills gets them involved in play in ways I never saw in D&D. from investigations to geography to more . Magic is in-depth and......weird in ways that D&D Vancian magic never matched, more akin to writing code rather than running programs.

I haven’t ever played or used it in Ravenloft but I’m a big fan of the Fate Core system. I think it would work just fine since it’s not too mechanic heavy.

Did anyone ever try Ravenloft LARP?

I ran Kult: Divinity Lost at a convention in April, and I want to try and adapt it to Ravenloft. It is a Powered by the Apocalypse type system.

Fair warning if you go looking for it; the core rulebook handles a lot of very mature themes, many of which can easily cause discomfort. There are parts I would absolutely avoid for use in a game.

Savage Worlds. I've written a pretty extensive conversion of Ravenloft for the system, in fact.

hidajiremi wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 9:10 am Savage Worlds. I've written a pretty extensive conversion of Ravenloft for the system, in fact.

Did you make that very extensive conversion booklet seen here a good 3 or so years ago or was that someone else? If not, I'd love to see all you've done as well.