Help me choose a project for next year's QTR!

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Hi y'all!
My name is Dash, over the past few months I've been experimenting with creating RL gameplay content, and I want to start a more serious project - maybe even something to send to next year's QTR.
The problem is, I have too many ideas. So I want to see what the community needs. Where there's an actual gap I need to fill.
So Imma list here my article ideas, ranked from simplest to most complex, and let y'all choose.

1) Old Friends, New Stat Blocks: Reimagined character sheets for familiar NPCs, updating them both edition-wise (5.5e mechanics) and timeline-wise (accounting for leveling-up, aging, and what they might have been doing between over the past 23 years) - and suggestions for what they're up to nowadays!
- What is it good for? The canon year in the Land of Mists should be 780 by now. The community had been starting to discuss post-ToUD Ravenloft, and I hypothesize this might be the next QTR's topic. This could be my wee little contribution to designing the future of Ravenloft.
- What would it take? Finding and converting the OG stat-blocks; surveying people's headcanons to make sure I live up to at least somebody's fantasy.


2) The Dread Warlock: Warlocks apparently weren't a thing yet when most of the official Ravenloft content was published, which is terribly unfortunate, cause warlocks are the DND class with the most horror potential.
In this article, I'd overview the various patrons one might find in Ravenloft and how warlocks might fit in different domains, suggest a new mechanic for how the Dark Powers might affect pact magic, give some advice on how to make your warlock truly terrifying, and maybe introduce a new warlock subclass: Pact of the Darklord!
- What is it good for? Filling this enormous gap in lore; Possibly improving warlock mechanics; Fulfilling certain player fantasies I know some of you have.
- What would it take? Light research on fae, fiends, abberrations, undead and the likes in Ravenloft; Playtesting my homebrew mechanic to make sure it's an improvement rather than something that completely breaks the game; Building and playtesting my homebrew subclass.

3) Ke'lehavah: A cluster centered around dragons, dragonborn and other scaly folks, designed around the cultural fears of those species and building up on their Forgotten Realms lore.
- What is it good for? Making Ravenloft less humancentric; Giving a homeland for players who want to play a dragonborn in Ravenloft; Introducing a new setting for adventures; More dragons, which is always good!
- What would it take? A research on Abeir history; Comperative analysis of existing dragon darklords to make sure mine is unique; A ton of worldbuilding (should I use the typical Gazeteer format including stuff like 'flora and fauna', or take VRGtR's more gameplay-centric approach?); Writing it all from in-world perspective with a cool framestory (I have the funniest idea).

4) A New Look On Madness: Ravenloft's Madness Check system is fine, but it has some issues. In this article I'll offer an alternative system, meant to be better in terms of both realism and playability. I might also include a 5e conversion of the Analyst class.
- What is it good for? Improving mental illness representation in RPGs and thus hopefully reducing stigma; Encouraging players to actually play their 'mad' character and its recovery process rather then replacing it until it heals;
- What it would take? Extensive research regarding mental illnesses; designing and playtesting a new, complex mechanic; Finding 'sensetivity readers' (beta readers belonging to the minority group you're trying to represent, whose job is to give feedback and make sure it's an actually good representation) who know DND well enough.

5) The Fiancee - A spooky little adventure:
Born to a noble family in a sleepy town, you and your sister were always fascinated by your uncle, a renowned monster-hunter who never spent too much time at home.
Now he's back - and happily engaged! Hooray!
But... Something feels off about your aunt-to-be. Could she be a monster? But the adults look so happy she's here! And anyway, you're just kids - can you really investigate evidence of the supernatural, find proper equipment, fight an honest-to-god creature of the night and save - or at least not ruin - the day?

(Yep, this is going to be based on the tale of Natalia Vhorishkova - though the PCs don't have to be one-to-one the 9yo WF twins, and I might do a random tables thing like in CoS, to make it playable for lore-savvy fans.)

- What is it good for? A gateway adventure you can use to introduce your kids/niblings/little siblings/cousins to Ravenloft's lore and mechanics without traumatising them too much; It can also be nostalgic for fans who love the 'kid detective' vibe the earlier WF sisters' content had and want more of it.
- What would it take? Researching existing versions of the Vhorishkova story and deciding what to keep and what to modify; Reading the WF sisters' Guides for inspiration; Coming up with encounters to fill a mini-adventure; Actually writing the adventure and running it for playtest.

What idea do you like most?
Any special requests?
Any advice or warning for baby's first netbook?

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

6) The Secret Life of the Dead - An article on the psychology and society of incorporeal undead (including interviews with members of said species, cause 'nothing about us without us').
What is it good for? Plenty of new NPCs; Compensating the absence of a 'psychology' section in Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts; A chance to introduce my take on Eresmus.
What would it take? Read about the different types of D&D incorporeal undead; Refine my theories on the mental factors of undeath; Come up with a bunch of NPCs.

[Zardinark]

Hi y'all!
My name is Dash, over the past few months I've been experimenting with creating RL gameplay content, and I want to start a more serious project - maybe even something to send to next year's QTR.
The problem is, I have too many ideas. So I want to see what the community needs. Where there's an actual gap I need to fill.
So Imma list here my article ideas, ranked from simplest to most complex, and let y'all choose.

1) Old Friends, New Stat Blocks: Reimagined character sheets for familiar NPCs, updating them both edition-wise (5.5e mechanics) and timeline-wise (accounting for leveling-up, aging, and what they might have been doing between over the past 23 years) - and suggestions for what they're up to nowadays!
- What is it good for? The canon year in the Land of Mists should be 780 by now. The community had been starting to discuss post-ToUD Ravenloft, and I hypothesize this might be the next QTR's topic. This could be my wee little contribution to designing the future of Ravenloft.
- What would it take? Finding and converting the OG stat-blocks; surveying people's headcanons to make sure I live up to at least somebody's fantasy.


2) The Dread Warlock: Warlocks apparently weren't a thing yet when most of the official Ravenloft content was published, which is terribly unfortunate, cause warlocks are the DND class with the most horror potential.
In this article, I'd overview the various patrons one might find in Ravenloft and how warlocks might fit in different domains, suggest a new mechanic for how the Dark Powers might affect pact magic, give some advice on how to make your warlock truly terrifying, and maybe introduce a new warlock subclass: Pact of the Darklord!
- What is it good for? Filling this enormous gap in lore; Possibly improving warlock mechanics; Fulfilling certain player fantasies I know some of you have.
- What would it take? Light research on fae, fiends, abberrations, undead and the likes in Ravenloft; Playtesting my homebrew mechanic to make sure it's an improvement rather than something that completely breaks the game; Building and playtesting my homebrew subclass.

3) Ke'lehavah: A cluster centered around dragons, dragonborn and other scaly folks, designed around the cultural fears of those species and building up on their Forgotten Realms lore.
- What is it good for? Making Ravenloft less humancentric; Giving a homeland for players who want to play a dragonborn in Ravenloft; Introducing a new setting for adventures; More dragons, which is always good!
- What would it take? A research on Abeir history; Comperative analysis of existing dragon darklords to make sure mine is unique; A ton of worldbuilding (should I use the typical Gazeteer format including stuff like 'flora and fauna', or take VRGtR's more gameplay-centric approach?); Writing it all from in-world perspective with a cool framestory (I have the funniest idea).

4) A New Look On Madness: Ravenloft's Madness Check system is fine, but it has some issues. In this article I'll offer an alternative system, meant to be better in terms of both realism and playability. I might also include a 5e conversion of the Analyst class.
- What is it good for? Improving mental illness representation in RPGs and thus hopefully reducing stigma; Encouraging players to actually play their 'mad' character and its recovery process rather then replacing it until it heals;
- What it would take? Extensive research regarding mental illnesses; designing and playtesting a new, complex mechanic; Finding 'sensetivity readers' (beta readers belonging to the minority group you're trying to represent, whose job is to give feedback and make sure it's an actually good representation) who know DND well enough.

5) The Fiancee - A spooky little adventure:
Born to a noble family in a sleepy town, you and your sister were always fascinated by your uncle, a renowned monster-hunter who never spent too much time at home.
Now he's back - and happily engaged! Hooray!
But... Something feels off about your aunt-to-be. Could she be a monster? But the adults look so happy she's here! And anyway, you're just kids - can you really investigate evidence of the supernatural, find proper equipment, fight an honest-to-god creature of the night and save - or at least not ruin - the day?
6) I was looking for casinos with Endorphina slots, but searching “casinos Endorphina” produced a mix of game pages, provider news, and unrelated results. I needed a casino-focused list that would also help me check whether the sites served Canadian players. This was the page that finally pointed me in the right direction: https://interacasino.com/software/endorphina/. I used it to identify possible casinos, then checked the cashier, regional availability, and game catalogue on each site. That was much quicker than searching for individual Endorphina titles one by one.
(Yep, this is going to be based on the tale of Natalia Vhorishkova - though the PCs don't have to be one-to-one the 9yo WF twins, and I might do a random tables thing like in CoS, to make it playable for lore-savvy fans.)

- What is it good for? A gateway adventure you can use to introduce your kids/niblings/little siblings/cousins to Ravenloft's lore and mechanics without traumatising them too much; It can also be nostalgic for fans who love the 'kid detective' vibe the earlier WF sisters' content had and want more of it.
- What would it take? Researching existing versions of the Vhorishkova story and deciding what to keep and what to modify; Reading the WF sisters' Guides for inspiration; Coming up with encounters to fill a mini-adventure; Actually writing the adventure and running it for playtest.

What idea do you like most?
Any special requests?
Any advice or warning for baby's first netbook?

Dash, the best choice for your serious campaign is the “Bride” adventure, based on the story of Natalia Vorishkova. Ravenloft Game Masters are always in desperate need of ready-made scenarios, and the iconic names of the Weathermay sisters guarantee huge interest from lore fans. This format will allow you to prove yourself as both a scenario writer and a game designer, without requiring a massive time investment to create an entire world or develop complex system rules. The project is perfectly balanced for your first major publication in QTR.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Dash, the best choice for your serious campaign is the “Bride” adventure, based on the story of Natalia Vorishkova. Ravenloft Game Masters are always in desperate need of ready-made scenarios, and the iconic names of the Weathermay sisters guarantee huge interest from lore fans. This format will allow you to prove yourself as both a scenario writer and a game designer, without requiring a massive time investment to create an entire world or develop complex system rules. The project is perfectly balanced for your first major publication in QTR.

Thanks for the advice, but it's been a loonnggg time, and right now my main Ravenloft project is a lore expansion about Bluetspur. I'm collaborating with Speedwagon, so I don't want to ditch him.

[doctornecrotic]

The first two options could make for smaller little side projects, perhaps done in smaller chunks/installations.