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Mrestos Khorvaen
Acolyte
Spain
48 Posts |
 Posted - 08 Aug 2020 : 09:45:30
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Hello, fellow Realms explorers,
In my campaign, my PCs freed a shire from a zombie lord (they are currently near Luskan, in the North). A monster from the old 2e Ravenloft monster compendium. They had never seem something like that (even with a critical roll in Arcane knowledge). And they were intrigued. Also one of them was infected with the lord bite. They now need to travel to Ravenloft to find the source of the Lord power and destroy it.
I'm trying to give them some horror adventures in Ravenloft, but I need some rules about how it works in the Semiplane of Dread. There are lots of books about Ravenloft in DMGuild, but i need a generic rules reference for 5e.
Any help, gentlemen?
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2020 : 13:25:00
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| Have you looked at the Curse of Strahd release? Personally bought it mind you, but barely read it. One of the problems with having seen so many variants o these things is your eyes start to glaze over at seeing some of the same generalized stuff for a new edition, so you're not at sharp to spot things. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1151 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2020 : 04:57:33
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| I could be wrong because this is not my real area of expertise, but I believe every individual domain is now its own little demiplane in the Shadowfell. To keep this in line with old lore is challenging because it lacks the connectivity of the 2e Ravenloft but I think that could be explained away with some homebrew assumptions (such as the mists at the edge of each domain serve as portals to the other demiplanes). |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 11 Aug 2020 : 12:36:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
I could be wrong because this is not my real area of expertise, but I believe every individual domain is now its own little demiplane in the Shadowfell. To keep this in line with old lore is challenging because it lacks the connectivity of the 2e Ravenloft but I think that could be explained away with some homebrew assumptions (such as the mists at the edge of each domain serve as portals to the other demiplanes).
If that is the case, mechanically it could easily make a lot of sense. There is no real reason to have one country "bordering" another in a world in which countries can just disappear. Having them all work kind of like "fey crossroads" at their borders would make sense, and I think would improve the concept. In fact, if these borders were like fey crossroads in which intelligent "beings" control whether you can use them (said beings could be non-corporeal beings of thought, etc...), that might fit the mechanic of how it may be hard to leave a domain (and probably the lord of a domain has some controls over the border as well, and this "intelligence" could simply be an extension of his will). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Mrestos Khorvaen
Acolyte
Spain
48 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2020 : 11:43:44
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| Sadly Curse of Strahd doesn't contain rules about Fear and Horror. |
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Dewaint
Learned Scribe
Germany
148 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2020 : 11:03:16
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There is some guidance in the DMG p.266
There are also some rules to madness and sanity, so maybe you can create some sort of tables and rules by yourself.
Also an option might be to look in old edition's Ravenloft rule books as source for tables and checks and modifiers.
Latest am aware about is the Sword&Sorcery publications of Ravenloft for 3rd Edition.
Good Luck!  |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2020 : 11:18:33
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Bitten by a zombie lord.
I would think that the usual medicines (cure disease, cure poison, remove curse, dispel evil, dispel magic, limited wish, restoration, whatever) are vastly preferable to a one-way trip into that accursed demiplane. I would think that anyone who knows anything about Ravenloft would strongly desire to avoid it. Even a trip to the Nine Hells is preferable because at least there's a real chance in Hell of finding a way back out. I guess they just don't teach "Arcane Lore" like they used to. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2020 : 14:32:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Bitten by a zombie lord.
I would think that the usual medicines (cure disease, cure poison, remove curse, dispel evil, dispel magic, limited wish, restoration, whatever) are vastly preferable to a one-way trip into that accursed demiplane. I would think that anyone who knows anything about Ravenloft would strongly desire to avoid it. Even a trip to the Nine Hells is preferable because at least there's a real chance in Hell of finding a way back out. I guess they just don't teach "Arcane Lore" like they used to.
To be fair, it may not be known to the outside world that Ravenloft is damn near impossible to escape from -- the fact that people don't return could be attributed to it being very dangerous, and there's also the minor fact that the number of people that willingly travel there (and speak to others of their destination) is going to be quite small.
I'm not a horror person, so Ravenloft automatically failed to appeal to me on that angle -- but the Hotel California aspect of it was a dealbreaker, for me. I think the setting is interesting, but I'll never run it nor willingly have a PC set foot there. |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
958 Posts |
Posted - 14 Nov 2020 : 17:14:15
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The Hotel California aspect should have disappeared in the late 1990's with the Die Vecna Die adventure. With Jander Sunstar and recently Mordenkainen escaping Ravenloft, I can no longer take Ravenloft too seriously. [Extreme sarcasm/] Expect some genius to create an adventure where Larloch gets pulled into the Mists as some "homage" to the original Vecna arc.[/Extreme sarcasm] As far as fear and horror mechanics or ostensible danger go, sorry, but anyone who can survive an encounter with Orcus in the Abyss (think Bloodstone series H1-H4) can curbstomp Strahd before she drinks her first cup of coffee in the morning.
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
To be fair, it may not be known to the outside world that Ravenloft is damn near impossible to escape from -- the fact that people don't return could be attributed to it being very dangerous, and there's also the minor fact that the number of people that willingly travel there (and speak to others of their destination) is going to be quite small.
I'm not a horror person, so Ravenloft automatically failed to appeal to me on that angle -- but the Hotel California aspect of it was a dealbreaker, for me. I think the setting is interesting, but I'll never run it nor willingly have a PC set foot there.
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Edited by - Delnyn on 14 Nov 2020 17:23:03 |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 14 Nov 2020 : 17:45:47
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It's already a contrived setting ... if the DM intends to anchor the setting to Ravenloft then escape from Ravenloft is impossible, if the DM intends to railroad things away from Ravenloft then escape from Ravenloft is unavoidable.
Providing rules to explicitly describe the conditions and mechanisms for that sort of thing is just stupid. It invites people to be trapped by the rules blindly, loyally, literally, and thus find themselves forever unable to escape the mists. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
958 Posts |
Posted - 14 Nov 2020 : 18:23:08
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I agree with this assessment. Let's hope nobody at WoTC took my sarcastic quips as a serious bid to bring Larloch to the Mists.
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
It's already a contrived setting ... if the DM intends to anchor the setting to Ravenloft then escape from Ravenloft is impossible, if the DM intends to railroad things away from Ravenloft then escape from Ravenloft is unavoidable.
Providing rules to explicitly describe the conditions and mechanisms for that sort of thing is just stupid. It invites people to be trapped by the rules blindly, loyally, literally, and thus find themselves forever unable to escape the mists.
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Better book for Ravenloft rules?
