Ravenloft - Revision history

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2023-06-22T15:23:48Z

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2023-06-19T03:20:36Z

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1d4chan>Slipmcripfist: wiki

2023-06-01T01:23:57Z

wiki

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:23, 1 June 2023
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	Seriously, how do you come up with an idea as cool as "a [[magitek]] train screaming through the mists in an effort to escape an apocalypse that it was already destroyed by" and then deem it unworthy of more than one damn paragraph of detail?!		Seriously, how do you come up with an idea as cool as "a [[magitek]] train screaming through the mists in an effort to escape an apocalypse that it was already destroyed by" and then deem it unworthy of more than one damn paragraph of detail?!

			==See Also==
			*[https://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Main_Page Mistipedia] the Ravenloft wiki

	{{D&D-Settings}}		{{D&D-Settings}}

1d4chan>Saarlacfunkel at 00:46, 16 May 2023

2023-05-16T00:46:53Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:46, 16 May 2023
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	The adventure wasn't so bad itself; the 3e adaptation [[Expedition to Castle Ravenloft]] is widely panned by old-school Ravenloft fans for too many lore changes and too many overtly fantastical elements, but Curse of Strahd is relatively faithful. There were some contentious elements, such as the official stance that 90% of all "people" in Barovia are actually soulless constructs just aping human existence, Strahd having a Dracula-esque harem, and the changing of the Vistani from "morally ambiguous" plot devices to "Strahd's [[gypsy]] servants" in another direct Dracula homage, but in general Ravenloft fans considered it a step up over Expedition.		The adventure wasn't so bad itself; the 3e adaptation [[Expedition to Castle Ravenloft]] is widely panned by old-school Ravenloft fans for too many lore changes and too many overtly fantastical elements, but Curse of Strahd is relatively faithful. There were some contentious elements, such as the official stance that 90% of all "people" in Barovia are actually soulless constructs just aping human existence, Strahd having a Dracula-esque harem, and the changing of the Vistani from "morally ambiguous" plot devices to "Strahd's [[gypsy]] servants" in another direct Dracula homage, but in general Ravenloft fans considered it a step up over Expedition.

	The hype train came in 2021, when it was officially announced that Ravenloft would return as a fully-fledged setting in May, under the title [[Van Richten's Guide]] To Ravenloft. Excitement grew amidst the old-school fans, and even the non-Ravenloft old-schoolers were happy that to see another old setting make the jump into the new edition... and then it actually came out.		The [[hype]] train came in 2021, when it was officially announced that Ravenloft would return as a fully-fledged setting in May, under the title [[Van Richten's Guide]] To Ravenloft. Excitement grew amidst the old-school fans, and even the non-Ravenloft old-schoolers were happy that to see another old setting make the jump into the new edition... and then it actually came out.

	It would be fair to say that Ravenloft fans generally regard Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft in much the same way that [[Forgotten Realms]] fans regard the [[Spellplague]].		It would be fair to say that Ravenloft fans generally regard Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft in much the same way that [[Forgotten Realms]] fans regard the [[Spellplague]].

173.49.241.135: /* 5th Edition Revival */

2022-12-21T20:02:30Z

5th Edition Revival

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:02, 21 December 2022
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	The adventure wasn't so bad itself; the 3e adaptation [[Expedition to Castle Ravenloft]] is widely panned by old-school Ravenloft fans for too many lore changes and too many overtly fantastical elements, but Curse of Strahd is relatively faithful. There were some contentious elements, such as the official stance that 90% of all "people" in Barovia are actually soulless constructs just aping human existence, Strahd having a Dracula-esque harem, and the changing of the Vistani from "morally ambiguous" plot devices to "Strahd's [[gypsy]] servants" in another direct Dracula homage, but in general Ravenloft fans considered it a step up over Expedition.		The adventure wasn't so bad itself; the 3e adaptation [[Expedition to Castle Ravenloft]] is widely panned by old-school Ravenloft fans for too many lore changes and too many overtly fantastical elements, but Curse of Strahd is relatively faithful. There were some contentious elements, such as the official stance that 90% of all "people" in Barovia are actually soulless constructs just aping human existence, Strahd having a Dracula-esque harem, and the changing of the Vistani from "morally ambiguous" plot devices to "Strahd's [[gypsy]] servants" in another direct Dracula homage, but in general Ravenloft fans considered it a step up over Expedition.

	The sudden screaming from the usual crowd about how the Vistani were all harmful racial caricatures and WotC responding by releasing a censored version of Curse of Strahd was largely ignored by the Ravenloft fan community... poor, sweet, ignorant souls.

	The hype train came in 2021, when it was officially announced that Ravenloft would return as a fully-fledged setting in May, under the title [[Van Richten's Guide]] To Ravenloft. Excitement grew amidst the old-school fans, and even the non-Ravenloft old-schoolers were happy that to see another old setting make the jump into the new edition... and then it actually came out.		The hype train came in 2021, when it was officially announced that Ravenloft would return as a fully-fledged setting in May, under the title [[Van Richten's Guide]] To Ravenloft. Excitement grew amidst the old-school fans, and even the non-Ravenloft old-schoolers were happy that to see another old setting make the jump into the new edition... and then it actually came out.
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	It would be fair to say that Ravenloft fans generally regard Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft in much the same way that [[Forgotten Realms]] fans regard the [[Spellplague]].		It would be fair to say that Ravenloft fans generally regard Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft in much the same way that [[Forgotten Realms]] fans regard the [[Spellplague]].

	The setting was '''mangled'''; whether from ~~political pressure,~~ a desire not to pay [[White Wolf]] for all the cool stuff they did to bolster the setting in 3e, or entirely other reasons, the decision was made to completely rewrite the setting as a whole. Gone was the Core, and gone was the idea of playing a native inhabitant: it was all about the Weekend in Hell narrative, with the focus being on Islands of Terror that somehow move about through the [[Shadowfell]] and DMs being encouraged to handwave logistics as the setting now official ran [[Demiplane of Nightmares\|on "nightmare logic"]] - aka, it doesn't matter if it ''makes sense'', so long as it's '''spooky'''. Many domains were blatantly rewritten without even an attempt to preserve their former lore, which only becomes more jarring when certain other domains are officially supposed to be their 3e incarnations with [[Advancing the Storyline\|the time moved on]]. Controversial lore from [[Curse of Strahd]], such as defining the Dark Powers, was carried over.		The setting was '''mangled'''; whether from a desire not to pay [[White Wolf]] for all the cool stuff they did to bolster the setting in 3e, or entirely other reasons, the decision was made to completely rewrite the setting as a whole. Gone was the Core, and gone was the idea of playing a native inhabitant: it was all about the Weekend in Hell narrative, with the focus being on Islands of Terror that somehow move about through the [[Shadowfell]] and DMs being encouraged to handwave logistics as the setting now official ran [[Demiplane of Nightmares\|on "nightmare logic"]] - aka, it doesn't matter if it ''makes sense'', so long as it's '''spooky'''. Many domains were blatantly rewritten without even an attempt to preserve their former lore, which only becomes more jarring when certain other domains are officially supposed to be their 3e incarnations with [[Advancing the Storyline\|the time moved on]]. Controversial lore from [[Curse of Strahd]], such as defining the Dark Powers, was carried over.

	The mechanics were also harshly criticized; 5e is the least punitive and most overtly fantastical edition of Ravenloft to date.		The mechanics were also harshly criticized; 5e is the least punitive and most overtly fantastical edition of Ravenloft to date.

	~~And let's not even talk about the obvious political changes...~~

	In fairness, there are ''some'' elements of the 5e Ravenloft that are recognized in a positive light by the community. The effort to provide a way to tweak the tone of Ravenloft to be more flexible depending on if you want a combat-heavy or roleplay-heavy game is appreciated... however grudgingly by some, since Ravenloft built its fanbase largely on the idea of being the "roleplay heavy" D&D setting alongside [[Planescape]]. Also, many of the new Darklords and Domains are actually pretty decent... they just should have been given their own names or actually had some effort put into fleshing them out, depending on which you're talking about.		In fairness, there are ''some'' elements of the 5e Ravenloft that are recognized in a positive light by the community. The effort to provide a way to tweak the tone of Ravenloft to be more flexible depending on if you want a combat-heavy or roleplay-heavy game is appreciated... however grudgingly by some, since Ravenloft built its fanbase largely on the idea of being the "roleplay heavy" D&D setting alongside [[Planescape]]. Also, many of the new Darklords and Domains are actually pretty decent... they just should have been given their own names or actually had some effort put into fleshing them out, depending on which you're talking about.

1d4chan>QuietBrowser: /* Races */

2022-07-22T05:07:39Z

Races

@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 Despite the fact that the setting was literally made by a horny vampire lusting for a human woman, [[dhampir]]s '''never''' appeared as a PC race in Ravenloft until 5th edition. This may not be as big of a mistake as some of the ones made in [[Planescape]], and certainly doesn't compare to the existence of [[Kender]] and [[Tinker Gnome]]s (but then, what ''can''?), but it shows how badly [[TSR]] could fuck up when it came to making an interesting setting.
-th edition also added the [[Hexblood]], essentially a spookier [[Half-Elf]] with drippings of the [[Pathfinder]] [[Changeling]] and 3e [[Hagspawn]], and the [[Reborn]], a generic [[Revenant]] meets Frankenstein's Monster type race.
+th edition also added the [[Hexblood]], essentially a spookier [[Half-Elf]] with drippings of the [[Pathfinder]] [[Changeling]] and 3e [[Hagspawn]], and the [[Reborn]], a generic [[Revenant]] meets [[Flesh Golem|Frankenstein's Monster]] type race.
 ==Religions==

104.220.162.108: /* 5th Edition Revival */

2022-07-17T08:51:00Z

5th Edition Revival

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:51, 17 July 2022
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	It would be fair to say that Ravenloft fans generally regard Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft in much the same way that [[Forgotten Realms]] fans regard the [[Spellplague]].		It would be fair to say that Ravenloft fans generally regard Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft in much the same way that [[Forgotten Realms]] fans regard the [[Spellplague]].

	The setting was '''mangled'''; whether from political pressure, a desire not to pay [[White Wolf]] for all the cool stuff they did to bolster the setting in 3e, or entirely other reasons, the decision was made to completely rewrite the setting as a whole. Gone was the Core, and gone was the idea of playing a native inhabitant: it was all about the Weekend in Hell narrative, with the focus being on Islands of Terror that somehow move about through the [[Shadowfell]] and DMs being encouraged to handwave logistics as the setting now official ran [[Demiplane of Nightmares\|on "nightmare logic"]] - aka, it doesn't matter if it ''makes sense'', so long as it's '''spooky'''. Many domains were blatantly rewritten without even an attempt to preserve their former lore, which only becomes more jarring when certain other domains are officially supposed to be their 3e incarnations with [Advancing the Storyline\|the time moved on]]. Controversial lore from [[Curse of Strahd]], such as defining the Dark Powers, was carried over.		The setting was '''mangled'''; whether from political pressure, a desire not to pay [[White Wolf]] for all the cool stuff they did to bolster the setting in 3e, or entirely other reasons, the decision was made to completely rewrite the setting as a whole. Gone was the Core, and gone was the idea of playing a native inhabitant: it was all about the Weekend in Hell narrative, with the focus being on Islands of Terror that somehow move about through the [[Shadowfell]] and DMs being encouraged to handwave logistics as the setting now official ran [[Demiplane of Nightmares\|on "nightmare logic"]] - aka, it doesn't matter if it ''makes sense'', so long as it's '''spooky'''. Many domains were blatantly rewritten without even an attempt to preserve their former lore, which only becomes more jarring when certain other domains are officially supposed to be their 3e incarnations with [[Advancing the Storyline\|the time moved on]]. Controversial lore from [[Curse of Strahd]], such as defining the Dark Powers, was carried over.

	The mechanics were also harshly criticized; 5e is the least punitive and most overtly fantastical edition of Ravenloft to date.		The mechanics were also harshly criticized; 5e is the least punitive and most overtly fantastical edition of Ravenloft to date.

1d4chan>QuietBrowser: Tried to expand on the 4e and 5e Ravenlofts and their reception.

2022-06-23T21:07:55Z

Tried to expand on the 4e and 5e Ravenlofts and their reception.

Show changes

1d4chan>Nubnuber at 14:50, 12 June 2022

2022-06-12T14:50:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:50, 12 June 2022
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	''Trapped in another world, each area of the world is its own little [[plane]] of existence, ruled by the baron! [[Vampire]]s, [[ghoul]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[wight]]s, [[undead]]s, [[witch]]es, horrible [[gypsy]] curses, and no way out - DUN DUN DUUUUUN''		''Trapped in another world, each area of the world is its own little [[plane]] of existence, ruled by the baron! [[Vampire]]s, [[ghoul]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[wight]]s, [[undead]]s, [[witch]]es, horrible [[gypsy]] curses, and no way out - DUN DUN DUUUUUN''

	'''Ravenloft''' is a campaign setting made of lofts and ravens... well, ok, it's a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] campaign setting that replaces the shiny high fantasy heroism cliches with 19th century Gothic literature cliches. Ravenloft itself is a [[demiplane]], divided into several domains, each ruled by a different "[[Darklord]]" and inspired by traditional horror tales. While "Castle Ravenloft" is the home of [[Strahd von Zarovich]], this article will refer to the entire plane/setting as Ravenloft for convenience, ~~though the~~ [[Demiplane of Dread]] ~~Ravenloft setting is pretty much~~ the ~~best~~, ~~with the instanced versions usually revolving around Strahd~~.		'''Ravenloft''' is a campaign setting made of lofts and ravens... well, ok, it's a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] campaign setting that replaces the shiny high fantasy heroism cliches with 19th century Gothic literature cliches. Ravenloft itself is a [[demiplane]], divided into several domains, each ruled by a different "[[Darklord]]" and inspired by traditional horror tales. While "Castle Ravenloft" is the home of [[Strahd von Zarovich]], this article will refer to the entire plane/setting as Ravenloft for convenience.

			For a list of all the domains in Ravenloft, see [[Demiplane of Dread]].

			For a list of all the rulers of those domains, see [[Darklord]].

	==History==		==History==

1d4chan>Piroko: /* What's Ravenloft Like? */

2022-06-04T20:00:54Z

What's Ravenloft Like?

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:00, 4 June 2022
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	[[Image:Count_Von_Count.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|Contrary to popular opinion, ''detect evil'' does actually work in Ravenloft, but [[3.6_Roentgen\|the world returns an integer]] and the spell expects a boolean.]]		[[Image:Count_Von_Count.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|right\|Contrary to popular opinion, ''detect evil'' does actually work in Ravenloft, but [[3.6_Roentgen\|the world returns an integer]] and the spell expects a boolean.]]

	The first rule of Ravenloft is not to touch anything, ever. Assume everything is cursed unless you saw someone pick it up and put it down without becoming a zombie, and even then that's no guarantee. Second, alignment-detecting magic can only say if something is lawful or chaotic, so you can't use those spells to check if anything is ''safe'' ~~(nothing here is)~~. Third, beware of curses, as they're especially powerful and anyone can place them if they're angry enough and get the Dark Powers' notice when they speak the curse. Any deed that could be considered "evil," like unprovoked assault, murder (especially of family), oath-breaking, or using specific naughty spells (usually necromantic) pings the Dark Powers' attention and calls for a "Powers check," a percentile roll against a number determined by the act committed and the victim. Roll above the number and you're safe (for now). Roll below and the Dark Powers like what they see, "gifting" you with something that seems beneficial, but pushes you to commit more nefarious deeds, which prompt further Powers checks. Soon, the Dark Powers' gifts come with obvious curses and debilitating drawbacks that end in either your death, transformation into something inhuman, or "ascension" to the rank of Darklord.		The first rule of Ravenloft is not to touch anything, ever. Assume everything is cursed unless you saw someone pick it up and put it down without becoming a zombie, and even then that's no guarantee. Second, alignment-detecting magic can only say if something is lawful or chaotic, so you can't use those spells to check if anything is [[3.6 Roentgen\|''safe'']]. Third, beware of curses, as they're especially powerful and anyone can place them if they're angry enough and get the Dark Powers' notice when they speak the curse. Any deed that could be considered "evil," like unprovoked assault, murder (especially of family), oath-breaking, or using specific naughty spells (usually necromantic) pings the Dark Powers' attention and calls for a "Powers check," a percentile roll against a number determined by the act committed and the victim. Roll above the number and you're safe (for now). Roll below and the Dark Powers like what they see, "gifting" you with something that seems beneficial, but pushes you to commit more nefarious deeds, which prompt further Powers checks. Soon, the Dark Powers' gifts come with obvious curses and debilitating drawbacks that end in either your death, transformation into something inhuman, or "ascension" to the rank of Darklord.

	Basically, every evil deed is punished by karma. This means that it's entirely possible to lie, cheat, and steal your way into power, only to find yourself ironically cursed in a way that you can never have what you wanted that power for in the first place. Standard operating procedure is for you to be cursed to be alone or separated from one specific loved one - a wife, a son, etc. This is something detrimental in D&D, where the likes of good, evil, law, and chaos are tangible cosmic forces, case in point: outsiders who have good or evil as a subtype come into the place with "reality wrinkles," regions centered on themselves that have their own laws of reality, effectively their own portable domains that overwrite the local area.		Basically, every evil deed is punished by karma. This means that it's entirely possible to lie, cheat, and steal your way into power, only to find yourself ironically cursed in a way that you can never have what you wanted that power for in the first place. Standard operating procedure is for you to be cursed to be alone or separated from one specific loved one - a wife, a son, etc. This is something detrimental in D&D, where the likes of good, evil, law, and chaos are tangible cosmic forces, case in point: outsiders who have good or evil as a subtype come into the place with "reality wrinkles," regions centered on themselves that have their own laws of reality, effectively their own portable domains that overwrite the local area.