I have this. Aside from a cameo from a famous D&D character that seemed out of place and highly unnecessary, it is a very faithful conversion of the original I6 module Ravenloft with a great deal of expanded material. It is very sandbox style, so if your characters go somewhere beyond their abilities...well, let's hope they had a good life.
Looks to be fairly easy to convert to PF, so a great book for anyone. I'm going to wait for Horror Adventures to come out before converting it using Hero Lab so I have access to some PF designed rules to augment it.
Oh and for the curious:
D&D Character/Plot:
D&D Character/Plot: ** spoiler omitted **
No, no. I got that. My question was "Why him?"
They could have created a brand new character appropriate for Barovia and a gothic setting. I found it kind of jarring to have such a well known figure of the standard game plopped down in something in which mood and atmosphere are somewhat niche and very important to the overall story.
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I have this. Aside from a cameo from a famous D&D character that seemed out of place and highly unnecessary, it is a very faithful conversion of the original I6 module Ravenloft with a great deal of expanded material. It is very sandbox style, so if your characters go somewhere beyond their abilities...well, let's hope they had a good life.
Looks to be fairly easy to convert to PF, so a great book for anyone. I'm going to wait for Horror Adventures to come out before converting it using Hero Lab so I have access to some PF designed rules to augment it.
Oh and for the curious:
** spoiler omitted **
Ooo, that easy to convert may have swayed me.
If I might ask, how big is the book? Is there any supplementary material or is just the adventure?
Ooo, that easy to convert may have swayed me.
If I might ask, how big is the book? Is there any supplementary material or is just the adventure?
I find ALL D&D 5e is relatively easy to convert. They use CR and reference the monster stats instead of reprinting, so it is fairly easy to find either the exact monster or character you want, or at least find a compatible substitute.
The book is a 256 page hardcover. 208 pages cover the description of the encounter areas and events in the adventure. Appendix A covers character options, and as such is really only useful for D&D 5e players. That is only 3 pages.
Appendix B is the reprint of the free PDF intro adventure, taking up another 10 pages. Appendices C & D cover treasures, magic items, and NPC stat blocks. Those sections together take up 20 pages. Appendix E is the description and artwork for an entire Tarokka Deck—the Ravenloft equivalent of the Tarot or Harrow from Golarion. You would need to scan and print these cards as they are not removable. They take up 9 pages. The same goes for the Players Handouts which make up the last 6 pages of the book.
The crowing glory is the pull-out fold out poster map. On one side is a truly beautiful map of Barovia with little side maps of the villages and some special locations. The flip side...Ben Wooten and Francois Beauregard have updated the original drawings of Castle Ravenloft by David C. Sutherland III. Stunning is the only word that immediately comes to mind.
So there really isn't much in supplementary material. Some advice in the adventure section on how to run a horror-style D&D game and the like. They concentrated on what would be used here and as such has little to use beyond the adventure itself.
The maps are stunning, the artwork is beautiful - Like most of the 5th ed art I have seen.
Some of the NPCs have great backgrounds - I particularly like the Baron who insists on throwing festivals every week heavily guarded to enforce happiness with an iron fist. Also the noblewoman who has preserved her dead husbands corpse and sleeps with him every night!
I love these details of the land beyond The Village.
Bought this last week. Simply beautiful. Maybe I'll even run a 5e game for this.
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My thought is to use this with a pathfinder groups first foray into 5th ed. Not being sure of the rules should help create that feeling of uncertainty and discomfort that is important in Horror style games.