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Hey guys.
With Halloween coming up, I've been looking at running a brief horror game for my group. With that in mind, I've been looking at the 3.5 module Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, or the Pathfinder module U2: Hangmans Noose.
Anyway, in this thread I'd like to talk about Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, and moving it into the world of Golarion. I've got some ideas on sticking Castle Ravenloft in Ustalav, and using the Harrow deck for the reading, but I'm wondering if anyone on here has any other ideas on how to run it? Has anyone run this module, or know of any good resources for this module or Ravenloft in general?
Thanks in advance guys for any help you can send my way.
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Anyway, in this thread I'd like to talk about Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, and moving it into the world of Golarion. I've got some ideas on sticking Castle Ravenloft in Ustalav, and using the Harrow deck for the reading, but I'm wondering if anyone on here has any other ideas on how to run it? Has anyone run this module, or know of any good resources for this module or Ravenloft in general?
I'm currently doing a lot of reading and background writeup to run Ravenloft in Golarion, drawing from both the EtCR hardcover and the old I6 Ravenloft module, as well as the Black Box set and other books like Heroes of Horror, etc. I thought the Wikipedia page for Ravenloft was a pretty good overview, and of course Strahd has his own page too. Also, there's a free PDF version of Van Richten's Guide to the Mists available at White Wolf Online, and some of the other Van Richten's Guides have some good info too.
I'm also working on folding in the Taint rules from UA/HoH to use as a curse mechanic, so in my campaign the Bestow Curse spell will increase a character's corruption or depravity score rather than the default list of possible results. My Ravenloft will be infused with plenty of other ways to accumulate taint, and even a few to maybe get rid of it.
You can find some discussion about all of this in the Ravenloft: Taint and Curses thread, and if you search the message boards for 'Ravenloft' you'll find some other threads to look through. There are a couple of Facebook groups for Ravenloft, but they don't seem to be very active.
I'm planning to post some of my background once I've got it all sorted out, but probably not in time for Halloween. I found a copy of 'I, Strahd' on eBay for $1.00, so once that gets here I'll use that to fill in some gaps. I'm definitely pulling most of the flavor from the old-school materials, though there are a few things in the 3.5 hardcover that are finding their way in.
I'd love to hear how your game goes, and what material you end up using from different sources.
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Hey guys.
With Halloween coming up, I've been looking at running a brief horror game for my group. With that in mind, I've been looking at the 3.5 module Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, or the Pathfinder module U2: Hangmans Noose.
Thanks in advance guys for any help you can send my way.
Hiya Uzzy ! Haya doing ?
As it happens, I just recently read Expedition to Ravenloft.
I made a few notes with the idea to run it soon.
1 Strahd is not scary enough compared to previous Ravenloft versions. The descriptions of his motives are not scary enough to me. Especially the one where he is partly possessed and screams "i'm mad" falls really short of expectations.
My suggestion instead of these is to play up his obsession with Ireena Kolyana, which according to previous Ravenloft canon is the reincarnation of Tatyana. Play him as an obsessive madman in love with the girl, to the point it clouds his best judgement. Maybe he just wants to kill the PCs slowly to win her love ?
2 the description of Strahd is the creepy guy on the cover, a powerful cadaveric east european medieval lord. Not the awful french/brit 18th century effeminate. After all, he says it himself in his memoirs "I was the Warrior ...."
3 Add extras from all possible horror movies you've seen as side plots.
For instance, the first time I played the module I6 as a player, we made a madman which told the paladin in the party "Don't let them come at you five times" and then died in pain. Then the paladin, met white mouses, one at a time, with a creepy attitude. when he crossed the fifth whit mouse, a swarm of mouses appeared and and devoured him.
4 Play also Strahd as "chivalric". He toys with the PCs, and if he gives them too much of a hard time, and they get beaten, he might drop a few potions or scrolls to help them. (Just to make them last longer, and just to make the chase last more). Make him look magnanimous in this aspect.
5 Downtown the alien "far realms" parts that have been unneccessarily added in the module and were not in previous versions. this is gothic horror, not sci-fi.
6 ... well tell us how it worked !
See you at another con.
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Downtown the alien "far realms" parts that have been unneccessarily added in the module and were not in previous versions. this is gothic horror, not sci-fi...
I'm with you 100% that this adventure was found lacking, that this particular "vision" of the classic module I6 was "clouded" at best...
But I must disagree with your comment on Gothic Horror/Sci-Fi...
While I understood your meaning, "Gothic Horror" is just a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance...
Lovecraft wrote classic "Gothic Horror" and his "evil bad guys" (the mythos) came from outer space and "Beyond"!
I think that possibly, the encounters within that area of the adventure were added to "Expedition" as an ill-conceived "nod" towards that "Lovecraftian" end...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
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I'm doing great Cosimo. Yourself? Your Taldan gotten into any more trouble yet? :)
Some great ideas here guys. While I'll probably not invest in any other books for this short campaign, I might get the other books for later games. Either way, thanks for the advice.
I will of course let you know how it goes.
I'm wondering if anyone on here has any other ideas on how to run it? Has anyone run this module, or know of any good resources for this module or Ravenloft in general?
Thanks in advance guys for any help you can send my way.
Just wanted to chip in and say, plan your ending out well in advance. I don't know why, but every copy of the EtCR I've seen has no adventure conclusion section. This can be a real pain if you're not prep'd and ready for it - a real anti climax.
"So, yeah, he dies and stuff. The end? Spooky, huh?"
The more personal to your heroes, the better.
Good luck!
tfad