The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.
There are few modules with such a history , and none with as deeply felt and long-reaching impact as the original Ravenloft I6. It served as inspiration for a long running, fan-favorite setting of the same name. Updates using subsequent iterations of D&D rules followed the original adventure's publication, so popular was the original module.
This is my gaming White Whale.
It's been thirty years since publication, ladies and gentlemen, and I've never played or run this seminal piece of RPG history. Many of you can probably say the same.
Let's you and I fix that.
This is not a recruitment thread just yet. For now, let's discuss what we would like in a PBP implementation of the classic Ravenloft adventure.
Namely, what edition and what version?
- 3.5's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft offered up a long-form version of the original. This would be easily converted to 3.75, should that be the route taken
- House of Strahd is a version steeped in 2nd Edition D&D and Ravenloft setting rules (Dark powers, fear and horror checks, etc)
- The original I6, 1st edition AD&D in all of it's messy glory.
Choices, choices...
So what do you think? Is there enough interest to see this run through to the bitter end?
A bitter end is "a must" for a good/proper Ravenloft adventure. There is not a realistic chance that "good guys" triumph and "live happily ever after". The best players can hope for is a pyrrhic victory which leaves very bitter taste in the mouth, of course should they survive at all.
Are those correct assumptions?
I6 would always be my first choice, but obviously, that would take a ton of work on your part to convert. If you had the time and desire, that would be an amazing experience.
If you don't have much time to tinker, just grab 3.5 Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and rock and roll with it. I'm sure that would be great as well.
I think 1st Edition translates well to PbP, but I might offer another choice. Maybe the OSRIC version of 1st edition rules. I think it's still free (Or very cheap) and is basically 1st Edition more well organized.
And I'll never turn down a Pathfinder version, but that would be my second choice in this case.
they most certainly did.
I have a physical copy of I6 as well, and have thumbed through it countless times over the years with distinct yearning to play it.
I'm going to look in to OSRIC tonight, that might work for a rules system.
I'd love to get in on a Ravenloft game, should you feel up to converting the module to Pathfinder.
Pathfinder's my first system, so I can't really comment on these modules' reputations. Blissful ignorance, you could say.
I would not be opposed to a "brutal" game, though I do confess that a game designed to outright annihilate the players seems like a bit much. I'm interested either way, though.
I'd vote for I6 in 1st Ed/OSRIC rules
If Pathfinder rules in effect...count me in!
I'd be up for either Pathfinder or AD&D/OSRIC.
I've only played 3.5 and Pathfinder, although I'd be willing to learn the 1st edition rules (or any other ruleset for that matter). I've only ever heard great things about Ravenloft, and I love darker games, so I'm quite interested in this.
Ohh version 1 seems so long ago. Well it was dummy you're no spring chicken. Ohh my youth. I played V1 when I was a wee tot and than came other interests so I didn't play again until recently. form 1 to pathfinder missed it all in between.
But I remember the fun I had with ravenloft even if I don't remember it that well.
I vote 1 but will need the rules so i will look at these other rules. love the old thief class.
I've browsed some of the OSRIC rules and it looks palatable. I have some concerns about properly equipping PCs that are starting at a higher level. considering the merciless nature of I6 and old school D&D in general, I wouldn't want to short change the PC.
Bottom line, gonna research this for a while, but let's keep the discussion rolling.
I LOVE RAVENLOFT
Unfortunately the games I get into keep dying prematurely.
I vote for Choice 1.
Pathfinder is my first choice for this since it's been so long since I've played older systems. That being said, I'm perfectly happy with Low-Magic games. I wouldn't worry too much about equipment. Give us half-standard and scale up from there (or something like that).
This is the character I played in the last ravenloft game that died. I'd love to reprise him, or someone like him.
I've long wanted to try both first edition, and Ravenloft. As long as the OSRIC rules are available online somewhere I'd love to play.
Scranford and I both play in the Temple of Elemental Evil under the Osric rules. Here is my character.
They work just fine. And you us old timers the system feels fantastic to play. As for Ravenloft it looks like everyone will want to play. Good luck.
Cheers
@Galavane
thanks, I'll be perusing that game thread for a refresher.
The OSRIC rules are indeed available online for free. You can get it right here.
I'll throw in my interest as well. I adore the Ravenloft setting - some of the best published adventures from TSR came from that line.
I'm seeing enough support for OSRIC that I think we'll be taking that route. I just need to study up on the combat rules.
(d6 initiative.... rolling for surprise... THAC0... it's been so long!)
Darn - Pathfinder would have been sweeeeet.
Well, I've downloaded the OSRIC pdf in anticipation to start reading up, so count me interested (still)!
If I remember correctly 1e D&D is basically 1d6+ability for almost everything right? It shouldn't be too hard to learn. Definitely still interested. Should we make characters now?
Yeah. I think 1st edition used a lot of dice. d6 was for surprise, and initiative, but d20's to hit, and all dice for damage etc.
My memory of the rules was from a read through of a 1E adventure that I was converting to PF. Never actually played it, I'm too young.
I'm also far younger than the days of 1E. In fact, I was born and group up in the heyday of 3rd edition (and 3.5 once I got a little older). This will all be new to me, but it looks easy enough to get the hang of, judging from the OSRIC pdf.
I first played in the year 2000! So yeah, 3e child here.
I feel old. I think I first played in 1991.
Git offa mah lawn!
All you young whiper-snappers. I still have the original "white box" D&D with all the supplements, I bought with my allowance. I've been playing since 1977 !!!!!!!!!
BTW...when and if are we planning on getting this thing rolling?
hopefully I will be opening recruitment sometime next week.
I'm pouring over all the different versions of this module, and honestly, I'm really feeling the urge to just start a Ravenloft campaign.
Hopefully I can restrain myself, but we'll see what happens.
Thanks for your patience, folks
if you happen to start a Ravenloft campaign using the pathfinder system i'll be on board!
Also count me in for a Ravenloft campaign, or a module, with whatever system!
Please fail to restrain yourself....
I am currently playing in an OD&D campaign and I can attest that the rule sets like Swords and Wizardry or even Lamentations of the Flame Princess would run I6 with nary a speed bump. The fact that both of those rule sets are free is also a factor.
That said a pathfinderized Ravenloft campaign would rock on toast. If you do decide to go that route I will be the player posting the Wolf shaman druid. I can hear the character in my head now "This is a land for wolves, not men. You travel at your peril."
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I don't know anything about Ravenloft, but I'm onboard with the others expressing a pathfinder-variant interest. If Ravenloft is indeed so very epic, I'd certainly like to try my hand. I just don't have time to learn a new system right now. I have too many cluttering my head already.
I assume it's okay to play Ravenloft with no prior knowledge...?
Ah good Ol'Ravenloft. Many excellent memories in that dark corner of the gaming universe.
I play with Andre and Galavaine over in the TOEE game so I can also vouch for OSRIC .
I may just throw in a submission when the time comes :)
@D-Kal: Ravenloft was a very well received 1st Edition module (I6), released by Tracy and Laura Hickman. The biggest thing that separated Ravenloft from its contemporaries is something we take for granted these days: it had a story. It made you learn about the monster you were hunting, and perhaps even empathize with him. I'm not going to spoil anything about this adventure (if you're completely unfamiliar with it, then its something you should experience blind!), but suffice it to say, it left a lasting impression on the gaming world.
So much so that they decided to expand on it, and make it an entire campaign setting. What was once a single moody domain with a decaying castle became an entire demiplane. Like the original mod, it was based off the Gothic horror vibe, but unlike the mod, it took its inspiration from everything at hand, rather than just one story. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, scientists returning the dead to life, and so on - it was a Gothic horror playground where nothing worked quite the way you expected it to, and your decisions could corrupt you and damn you to an eternity in its misty confines.
@D-Kal: Ravenloft was...
well put!
@D-Kal: Ravenloft was...well put!
What he said!
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My home group went back and played 6 months of First Ed. recently. I gotta worn you guys, there was a reason they moved to Second Ed. and then 3rd edition, and it wasn't just to sell more product. Initiative was just dumb, and even more dumb when there was a tie and you entered into some strange time warp where people got extra attacks for tying. Weapon speed was dumb. And Combat was sooo deadly. And there was a bigger learning curve than I though there would be, since I played first edition for years.
No, Pathfinder rules are my rules of choice now. And while I never got to play Ravenloft, and would dearly love to, I would decline if we were going to play first ed. rules. They are that bad.
For what it's worth, I have run as a DM - I6, House of Strahd, and Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (all table-top, and all at very different points in my life) that said...Expedition took MUCH longer to complete and that's just the castle. are you talking about running all the encounters throughout Barovia that are included in Expedition or just the castle itself?
Regardless what you do, I'd love to play :) All three versions have different castles and clues, and I can't keep 'em straight in my head anymore
I would be up for either the module or a Ravenloft campaign.
If playing Expedition, I would like to play a Knight of the Raven, if a full Ravenloft campaign, either the KotR or an Inquisitor of The Morninglord, with the character paying homage to a one Dr Rudolph van Richten, monster hunter extraordinaire. If playing 1E/OSRIC, I'm thinking a good ole Paladin.
So in your Ravenloft, was or was not Lord Soth actually there?
On a side note, I've always been interested in playing Die Vecna Die. For those not in the know, it was the last product released for 2E and is a multiverse spanning adventure that starts in Greyhawk, goes to Ravenloft, and concludes in Planescape. Did anyone ever run/play this module, if so how was it?
Coincidentally, I was pondering about organizing a pbp EtCR campaign myself :-) I've ran the module as a tabletop GM three times, each time with a different twist.
The first campaign was set in FR's Damara and was embedded in a strong political context. The second was a classic hack and slash adventure set in the Ravenloft universe. The third one, perhaps my favorite one, was a d20 modern variation where the PCs formed some kind of elite intervention team investigating the mysterious disappearance of a millionaire's daughter in contemporary Transylvania. Humvees' and rifles vs. black metal vampires on motorbikes, securing cliché Eastern Europe mob assistance vs. a zombie outbreak, seeking shelter against devilish warped trees in an abandoned military base, etc. Fun times :)
For this episode, I was planning to set Barovia somewhere to the north of Ustalav, btw. A campaign set in the Ravenloft universe would have its own specific and awesome atmosphere, of course. Looking forward to see how you'll handle it!
So in your Ravenloft, was or was not Lord Soth actually there?
Lord Soth, all the way. No stupid werebadgers.
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My home group went back and played 6 months of First Ed. recently. I gotta worn you guys, there was a reason they moved to Second Ed. and then 3rd edition, and it wasn't just to sell more product. Initiative was just dumb, and even more dumb when there was a tie and you entered into some strange time warp where people got extra attacks for tying. Weapon speed was dumb. And Combat was sooo deadly. And there was a bigger learning curve than I though there would be, since I played first edition for years.
No, Pathfinder rules are my rules of choice now. And while I never got to play Ravenloft, and would dearly love to, I would decline if we were going to play first ed. rules. They are that bad.
Huh. Back In The Day, weapon speed was one of those things that fell by the wayside very quickly, and I don't remember anything like that for the initiative we were using--we may have houseruled it, though. (Essentially we used a d10 to tell which segment your action was resolved during, or when you started casting a spell. We did generally use casting times.)
I'd be up for Pathfinder. I own the original and I can't remember exactly how it went thirty years ago.
I think the EtCR would be cool. I actually have that book. Wouldn't be interested in old school 1st edition rules though. Don't know 'em due to never playing them. But I did play 2nd. Looking back on it after playing Pathfinder, man that stuff was just bad. So I'm gonna take Skorn's word on 1st edition.
I'm for Pathfinder rules.
So then...it sounds like there is certainly interest. Will it be Pathfinder, or a different set of rules?