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I understand that despite the outpouring of enthusiasm and tremendously positive reaction for Rasputin Must Die!, an adventure set in 1918 Russia on real-world Earth with blazing guns and trench warfare just isn’t quite up everyone’s universal alley. And that’s perfectly OK. So, I’ve created this thread for just those folks, to allow myself and the community some input to alternate story ideas to overlay the adventure so those gamers can enjoy it as well, without having to resort to a wholesale replacement of the entire adventure. I’m going to provide a form here for everyone to follow if you want, and if you feel like contributing your alternate ideas, please fill it out so others might reference it, and everyone feel free to discuss.
Note, if you’re a fan of Rasputin Must Die! who cries “blasphemy” at the very idea of shedding it of its Earth elements (and that is something I wholeheartedly appreciate), this isn’t the thread to rally to its defense. Let’s recognize that there are people in our gaming community that might *love* it, but don’t think their players will, or even those who *don’t* really like it but recognize the structure and core of the adventure has worthwhile, intriguing challenges that merit salvaging once the offending Earth elements are removed. Let’s respect that here, please.
Alternative Location: Instead of Earth, RMD takes place on ___________________ in _____________________.
Alternate Antagonist: Instead of Rasputin, __________________ is Baba Yaga’s _____________________, in league with Elvanna.
Background Considerations:
(While the hut likely does not need to change, list any necessary clues or encounter changes here):
Troop Alternative: The troops statblock, instead of rifle-wielding soldiers, is instead ______________________________________________ armed with ___________________________________.
Grenades, Mines, Mortars & Flamethrowers: These attacks are instead represented by _____________________, _____________________, _____________________, and _____________________.
Anytime there’s a gun, replace it with __________________________________________.
Statblock Changes as a result? _____________________________________________________________.
Tsar Tank Alternative: Instead of a massive tricycle tank stuck in the mud, this encounter location is _______________________________________________________________.
Other changes: _______________________________________________________________.
List Any Changes to Basic Assumptions: IF this is no longer a prison camp, what is it? Are the ruins still those of a monastery? If not, what is it? Why is this location important to Baba Yaga, and why is the antagonist here?
Tank Alternative: The animate tanks are __________________________________________.
Instead of Barbed Wire, Wooden Barracks, and Modern Guard Towers, those elements are replaced with _____________________, _____________________, and _____________________.
Instead of modern technology, the World Anchors appear as __________________________________________ that _____________________, and the electric fences appear/act as _____________________.
The Viktor Quest: Though the Viktor quest can remain unchanged, now instead of a technological genius capable of working the World Anchors, he’s a _______________________________________________________________ and the PCs need him to __________________________________________.
Anastasia & Alexie: Instead of the resurrected heirs to the Russian Empire, these children are _____________________ and _____________________, and their names are now _____________________ and _____________________, and one is possibly the heir to the throne of Irrisen because __________________________________________.
The Tsarina’s Ghost: Her relationship to the children (above) and revelations about them need not change, but her new name is _____________________.
The World Engine is not modern technology, and instead the main antagonist _____________________is attempting to drain Baba Yaga’s power through _____________________ and _____________________, and the appearance of the machinery is replaced by _______________________________________________________________.
Alternative Appearances and Powers of Appendix Magic Items: ___________________________________________________________________________ _________.
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Alternative Location: Instead of Earth, RMD takes place on Oerth in the Land of Black Ice.*
Alternate Antagonist: Instead of Rasputin, Iuz the Old is Baba Yaga’s grandson, the progeny of the demon lord Graz'zt and Baba Yaga’s daughter Iggwilv, and he is now in league with Elvanna.
Background Considerations: Iuz (yeah, I went there!) holds the exact ambitions and background story as Rasputin—drain his mother’s mythic power to claim her mantle for himself. To account for his demigod status, for the sake of this adventure assume that Iuz’s power is itself currently invested in the ceremony of the World Engine and maintaining its hidden off-world presence, weakening him to the point that Rasputin’s statblock makes for a believable stand-in. In this adventure, Iuz has fortified himself in a prison camp in the barrens of the Land of Black Ice, where he has used the prisoners and his own troops to excavate the ruins of the monastery that serve as Baba Yaga’s stepping stone into the world of Oerth.
The Hut and its environs do not change. Clues presented by inhabitants point toward “a land of ashen ice,” “a son older than his mother,” and “a road of bone.”
Troop Alternative1: The troops statblock, instead of rifle-wielding soldiers, is instead plague-ridden robed cultists armed with bone shard-spewing bone wands (use same stats as rifle attack).
Troop Alternative2: The troops statblock, instead of rifle-wielding soldiers, is instead black-blooded orc warriors armed with crossbows, short bows, and javelins (use same stats as rifle attack).
Grenades, Mines, Mortars & Flamethrowers: These attacks are instead represented by explosive skulls that are thrown, launched, or planted, and potions of fire breath.
Anytime there’s a gun, replace it with a bone wand with 1d6 charges or a special crossbow that uses the stats of the adventure’s rifles.
Tsar Tank Alternative: Instead of a massive tricycle tank stuck in the mud, this encounter location is a crumbling stone tower that looms over the burned village.
Other changes: The cultists could act more suicidal, and after several volleys of bone shards and tossing some explosive skulls (as per greandes), they rush in a disgusting mob of rusty daggers and blood-red robes.
List Any Changes to Basic Assumptions: This location is still a prison camp built around the ruins of a monastery that once acted as Baba Yaga’s beacon into the world of Oerth. The camp has been overrun with Iuz’s cultists and orc guards. Due to its connection with Baba Yaga’s power, it acts as Iuz’s ceremonial seat as he attempts to usurp her First World dominion.
Tank Alternative: The animate tanks are lumbering golems made of bone.
Instead of Barbed Wire, Wooden Barracks, and Modern Guard Towers, those elements are replaced with fields of bone and stacks of skulls (some exploding like mines) that have arcs of arcane energy flaring between them. The barracks and watch stations are now stone fortifications, and stone towers..
Instead of modern technology, the World Anchors appear as a stone pillars inset with throbbing, nine-faceted gemstones, 5-feet in diameter, in the form of those found in Zagig’s godtrap, which once imprisoned Iuz, and whose arcane model he now emulates. The numbers and skill checks to control them do not change, nor does their ultimate operation of Viktor’s expertise in working them.
The Viktor Quest: Though the Viktor quest can remain unchanged, now instead of a technological genius capable of working the World Anchors, he’s a fallen cultist with an amazing knack for magical artifact wherewithal.
Anastasia & Alexie: Instead of the resurrected heirs to the Russian Empire, these children are Iggwilv’s neice and nephew, and their names are now Astoria and Pretori, though Pretori remains a disguised gornych, and Astoria, through her lineage, remains the heir to the throne of Irrisen due to her mother’s relation.
The Tsarina’s Ghost: Her relationship to the children (above) and revelations about them need not change, and though she is Iggwilv’s sister, she was never an evil witch queen, her new name is Asha.
The World Engine is not modern technology, and instead Iuz is attempting to drain Baba Yaga’s power and First World mantle through his own replica of Zagig’s godtrap, and the appearance of the machinery is instead a large chamber in the off-world monastery with three concentric brass cages shaped vaguely like matroyska dolls surrounding a skull-shaped brass magical apparatus.
Alternative Appearances and Powers of Appendix Magic Items: The dimensional grenade becomes a dimensional skull bomb, the frontovik's gasmask becomes a skull-visaged fogwarding mask, the gas-trap cylinder becomes a gas-trap gem, the maxim of suppressive fire becomes a wheeled boneshard ballista, and the spectral searchlight takes the form of specially-lit and enchanted fire braziers with special orbiting lenses that, once set in motion around the magical braziers, provide the same illumination and effects as the listed magic item.
*(All proper names and locations copyright Wizards of the Coast. Also note I'm not here to discuss the finer points of Greyhawk canon or argue about the statblock representation of a de-powered Iuz. Just roll with it, folks.)
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Thus proving that this man is a genius of a module crafter, and managed to create an entire alternative magical fantasy version of Rasputin Must Die that kicks behind. =^-^=
(Personally I rather like the Tinker Gnome War idea I came up with earlier, but that's just my personal whimsy. I'm not going to bother writing it up as I'll be doing RMD as-written... well, except for the incorporation of Mythic into it and upping the levels and some numbers of foes to compensate for higher-than-normal stats, Mythic status, and the probability we'll have four players and two NPCs in the group.)
Using Greyhawk as an alternative to Earth? Brilliant! Though Oerth and Earth are somewhat related, but that doesn't stop me from loving this! If I didn't plan on running the module as written, I'd total make a detour to one of my favorite D&D settings instead. Though, I was considering Mystara as well (allowing me to utilize the technological aspects as Fallen-Blackmoor!)
Thank you so much for a brilliant alternative. Plus, it'll give people who aren't into adding my banana slices to their peanut butter sandwich (because not everyone likes the choice sandwich of Elvis!)
Awesome idea.
Awesome stuff man. I was gonna go with setting the adventure in an Earth closer to Hellboy's Earth but this is just great. It also helps me make more of a connection to Iggwilv. Still a cameo by Hellboy would be awesome. AH! I can't decide!
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Lol, I am totally gonna play this as written but yesterday night I thought about this taking place in Ravenloft, just for fun I will try to write something in the next couple of days (instead of studying this class about how Phoenicians did spread Egyptian culture all across the Mediterranean Sea).
In the 2e Dancing Hut sourcebook/module it mentions that Baba Yaga has been to Ravenloft and acquired a living wall while there.
Rasputin's villainy could have led him to be swallowed by the mists after he had successfully faked his death. I could see him as a secretive power behind the throne darklord or even to have left politics behind for his true occult plans.
Ravenloft already has the winter Russian domain of Vorostokov with its werewolf lord (and a tie-in module Dark of the Moon) which could be used as well.
Midgard might be cool to make work.
It has lots of Baba Yaga mythology in it already.
I've read only bits and pieces of both the setting and RMD so far but it looks possible.
Perhaps the Warlock of Demon Mountain is Rasputin, all the WWI soldiers are his tiefling descendants who instead of rifles and grenades do 3.5 warlock style hellblasts, either single touch attacks like guns or bursts like grenades.
Anastasia would be a fey rusalka as BY's daughters are in the Midgard world if I remember correctly.
If I had any interest in running under their system I'd be sorely tempted to have the Hut open up to earth and have everything be World of Darkness. Baba Yaga in Vampire the Masquerade is known as a nasty ancient methuselah nosferatu vampire with a ton of magic and so her son Rasputin would be as well.
Having the innocent daughter Anastasia be a vampire could be an interesting twist for a future queen of Irrisen, all her jadwiga would be undead as well.
GURPS VtM might work as well but I don't really have a strong desire to switch systems for each world the hut goes to.
As has been stated earlier, Rasputin Must Die was a major selling point for me, as well! I'm nearly done running Maiden, Mother Crone, so I'll be tackling RMD in a couple of weeks. I also plan on running it as written, but I'm sorely tempted to do the Greyhawk re-skin! Awesome ideas!