tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post5024840902494436422..comments2024-03-28T18:47:26.087-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Retrospective: Ravenloft: Realm of TerrorJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-89780114242885129512012-09-07T14:04:49.252-04:002012-09-07T14:04:49.252-04:00Just a couple personal notes. I haven't read a...Just a couple personal notes. I haven't read all the others yet.<br />I have also collected nearly all the Ravenloft stuff, except the more recent D20 products. There are a lot of great ideas there.<br />I've been collecting and reading RPGs for a couple decades now. I go through phases, years, where I don't play, just read the stuff.<br />I am trying to remedy that now with Google+ and eventuallt hope to run some games myself.Timothy Schaefernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-9680664257369577592012-08-14T20:59:19.812-04:002012-08-14T20:59:19.812-04:00the hardback Domains of Dread (for me) was the bes...the hardback Domains of Dread (for me) was the best written rpg book ever. No exceptions. And I was also a big planescape fan.Jaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14236653331528808202012-08-05T00:37:26.784-04:002012-08-05T00:37:26.784-04:00I think I bought - and still have - every 2E Raven...I think I bought - and still have - every 2E Ravenloft product; it took me about 5 years to track down RM4: House of Strahd for some reason.<br />I tried picking up the 3E products as well, but they were just harder to find at the time, so I still have gaps there.<br />It was probably my favourite 2E campaign line. I never actually ran a campaign in Ravenloft - I tended to run homebrew, and one player wouldn't play in any campaign with undead - but I was inspired by a lot of the ideas, monsters, and adventures.John B. McCarthynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-47581169591156117082012-07-28T03:54:26.006-04:002012-07-28T03:54:26.006-04:00Don't know, I never really fell for the boxed ...Don't know, I never really fell for the boxed set even though I enjoyed I6 and I10 a lot. I simply found a setting based all on horror clichés just too much of a good thing. In my opinion such elements work best when used sparingly in conjunction with other elements to contrast them to. Also, the somewhat mysterious nature of Barovia from the original module vanished with the boxed set. At least that's how I felt it. What I did enjoy tremendously was the fantastic interior artwork by Stephen Fabian. I just couldn't get enough of his style. Beautiful.Olaf Buddenberghttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001850433674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70637877559654791652012-07-26T16:54:14.168-04:002012-07-26T16:54:14.168-04:00The old DC Heroes RPG's system of using APs to...The old DC Heroes RPG's system of using APs to measure everything under the sun, and making all those tables interact in a uniform way, was one of the most brilliant things I've ever seen. Mutants & Masterminds 3 borrowed the entire system wholesale, which I thought was fantastic.Nathan Eastonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28737923713827464512012-07-26T14:04:14.884-04:002012-07-26T14:04:14.884-04:00Ravenloft has the special distinction of being the...Ravenloft has the special distinction of being the setting for the first AD&D 2E game I ever played. Years later, I ran a 4 year long Play by Post game in the setting-- with the DM from that first campaign as one of the players! Good times.Ewan Cumminshttp://www.facebook.com/people/Ewan-Cummins/100001534131464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-74271050098050930162012-07-26T05:00:45.154-04:002012-07-26T05:00:45.154-04:00D&Ds default setting is already very horror-in...D&Ds default setting is already very horror-inspired (clerics and the undead), and no one finds playing it frightening (as opposed to the people in the 80s who were frightened by what they imagined it was like).<br /><br />Maybe this is why games like Vampire have a reputation for being all about the emotional drama: they could reproduce that part of gothic horror, but not the actual horror.James Hutchingsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-31708341774494931962012-07-25T22:01:18.958-04:002012-07-25T22:01:18.958-04:00I found, and still find, the Ravenloft boxed set i...I found, and still find, the Ravenloft boxed set is tremendously evocative. As you say, the presentation of the setting is very thoughtful, and the fact that it had its own 'suggested reading' list — an Appendix N of its own — was great. More than that, though, the look of the rulebook, the art and layout, and even typography, really helped set a tone. Just a nice package all around.Matthew Surridgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-19927453605627734832012-07-25T18:56:55.677-04:002012-07-25T18:56:55.677-04:00Very good post. i have the same two impressions la...Very good post. i have the same two impressions laid out in text. It's one of my most beloved campaigns in D&D, but a difficult one to DM.Paulo Robertonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-23452541147407967292012-07-25T14:00:16.658-04:002012-07-25T14:00:16.658-04:00Masque of the Red Death is an evocative setting, a...<i>Masque of the Red Death</i> is an evocative setting, and I too prefer it to <i>Ravenloft</i> proper. That said, by placing it in the real world and in an almost-modern era, the problem of it being Too <i>D&D</i> that James mentions is exacerbated.Kelvin Greenhttp://profiles.google.com/thekelvingreennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42869489868669095382012-07-25T13:19:27.445-04:002012-07-25T13:19:27.445-04:00While I liked the original Raveloft Boxed set, I h...While I liked the original Raveloft Boxed set, I have to say that I enjoyed the Masque of the Red Death stuff much more. <br /><br />The 90s were a time when my "home based" RPGs were non-D&D. Things like Champions, DC Heroes (still my favorite game), and Feng Shui took up a lot of my gaming time -- as did Warhammer. That doesn't mean I didn't play any D&D though, as this was also the period when I began playing with an RPGA group. I had a great deal of fun playing in an organized D&D group in addition to my home games.Christian Lindkenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-68470140134655129762012-07-25T13:01:03.706-04:002012-07-25T13:01:03.706-04:00Ravenloft was my holy grail in the late 90's/e...Ravenloft was my holy grail in the late 90's/early 2000. I was never able to track down a copy of the box set for a reasonable price. <br /><br />Just the idea, however, of a gothic horror setting was enough to inspire me to run several adventures in the same vein. <br /><br />One of my players did however find a copy of the "Book of Crypts" a Ravenloft adventure supplement (that includes not a single crypt).Joe Whitehttp://www.facebook.com/eatsmyfoodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45693079824055428022012-07-25T12:55:51.142-04:002012-07-25T12:55:51.142-04:00"
One of my queerest gaming eccentricities is..."<br />One of my queerest gaming eccentricities is that I own nearly all everyRavenloft-related product ever produced."<br /><br />i agree with this 100%. i dont have ALL of it, but its definitely my favorite setting among 2nd Edition. in fact, i bought Masque of the Red Death last year at Gencon for under 20$ still shrink wrapped. making 19th century horror city campaigns where you live = epic. bring out the Lovecraftian vibes. reverse engineer newspaper images from your cities paper archive with weird stories as handouts, etc...Karlhttp://twitter.com/XnontheistXnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-89799480395325933702012-07-25T12:45:38.213-04:002012-07-25T12:45:38.213-04:00"
and a transparent overlay to be used in con..."<br />and a transparent overlay to be used in conjunction with the maps, since, back in those days, TSR felt that including some means of determining distance on the maps themselves somehow detracted from their appearance. (No doubt I read too much into things, but I see such a style vs. substance decision as indicative of a lot about the 2e era)."<br /><br /><br />Forgive me, but I must role my eyes at this.<br /><br /><br />I really liked the transparencies in my Forgotten Realms box set as it kind of feels like getting the best of both worlds.Nick Clinitenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-68677055569557527292012-07-25T11:11:38.590-04:002012-07-25T11:11:38.590-04:00This was the setting friend ran when we were in hi...This was the setting friend ran when we were in high school. It's probably the last thing I played before stopping with D&D for ages and ages. At the time it felt quite different in tone than the sorts of fantasy games we'd normally run when playing D&D.<br /><br /><br />I think the quality of the box sets TSR was putting out at the time was quite good. I was one of the gamers you speak of, who bought all sorts of Dark Sun books that I would read, but not play.funkaoshihttp://funkaoshi.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-80690251528944058222012-07-25T09:58:16.302-04:002012-07-25T09:58:16.302-04:00I also bought this boxed set during a fallow perio...I also bought this boxed set during a fallow period in my gaming career. Years later I did use it in a campaign though. One of the more successful series of linked adventures that I ran involved the mad ruler of a small barony who had discovered the existence of Ravenloft and was trying to get his realm "uplifted" to the demi-plane.<br /><br />I was also quite impressed by the early Ravenloft modules, such as Feast of Goblyns. Although I never used them in anything like their published form but instead strip mined them for locations/NPCs/adventure hooks.Dimitriosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-86433797187760648922012-07-25T09:53:46.548-04:002012-07-25T09:53:46.548-04:00That really was one of the best 2nd edition campai...That really was one of the best 2nd edition campaign sets released. I had a different "timeline" on my gaming experience in the 80's and 90's, giving up AD&D 1st edition by around 1984 to play other games right up until I went to college in 1989, where my group convinced me to try AD&D 2nd edition after spending our first year playing lots of Runequest and Dragonquest. I was hooked...for me 2nd edition clarified and cleaned up everything that had turned me off of 1st, and I managed to play it weekly for the next decade. Ravenloft (along with Spelljammer)was my most visited "official" setting that I used regularly.Nicholas Bergquistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28239449673427532842012-07-25T09:51:51.384-04:002012-07-25T09:51:51.384-04:00I still have this, packed away in the garage. Like...I still have this, packed away in the garage. Like many, I often bought RPG items just to read. But I could never get into this setting because of the concept of all these big bads ruling over a pocket plane. Like many products that came later, there is a tendency to take some iconic monster from D&D and make it into something more. Strahd becomes an evil force ruling a demi plane. Vecna becomes a god in 4E. I think if they would have cut the god like beings ruling demi planes concept, my younger self would have been more willing to give the rules a fair shake.Random Wizardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-25076827784172631192012-07-25T08:24:15.676-04:002012-07-25T08:24:15.676-04:00I was surprised to see that the original Ravenloft...I was surprised to see that the original Ravenloft module came far before V:tM and Interview with a Vampire came far before D&D. I put together a brief timeline at <br />http://www.digitalorc.blogspot.com/2012/07/twinkle-twinkle-little-vamp.htmlDigital Orcnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-6255713598245323022012-07-25T07:06:40.010-04:002012-07-25T07:06:40.010-04:00Ravenloft was my 2nd Edition AD&D world.
My...Ravenloft was my 2nd Edition AD&D world. <br /><br /><br />My experiences were similar (must be the age) and I spent a lot of time reading the material and not as much actually playing it. <br /><br /><br />My own introduction to horror gaming had been earlier with Chill and CoC, but Ravenloft was the best of all worlds, at least to my 20 year old self. <br /><br /><br /> I don't have many of my books any more from then but every so often I like to venture back into the mists.Timothy Brannanhttp://timbrannan.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-84236571627847505882012-07-25T05:52:22.072-04:002012-07-25T05:52:22.072-04:00Ravenloft is definitely one of the cornerstones of...Ravenloft is definitely one of the cornerstones of my 2e collection, and a setting I have used time and again. I too own almost all the material; at least the material pertaining the "1st edition" of the setting, where the setting was supposed to be used as an add-on to other settings. With later material and revised boxed sets, the idea that you could start a campaign in Ravenloft with local characters took hold and essentially destroyed the core premise of the setting. I used it to "send" my players from Greyhawk and Dragonlance, and I played the Hyskosa Prophecy campaign as a "cross-setting" affair across two "main" campaign, and with different character groups.Antonio Eleuterinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-4578382644914359802012-07-25T01:32:16.832-04:002012-07-25T01:32:16.832-04:00Funny thing, my gaming experience in the '80s ...Funny thing, my gaming experience in the '80s was almost exactly the same. I pretty much stopped playing D&D by '85 or thereabouts and didn't game again until about '93. I skipped second edition D&D altogether, and didn't play any version of the game until 3.0, which I actually kind of liked even though it wasn't the old AD&D.Ty Johnstonhttp://www.facebook.com/htjohnstonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-7500431368459344662012-07-25T00:08:51.112-04:002012-07-25T00:08:51.112-04:00I was about 14 years old when we (a friend and I) ...I was about 14 years old when we (a friend and I) bought this boxed set. At the time ITV1 was rerunning old <i>Hammer Horrors</i> at midnight, which created a perfect synergy for us. We did not play a lot of <i>Ravenloft</i>, but they are some of the most memorable sessions we played at that age (which is saying a lot, because we played like crazy). D&D meets Christopher Lee worked great, I remember that my biggest disappointment was the lack of detail for the individual realms in the boxed set.Matthew James Stanhamnoreply@blogger.com