User:Average/Ravenloft

STUB ...in development

...where the Ravens come home to rest. Combine Edgar Allen Poe, Dracula, Werewolves, gypsies, a pinch of the post-apocalypse from Savage Worlds, and perhaps even... the Batman (Get it? Muhahaha.) and you've pretty much have the landscape of this campaign.

Barovia, a once-utopian idyll, now transformed into a dark wasteland of confusion, horror, and disease.

Strahd von Zarovich, a tortured soul, after having been cut down from his power by tragic events which ended in the loss of his beloved, now stays vigilant for vengeance. The Countess (FIXME Ilsa?) was his yin to his yang. Imagine a woman equal in power and prestige to Strahd (before his loss), and you'll start to imagine the signifance -- a balance unseen in your realm, intrepid adventurer. This is how to understand it`s diseased state. For it was the love of those two that kept the power of the realm in balance, allowing the creation of advanced items unseen in any other realm (note to DMs up to ~1850s, mechanical calculators, pocket watches, iron age beauties).

Now the realm is in complete disarray and confusion. If you're a DM, this campaign is good to throw onto your players when they get too wily and annoying ("All of a sudden a mist envelops you and the party!"). You can channel all of your passive-aggressive anger you've kept in reserve into Strahd.

The campaign book lists Strahd at level 18 or something, but no NPC that is capable of holding a whole realm like Ravenloft could be merely 18. No, to hold a realm puts the power at level 50, at least. But, it is probably a combination of levels: 25 for Strahd and 25 for Ilsa. Since his wife is dead, that power is now held in/by the moon, and he gets more power when it waxes to full. When it wanes, the foggy mist creeps in and holds the land in its stasis. In fact, you could use the state of the moon in RL for choosing how to start the campaign.

Strahd sees through the eyes of all his familiars: the eyes of the bats, werewolves, wererats and sometimes crows such that live in and around his land. It would be extremely difficult to sneak up on him. He'll see you coming. In fact he knows where you are pretty much at all times. He simply waits. Quoth the Raven: "Nevermore" <-- is Strahd's pain.

Imagined scenario:

The door open automatically when you arrive. It opens into the darkness, but there's no one there. You follow the light where you catch a glimpse of Strahd sitting at a table, eyes cast downward at something on the table. He showed no sign of seeing you, but he speaks without moving a breath (if you were stealthy, otherwise he gazes right into you:) "Why didn't you accept my invitation?"

Any hesitation in your answer and he immediately throws a critical, from catching you off-guard. What that is (a weapon, a spell) -- he gets because you're in his territory and he set up the context for engagement.

Playing Strahd demands a very sophiticated level of game play. Letting Strahd get defeated may not be possible and isn't necessarily the wisest strategy. If you play your cards (ahem) right, you could restore sanity to the land and get access to unique and valuable steam-punkish/industrial game items. OR perhaps you'll be given a permanent residence, and gifted with elite EQ items that couldn't simply be reproduced or stolen, like the sun-sword -- for its power comes from the gods. Remember this is a level 50 character. Various puzzles may allow you to spin it back into the light.

Strahd knows when you're being honest and quietly favors those few who show purity rather than bravado.

So, the moon belongs to his world, not ours. When it wanes, the her forces are less and the anger of Strahd increases and he gets a positive +HIT bonus. When it waxes, players get more latitude. In fact, you could choose which campaign start scenario by the phase of the moon. I think the mist start is for the new/missing moon. You can play that and see if the characters notice. Perhaps an NPC will. In a way Strahd is trapped like the characters. He's only undead rather than dead because the hands of Fate have dealt him this. already and the only way for him to get back the kingdom is to remake the love. He knows that only through

Coptic Cross of Strahd... Here's some background arcana. The story of dracula and vampires is all related to the pain body of the Christ. When society doesn't respect the pain of the Cross, the vampire stories swell. It is essentially, Christ getting back his own blood waiting for the Creator to get Justice.

The sunsword is a very powerful weapon, but it takes exceedingly good alignment to wield it otherwise it will burn you from it's righteousness (if you've killed a good-aligned character for example, or without giving piety to their gods, in the case of animals). To wield it in it's original form would take angelic alignment of a level 100 character. So, instead it is suggested that any such sword is a part of the original sword of which now exists in approximately 20 different pieces (different swords which are in other games). These could be kept by a Magic, the Gathering type card collectible with a serial number to know how many have been released.

A much saner weapon is Dawnbringer. Such a sword should be gifted by Strahd himself upon reaching some mutual agreement.

If such a sword were ever brought back together in its totality, it would be a formidible weapon capable of defeating any negative character with a single blow. In other words, this sabre of light is probably the most prized weapon of the whole game, of any realm. The length of any given diminished sunsword is equal to the number of such swords combined into one. So it's becomes a piercing, short-ranged weapon until all the pieces are brought together.

Unless you checked for any spies before gathering the sun sword, one of his familiars most certianly saw that you have it, so of course Strahd knows you have it. That will steal your thunder when you whip it out to try to slaughter him and cost you any surprise attack you hoped you had packed along with you. Further, it will strangely malfunction in his presence without light.

So if you accepted the invitation, you may be greeted with a variety of dinner courses which may not suit you and are a test of sorts of your will, all reflective of the pain endured and the . During dinner Strahd is going to test you because he is looking for partners that are capable of running his world -- not in the dark ways it is now of ravenloft, but transformed into the light to be a beacon rivaling Waterdeep and surrounding territory.

But if you are small potatoes, he may decide to put you on an errand. Declining that, he is likely to kill you. That means,most likely, TPK.

Here the Tarroka deck may be employed by the DM to bring elements that the DM knows about the players in the outer world into the game-world, breaking the "sixth-wall" barrier in a controlled way between the two. As a small example, he may know that you took something from one of the other side-adventures and bring it up at dinner. Honesty may be important here to keep your life. "And what makes you think you deserve X?" Or as a more diabolical example, he may bring elements that players have kept secret in real life and bring them out in the open. This requires a high degree of mastery of the DM to not reveal his or her hand as a person in the players world, but as the game master creating the world within. Yes, Strahd is a powerful enough neuromancer that he may know your thoughts even now...

But Strahd is also a victim of his own success. He would take delight in clever and cunning uses of theatre. If a DM can get a player to leave the gaming table in fear, for example, that would be a true sign of success and the DM should surely be awarded some fine prize.

STUB these are all stub ideas to be expanded upon later...