4e Source book still possible for Ravenloft

[Pamela]

Surfing on the D&D boards, I came upon this post from Christopher
Perkins on the odds of either Ravenloft or Mystara getting a source book:

A petition isn't likely to resurrect Mystara, I'm afraid. What Mystara lacks is a real hook that sets it apart from generic D&D and other specific D&D settings. (I've always considered Hollow World a more intriguing setting for exactly this reason.)

On the other hand, Ravenloft has a hook (Gothic horror fantasy) that no other D&D setting treads on, which is something worth exploring when the time is right.

Chris

He goes on to say two posts later:

We resurrect old campaign settings for more than just nostalgia reasons. We do it to keep those worlds and intellectual properties alive and active. Names like "Ravenloft" and "Dark Sun" and "Dragonlance" mean a lot to Wizards and to a great many other people. In most cases, it would be a shame to let them simply wither and die. Just like Disney animated movies, we need to pull them out of the vault and dust them off once in a while.

They're posts 68 and 70 on this page: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.ph ... 235&page=3

[alhoon]

Interesting.

[Guardian of Twilight]

I think that they should just leave Ravenloft 3.5, personally. 4E doesn't seem that appealing to me. I don't want to turn my favorite game into something that just doesn't 'fit' with the original feel of D&D. From what all I've read, they've turned the new edition of D&D into a MMORPG. It's a real shame. *sigh*

[Igor the Henchman]

Thanks for the find, Pamela. I think that "Gothic Horror fantasy" is a great way to describe Ravenloft.

[DocBeard]

Yeah-just don't forget any part of that.

[Guardian of Twilight]

Yeah-just don't forget any part of that.

Agreed!

[Troile]

I think that they should just leave Ravenloft 3.5, personally. 4E doesn't seem that appealing to me. I don't want to turn my favorite game into something that just doesn't 'fit' with the original feel of D&D. From what all I've read, they've turned the new edition of D&D into a MMORPG. It's a real shame. *sigh*

I despise 4e too but I don't see a problem with continuing Ravenloft with it.

Some people like 4e and you and I can just ignore whatever they come out with if we don't like it; which is what we're doing already.

That said, I'm skeptical about what they'll do with it. I imagine they'll turn it into a generic horror setting since they abandoned the d&d cosmology. At the very least I imagine the theme of being a prison will be lost.

[Guardian of Twilight]

I think that they should just leave Ravenloft 3.5, personally. 4E doesn't seem that appealing to me. I don't want to turn my favorite game into something that just doesn't 'fit' with the original feel of D&D. From what all I've read, they've turned the new edition of D&D into a MMORPG. It's a real shame. *sigh*

I despise 4e too but I don't see a problem with continuing Ravenloft with it.

Some people like 4e and you and I can just ignore whatever they come out with if we don't like it; which is what we're doing already.

That said, I'm skeptical about what they'll do with it. I imagine they'll turn it into a generic horror setting since they abandoned the d&d cosmology. At the very least I imagine the theme of being a prison will be lost.

I completely agree. I played 2nd Edition Ravenloft and even ran a few sessions of it, but kept feeling like it was just missing a little something. When 3.5 came out, I knew what had been missing. All of the unique ways and options to make characters truly different. With 4E... well, you know how it looks.

[Dimitri Mazieres]

Totally off-topic, but I was under the impression that Christopher Perkins had been laid off during the last round of WotC "re-structuring" process. I guess they must have realized the error of their ways and re-hired him. That gives WotC a glimmer of hope, then.

[Lost Heretic]

I dunno, I just got my copy of Heaven's Bones, the Ravenloft Dominion novel and there isn't one mention of Ravenloft in the novel. Not even "Ravenloft Dominion" anywhere.

That doesn't give me much hope.

[Mouseferatu]

Totally off-topic, but I was under the impression that Christopher Perkins had been laid off during the last round of WotC "re-structuring" process.

Nope. He was never laid off; not sure where you got that idea.

[Mouseferatu]

From what all I've read, they've turned the new edition of D&D into a MMORPG. It's a real shame. *sigh*

Not even remotely. I don't want to turn this into an edition war thread, but I'll say that what you've read is flat-out wrong, at least in my own experience and the experience of many people who are happily playing 4E with as much RP as any prior edition.

A 4E Ravenloft would have to be somewhat different from any prior edition, but that doesn't mean it has to be any less gothic-horror, or any less RP-intensive. It would just have to account for the changed cosmology.

And at least for me personally, that wouldn't be too big a deal. I always found--IME, of course--that Ravenloft campaigns where the PCs were portraying natives of Ravenloft, and "escape" simply wasn't part of the equation, to be much more satisfying than games where the PCs were playing outsiders and all they were interested in was finding their way home.

[Dimitri Mazieres]

Totally off-topic, but I was under the impression that Christopher Perkins had been laid off during the last round of WotC "re-structuring" process.

Nope. He was never laid off; not sure where you got that idea.

You're right. I mistook him for Jonathan Tweet, who was among the people laid off back in December.

[Troile]

And at least for me personally, that wouldn't be too big a deal. I always found--IME, of course--that Ravenloft campaigns where the PCs were portraying natives of Ravenloft, and "escape" simply wasn't part of the equation, to be much more satisfying than games where the PCs were playing outsiders and all they were interested in was finding their way home.

I think it is interesting for natives to find out the truth about Ravenloft bit by bit.

Good for a long running investigative style campaign.

It's horrific to find out that your world is not as you thought it was too. Imagine what the character would feel when she finds out that the entire domain she was in came into existence over night and everyone had false memories and such.

And that there is much else out there and all the "real" gods can't help you but the demons and such can still get in.

etc.

I suppose I'm just saying that you don't have to play a weekend in hell sort of campaign to have it focus on the nature of Ravenloft.

[Mortavius]

I dunno, I just got my copy of Heaven's Bones, the Ravenloft Dominion novel and there isn't one mention of Ravenloft in the novel. Not even "Ravenloft Dominion" anywhere.

That doesn't give me much hope.

Except of course, for all the references to the Vistani, the domain of Kartakass, the Mists, Darklord-like characters who are trapped in their domains, Harkon Lukas, etc.... But you are correct, it doesn't say the word "Ravenloft" anywhere on it.

As for the 4E discussion, I agree with the previous poster who said that if you don't like it, ignore it. It's just a rules-set. We all love the story and tone of Ravenloft. It's just the rules that the game runs under that some people have issue with. Those are easy enough to ignore.