Personal Canon

[Buzzclaw]

I like to set the world to pre-Grand Conjunction standards with a little shifting around.

I like the idea of Bluetspur being part of the core and G'Henna being the southern tip or a pocket domain within (that explains why everyone is starving!). The only problem is I can't figure out how to make Bluetspur "fit in" with the setting...my only real attempt featured a crazy Dwarf darklord who created giant insects as foodsource but then they killed all the other Dwarves and now their souls are trapped in the insect bodies. The Darklord doesn't know this and keeps the bugs alive because he's afraid of loneliness.

Also, I tend to fold Sebua and Har'Akir together, because why do I need two domains of fallen notEgypt?

I also wanted to rearrange the Core so that Lamordia was not connected to the main landmass and Mordent would be the closest nation. Storms, distance, and superstitious Mordentites (?) serve as a big barrier to Lamordia's technology spreading broadly.

I also wanted to put Verbek and Kartakass a lot closer or merge them into two demi-domains. Plenty of oppurtunity for conflict there.

[Rogold Gildenman]

I must admit that I'm rather fond of the idea that Bluetspur isn't just a part of The Core's moon - it IS the moon itself (which means that Ravenloft's moon looks a LOT like an alien brain hanging in the night sky, which seems oddly appropriate).


I also feel that Sir Tristen Hiregaard's somewhat atypical forename is explained away by most Vaasi speakers as deriving from some distant blood-ties to nearby Tepest or far-distant Forfar (in truth it's eminently possible he was named in honour of an ancestor from some part of Faerun far-distant from the original Vaasa).

[Ryan Naylor]

What's wrong with Tristen's name?

I was under the impression Tristen (although admittedly more often spelt Tristan) was not an uncommon Polish name. Presumably borrowed from the German (from the French from the Celtic), but still Polish.


On Bluetspur: I prefer to have it as a (red) comet - its tail like a bloody smear across the sky (hence the name), and appearing to bring madness and ruin whenever the stars are right.

[Dark Angel]

On Bluetspur: I prefer to have it as a (red) comet - its tail like a bloody smear across the sky (hence the name), and appearing to bring madness and ruin whenever the stars are right.

I liked it as a moon, but the comet concept is very cool! I can almost hear myself describing the crackling, flashing lightning storms to astronomers with a powerful enough telescope.

[Rogold Gildenman]

What's wrong with Tristen's name?

In my own opinion nothing at all - however I read on a rather interesting thread detailing the Nova Vaasan underworld in fine detail that at least one patron of these boards had reservations about it and sought to change it into something that admittedly fitted his version of things much more neatly.

While I liked his ideas I didn't agree with all of them, elected to try and offer an alternate.

[Terminusvitae]

One thing I've been doing in my current campaign (and which I wasn't aware I WAS doing until I started making a general outline of if-then occurrences based on the party's decisions and actions) is that I've ended up making the gods, Belenus in particular, reflections of their worshipers rather than the other way around. It's certainly not revolutionary, but Ezra is painted as smothering and overprotective within the bounds set by each Home Faith, the Morninglord is the almost obnoxiously "it is never too late for redemption"-oriented do-gooder, and Belenus is incredibly intolerant of even the slightest mistake and regularly deprives even his greatest champions of their powers in fits of pique over some real (or imagined) error.

This ends up tying in fairly well with my approach of having the Dark Powers essentially being the inmates who run the asylum and that even a darklord's damnation isn't necessarily immutable because the lands and gods themselves certainly aren't. Of course, admitting you've royally screwed up is the first step in the road to redemption, and if the players want to go that route with EVERY darklord they meet and not just the one they're currently bound and determined to save from herself ( ), they'll find it's a rare thing in Ravenloft to face up to one's own failings.

[HuManBing]

Interesting, so it takes the theme of "carrying your own torment within you" and applying it even to religion. I like this interpretation - flavors of Frazier's Golden Bough and moral relativism, with a decent helping of anthropology.

[Joël of the FoS]

IMC, I banished from my campaign these three spells: fly, continual flame and fireball, as being too much on the fantasy side.

It is very easy to use the fly spell and run away, or enter a keep from the top, ruining a DM's plan and game sequence.

Continual Flame? How can you make creepy description of something slithering in the dark and the shadows when a PC can say "Boring. I open continual flame, what do I see?" and ruin the atmosphere you are trying to create! Ungothic spell. The darkness is just too deep on this plane.

And fireball? A wizard with lightning bolt and fireball doesn't take something else on their third level list, when a battle is to be expected. I wanted my PCs to use their brain and do something else.

I had recently a NPC with fireball. I gave the spell an evil descriptor, as it opens a glimpse to a hellish plane. On the other side, to be fair with the players, it will be extremely uncommon that a NPC will throw a fireball at them.

Other banished spells from my campaign? Stonekin, among others!

Thoughts?

[Kadarin]

IMC, I banished from my campaign these three spells: fly, continual flame and fireball, as being too much on the fantasy side.

Well, I can understand this, but for a creativve DM, there are always ways around.

The Fly spell? Some kind of anti-magic field. It isn't very healthy to fall from heights. Especially when you're not expecting it.

Continual Flame? I just read the Clingfire Trilogy by MZ Bradley again. Why don't make it something like that? very hard to come-by components, and a very evil side to it?

Even Fireball could be a dark and evil spell. Maybe it's some kind of Darkfire which is summoned - it would certainly fit into Ravenloft. And you can learn it only from evil wizards - or liches, or some such...

k.

[High Priest Mikhal]

I must admit that I'm rather fond of the idea that Bluetspur isn't just a part of The Core's moon - it IS the moon itself (which means that Ravenloft's moon looks a LOT like an alien brain hanging in the night sky, which seems oddly appropriate).

The idea of Bluetspur being the Core's moon is interesting. After all, the moon has been associated with madness for centuries (Luna, lunacy, you do the math). But making it look like a giant brain is a bit too obvious and too eldritch for a Gothic horror setting. There's also the obvious question of how it affects magic in Sithicus, if at all, especially before the Night of Screaming Shadows when the domain's lunar cycle was just one week.

Something I've also been thinking about is how magic and technology apply across history as represented by Cultural Levels beyond Renaissance. I've seen others do something similar, often ending up with over a dozen clunky individual categories instead of more broad strokes. It's understandable given how rapidly technology changed across the Nineteenth- and especially the Twentieth-Century (more progress in one century than in the entire millennium combined). But for a game staying true to historical accuracy like that doesn't work. I've managed to break it down into four (Early Industrial, Industrial, Nuclear, and Information) but they're much too long to post here. Plus I haven't finished fleshing them out. I also have to consider how magic is affected, both in a world where it's fairly common and a world where it's not (i.e., Gothic Earth). The applications of magic and science working in tandem is...well, I play CthulhuTech and Shadowrun (pre-SR4 only; Catalyst Labs really butchered a classic line with its cookie-cutter rules and abandonment of the setting's unique slang) so that's not unprecedented for me. It's just that D&D magic is so much more complex and capable of so much more than either games' that I'll need time to consider just a fraction of the potential.

Oh, and if anyone can confirm or refute my theory that SR1 materials being rewritten with SR4 rules by CL was to help introduce new players to the setting after a lot of us older gamers just quit buying their books, preferably via PM, I'd appreciate it. Oversimplified, cookie-cutter rules were bad enough, but abandoning the unique slang of the setting? That was too far, fraggers. CL can eat drek and die for what they did (and I hold all of the original writers who participated in the same low esteem). Not to mention their dirty pool with the CthulhuTech creators that is still in litigation. Boycott Catalyst Labs until they're bankrupt; you'll be doing the RPG world a favor. /rant

[Dark Angel]

I have always viewed technology and magic in a similar vein to Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Twain. As technology advances, it bears strong similarities to more 'primitive' magics. With that said, items no longer replace magic, they assume magical abilities that anyone can use. Think of the massive firepower of a volley of gunpowder weapons can unleash from relatively low level soldiers against a lance charge of mid level knights or potions and elixers (and priest spells for this matter) that can be rerepresented as medicines (think Borca). Now think of a telephone with clairaudience cast on it, a robotic servant that does the same thing as unseen servant, and a incendiary grenade launcher that bears strong resemblance to fireballs. The difference is anyone can use an item (within reason) and not require decades of training and studying. This is a surprising rant-like thought stream for so early in the day. Think caffeine is in order...

[High Priest Mikhal]

Technically Borcans make use of more mundane herbal concoctions (what native peoples still use and "modern" people used before chemistry isolated the active compounds) and equally mundane poisons than anything truly magical. Ivana's elixir notwithstanding. But yeah, technology taking the place of lower-level magic I've already considered. The role of spellcasters isn't necessarily diminished, it just changes as technology begins to emulate much of magic's abilities. Field medics and MASH units won't completely replace divine spellcasters, for example, they just offer new ways to use them in war.

Plus there are some things technology can do that magic can't. In that way it complements magic. A fusion of magic and technology is one thing I'm considering, but the rarity of magic even in the core D&D setting means such things would necessarily be rare and likely restricted to government agencies and super-rich megacorporations who can afford the prices demanded by those skilled enough to cast the proper spells, let alone comprehend complex techno-arcane principles.

[Dark Angel]

Technically Borcans make use of more mundane herbal concoctions (what native peoples still use and "modern" people used before chemistry isolated the active compounds) and equally mundane poisons than anything truly magical. Ivana's elixir notwithstanding. But yeah, technology taking the place of lower-level magic I've already considered. The role of spellcasters isn't necessarily diminished, it just changes as technology begins to emulate much of magic's abilities. Field medics and MASH units won't completely replace divine spellcasters, for example, they just offer new ways to use them in war.

Plus there are some things technology can do that magic can't. In that way it complements magic. A fusion of magic and technology is one thing I'm considering, but the rarity of magic even in the core D&D setting means such things would necessarily be rare and likely restricted to government agencies and super-rich megacorporations who can afford the prices demanded by those skilled enough to cast the proper spells, let alone comprehend complex techno-arcane principles.

Yeah, that is what I meant regarding Borcans (although they have a lot of alchemists, that still counts as a magic user). I use the rule of a technology that has a similar spell result as a spell, I use that spell as a framework. I had used an outsider mage who took an interest in the technologies of the Northwest Core and made what are basically the Warforged from Eberron. I came up with the unique components that would be needed (my group is a pain like that when small details come to their attention are used. They never asked. Bunch of crap) and the plan got scrapped when half the group rebelled against said mage and destroyed his work.

[High Priest Mikhal]

Um...are we talking about the same thing here, Dark Angel? The Craft (alchemy) skill is not magic, it's a fantasy equivalent of mundane chemistry. As are most items made with it (even some that say they can only be made by spellcasters, like acid). The Brew Potion and philosophical alchemy feats from VRA are magic. Most Borcan concoctions are purely misunderstood chemistry and herbal lore and are not at all magical. The ones who make them are apothecaries, not true alchemists.

[Joël of the FoS]

IMC, I banished from my campaign these three spells: fly, continual flame and fireball, as being too much on the fantasy side.

Well, I can understand this, but for a creativve DM, there are always ways around.

The Fly spell? Some kind of anti-magic field. It isn't very healthy to fall from heights. Especially when you're not expecting it.

Sure, I have plenty of ideas to do this, don't worry

But there can't be always all the time something against flying PCs, it would not make sense that a normal house would be covered with an anti magic field, or that forgotten castle is patroled by flying monsters, or people with crossbows, etc.

Just not Ravenloftish to my taste, so the spell doesn't exist IMC. I see RL heroes as ordinary people that get exceptional with training. They learn tricks and can use magic. But they are not the staple fantasy wizard, I do not see that as RLish.

And often, a RL scenario is made with sequencial scenes, say from the front door to the attic, that adds layers after layers of atmosphere and mystery, and if they get to the attic first it ruins your DM plan (which is OK, that is what a game is about A good DM can adapt), but more importantly, it ruins the mood.

IMC, I had them stuck in the Dread Pass at night. That was very cool, and the fly spell would have ruined the atmosphere.

That is more or less my thinking about banning some high fantasy spells.

Continual Flame? I just read the Clingfire Trilogy by MZ Bradley again. Why don't make it something like that? very hard to come-by components, and a very evil side to it?

Easier: it just doesn't exist, The darkness is too deep in the land of the mists

Even Fireball could be a dark and evil spell. Maybe it's some kind of Darkfire which is summoned - it would certainly fit into Ravenloft. And you can learn it only from evil wizards - or liches, or some such...

What I did, IMC, fireball is an evil spell. As I said: in the reverse, to be fair with the players, they won't get every enemy throwing fireball at them, it will be extremely rare.

Joël