Quoth the Raven #28 review thread

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Wanted to let others have the first reactions. Now I'll start posting mine. It was an incredibly good (and big!) issue this year, with an unusual number of articles fitting the theme. (I guess "Alternate Reality" is kind of where a lot of QTR articles fall in general, so it was an easy fit. ) Thank you again to everyone who contributed!

In no particular order (ok, the order I proofread them in...)

The Grand Estate Cluster - Some of you may know my personal "meh" feelings about new domains in general, but this was an unusually good set of them. I don't know how much is from the game, which I haven't played, and how much was added here, but they fit perfectly as Ravenloft domains, and I love the idea of a cluster with such a strong connection between the darklords and the domains. I would have liked to see a section of what each darklord thinks about the others, though I can understand they are focused on their own goals and their common enemy in Lachlan. Still, it would be nice to have some tentative alliances/factions between them. All very evocative and clever variations on the theme, so it never got too repetitive, even if they all sort of follow the same pattern. I'm curious where these corrupting books came from in the first place. Was there an ancestor that ended up dooming the whole family by writing them? or was it an outside influence like a demon or the dark powers themselves?

Hands Stained with Shadow - A nice article in the vein of the classic ones it acknowledges, taking a crunchy sourcebook and melding it with Ravenloft flavor. Without having the book in question, I have to take the descriptions here at face value, but they are quite good. Author shows a good and deep working knowledge of the domains, and all the placements for these subclasses seem right. Some very clever takes on some of them as well. I particularly like the fractured barbarian as a Jeckyl/Hyde variant. I did take the liberty of adding Nosos as another source of vermin lords, as it seemed too perfect not to mention.

The Chibiloft comics: Cute and fun. Always nice to see the lighter side of Ravenloft poke through. Reminds me of the comics page in the old Dragon mags, which was always a highlight.

Heroes of Chibiloft: very cute as well. Seems Rock has put a lot more thought into these characters than is obvious from the comics. A fun look into their backgrounds, even if of debatable use for DMs. I suppose one might drop these guys in for a cameo if a campaign is light enough to warrant it.

Cursed Items: Short and sweet. Could have used an intro paragraph or two, but I do like how it gets right to the point, and several of these items are real spooky winners. I particularly like the cradle and the flying cloak.

Judgement on Silent Wings - another short and sweet one. I haven't looked back at the original Owlmay articles in decades, so I don't know how much is new here, and I don't know 5e rules well, so I can't comment on the crunch much, but with those caveats in mind, this seems like a good translation. Nothing extraneous, well written and to the point.

Scenes from a Starving Land - a nice elaboration on a rarely used domain. I like that it makes it feel a bit more lived-in than usual. I didn't quite understand the situation with "The Jackal," though. Is the Captain the same person as the Widow? Did she kill her own husband? Also, the wereweasels seemed to come out of nowhere. Did I miss them in the story somewhere? But aside from those small confusions, quite nice.

Excerpts from the Registry of Monsters - I enjoyed the first in this series last year. This one is more of a mixed bag for me. I get the feeling that a lot of them are evocative from a different cultural perspective than I am familiar with, so they don't quite make sense to me in my usual "Ravenloft Mind". But the artwork is high quality and creepy and the stories that did hit for me hit well.

Dovehome - Well, we've got an anchor for our theme! A mixed bag, but overall fun "What If?" of various Ravenloft stories. I think they work better individually than as a cohesive demiplane. Some might make for a fun romp of a side-quest in a magic mirror or via the butterfly effect of time travel or somesuch, after a party has already met the "real" version for contrast. I particularly like the Carnival, and also how the Brain/Dominic still dance around each other in secret, but for different reasons now. The Adam story was a very cool spin on things, though the already murky situation of "who deserves to be darklord of Lamordia?" gets even murkier when you try to flip things around. Victor was never portrayed a saint, and here he's arguably even worse, while Adam gets to be better and Elise stays roughly the same. So, in isolation, it's a good alternative take, but I don't know if it fits in Dovehome. Maybe it fits better in Ravenloft proper, with Victor as darklord instead of Adam.

The Falk Files - First off, Mikhail's art is stunning throughout, as usual. Professional quality that would be right at home in a real published RL book.

Part 1 - Falkovnia Uber Alles - Those who like Falkovnians as Nazis will like this one. Those that don't... won't. It leans in heavily to the racist undertones of the society by creating a "hard-core" level of racism within this society. The "Leibenborn" aside is particularly disturbing, possibly more than is comfortable for some. But by concentrating the real Nazis into this society, it does leave open the door for more sympathetic Falkovnian soldiers who might be just "following orders" and not quite as egregious as these guys, which could be good when trying to recruit rebels without having to have them also be despicable.

Part 2 - Sins of the Father - very nice fleshing out of Vigo. I like that it gives him motivation and schemes beyond the goals of his two "fathers". Lots of good adventure hooks for adventures in Falkovnia. Would definitely use a lot of this. His connection to both Bluebeard and the Grim Harvest may be a bit much, though. I might just keep one or the other but not both to avoid any "Mary Sue" vibes. I like the Death's Head Rings bit, so the GH part would probably be the one to keep for me, and the retconning to fix "Vito Romenza"'s long-standing dukkar issues is a nice one.

Part 3 - nice stuff, but seems to lose direction a bit in the middle and shift from assassination attempts to rebel groups, which are related but not the same thing. Also, I'm not super keen on every attack from Drakov on a neighboring domain being predicated by an assassination attempt. I'd prefer if they were of his own accord. But with that said, I do like having lots of stuff to pick and choose from. I can always dump the ones I don't use and in my campaign they never happened. (I need to come up with a succinct name for that idea: It seems overstuffed, but if you view them as DM options and only use some, the end result is not overstuffed, but just the right variety to pick from. Something like "The Buffet Effect"? Eh.. I'll keep working on it.)

Part 4 - (as an editor) oh my god, it's 38 pages. hold me..... (as a reader) Fun kind of "Game of Thrones" amongst the kobolds, lizardmen, draconians, and minotaurs stuff. At first, I wasn't sure how relevant any of it is to modern Falkovnia. Certainly wasn't sure it merited more pages than the first 3 parts of Falk Files combined! And while I get the point of the almost-but-not-quite similarity between the names "Bakiliskis" and "Basiliscus", boy is that difficult to keep straight, especially when proof-reading and making sure the right one is used. I can almost guarantee I got it wrong once or twice. But as I read further, there were so many plot hooks and adventure ideas that I was won over. An incredible amount of extrapolation from a few brief lines in the Gaz, and involving draconians and bakali was a great way to bring in Drakov's often neglected origin on Krynn. Still, it's SO VERY LONG! Probably a lot could have been cut down, but I did like it.

Part 5 - The Cyclops's legacy. Love, love, love this one. I've always liked Vjorn as the Mengele of Falkovnia, and this fleshes out still more of his experiments, and they are all great ones that fit the genre and provide adventure hooks. Shades of Castle Wolfenstein, Stranger Things, Stargate, so many other great "mad scientist working for the government/military " motifs, all fit right in at the Ministry of Science. I'd like to the think the time-shifting tunnel gets its powers from the nearby temporal fugue of the Shadow Rift, though it wasn't mentioned. I really love the idea of the Apparatus as a link between New Ravenloft and Old Ravenloft. Beautiful idea, a great hook to use, and it brings this whole series of articles into the Issue's theme. A+

To pull back the curtain a bit, at this point I was starting to despair over us having time to proofread everything. So even though I loved the Falk files articles, looking ahead I said to the group: "And now... 36 pages about a Conch Shell. Really, Mephisto? OK.... here I go, diving in. You might not hear from me for a few days...."

I only bring that up because the next thing I wrote, 3 days later was: OK, finally finished the Conch Shell. I should not have doubted Mephisto. He knows how to weave a tale, and how to bring disparate elements to their natural conclusions, creating adventure hooks along the way. A great synthesis of the Dungeon adventure "Unkindness of Raven's" and the multiple past QtR issues, with a splash of Lovecraft to pull it all together. It is incredibly long. But worth it. Again, the art is better than many professional publications, and this one has awesome cartography as well! (As an editing note, I do wish the transformation pages were text and not images. There are some corrections I would have made, but I didn't have time to re-type everything to do so. )

Dementlieu - It's Mistmaster's theme to shine in. Another in his series remaking everything. I must say, I really like the historical additions, making it feel more like a cohesive world. But as a huge fan of the original Dementlieu, personally, some of the changes do seem unnecessary, like giving Balfour's powers check to La Grange for example, or changing the church from LN to LG. I love all the new NPCs and as always, the inclusion of an adventure hook for each one. More invitees for my next P-a-L dinner party! Very cute inclusion of "JJ." (I see your inspiration in name and character there!) But a nice twist to have him actually be the hero he vilifies. I don't have Occult Adventures yet, but Mesmerist sounds perfect for Dominic. I like the addition of Allan (Alanik) and Aubrecker (the Brain) as college buddies/rivals of Dominic. Interesting to see him develop his power and evil later than the canon version, no longer hitting the "bad seed" trope, but instead, a more realistic evolution into who we know him to be.

more to come....

[Rock of the Fraternity]

The Chibiloft comics: Cute and fun. Always nice to see the lighter side of Ravenloft poke through. Reminds me of the comics page in the old Dragon mags, which was always a highlight.

Thanks, Ron! It's my belief that if the setting is one of unrelieved gloom and grimness, it passes from gothic into existential horror ... and that's more Call of Cthulhu-territory than the Ravenloft I've come to love.
So: Chibiloft.

Heroes of Chibiloft: very cute as well. Seems Rock has put a lot more thought into these characters than is obvious from the comics. A fun look into their backgrounds, even if of debatable use for DMs. I suppose one might drop these guys in for a cameo if a campaign is light enough to warrant it.

Yup! I even have some ideas as to what might happen to Wick if he doesn't shape up going forward... The Path of the Pharaoh is not going to be kind.
If someone does fancy one of my little Heroes for a cameo, I only ask you let me know how it goes.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

First of, thank you for your patience

The Falk Files - First off, Mikhail's art is stunning throughout, as usual. Professional quality that would be right at home in a real published RL book.

Thank you, I wanted to recreate Stephen Fabian's atmosphere but I guess some are more Mark Nelson and some others like the various Basilisks are more crude.

Part 1 - Falkovnia Uber Alles - Those who like Falkovnians as Nazis will like this one. Those that don't... won't.

True.

Although I see Falkovnia as a mixture of Nazi Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union, Mussolini's Italy (echoing maybe in "The Bloody Ride"... bloody equivalent of "The March on Rome"?), Vlad Drakov's rule of Wallachia and in extent (to the last one) inspired by byzantine ruthless emperors like Basil II Porphyrogenitus, nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer, who after crushing the Bulgarians, exacted a cruel vengeance. He was said to have captured 15,000 prisoners and fully blinded 99 of every 100 men, leaving one one-eyed man in each cohort to lead the rest back to their ruler Samuel. Samuel was struck down by the sight of his blinded army and died two days later.

The "Leibenborn" aside is particularly disturbing, possibly more than is comfortable for some.

More disturbing is that this is based on a historical fact, the Lebensborn (Fount of Life) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn

But by concentrating the real Nazis into this society, it does leave open the door for more sympathetic Falkovnian soldiers who might be just "following orders" and not quite as egregious as these guys, which could be good when trying to recruit rebels without having to have them also be despicable.

I view Falkovnia as a domain of the oppressed where all people including the army are oppressed (the Talons are fanatics but oppressed too since they wear talon bracers). Also Gondegal was in the Falkovnian army and although he was not good he wasn't evil either (he was Chaotic Neutral in 2e Realm of Terror). Not all people in the Falkovnian army are evil per se, some join the army only to survive and not face the fate commoners face in Falkovnia. Think of Edmund Burke's famous quote

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” for those who are good

or the Milgram experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment for those who "follow orders".

Also it can be used as a way to escape certain doom for the party explaining why a soldier may turn a blind eye if they are spotted in an unfortunate situation.

His connection to both Bluebeard and the Grim Harvest may be a bit much, though. I might just keep one or the other but not both to avoid any "Mary Sue" vibes.

They are Dread Possibilities they are not both in effect necessarily. I agree that it is too much to use both, it depends on the campaign someone wants to create.

As for "Vito Romenza"' I wasn't sure how that would be received, since I wasn't sure if there was a plan to have him officially as one of the GC children. I am glad you liked this "alternate version"

Part 3 - nice stuff, but seems to lose direction a bit in the middle and shift from assassination attempts to rebel groups, which are related but not the same thing.

It is funny someone wrote before the assassination attempts are too many, I just based this on actual assassination attempts against that cropped moustache guy in the span of only 12 years (1932-1944) Drakov should have even more. Yes the article shifts a bit thats why the "other acts of rebellion" was added to the article description. I thought of how is it possible for these revolutionary groups to keep going, who supports them financially where they get the weapons from etc. So I thought that there should be a kind of cooperation or support network among these groups all over the core. An underground network that helps them continue their struggle against oppressors, with a probable support from each other... or not.

Also the decline in assassination attempts against Drakov coincides with the probable positioning of Vigo Drakov as Misnister of the Central Prison, a master interrogator, gaining information of would-be attempts.

Also, I'm not super keen on every attack from Drakov on a neighboring domain being predicated by an assassination attempt. I'd prefer if they were of his own accord.

Each assassination attempt is not necessarily the cause for an invasion against Darkon, since that is Drakovs focus as it is the largest domain as it was described in older versions of Falkovnia, when they coincide maybe it is because they are attempts to stop the invasion and save lives, this is how I thought of them, not necessarily as reprisals. Reprisals as described are more against "minor" domains.

I see your point, maybe some could be just rumours or feigned reasons to justify an invasion to another domain. Stalin's Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939 after a false flag operation in the borders between the two countries, maybe Drakov uses the same tactic or pays provocateurs to "justify" his invasions.

But with that said, I do like having lots of stuff to pick and choose from. I can always dump the ones I don't use and in my campaign they never happened. (I need to come up with a succinct name for that idea: It seems overstuffed, but if you view them as DM options and only use some, the end result is not overstuffed, but just the right variety to pick from. Something like "The Buffet Effect"? Eh.. I'll keep working on it.)

The Buffet-Fly Effect?
I created these more as options and themes to be inspired from as random encounters/events or adventure hooks.

Part 4 - (as an editor) oh my god, it's 38 pages. hold me.....

Fun kind of "Game of Thrones" amongst the kobolds, lizardmen, draconians, and minotaurs stuff.

Basiliscus was a Byzantine Emperor in the 5th Century AD I used parts from his life to create the arch-villain of this article with some reptilian flavour. The Dragon Emperor Bakiliskis was a transition from the evil emperor to the freedom fighter gladiator known as "The Basilisk".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basiliscus

At first, I wasn't sure how relevant any of it is to modern Falkovnia.

My first inspiration actually came from the quote from Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in the beginning of the article. I wanted to create a character that had elements of Coppola's "historical" Vlad Tepes Dracula, this is why I searched on byzantine history as Vlad III Drăculea lived in the time of the fall of Constantinople, for instance the Dread Possibility: An Ancient Bloodline was partly inspired by Vlad Dracula's brother, Radu the Handsome. Also the idea of Basiliscus possible resurrection could explain the throngs of undead attacking 5th edition Falkovnia.

Also I had the concept of having the Mercenary King (Drakov), the Lost King (Gondegal), and the Liizard King (Basiliscus the Traitor) in the same domain. And the reptilian equivalent of Gondegal as a lizardman Spartacus, it suits the theme of the Eastern Roman Empire that I was partly inspired from for Falkovnia (take note in Spartacus time there was no Roman Empire just Roman Republic, he existed 1500 years before Dracula). In a way Vlad Drakov is inspired by a historical figure (Vlad Tepes Dracula) who lived in the end of the Eastern Roman Empire and The Basilisk is inspired by a historical figure who died half a century before the beginning of the Roman Empire. Also the connection between Falkovnia and the Roman Empire is evident in the use of The Imperial League of Minotaurs in the article, a fantasy equivalent of the Roman Empire (which was glorified in Mussolini's Italy, who aimed to restore the ancient grandeur of the Roman Empire).

And while I get the point of the almost-but-not-quite similarity between the names "Bakiliskis" and "Basiliscus", boy is that difficult to keep straight, especially when proof-reading and making sure the right one is used. I can almost guarantee I got it wrong once or twice.

That must have been a pickle...
I 've already found one misspelling

An incredible amount of extrapolation from a few brief lines in the Gaz

The Spawn of the Lizard first appeared in Domains of Dread in 1997 and I was intrigued by this group of kobolts since then. I had began this article for QtR#27 but decided to focus on the Borcan Epic, this is the title of that article not my impression of it , so I left it as a draft. Then I had a year to rethink it and it went to a totally different direction which was far better than my first one (involving a lizard king a half-demonic descendant of Sess'innek's tanar'ri army). it didn't fit Vlad's Dragonlance origins. I kept some parts as the ancient tomb in the Crumbling Hills and the lone tribless lizardman and changed everything else, inspired by the Vlad Tepes Dracula vibe of the domain and thought of the reincarnation scenario fitting the Draculesque theme of the domain.

By the way I was really glad when The Spawn of the Lizard re-appeared in 3e, it is funny because I had the impression that it was mentioned in some lines in the Red Box or one of the Van Richtens latest Guides and reread them fast trying desperately to find it. Fortunately Mistipedia saved me from searching more as that was a false memory .

Still, it's SO VERY LONG! Probably a lot could have been cut down

Yes probably I shouldn't have added Octoberfest...

I'd like to the think the time-shifting tunnel gets its powers from the nearby temporal fugue of the Shadow Rift, though it wasn't mentioned.

That is a good idea and no I hadn't thought of it, I just wrote the Time-tunnel as a prop to finish the story in my article . It was inspired by the Netflix series The Dark and especially the 60's series The Time Tunnel but wanted to have a more "natural" reason for it's existence. I am not a fan of the this idea though (I mean the time tunnel in general not the Shadow Rift explanation), but maybe some other DMs are.

"And now... 36 pages about a Conch Shell. Really, Mephisto? OK.... here I go, diving in. You might not hear from me for a few days...."

At first the article didn't include Douglas Danton and the Unkidness of Ravens, but as the fiction story evolved I thought I should include these too instead of just name-throwing them (as in VRGtR), so it exceeded what I had written in the beginning, becoming almost two times bigger.

(As an editing note, I do wish the transformation pages were text and not images. There are some corrections I would have made, but I didn't have time to re-type everything to do so. )

Sorry about that it won't happen again.
I rewrote in a previous post one that is missing so you won't have to re-type it.

PS
At least my comments take less space than my articles...

[IanFordam]

Scenes from a Starving Land - a nice elaboration on a rarely used domain. I like that it makes it feel a bit more lived-in than usual. I didn't quite understand the situation with "The Jackal," though. Is the Captain the same person as the Widow? Did she kill her own husband? Also, the wereweasels seemed to come out of nowhere. Did I miss them in the story somewhere? But aside from those small confusions, quite nice.

Thank you for the detailed comments!

Regarding the Jackal, my ill-conveyed intention was that "the Jackal's widow" is a fiction which the Captain created to obscure her role as the new Jackal. When running "Circle of Darkness" I knew that if I didn't toss in something to throw my players off the scent, they'd immediately realize that the Captain and the Jackal were one and the same.

Oh, and neither the Hounds of Zhakata nor the wereweasels show up in the stories. They're just bonus monsters!

[Hell_Born]

Hands Stained with Shadow - A nice article in the vein of the classic ones it acknowledges, taking a crunchy sourcebook and melding it with Ravenloft flavor. Without having the book in question, I have to take the descriptions here at face value, but they are quite good. Author shows a good and deep working knowledge of the domains, and all the placements for these subclasses seem right. Some very clever takes on some of them as well. I particularly like the fractured barbarian as a Jeckyl/Hyde variant. I did take the liberty of adding Nosos as another source of vermin lords, as it seemed too perfect not to mention.

Judgement on Silent Wings - another short and sweet one. I haven't looked back at the original Owlmay articles in decades, so I don't know how much is new here, and I don't know 5e rules well, so I can't comment on the crunch much, but with those caveats in mind, this seems like a good translation. Nothing extraneous, well written and to the point.

Thank you for the high praise of both! I was honestly incredibly worried about Hands Stained With Shadow, simply because I was convinced I was not seeing all the potential interplay between subclasses and domains, especially the more antiheroic ones like the Oath of Pestilence Paladin. I considered adding a basic summary of each subclass's mechanics, but I doubted my ability to provide an explanation that was succinct but also didn't just repeat the mechanics so anyone could simply read the article and play them.

I didn't even notice the Nosos addition in the netbook, so it must have slipped in simply flawlessly. You're right in that it does make a lot of sense.

To be honest, with Judgement on Silent Wings, I was worried I was not putting enough flavor in, especially given the very distinct twist I put on the original Owlmay lore by making them a cursed order whose powers come at a most definite price. I had my reasons for going with the player options I provided, as stated earlier in this thread, but I'm glad that the end result wasn't too offensive.

Looking forward to seeing your opinions on my other submissions!

[Mistmaster]

Dementlieu - It's Mistmaster's theme to shine in. Another in his series remaking everything. I must say, I really like the historical additions, making it feel more like a cohesive world. But as a huge fan of the original Dementlieu, personally, some of the changes do seem unnecessary, like giving Balfour's powers check to La Grange for example, or changing the church from LN to LG. I love all the new NPCs and as always, the inclusion of an adventure hook for each one. More invitees for my next P-a-L dinner party! Very cute inclusion of "JJ." (I see your inspiration in name and character there!) But a nice twist to have him actually be the hero he vilifies. I don't have Occult Adventures yet, but Mesmerist sounds perfect for Dominic. I like the addition of Allan (Alanik) and Aubrecker (the Brain) as college buddies/rivals of Dominic. Interesting to see him develop his power and evil later than the canon version, no longer hitting the "bad seed" trope, but instead, a more realistic evolution into who we know him to be.

Thanks, I'm glad you appreciated JJ. As for the things you did not appreciate, I decided to leave Balfour undescribed to allow everyone to characterize him as they prefer. So I decided to give his owl-like neck articolation to La Grange instead as he is described. The change of alignement of the Dementlieuse branch of Ezran faith was done to enfatize the schism occurred after the Great Revolution. I'm glad you appreciated the changes to Dominic's past, I really don't like the bad seed trope, it does not fit in my own vision of free will and choises.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

more reviews:
Mistmaster's Lamordia - I feel like adding a city named Mordenheim is just asking for confusion, but whatever works for you. Very interesting to give Elise a more active role, contrasting her to Victor as an Oracle vs. Scientist. With Anabelle, the superhero references keep coming, I see. Blue-skinned, red-haired, yellow-eyed shapeshifter woman, huh? Played by Rebecca Romijn or Jennifer Lawrence? And Der WinterFalk too.... Bucky, no! The added religious overtones are interesting, but I prefer the Lamordians as mostly Athiest/Deist. I expect that if these religions still exist, they are mostly small cults. The artificer class fits well in the domain, though it's an awful lot of crunch that could probably mostly have been summarized with a search and replace on the Alchemist. I really like the nano-golem idea. A bit sci fi, but very creepy when you think about it. (Now I'm picturing red blood cells floating around with "Frankenstein stitches", maybe even a small nerve cell grafted to them. Silly maybe, but creepy).


Mistmaster's Invidia - A very interesting twist on Gabrielle's backstory to make her old enough to remember Falkovnia, and also to leave Isabella alive. Sorry, but "Vistani City" does not compute for me. Wolfweres living publicly and being venerated doesn't really feel like Invidia to me, likewise Pakas having their own cat town. But if it works for you, have at it. I do like the Pakas vs. the Wolfweres, Cats vs. Dogs setup, but would prefer it as a shadow-war, and not so out in the open. Interesting to make the Vistani tribes and tasques rooted in the family tree of their gods. Not sure we needed more tribes and tasques, but I did like working in bits of vistani lore that weren't in the original VRGtV, like Kulchek's cudgel and the Vehrteig. Interesting to see the same choice as in VRGtRL to have Malocchio not grow up, but here we go a step further and make it uncertain whether he will be a dukkar at all. I get a very Lannister family feeling to all the goings on around the Aderres here. Not sure I would go so formalized with Invidia's government and the religious machinations. I like it better more decentralized, without a King until grownup Malocchio declares himself so. Interesting choice to make Matton related to Harkon. I like the council of 13, particularly that it includes the Verhteig. Odd, though that the Grand Raunies would travel alone. I'd expect them to lead from their caravan groups. No mention of Ardonk here, does he not exist in "Mistworld? And finally, a VERY interesting twist to remove gender from the vistani roles, including Dukkar. I like that you kept the original version as a known myth, but allowed for breaking that myth.

Post-apocaloft - from the setup, I really like the idea of Gothic Earth evolving and splintering into alternate realities. It seems to fit perfectly with this year's theme. I like the idea of taking all the action movies of the past 40 years and mashing them up like they all happened. (The same way MotRD took all the 19th gothic novels and mashed them together) But the article is a little imbalanced. Too much summary of the movie and not enough about how it functions as a "domain". And the extra bits at the end, from Lesser Evil, are great on their own but seem a bit tacked on to a very different article. Overall, good ideas, but I'd like to see it developed more.

[Mistmaster]

Thanks for your review. Endari Koora, the Vistani's capital isn't a Vistani city in a classic sence. Its an holy place, a site of burial and a gathering point. It's made up of ruins and wagons with very few buildings still mantained.

[Mistmaster]

more reviews:



Odd, though that the Grand Raunies would travel alone. I'd expect them to lead from their caravan groups. .

Not the Great Raunies themselves, but the agents of the Council, the Goraga, the Lonesome ones. They are the ones who travel alone nit the 13 themselves.

[Jeremy16]

A Primer to the Umbra Peoples

The Created

Broken Ones – I always thought the distinction between these two groups was needlessly pedantic. If I remember correctly Broken Ones were created by science whereas Mongrelmen were created by magic. (Or was it vice versa?) Combining them into one big group makes much more sense. I would have liked to have seen a general breakdown of animal types (maybe grouped by enviroments such as air, water, land, and underground) and related feats similar to what was done for the calibans below.

Carrionettes - Puppets as PCs? I don't see this working long term.

Emordenung - I would say the same goes for this group, but hot damn if it wouldn't be neat to try! Their description reminds me of Rogue (from X-Men) and it could lead to interesting roleplaying opportunites.

Lebentod – This is another interesting reinvention, but I think this creature's nature as related here precludes it from being a viable member of an adventuring party. There are too many limits placed on it with not enough pay-off just to play a few silly tricks with detachable body parts.

The Divergent

Calibans – It's good to see this group make a return. I love the descriptions of their deformities, the ways they seek to fit into society, and then the traits emphasize their otherness. The NPCs presented here have a lot of nice little touches, too.

Death-Touched

Dhampirs – I know they have a lot of cachet, but I don't like the way they are presented here. Societies of these beings should be non-existent; they are the very definition of an anti-social outcast. Plus, the circumstances of their creation are so convoluted I don't see this happening very often.

The entries outlining Fetches (half-ghost), Ghedan (half-zombie), Ghul (half-ghoul) and Mortif (Emos / Goths) are just too weird. The desription of their creation just makes me go ick and double ick. I would leave these creatures as rumors only, not playable as PCs.

Quevari – Talk about a blast from the past! I never thought I'd see this race outside of 2E. I heartily approve, but I don't understand the leap from “peace loving” to “barbarian”. I think that particular class predilection should be reassessed.

The Parallel

Bakhna Rakhna – I'm not sure if this is really a viable option in Ravenloft. Anything that that has pale skin and lurks in the dark is pretty much a walking target for monster hunters.

Braunchen – I'm not a big fan of having fey being so ubiquitous. For mythical beings who avoid sunlight they sure get around! And, turning a creature that has killed 100 people into a hero seems highly problematic to me. Not only is their origin needlessly convoluted but it runs into the same trouble as the above entry – a ghostly, white-skinned humanoid would either be run out of town or burned at the stake. Adopting this as a PC would be a real uphill battle.

Hebi-No-Onna – A character with snakes for arms? Pass.

Paka – This is a little more manageable. The fact that it can shapechange allows it to fit into society much better than the previous entries.

Ravenkin – It's nice to see this race is still around, too. Unfortunately, I don't see any advantage this creature has over a PC that is a plain ol' wereraven.

Red Widows – This is a very hard sell for me. This creature's entire raison d'etre is based on their mating habits. Lovemaking and raising children doesn't exactly make for great adventures. Plus, given the time frames you've outlined here, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of opportunities for them to be spending time outside their lair for most of the year. It just seems too hard to transcend that and still be true to the creature type. I do like distinquishing between “bestial” and “awakened” varieties, however.


Overall Impression


Generally, I'm of the opinion that if you have fangs you can't be a good guy. I know this is not a popular view in D&D these days, but I'm only aping the xenophobic outlook of most Ravenloft residents. A lot of these creatures are limited by their very natures – they were originally intended as bad guys, after all. I do like how a lot of their anti-social characteristics were scaled back and more depth was given to the society shared by these monstrous individuals. If the intent was to make these creatures playable as characters I would say this is a good attempt, but the results are a very mixed bag.


P.S. - Is it me, or was there more emphasis on sex and reproduction than I ever expected to see in a Ravenloft article?

[Mistmaster]

A Primer to the Umbra Peoples



Dhampirs – I know they have a lot of cachet, but I don't like the way they are presented here. Societies of these beings should be non-existent; they are the very definition of an anti-social outcast. Plus, the circumstances of their creation are so convoluted I don't see this happening very often.

Have you read Lazendrak in Qtr 26 ?There Dhampirs are common.

[Hell_Born]

Broken Ones – I always thought the distinction between these two groups was needlessly pedantic. If I remember correctly Broken Ones were created by science whereas Mongrelmen were created by magic. (Or was it vice versa?) Combining them into one big group makes much more sense. I would have liked to have seen a general breakdown of animal types (maybe grouped by enviroments such as air, water, land, and underground) and related feats similar to what was done for the calibans below.

The difference, traditionally, is that Broken Ones are human/animal hybrids created by mad science or black magic, varying from "human cursed into a man-beast shape" to "animal torturously uplifted to near-humanity" ala Dr. Moreau. Mongrelfolk are an entirely different race, and are either the end-result of many generations of system interbreeding between the different humanoid races or an artificially engineered shapeshifting race whose powers have broken down and left them a deformed mishmash of humanoid attributes. They're not the same thing.

As for how to handle them mechanically... it's honestly something I struggled to decide upon. In the end, I went for the most mechanically simple version, because there are a lot of different ways you could handle them. To be honest, I' probably could have made an article nearly as long as this one just covering possible broken one subspecies or variants. I tried to reign back that impulse and leave it largely a matter of individual player flavoring for their character. Besides, I won't lie, most players would probably be more inclined to use this fluff to justify playing their preferred beastfolk race from elsewhere in 5e - the Chronicles of Aeres has some pretty solid ones.

I dunno, maybe I'll try and cook up a Broken One article for #29 offering common broken one varieties based on specific animals and functions as an alternative.

Dhampirs – I know they have a lot of cachet, but I don't like the way they are presented here. Societies of these beings should be non-existent; they are the very definition of an anti-social outcast. Plus, the circumstances of their creation are so convoluted I don't see this happening very often.

The entries outlining Fetches (half-ghost), Ghedan (half-zombie), Ghul (half-ghoul) and Mortif (Emos / Goths) are just too weird. The desription of their creation just makes me go ick and double ick. I would leave these creatures as rumors only, not playable as PCs.

I did the Deathtouched because I literally cannot think of a more iconic Dark Fantasy race than the Dhampir or its equivalents, nor one with a solider basis in Gothic Horror Fantasy. Dhampirs literally came from the same body of folklore than the "standard" Vampire draws from, and frankly, Barovia would be crawling with them if Strahd wasn't obsessed with just the one woman. They play into the setting's motifs of tainted bloodlines, all-consuming passions, and spiritual corruption. I really don't know what else needs to be said.

Quevari – Talk about a blast from the past! I never thought I'd see this race outside of 2E. I heartily approve, but I don't understand the leap from “peace loving” to “barbarian”. I think that particular class predilection should be reassessed.

The whole idea of the quevari is that they are normally peaceful people who are also possessed by some kind of homicidal maniac split personality. I don't know where they come from, though 10,000 Maniacs seems a likely origin. The Barbarian class was chosen because it's a class that centers around going into homicidal furies, and the quevari are a people defined by the fact they lose their minds and go into homicidal furies during the full moon. It's kind of a natural tie, in my opinion.

Also, quevari made it into 3e, admittedly with a favored class of Rogue.

Bakhna Rakhna – I'm not sure if this is really a viable option in Ravenloft. Anything that that has pale skin and lurks in the dark is pretty much a walking target for monster hunters.

Given how ignorant the average Ravenlofter native is, I literally would have no problem with a bakhna just going "I'm a dwarf" and being treated as such. Besides, I always found the bakhna fluff remarkably tame for an "Always Neutral Evil" race.

Braunchen – I'm not a big fan of having fey being so ubiquitous. For mythical beings who avoid sunlight they sure get around! And, turning a creature that has killed 100 people into a hero seems highly problematic to me. Not only is their origin needlessly convoluted but it runs into the same trouble as the above entry – a ghostly, white-skinned humanoid would either be run out of town or burned at the stake. Adopting this as a PC would be a real uphill battle.

The Braunchen was an obscure PC race offered back in the Books of S series. I just wanted to bring it back and make a new generation aware of it.

Ravenkin – It's nice to see this race is still around, too. Unfortunately, I don't see any advantage this creature has over a PC that is a plain ol' wereraven.

The fact it's actually balanced so you can play one from first level, whereas no DM in their right mind is ever going to let a player play a therianthrope, springs to mind as an advantage... besides, I thought it was too iconic as an old school race - with a semi-canon PC writeup in AD&D, mind you - to be forgotten by WotC.

[tomokaicho]

The difference, traditionally, is that Broken Ones are human/animal hybrids created by mad science or black magic, varying from "human cursed into a man-beast shape" to "animal torturously uplifted to near-humanity" ala Dr. Moreau. Mongrelfolk are an entirely different race, and are either the end-result of many generations of system interbreeding between the different humanoid races or an artificially engineered shapeshifting race whose powers have broken down and left them a deformed mishmash of humanoid attributes. They're not the same thing.

That's how I view the mongrelfolk also. I am pretty certain that interbreeding was clearly the reason for the existence of mongrelfolk in 2E. So human + elf = half elf. Human + elf + gnome + orc lineage = mongrelfolk (as an example - there could be other combinations). The existence of mongrelfolk could be a pretext or justification for xenophobia among various races. "Marry an elf? Are you crazy? Do you want your children to be mongrelfolk?".

[Hell_Born]

That's how I view the mongrelfolk also. I am pretty certain that interbreeding was clearly the reason for the existence of mongrelfolk in 2E. So human + elf = half elf. Human + elf + gnome + orc lineage = mongrelfolk (as an example - there could be other combinations). The existence of mongrelfolk could be a pretext or justification for xenophobia among various races. "Marry an elf? Are you crazy? Do you want your children to be mongrelfolk?".

The original lore setup for mongrelfolk when they debut was just "this is what happens when different races intermarry over generations" - human, elf, dwarf, orc, goblin, gnoll, lizardfolk, minotaur, gnome, halfling, ogre and more in the same family line.

Then the AD&D "Ecology of the Mongrelfolk" article in Dragon Magazine gave them a new background as being the descendants of creatures called "Infiltrators"; magebred artificial doppelgangers who could transform into creatures whose flesh they had consumed. However, when an Infiltrator bred, its children would be non-shapechangers cursed with a patchwork of physical features from the creatures the Infiltator was capable of transforming into. Having lost knowledge of their origins, modern mongrelfolk continued to be born as jumbles of features because they continued to ceremonially cannibalize the dead of other races willynilly and crossbred amongst their own freely; more selective breeding would effectively allow them to produce descendants who would be functionally identical to any "pure" race.