What have you done with canon domains?

[Irving the Meek]

I'm using Darkon with a very distinct Germanic feel to it. Lots of puff-and-slash clothing, and a landscape that resembles the "Brothers Grimm" movies by Terry Giliam. To the south we have The Wood (aka Tepest/The Shadow Rift), a completely fey-dominated area.

[Garudos Celestar]

Another one I had to change was Har'Akir. It was apparently written by someone who didn't know that much about ancient Egypt and didn't understand the importance of the Nile. There's no way even a small number of people could've carved out a village in the desert there without the river.

In all fairness, check the description of Mudar in Touch of Death again: the people barely farm at all because the oasis supplies all their nourishment.

"There is very little to eat in Har'Akir. The trees provide some dates and some of the residents tend small gardens near the spring. However, the land provides for its own. The water of the spring in Mudar can sustain a man without food for an indefinite period of time. Most of the inhabitants still eat small meals once a day or so simply because they enjoy doing so." ~ Touch of Death, under the section on "Desert Survival"

Mudar never encompassed the entire realm ruled by Ankhtepot; it was simply the oasis town near the pharaoh's tomb. There probably was a major river in the prime world from which it came along which most of the kindgom was based, but only the tomb and its "support village" were pulled into Ravenloft.

I'd say that the designers were fully well aware that one little spring couldn't support a full Egyptian culture.

That said, I fully appreciate the expansion of the Amber Wastes cluster.

[mistshadow2k4]

That I didn't know, Garudos Celestar as I dont have that book. It's a pretty good idea I guess, but I kind of prefer a more Egypt-like culture in Har'Akir with a bigger population and everything.

[CorvusCornix]

I've made the Barovians a good deal more religiously devoted, complete with lots of festivals for the saints and the like. Most texts on Barovia tend to describe the churches as nearly abandoned, half-ruined buildings. That's kind of hard for me to believe, given that vampires seem to be pretty commonplace there, and most people should know there's nothing better against a vampire than a decent holy symbol. So I have most of my Barovians believe in the Morninglord, even though they wouldn't exactly go out of their way to hold up his ideals and actually HELP somebody in trouble...

[Garudos Celestar]

That I didn't know, Garudos Celestar as I dont have that book. It's a pretty good idea I guess, but I kind of prefer a more Egypt-like culture in Har'Akir with a bigger population and everything.

Fair enough! If you do want the source, WotC has released Touch of Death as a free "Classic" AD&D adventure in (I think) .rtf format. Go to http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads

As far as adventures go, Touch of Death is fairly average, but it does have full maps of Ankhtepot's tomb, and there are some decent scenarios included. It also introduced the ever popular desert zombies, if I'm not mistaken.

[mistshadow2k4]

That I didn't know, Garudos Celestar as I dont have that book. It's a pretty good idea I guess, but I kind of prefer a more Egypt-like culture in Har'Akir with a bigger population and everything.

Fair enough! If you do want the source, WotC has released Touch of Death as a free "Classic" AD&D adventure in (I think) .rtf format. Go to http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads

As far as adventures go, Touch of Death is fairly average, but it does have full maps of Ankhtepot's tomb, and there are some decent scenarios included. It also introduced the ever popular desert zombies, if I'm not mistaken.

Cool, thanks I didn't know that.

[Ronia Sun]

Hmmm. I very much like the idea of using halflings (or gnomes) as "Jews" in Dementlieu. I think I may use that in my campaign, and have it be a prevailing attitude in most domains...

I've kept the geography as laid out in 3E rules pretty much the same, but I've made the cities and overall populations bigger. Much bigger. It struck me as a little silly that Dementlieu, cultural center of the Core, had such a measly population...

I've tacked on my own island of terror just south of the existing Core and named it Acadia. It's an Old South Louisiana-style domain...because when I started creating it and began the campaign there I didn't realize Souragne existed. (This being my first time DM'ing, and I'm still new to Ravenloft...) I considered waving the magic DM wand and moving it to Souragne when I realized there was already a domain with the whole swamps/plantation thing...then decided not to because Souragne is far too much of a backwater. Acadia is connected to the Core by a mostly-reliable two-way mist path known as the River of Souls, and is annoying the Mordentish merchants with its existence because it can provide many of the same goods they import from Souragne--at a much cheaper price. I had it appear during the Grand Conjuction, so it's only been 'officially' in existence for fifteen years or so.

Some of the realms I haven't given much thought to. Sithicus...well, like everyone I'm not sure I see a big use for it. I think I may have the Sithican elves be nearly feral, and have a real hatred for all non-elves. Could be fun, could be lame. Haven't decided yet. Overall, I've advanced the technological level of the Core and much of the DoD in general; guns are used all across the Core, and some of the more advanced societies actually have the beginnings of steam technology. Barovia is Transylvania of the 1800s: much of it dark forest and superstitious backwater, but with some glimmers of civilization. Actually, Transylvania today might be like that too. I only lived in a couple of cities in that region (Brasov and Cluj) but I was told by natives that if you go far enough into the Carpathians it's like stepping back in time a couple of centuries...They're also rather religious (I believe someone else ran with this one too), but with heavy Eastern Orthodox overtones. (Incense and chanting and long beards, oh yes.) Darkon...hmm. I like the Germanic idea. Darkon is one of those hard to place, culturally, but I like the idea of it being very Germanic.

Har'Akir: waaaay bigger, more advanced, more Egypt. However, I think overall it would be the Egypt of such films as The Mummy: the modern culture is mostly on par with its neighbors, but there's lots of ruins...and mummies, and other nasties. Har'Akir is where the archaeologists from the Core go to make themselves irritating.

Sri Raji is also somewhat more advanced: It's a glittering, opulent mirror of the great prince-states of India just prior to (and, truthfully, through much of) the annexation of India into the British Empire.

There's more, I'm sure, that I'll figure out as we go.

[Lord_Pruitt]

Nova Vaasa & Sithicus ....

Nova Vaasa never did interest me, especially the darklord, Malken. Seemed like a generic Jekyl/Hyde dude, and the land - it has horses. Nothing of real interest to me. But, because of another discussion here, the one about the Train Master idea, I've decided to turn Nova Vaasa into something like that. Kind of an early Wild West idea, with a little steampunk thrown in, yet only have snap-lock or wheel-lock firearms. There would be five native tribes (tribes of elves), that the settlers have bullied and taken and broken up their land. A little racial tension, if you will. There would be rail roads connecting the major cities, one running part way into Darkon, and another hanging over the edge of the Shadow Rift. As for the DarkLord, I haven't decided if he should be a Jekyl/Hyde kind of guy, or a 1/2 flesh golem technomage, or what. But when I finish, if anyone is interested, I'll post details.

Sithicus - loved Dragonlance (for the most part) and Lord Soth. However, the one problem that I've always had with this domain is that it was part of the Core. I always thought that, since it needed to have a different night sky to keep a part of that Dragonlance feel, it should have been an island of terror, out somewhere in the Mists. The only problem with that is, what is one to put in its place? That is the question that I'm pondering.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

always thought that, since it needed to have a different night sky to keep a part of that Dragonlance feel, it should have been an island of terror, out somewhere in the Mists. The only problem with that is, what is one to put in its place? That is the question that I'm pondering.

FWIW, this occurred to me too. I dealt with it by ruling that the Core's constellations (which match Material Plane Barovia's by default) are the same in Sithicus as elsewhere, but the Sithican elves choose to attribute the stars' unfamiliar positions to the grisly destruction of their ancient [i.e. Krynnish] deities in a massive divine battle, which left no survivors. The altered patterns of stars illustrate the various slain gods' final agonies, their respective constellations writhing even as their bodies twisted in their death-throes. As for the planets (representing the Neutral deities of Dragonlance), elven scholars theorize that they fell out of the sky and destroyed Krynn -- a theory obviously inspired by the Cataclysm -- thus leaving the Sithicans no homeworld to go back to even if they could escape the Land of Mists.

Remember, these are depressed elves we're talking about.

[Jeremy16]

One idea I'm particularly proud of is that I combined Blaustein, Ghastria, and Dominia into one island (a mini-cluster in the Sea of Sorrows sort of like Liffe in the Nocturnal Sea). That way there is more legitimate traffic to the place and more victims for the respective darklords (people dropping off loved ones at Dr. Dominia's asylum, people coming to see Polarno's art collection, etc.)

[Lord_Pruitt]

While it has been months since I last brought up the idea, as soon as I finish editing the text and finish detailing the map, I'll post the new Nova Vaasa domain that I mentioned back this suummer.

[Jakob]

"There is very little to eat in Har'Akir. The trees provide some dates and some of the residents tend small gardens near the spring. However, the land provides for its own. The water of the spring in Mudar can sustain a man without food for an indefinite period of time. Most of the inhabitants still eat small meals once a day or so simply because they enjoy doing so." ~ Touch of Death, under the section on "Desert Survival"

Mudar never encompassed the entire realm ruled by Ankhtepot; it was simply the oasis town near the pharaoh's tomb. There probably was a major river in the prime world from which it came along which most of the kindgom was based, but only the tomb and its "support village" were pulled into Ravenloft.

Remember that part of Ankhtepot's curse is ruling over a mere village, and not a gret empire as he was used to.
If you see it this way, Mudar represents the manifestation of the Darklord's curse.

Hmmm. I very much like the idea of using halflings (or gnomes) as "Jews" in Dementlieu. I think I may use that in my campaign, and have it be a prevailing attitude in most domains...

They even provided the much-needed humorous releive when all the PCs (along with two of them, who were, in fact, halfling) were invited to a dinner in the "ghetto".
It was quite funny when I, as the male halfling PC's mother, tried to make my "unruly son who plays with dangerous exploding tools" to marry the female halfling PCs...
Remember to make Halfling language sound like Yiddish.