Best system for Ravenloft?

[Rebel Mage]

So, I'm running a (Curse of Strahd) campaign in D&D 5e, but I am curious about what you guys all prefer running in. I have experience with many systems, though the most with D&D 5e, which is why I'm running in that, though of course many say it doesn't capture the proper vibe.

I've heard of people using BRP, I believe, and I'm sure using an older edition or something OSR could be something, so I'm very curious about what you all use and your experiences! ♥

[De Montour]

I really enjoy Ravenloft using the Savage Worlds rules. There are several pdfs on this site of Ravenloft Ressurrected which is SW version of the setting. My own experiences are pre the availability of this using the White Wolf Books and mining the SW Rippers setting and SW Horror Companion for appropriate rules variations.

Rippers Resurrected also channels some of the SW Deadlands setting rules.

We mostly played a homebrewed adventure called Blood Moon over Borgu and a variation on Dark of the Moon.

It is an entirely different beast though and there are no CR ratings to tell you when your PCs are outclassed. It's pretty deadly.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

The best system to run Ravenloft is the system you prefer.
Ravenloft is a story; use the system you and your players prefer and just go and have an adventure in the Demiplane.
Use D&D. Use Anima Prime. Use Advanced Fighting Fantasy. Use 7th Sea. Heck, use the Amber Diceless TTRPG or homebrew something! Use whatever you like and enjoy the adventure.

[Rebel Mage]

I really enjoy Ravenloft using the Savage Worlds rules. There are several pdfs on this site of Ravenloft Ressurrected which is SW version of the setting. My own experiences are pre the availability of this using the White Wolf Books and mining the SW Rippers setting and SW Horror Companion for appropriate rules variations.

Rippers Resurrected also channels some of the SW Deadlands setting rules.

We mostly played a homebrewed adventure called Blood Moon over Borgu and a variation on Dark of the Moon.

It is an entirely different beast though and there are no CR ratings to tell you when your PCs are outclassed. It's pretty deadly.

Interesting! I've never played Savage Worlds, myself. I'll have to check out those pdfs, though! Seems like a good resource.

The best system to run Ravenloft is the system you prefer.
Ravenloft is a story; use the system you and your players prefer and just go and have an adventure in the Demiplane.
Use D&D. Use Anima Prime. Use Advanced Fighting Fantasy. Use 7th Sea. Heck, use the Amber Diceless TTRPG or homebrew something! Use whatever you like and enjoy the adventure.

I'm aware, yeah. But some things capture certain vibes better than others, so I'm curious about other people's experiences! Also, I always love trying out new systems, because who knows what you'll discover. I have no problems with running Ravenloft in D&D 5e myself, though I'm sort of interested in trying something BRP for it at some point. In the end, of course, a system is just a tool you use to tell the story; I fully agree there. But I enjoy hearing people's opinions on this, which is why I asked! ♥

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Rock is right but since you are asking I have played only, 1e, 2e and 3e D&D, so I have no experience with other systems whatsoever. I can say that with the people I played with we were always trying a way to make the rules as more "realistic" as we could, which lead to nothing actually since we would have to change everything. Personally I prefer 3e (or 3.5e) to 2e as it gives more creativity and uniqueness to character creation in my opinion as well as finding it more realistic than 2e, as for instance the damage reduction power instead of just the hit by +1 or greater weapon of 2e, as well as others. When we played 2e we were really excited with the Critical Hit optional rules as they could make a 1HD monster or character kill a 20 HD one (if they were really lucky...) which brought this element of more realism to the game. I would also use that same rule in 3e instead of the X2 (damage) and also have a dice for that, it was always fun to see what kind of injury had occurred during battle.

I have never played 4e or 5e which I always found the stats from Dungeon Magazine adventures or other official products adventures too simplistic for my taste, but have not actually ever read the rules. My favourite system so far (although still unexperienced and ignorant) is 3e (or (3.5e) the downside compared to 2e is that it takes a lot of time to design NPC's and monsters.

[Rebel Mage]

Rock is right but since you are asking I have played only, 1e, 2e and 3e D&D, so I have no experience with other systems whatsoever. I can say that with the people I played with we were always trying a way to make the rules as more "realistic" as we could, which lead to nothing actually since we would have to change everything. Personally I prefer 3e (or 3.5e) to 2e as it gives more creativity and uniqueness to character creation in my opinion as well as finding it more realistic than 2e, as for instance the damage reduction power instead of just the hit by +1 or greater weapon of 2e, as well as others. When we played 2e we were really excited with the Critical Hit optional rules as they could make a 1HD monster or character kill a 20 HD one (if they were really lucky...) which brought this element of more realism to the game. I would also use that same rule in 3e instead of the X2 (damage) and also have a dice for that, it was always fun to see what kind of injury had occurred during battle.

I have never played 4e or 5e which I always found the stats from Dungeon Magazine adventures or other official products adventures too simplistic for my taste, but have not actually ever read the rules. My favourite system so far (although still unexperienced and ignorant) is 3e (or (3.5e) the downside compared to 2e is that it takes a lot of time to design NPC's and monsters.

Ooh! Other than 5e, the only experience I have with other editions of D&D is a bit of 4e and 3.5e (and a bit of 2e from Baldur's Gate and a one-shot in OSE giving me some B/X experience, I suppose). If you like D&D 3.5, have you also played Pathfinder (1e, since it's based on D&D3.5, while 1e is a bit different)? Or have you played nothing other than D&D?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I freaking love PF 1E. ^_^

[Mephisto of the FoS]

No I hadn't had the chance, only D&D not any other RPG, I haven't played any RPG game for more than a decade (neither analog nor digital)
The only game I have played close to these is the Ravenloft board-game during the quarantine which we manages to finish all the quests.
I have some friends who are interested in playing but they have never played before and since I like playing with painted miniatures and homemade dioramas it is a really slow process.

[Mistmaster]

I freaking love PF 1E. ^_^

Which is the edition I yse, coincidently.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I freaking love PF 1E. ^_^

Which is the edition I yse, coincidently.

Yes, I've noticed.

[De Montour]

Also meant to add that if you can get your hands on the Solomon Kane setting for Savage Worlds, it too provides an excellent resource.

There is a variant magic system known as 'Bell, Book and Candle' and There are multiple 'one shot' adventures across the books which fit right into both traditional Gothic Horror Ravenloft and the modern iteration with it's emphasis on varied horror genres. Only the Slasher genre isn't particularly well served by this game.

Even the plot pont campaigns particularly Rippers Resurrected, Rippers(OG) and Solomon Kane do the heavy lifting in creating a campaign for Ravenloft.

[alhoon]

Especially for Curse of Strahd, I would say 5e is the best. Add a few house rules and bring back some rules from 3e (like the curses and the power checks) and I think all would be fine.

[Five]

I haven't done it, but the thought did cross my mind that Free League's Vaesen RPG could be a cool system to run Ravenloft through. Especially if you want a more basic, grounded/mundane approach.

https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/vaesen/

Casting the Runes (Design Mechanism) could be cool too, though I've never had a chance to actually play it yet.

https://thedesignmechanism.com/Casting-the-Runes.php

Ultimately, any system that's investigation first, combat last could be a cool/fresh take on Ravenloft, IMO. Depends on your table's wants of course, but still. You'd elevate many of the things that Ravenloft was built on but that got pushed down a bit due to the classic "combat and plunder" nature of D&D. Generally-speaking.

[WolfKook]

Curiously, I've been wondering this for the last few weeks...

• I like my RL very grounded, maybe even a little 'grimdark', and I guess 5e is too OP for my taste (And with the recent OGL debacle, I don't want to run D&D for a while).

• Thought on running with PF2e. I love the system, but it's even more OP than 5e.

• Was considering running it on Chronicles of Darkness, but I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount of nitpicking I'd have to do to.

• I'm also considering BRP... I guess I'd try to combine Mythras and Call of Cthulhu, but it's a system I'd have to learn from zero.

Still not sure, though once I get to a decision, I'll happilly share my experience!

[hidajiremi]

I really enjoy Ravenloft using the Savage Worlds rules. There are several pdfs on this site of Ravenloft Ressurrected which is SW version of the setting.

As the author of Ravenloft Reincarnated, I'm pretty biased toward Savage Worlds myself. XD