One of those domains was Staunton Bluffs, which really threw me for a loop at first. I honestly didn't really know what to do with this one as I wasn't grabbed by it in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (which is how I was introduced to the Ravenloft campaign setting) nor through reading the write-up in Islands of Terror. What made it different from Mordent (whether 2e/3e or 5e)? What made it fun to play in? What kind of adventures can a person have in Staunton Bluffs? Did the Kargatane ever give an idea of how they would've fleshed out the domain? As it stood (and honestly even now after having had some discussion on it), I'm just confused by it. I'm a strong believer in rescuing places from the scrap heap and retooling them, but Staunton Bluffs just bamboozled me. That is, until I brought up the question on the Fraternity of Shadows discord server, where users IanFordam (who wrote a lovely article in this year's QtR for the Bleysmith family) and Scarecrow Y6T7 (who I don't know frequents these boards or not). The discussion with them gave me some pretty good ideas on how to do a write-up for the place and I wanted to share some tidbits of said discussion along with a few other ideas I had with you all so as to hear your inputs and take suggestions or criticisms. So here's a few bullet points below! And here's the Mordent Cartographic Society drawing of Staunton Bluffs, which I refer to and use as a basis for my own variation of the domain later in the write-up, which can be found here: https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/Gry ... ormap.html
- There’s definitely something with the people and the fact that they aren’t the natives, so maybe there’s a colonialism narrative? Not just people but even objects of the older culture are forgotten by the new people and are thus made into ghosts? The ghost objects thing is more just a point of inspiration I had in an anime series I like to watch (link here: https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Burning_Down_the_House). I figured that, if the Avergnites began to slowly erase the original Stauntonian culture over the years, to the point of remodeling rooms and no longer practicing certain customs or traditions, and erasing history as a whole, then maybe there'd be some sort of retribution, perhaps by the land itself. The fictional ability in the link above allows the user to see, touch, and use the ghosts of objects and rooms. If a room burned down and was then completely built over, the user can access the room and any objects in the room that burnt down or disappeared within it. Perhaps somewhere in Staunton Bluffs, there are Avergnite scholars or some other faction that feel a sense of 'colonizer guilt' over what happened here and try their best to preserve the Stauntonian culture? Or maybe a mad collector of missing items wants to take everything from the Stauntonians?
- Okay, now I see where you're going with this! It's not just the ghosts in Castle Stonecrest that haunt the land. The land haunts the land.
The ghost objects are just part of the overall ghost environment, hidden just beneath the current reality (credit goes to IanFordam)
- You could easily set up random ghost encounters across the land. Like a merchant who died that the heroes can meet and talk with, but anything they buy simply fades away down the road. (Credit goes to Scarecrow Y6T7)
- What can therefore make Staunton Bluffs worth exploring for adventurers, or at least worth making into a module, is not just the challenge of defeating Torrence Bleysmith, but of also methodically healing the hauntings. But then this presents the players with a moral quandry: should they? If the Avergnites have lived in the domain since roughly 630 BC, and it's currently 758 BC, then is it fair to them that every time a haunting is resolved, a piece of the domain just goes away or vanishes into the Mists? Isn't the status quo nice and comfortable? Why should they be punished for the colonial actions of their ancestors, it's too late now to do anything about it without making everyone's lives worse! Those Stauntonians are dead and gone, ending the hauntings is harming us Avergnites more than it's helping! meanwhile Torrence in the background might be pleased to see this.
- Consider a psychic NPC whose gift is psychometry. She's terrified to touch anything for fear of what it reveals. Such a character might be useful to convey to the PCs how much history has been buried without forcing them through a dozen ghostly flashbacks. And what sort of agent might Torrence send into Willisford to dissuade anyone looking to help the Averngites? (Credit goes to IanFordam)
- (Me, in response to Ian's prior bullet point/comment) Yeah! Plus that makes me think that the false history and true history of this place must be nuts. There's the original history of the County of Staunton in the Kingdom of Mourette on some Outlander world beyond the Mists that can still be referenced in the lifestyle and cuisine and culture of the people here, as well as whatever falsehoods that either the Avergnites brought due to colonial revisionism of history, the revisionism of Torrence Bleysmith (as he's a coward who doesn't want people to know he's a coward), and the Dark Powers further muddying the waters (like the false history of Hazlan being wack as hell). And then there's the history of the place from 630 BC to 750 BC at the minimum
- (Me, in response to IanFordam's question on what kind of agent Torrence might send into Willisford) Given his character, something small and unassuming and capable of being a damn good agent. Idk, the ghost of a child or a young woman or something like that, perhaps one that in life was interested in the story of the land and then died near the Bluffs. Torrence took them in and decided to play ghost dad for a bit. In fact, to connect to 5e's "Theresa Bleysmith", perhaps said agent is a corporeal undead of a young woman who didn't listen to the other Avergnites and wandered into the Bluffs at night on a dare or something, and then ended up meeting Torrence and killed herself by falling from the cliffs into the nearby waterfall? Then Torrence took her in and now he's a ghost dad? Torrence playing ghost dad also puts him as a foil to Godefroy. Godefroy isn't father of the year material but Torrence could do a decent job, with him thinking "well I've got a kid now so that puts me ahead of big bro August" as a small consolation prize. Plus "Theresa" can enact schemes on Torrence's behalf and act as a liaison for him, like Rahadin in Curse of Strahd for Strahd.
- Given that Rupert Bleysmith is the one who waged 'holy war' against the nearby Duchy of Avergne, I wonder what the current feelings on religion, organized or otherwise, are. Given that there are so many ghosts and that, as IanFordam put it, 'the land haunts the land', there's potential for polemic amongst the Avergnites on whether they should be super religious to deal with the spirits or super not-religious and adhere to science to deal with the pesky ghosts. A Mordentish cleric of Ezra might have ended up in Staunton Bluffs and was maybe taken aback by how similar yet different this place is to Mordent and might be part of that strong polemic. Maybe a Mordentish cleric of Ezra in Staunton Bluffs is the one who manages to found the 5th sect of Ezra, whatever shape that may take?
- Attitudes towards magic might also be interesting to look at, given Torrence used black magic to make the peasants rise up (and then failed).
- Possible adventure module: "The Curse of Castle Stonecrest". Level range of 2-5, with it being designed in a similar manner as to Curse of Strahd (with locations for the villages and hamlets and thorps in Staunton Bluffs fleshed out, side villains and other events that lead back to Torrence Bleysmith in some manner, and strong replay value
- As for the abandoned villages in the highlands... What if at least one of the villages was originally a heavily Avergnite settlement? Perhaps its inhabitants were originally refugees from a prior war who had relocated to Staunton and integrated (or so they thought) with the Stauntonian population, only to get called out when Count Rupert Bleysmith declared war on his neighbors. (I'm thinking something like the Japanese internment camps during WWII.) (Credit goes to IanFordam)
- I should probably note that I interpret the Avergnites being very similar to the original Stauntonians. When "Islands of Terror" declares that Avergne is "a land of infidels and heathens", I picture a sometimes-heated division based upon doctrinal differences (e.g. the Nicene Creed) rather than two fully different religions. YMMV, of course, but I feel that makes Rupert Bleysmith's original declaration of war even more of a betrayal of his neighbors. (The Dark Powers may have been eyeing the County of Staunton even before Torrence Bleysmith tipped the balance.)(Credit goes to IanFordam)
- The ‘faceless mercenary troopers’ who roam through the countryside in the 5e write-up are not on the western half but in the eastern half; they are spectral imaginings by the Dark Powers to torment Torrence Bleysmith once a year, besieging Castle Stonecrest. Bleysmith keeps them at bay; if Bleysmith were to be destroyed permanently, then the spectral invaders would slaughter every living thing in the domain until it crumbled into the Mists. Bleysmith doesn’t know that last part, he just believes these monsters to be after him specifically and to be the last vestiges of the Avergnite's vengeance against his family. Torrence uses the corporeal undead made of the Outlander adventurers that he dooms in the castle to fight off these troopers.
- There IS a way to destroy Bleysmith permanently in such a manner that the domain doesn’t crumble away. What would instead happen is that the domain would return to the Prime Material Plane/Outlander world it came from, with the population in tow. The people of Staunton Bluffs wouldn’t realize that much has changed, only that the days have gotten a little bit brighter and that there’s much more wood to work with. The Outlander heroes (or natives of Ravenloft) PCs would succumb to the dreaded realization that they’re far away from home, enough that they might need to start anew or look for a path back to their worlds of origin (or Ravenloft in the latter case). This scenario would be unlocked through leading the Avergnites in a peasant revolt against Torrence Bleysmith, with them marching on Castle Stonecrest and raiding it, destroying Torrence Bleysmith’s physical remains. The party would hold back Torrence himself along with Torrence’s minions, thus buying time while the townsfolk search the castle for his remains. This empowers the Avergnites, leading them to not be bystanders and one-dimensional victims in need of saving, while also speaking to the history of Staunton Bluffs and giving the PCs something more than just killing the bad guy, but leading the charge against the bad guy.
- Part of the 5e version of the domain is that Staunton Bluffs is stuck in a loop, like Romagna from the Books of S or Ixcapa from Dion Fernandez’s Worlds of Ravenloft. Maybe some of that could be true, depending on which area you’re in. Perhaps in the highlands, one of the ruined/abandoned villages is stuck in a loop of some kind, with the souls of the Avergnites there forced to replay their violent relocation by the Stauntonians under Rupert Bleysmith on a certain night every week?
- Mistways in Staunton Bluff are: The Dog's Walk (from Farelle to Staunton Bluffs, 2-way, moderate reliability); The Restless Road (from Mordent to Staunton Bluffs, 1-way, poor reliability); The Silent Way (from Kartakass and maybe even Daglan to Staunton Bluffs, 2-way, poor reliability)
- The fall equinox is when Torrence committed his sin, so maybe the skies of the domain reflect that? Islands of Terror 2e mentions that the land is stuck in a perpetual spring or fall.
- Since Torrence believes that fate has always been unfair to him, a possible aspect of the culture is accepting your lot in life and fairness being an upheld ideal to follow (the culture is in direct opposition to the Darklord's own beliefs)
- Can add Arlington Farm as a pocket domain to Staunton Bluffs, if only to flesh it out more (or just make it a place in the land, without interrupting Torrence’s power)
- Reference Celia Whitmoor and what happened to the Whitmoors. Given that there's a family of 5 werewolves somewhere in the domain, and there's a Mistway to and from Kartakass, there could be something to work with: A wolfwere might have taken this Mistway, ended up in Willisford, and realized that there’s a family of werewolves lairing nearby and has taken up the fight against them (Kartakan bards are rather charismatic)
- Perhaps a few Daglanders managed to escape the dissolution of Daglan through this Mistway, and it now connects back to Kartakass? Could be a great way to add some tension in Staunton Bluffs, with the northernmost village of the domain having to deal with the family of 6-10 Daglanders and their weird customs.
- For the Dog's Walk Mistway, trade oflumber from Farelle helps out the populace with construction; also an increased amount of dogs in Staunton Bluffs that are used to shepherd sheep and cattle (they aren’t as dangerous as they should be due to the lack of influence of Jack Karn)
- Torrence studied magic in his youth: from where? Maybe like how Curse of Strahd had Baba Lysaga, there's someone that taught him magic? Could said magician hang around the Bluffs, having been drawn into Ravenloft by the Dark Powers to help 'liven up the place' and poke and prod at Torrence? Could also be similar to the Mad Mage Mordenkainen in CoS...
- Additionally, the Islands of Terror 2e write-up mentioned King Grinne as the political leader of the Kingdom of Mourette on a world in the Prime Material Plane. Maybe after Staunton Bluffs was drawn into the Mists, the war that Count Rupert Bleysmith started and couldn't finish had lasting repercussions for the Kingdom of Mourette? King Ginne might have been drawn into the Mists through either no fault of his own or through consulting with a lost Vistana who had vague understanding of the history of Staunton Bluffs. Perhaps he showed up in or around the 670s BC in Willisford and was considered the local idiot for his outlandish claims, before trying to get to the Bluffs and being restrained by the townsfolk. He lost a hand or two because of that, but slipped away in the night to understand just what was going on. He gets inside, gets scared, but Torrence won't let him leave. After a long and lengthy conversation in which the king gives Torrence a 'here's the reason why you suck' speech, Torrence throws a tantrum and gets the king killed. Now the king is a corporeal undead, but he isn't under Torrence's control. Instead, the Dark Powers have given the king some measure of autonomy, enough that he can break Torrence's law of the undead being in the lowlands at night, with the justification that Torrence was merely the son of a count and he is the king, so his jurisdiction takes precedence. Might be an interesting adventure hook, especially if the king tries to warn the PCs as he fights them (in self-defense) of the true evil in Castle Stonecrest...
- Definitely develop the cuisine of Staunton Bluffs somehow, or give a few examples of meals and how much they love cooking (as well as contrast with Stauntonian cooking)
- The direct democracy of the land can be modeled after the 13 colonies early style with the House of Burgesses or how New England handled it
- Ever since the werewolf attack on the Whitmoors, perhaps the Avergnites have begrudgingly changed their stances on magic within the land. Before, they did not long tolerate priests or mages. Maybe now they are willing to work or learn under them, but this divides the community sharply
- The Bleysmith family crest is that of a lion treading on a viper. Do something with that! Maybe the Avergnites are the vipers these days, and in Avergnite symbolism lions are bad? Cowardly lion? Stories of the small viper managing to take down the big bad lion?
- Due to the amount of marshes and bogs where the people get their peat, there could be corporeal undead in the bogs as well as will-o’-wisps. It's very possible that, given how strict the Avergnites are on crime, that there could be a 'disappearance' of someone that was chalked up to them getting too close to the Bluffs, but was never resolved. In truth, that person could have been murdered in a crime of passion, the kind that would roil the community and shock the people of the community to their core.
- When Torrence cast the black magic that led to the deaths of all the Stauntonians, perhaps there was a blackened patch of soil that corrupted the land? And if someone picks a type of flora that grows on that soil, they can create a type of draught or a disease that stimulates aggression to the point of suicide in anyone who consumes it in some way? Concept for this taken from https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Survivor
- The Avergnites bathe regularly, which is rather interesting when you think of medieval-level sanitation. Perhaps there's a darker reason for why they bathe. Maybe there is a lingering sentiment of guilt in the descendants of Pierre Willis and the original Avergnite settlers. Given that Staunton Bluffs is a place where 'the land haunts the land', this sentiment could be very deadly. The greater the guilt, the more likely that objects or people that one has left behind, given up, or feels guilt toward will manifest. These manifestations can try to attach themselves to the target, overwhelming them with suicidal guilt, or failing that, suffocating and crushing them. The water of the Willis River helps keep such guilt at bay, acting as a way to 'purify one's sins'. Concept for this taken from https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Civil_War?so=search
- Take heavy inspiration from the Mordent Cartographic Society map of Staunton Bluffs, with focus on turning those portions labeled 'farms' into thorps and hamlets.
- Will need to research the White Cliffs of Dover and Kent, England as a whole to better do a gazeteer-style write-up. Things like geography, terrain, flora, fauna, and history that can influence Staunton Bluffs. Likewise for Brittany, France, as I like to think that the Avergnites are culturally similar to that but use Occitan as a language for the language primer.
- Names for the roads of Staunton Bluffs: the main trade road can be originally called the Forfair Track (it might be linked to the same Outlander world the Forfarians came from) and is now called the Rocouche Road by the Avergnites (they really went full revisionist colonizer after the Stauntonians died). The dirt-wagon trail to Castle Stonecrest was once called Bentham Trail, named after the blacksmith of the castle. Now it's called Putlier's Trail. The road to the north of the domain was called Northster Path, now it's Fairbiens Road. The road to the south was once called Carlewick Road, now it's Wiljour Walk. The southeastern route that juts from the aforementioned southern road was called Peatmire Path but now it's Ponfail Path. The Willis River was originally called the Clifmar River.
- Living off of peat to fuel their homes might not be the most healthy for the Avergnites, not that they would know this.
- Since 630 BC to 758 BC, Willisford (main settlement and capital) went from 200 pop to 675 pop. Clamart (northernmost settlement with sparse trees) went from 80pop to 240pop. Hubin Falls (settlement closest to the cliffs and the waterfall and the Rocouche Road) went from 20 pop to 60 pop. Dimur (settlement closest to Willisford and with trees, between Willisford and Clamart by following the Fairbiens Road) went from 106 pop to 320 pop. Baves (settlement south of Willisford and near the river) went from 20 pop to 80 pop. And Touppe (settlement farthest to the south of Willisford) went from 30 pop to 120 pop.
- Each town and settlement had a name prior to the Avergnites changing it. Willisford was Taedmorden. Clamart was Silentholde. Hubin Falls was Staunton Falls. Dimur was Woodhaerst. Baves was Blaenau, and Touppe was Colmans.
- Each town will need to be given its own character and quirks, with some local customs to follow. A place like Hubin Falls, with its proximity to the Bluffs, would probably get a wide berth from everyone else out of superstition and fear that 'those guys ain't right in the head, living so close'. They might be right about that... Otherwise, each town would also need unique plot hooks or quests to do. For the one to the very south, Touppe, that's probably where the werewolves who attacked the Whitmoor family like to hunt. As an idea, maybe one of the towns could be like Vultharesk from the Books of S, with a 'mirror man' that causes them to act in certain ways and no other town knows about it?
- The most important part about fleshing out the people of Staunton Bluffs is that, while the Avergnites are indeed settled and colonized on the land of the Stauntonians, and they are indeed an insular and provincial/narrow-minded community, they're nice folks. This means that, unlike the typical Barovian or Tepestani peasant, the NPCs are likable, which tends to strongly encourage player investment and leads to greater engagement with the world than having the door shut on them for looking or acting a certain way. Small, slice-of-life style quests like the ones found in the starter zones for MMORPGs like WoW (y'know the 'kill six boars and bring me their meat' variety or 'deliver this letter to the girl I like in the town over there please') might be a fun way to not only get the players invested in the small-town shenanigans of these rustic but well-meaning folks but also to hint at a greater darkness in the land of Staunton Bluffs, with each small quest foreshadowing a sense that something isn't right. Whether that be because things are too peaceful for a genre-savvy player to think is possible, especially if they know they're in Ravenloft, or because with every quest done there are more and more questions about just what happened in the domain that pop up, via exposure to the local customs and traditions and how bizarre they might seem to foreigners.
- At one point, Monte Cook and another guy made a 3e/3.5e campaign setting that was all about ghosts, called Ghostwalk. Maybe check that out to see if there's anything of interest in the world-building that can be applied to Staunton Bluffs, like magic items or secret societies or interesting locations and what not.
- Try to incorporate all the juicy tidbits mentioned in IanFordam's Legacy of the Blood: The Bleysmith Family article for QtR 29, though this should go without saying.
