PREVIEWS FOR EtCR RELEASED!

NeoTiamat · Post by **NeoTiamat** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 3:56 pm

Well, Strahd is definetly not what I imagined him to look like (He's too... elven... and enraged...). Despite that, the artwork is gorgeous, and if you ignore a few small things (like 3-dragon ante...) then it seems to be an excellent module.

Wish this meant that they were going to be restarting Ravenloft. *sigh*

Desertrising · Post by **Desertrising** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:31 pm

NeoTiamat wrote:
Wish this meant that they were going to be restarting Ravenloft. *sigh*

I have given this some thought and maybe they are kicking around the idea and seeing how well the module does. If it sells well, perhaps they will endevour to relaunch the campaign setting. But then again it could just be a holloween sales type thing. *shrug* Who knows, I think it would be nice to be a fly on the wall in the R and D department though.

Luke Fleeman · Post by **Luke Fleeman** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 12:23 am

It is a first in a seires of expeditions, but they are a business. If there is an interest, it might spark something. I guess we'll see.

Le Noir Faineant · Post by **Le Noir Faineant** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 7:10 am

*Looks at the Strahds picture and the respective excerpts...*

Woah! Ravenloft meets Castlevania!

Le Noir Faineant · Post by **Le Noir Faineant** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 7:19 am

tec-goblin wrote: She does. Actually it's one of the options, as said in last Dragon magazine, if I remember correctly.

*Fades*

Matthew L. Martin · Post by **Matthew L. Martin** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 2:04 pm

Rafael wrote:*Looks at the Strahds picture and the respective excerpts...*

Woah! Ravenloft meets Castlevania!

Hey, they stole the cover for Simon's Quest from I6, after all.

I got a chance to take a peek at EtCR in Border's yesterday. Didn't buy it because I'm waiting for it to show up at Barnes & Noble for my employee discount. Still, it looks promising. It is most assuredly not the setting--think of it as an "Ultimate Ravenloft" or "Ravenloft-2" rather than the 'Castle Ravenloft: Special Edition' that House of Strahd was.

Lots of connections with Heroes of Horror, and some nifty tweaks and twists--zombies, vampires, werewolves, mad nymphs, secret societies, covens and demon summoning . . . After the editorial in DRAGON #248, I had to look up Eva, and found out . . .
SPOILER

she's an annis hag.

I actually don't mind this. The Vistani are an element of Ravenloft that I can honestly take or leave (along with the VRGtW witches), and this new take has possibilities. Eva as a hag actually would dovetail interestingly with some of John Mangrum's ideas on hags and witchcraft.

There's at least one other hag and member of her covey in Barovia who intends to summon the demon Chernovog to overthrow Strahd. Even with the brief information I scanned, I'm already getting ideas for Ravenloft III: Night on Mount Baratak.

The prestige class is the Knight of the Raven, a group of noble warriors with roots in Barovia's pre-Strahd history. Only thing I remember about them is that they get a celestial raven companion. There are also substitution levels tied into the undead-hating Lightbringers organization, with options for bards, clerics and paladins at least, possibly more.

Matthew L. Martin, Demi-Kargatane

Luke Fleeman · Post by **Luke Fleeman** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:56 pm

I didn't know the book was out on shelves yet. I thought it released on the 10th.

I am going to have to take a little trip to me FLGS.

Matthew L. Martin · Post by **Matthew L. Martin** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 6:02 pm

Luke Fleeman wrote:I didn't know the book was out on shelves yet. I thought it released on the 10th.

I am going to have to take a little trip to me FLGS.

Some places have it--mostly places that are willing to bend the official on-sale date.

I'm waiting for the 13th, myself. (Friday the 13th, the weekend, and the 9th anniversary of receiving DoD straight from TSR.

)

Matthew L. Martin

Desertrising · Post by **Desertrising** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 6:13 pm

I hate places that don't wait for official dates of release, luckily I live in a small town, so that I am really the only store who is going to carry this kind of thing. God damn barnes and noble!

Gwenfloor · Post by **Gwenfloor** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:20 pm

Why is Eva using Three Dragon Ante decks?! Tarokka decks are the only way to play! It seems to me that WotC is putting ads in the classic adventure.

Mangrum · Post by **Mangrum** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:48 pm

Gwenfloor wrote:Why is Eva using Three Dragon Ante decks?! Tarokka decks are the only way to play! It seems to me that WotC is putting ads in the classic adventure.

Keep in mind that, back in the 2E days, every reference to the tarokka deck was itself a none-too-subtle reminder to go buy one of the two boxed sets that included it.

Luke Fleeman · Post by **Luke Fleeman** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:35 pm

Gwenfloor wrote:Why is Eva using Three Dragon Ante decks?! Tarokka decks are the only way to play! It seems to me that WotC is putting ads in the classic adventure.

Do you expect them to say, "To do this part of the adventure, go buy our OOP stuff or another publishers stuff?"

To be fair, this is a corporation. They need to make money. Cross-promotion is a fair and normal tactic to do so.

Gwenfloor · Post by **Gwenfloor** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:00 pm

There is nothing wrong with that, every corporation needs money. It just came as a shock to me that they did not include the classic Tarokka Deck.

Desertrising · Post by **Desertrising** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:43 pm

I to think the classic Torroka deck would be nice and when I run the adventure I damn sure plan to use it. Just because it is written does not mean it is done.

Jester of the FoS · Post by **Jester of the FoS** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:42 pm

Gwenfloor wrote:There is nothing wrong with that, every corporation needs money. It just came as a shock to me that they did not include the classic Tarokka Deck.

Why would they? The Tarokka is a part of the campaign setting and this is pure, 100%, undiluted I6. Just updated with shiny new rules.

Café de Nuit

Welcome, friends, to our establishment.

PREVIEWS FOR EtCR RELEASED!