Ravenloft Remix by Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque

[Skyrock]

I'm sure most here are aware of "Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque" as one of the few still existing outlets for all things Ravenloft. What I haven't seen is discussion about it, so let me start it.

Jack of TOTGAD has done a complete remix of the Ravenloft setting, toning down some of the more silly aspects and trying to make some more limited and/or humdrum areas like L'Cath work better.

The full gazetteer can be found here, covering domains, religions and secret societies:


The general ideas on the remix:
http://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesq ... ideas.html

All articles on the blog:
http://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesq ... ft%20remix

I do not like every single idea in the Remix (for example, I like the border-closing ability of Darklords and the many flavourful ways it comes in), but it has some interesting ideas that are easily plunged into other Ravenloft games thanks to the modular. domain-based organisation of the setting.

Anyone else having taken a look at it?

[Alastor]

I disagree with most of the ideas present in the blog post (the only one I liked was the random Mists table suggested in the comments), but I'm still eager to read the Gazetteer and see some of the ideas therein.

Thank you for letting everyone know about this, Skyrock.

[Quinntonia]

I've read through most of the blog posts as they were coming through.

I actually enjoyed some of the stuff, though more from a "I could totally steal that idea for myself" kind of way while retaining the traditional Ravenloft experience.

That being said, the section he has about the Ravenloft/Spelljammers pastiche blew me away in how much I liked it. Seriously, I went into it thinking that it would be terrible, and immediately put my traditionalist/grognard grump on, but he won me over.

I could completely picture myself running a space-themes horror campaign using his suggestions.

Very cool.

[Skyrock]

One idea I like is to have a train line connecting the more developed parts of the Core, and to have generally more exchange between the Core lands in regards to trade and travel. The core is relatively coherent in regards to culture and tech level, so it wouldn't really hurt the SoD and help to make land-hopping easier. There would also be adventure seeds like train robber hold-ups, ghost trains or surviving the aftermath of a train crash after a border sealing, and I am always in favour of more adventure seeds.

One idea that I dislike is to make sea travel generally easier. Some island domains like Souragne do not really diverge much from the core and could be made part of the core only diverted by mundane sea. (In fact, especially Souragne fits in perfectly with Dementlieu/Richemulot and would make for a great axis of faux French nations in a remixed Ravenloft. It would also open up the possibility of zombie-commanding houngans elsewhere, as in the classic Hammer film "The Plague of the Zombies".)
Other islands are very different from the Core, such as S&S-Dark-Sun-inspired Kaladnay, and wouldn't make sense if there was steady exchange between the Core and them. I still like to have Kaladnay around as a possibility for adventures that cover the nexus point between S&S and Gothic Horror like some of the REH Cthulhu Mythos stories, and as an island domain with unreliable access it still serves that purpose without forcing me to think about the lack of exchange between psionically advanced, iron-poor, primitive Kaladnay and the Core, or without forcing me to make it part of the setting in actual play at all when I don't want to go that road.