Ravenloft Reanimated: Should We?

[ewancummins]

Perhaps Core could be curved? It would solce some problem (linie of horizont for example).

I agree ingun/smokepowder case as well as with low magic level. I see ultimate Ravenloft as an almost "normal, ordinary and everyday" fantasy world, with a little twist, visible for those, who dig to deep into forbidden secrets.

Curved? Naw, I prefer flat. The Mists provide a nice, hazy, ''horizon'' for many countries. There are also mountain ranges to limit vision. If you need a horzon effect, you can just assume that it is the nature of light in Ravenloft. Vision is limited. Don't bother about the physics, because it will never matter in play. When was the last time someone bothered about the physics of vampires, for example?

[Irving the Meek]

I'm strongly of the opinion that in a 4e campaign, rifles and pistols should be alchemical items, not "weapons" per se. Take a look at the new equipment guide and how it treats alchemist's fire and you get the idea. It solves a lot of problems very neatly.

[WolfKook]

After a week of voting for the existing domains and darklords, to decide which should we clone into Ravenloft Reanimated, we have a list of 14 domain/darklord pairings that would probably figure in our project. They are:

Barovia (Strahd), Borca (Ivan & Ivana), Darkon (Azalin), Dementlieu (Dominic), Falkovnia (Drakov), Har Akir (Ankhtepot), Kartakass (Harkon Lukas), Lamordia (Mordenheim, not Adam), Nocturnal Sea (Morgoth), Richemulot (Jacqueline), Shadow Rift (Gwydion), Sri Raji (Arijani), Tepest (Three Sisters), Verbrek (Maybe Arkandale?) (Alfred Timothy)

There is also a list of 7 Domains that will need a new darklord, or a serious retcon of their current darklord (Who hasn't gotten enough votes to qualify for RLR):

Bluetspur, Mictlan, Mordent, Nightmare Lands, Nova Vaasa, Pharazia, Souragne

Finally, there are three darklords looking for a new domain, or whose domains would need a rewrite to be included in RLR, as they haven't gotten enough votes yet:

Death, Elena Faithhold, Rafaelle Feudale

Don't see your favorite domain/darklord? See any domain or darklord that you'd rather not see in RLR? Vote for (and against) your favorite domains/darklords here for inclusion in RLR!

[WolfKook]

After the second week of voting, around 11 people have made their vote count. The results thus far:

Darkon, Barovia, Mordent, Lamordia and Borca would most certainly be included in Ravenloft Reanimated, with a high probability for Falkovnia, Har Akir, Souragne, Tepest and Verbrek making an appearance, while Keening, Invidia, Sithicus, Valachan and the Wildlands would probably not figure among the domains of the renewed setting.

Azalin, Strahd, Mordenheim, Ivana and Vlad Drakov would probably figure as some of RLR's most prominent darklords, with Ankhtepot, Harkon Lukas, the three sisters and Ivan on their toes, while Lord Soth, Inza Kulchevich, Tristessa, Hazlik, King Croc and Von Kharkov would probably disappear from the face of the new world.

Lamordia would probably change Adam for Mordenheim as its darklord, and Mordent and Bluetspur would probably get a new one (Or their current DLs will get a serious retcon). Elena will probably be included among the list of Darklords, but she would probably need a new domain, or Nidala would need a serious treatment.

11 votes are still few for the purpose we're trying to achieve (i.e. To reach a somewhat global agreement about the Domains and Darklords that would be included in the project), and the time is running. I hope you guys will take interest and vote for your favorite domains here.

[Irving the Meek]

Maybe it's time to shift the focus of the question a little? We've got five definite Core domains. What if we pick five more "on the edge" domains and let people vote them up or down in a poll? Polls are easy, and people can express their opinions without having do work so hard to come up with an answer (it's tough picking ten keepers and five duds!). It'll also let people who love a given domain start a campaign for their own. People can make their arguments pro or con in those threads. Sound good?

[WolfKook]

Well, I'll give it one more week, to end the 4-week schedule. The idea of making a poll with the not-so-certain domains seems good, the problem is to pick the domains and darklords to vote for on each poll.

By now (Having just one week ahead of us), the "almost certain" domains are: Barovia, Borca, Darkon, Dementlieu, Falkovnia, Har Akir, Kartakass, Lamordia, Mordent, the Nightmare Lands, the Nocturnal Sea, Paridon, Souragne, Sri Raji, Tepest.

OTOH, the following domains will most certainly not be included in RLR: Forlorn, Hazlan, I'Cath, Keening, the Shadow Rift, Sithicus, Valachan and the Wildlands (Plus all other domains that haven't been voted for).

On the poll you mention, we would probably be voting for Avonleigh, Bluetspur, Invidia, Markovia, Necropolis, Nidala, Nova Vaasa, Odiare, Pharazia, Richemulot, Rokushima Taiyoo, Sanguinia, the Sea of Sorrows, Vechor, Verbrek and Vorostokov. The problem would be how to structure the poll so that we could vote for (Or against) these domains in a relatively easy way...

[Irving the Meek]

I'd just bite the bullet, pick five to save (go ahead, be arbitrary, it's kinda fun), and start a thread for each one with a yes/no poll. People can make their cases in each one.

[WolfKook]

OK. So let's see:

The current (official) version of RL has about 50 domains: 20 in the core, 2 seas with a total of 9 island domains, about 12 domains in clusters, and 7 islands of terrors.

As we go, Ravenloft Reanimated has some 16 domains (Barovia, Borca,
Darkon, Dementlieu, Falkovnia, Har Akir, Kartakass, Lamordia, Mordent, the Nightmare Lands, the Nocturnal Sea, Paridon, the Sea of Sorrows, Souragne, Sri Raji and Tepest), with a probable 17th domain in a highly modified Nidala (Cause Elena has been voted a lot).

There are 14 domains which have a fair chance of being chosen (Avonleigh, Bluetspur, Invidia, Markovia, Necropolis, Nidala, Nova Vaasa, Odiare, Pharazia, Richemulot, Rokushima Taiyoo, Sanguinia, Verbrek and Vorostokov). The idea, then, would be to separate them in 4 groups and make a poll for each group, to end up with 8 additional domains from the original list, for a total of 24/25 domains.

Ideally, another group of 20 domains would come from fan-made material, both from domains already published in the various netbooks (Though I'm afraid the votes for them have been scarce at best) and from domains created specifically for Ravenloft Reanimated (I hope we could make a contest to do this). At the end, we'll end up with 44/45 domains.

Finally, there'll be a contest for the best reengineered domain, from among those canon domains which weren't chosen, and we'll fill the remaining 5/6 slots with the winners of this contest.

And we're not at 25% of the project yet.

[Irving the Meek]

Core first, please! 50 all at once would cause me to make Madness checks!

[Gnarfflinger]

To build on Irving's coments, I say that as the core starts to take shape, the details about individual domains could be worked out. It might be a simple matter for major domains, like Barovia, more complicated for other some lesser known domains.

Likewise if we opt for clusters, let the clusters take shape first, then the details to follow.

Islands and pocket domains would come into play where needed.

I know I have a lot of Ideas, just not much of an Idea on how to make them real...

[WolfKook]

Of course, that's the idea. For now, we're only choosing which domains will make it to RLR. After we're done with it, we'll arrange them into Core domains, Clusters and Islands, so that we can focus on the core first and into the smaller areas later.

For now, the poll is almost over (It ends tomorrow), and unless things change in the last day, the following 17 canon domains will be chosen for RLR: Barovia, Borca, Darkon, Dementlieu, Falkovnia, Har Akir, Kartakass, Lamordia (With Mordenheim as the DL), Nidala, Nightmare Lands, Nocturnal Sea, Souragne and Sri Raji, plus Mordent, Paridon, Pharazia and Tepest, which will probably suffer major changes in darklordship.

That also leaves us with 16 domains which are still uncertain (Avonleigh, Bluetspur, Blaustein, Dominia, Ghastria, G'Henna, L'ile de la Tempete, Odiare, Necropolis, Nova Vaasa, Richemulot, Rokushima Taiyoo, Sanguinia, Sebua, Verbrek and Vorostokov), and which will get into the individual polls as Irving proposed, to end up with 8 domains, for a total of 25.

That leaves us with the fan-made domains, for which I'll take a different approach, and I will need help with that: Instead of letting people vote for their favorite domains, I want to make a list of domains and evaluate their playability, attractiveness, "gothicness" and compatibility with the rest of Ravenloft, so that we can end up with a small group of domains for us to vote for.

So, I need a group of four or five people to act as evaluators. Anyone's interested?

(Plus, I'm tempted to include fan-made write-ups of canon-domains -that is: Al-Kathos, Farelle, Isle of Ravens and Kislova -automatically. I want to know what people think about that).

[Irving the Meek]

I'll pitch in as an evaluator, sure. I really like the Isle of Ravens writeup - I'd be strongly tempted to include that one, if nothing else as "stamp" of our version of Ravenloft.

[WolfKook]

Ok, latest news:

1. Different approach for fan-made domains: We've filtered pocket domains, and put aside fan-made versions of canon domains. There is still a list of 47 domains to choose from. If you have any ideas on how to reduce that list further, please tell us here

1. We're already choosing from among those domains that didn't receive enough votes which ones should stay in our version of RL. For now, we've got four domains in the dead row (Nova Vaasa, Odiare, Richemulot and Verbrek), and one of them is not going to be granted pardon...

1. Some darklords didn't receive enough support from the voters, and we're already discussing what to do with them: Should we retcon them? Replace them? The first discussion revolves around Mordent, and the final decision is yours.

[ewancummins]

No Richemulot!!!

I voted to save one of the coolest domains ever- land of cheese and wine wererats!

[WolfKook]

No Richemulot!!!

Hey! There are still 16 domains in play, and Richemulot is one of them. And judging from the votes it's getting, I'm pretty sure it'll be chosen as one of the 8 that will make it to RLR