Top 5 worst Ravenloft Products

[woodsdarkman]

Just for the record I did not The Forgotten Terror, but I did not expect much from a pointless crossover.

[Garudos Celestar]

Just for the record I did not The Forgotten Terror, but I did not expect much from a pointless crossover.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about The Forgotten Terror was how good the prequel Castle Spulzeer was: it set up a fantastic backstory (as characters, Chardath, Marble, and Maleffluent are all fantastic), but then TFT just became... weird...

Yeah, I think weird is the right word. Some of the scenes might make good Nightmare Lands scenarios, however.

[Trike]

May I bring up a scar long since forgotten?
Blood and Iron: Warriors of Ravenloft

I was going to stay out of this discussion. I really was. Not because I don't think it's fun. I am actually laughing out loud reading some of these. I was going to stay out because I have a love/hate relationship with many Ravenloft products (particularly the novels) and my opinion would boil over into a rush of foulness the likes of which the Dark Powers have never seen.

Now, my blood chills at the very mention of this game. I consider myself a fan of both Ravenloft and fighting games. A hardcore fan in some respects. AND I only paid five dollars for this game.

The disappointment from playing it gave me ennui.......from which I died......

[A G Thing]

May I bring up a scar long since forgotten?
Blood and Iron: Warriors of Ravenloft

I was going to stay out of this discussion. I really was. Not because I don't think it's fun. I am actually laughing out loud reading some of these. I was going to stay out because I have a love/hate relationship with many Ravenloft products (particularly the novels) and my opinion would boil over into a rush of foulness the likes of which the Dark Powers have never seen.

Now, my blood chills at the very mention of this game. I consider myself a fan of both Ravenloft and fighting games. A hardcore fan in some respects. AND I only paid five dollars for this game.

The disappointment from playing it gave me ennui.......from which I died......

G...G...G...GHOST TRIKE!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[Joël of the FoS]

Just for the record I did not The Forgotten Terror, but I did not expect much from a pointless crossover.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about The Forgotten Terror was how good the prequel Castle Spulzeer was: it set up a fantastic backstory (as characters, Chardath, Marble, and Maleffluent are all fantastic), but then TFT just became... weird...

Yeah, I think weird is the right word. Some of the scenes might make good Nightmare Lands scenarios, however.

A cool project would be to salvage what can be used, and redo this adventure.

For TFT and others.

Joël

[Bluebomber4evr]

I don't know how you can make a list of worst Ravenloft products and not include either Ship of Horror or Thoughts of Darkness. They are objectively bad, some of the worst products for the whole line.

Ship of Horror gives no motivation for its villain, leaves a major location undetailed and "up to the DM to design" (hey, if I'm shelling out $9.95 in 1992 money, I expect a fully written adventure, damn it), and one of the most anticlimactic finales I've ever had the displeasure of running.

Thoughts of Darkness was just completely unplayable from beginning to end, and the maps are utterly useless. Again, it's painfully obvious that it was a rush job and most of the module is left up to the DM to create.

[High Priest Mikhal]

The video games and Red Death series were not considered. They are not "really" Ravenloft.

Depends on the games, and MotRD is technically part of Ravenloft (it's a sub-setting). Strahd's Possession is very much Ravenloft while Stone Prophet is out there. Any others...I'd as soon forget they ever existed.

[woodsdarkman]

Ship of Horror almost made the list. I remember hating it when it came out. But with the Nocturnal Sea having been expanded upon I have softened on it a little bit. I still think Thoughts of Darkness gets a bad rap. Never played the video games. Not the same as role playing hence why I never really consider them. Although I would play Iron & Blood just to see how bad it is.

[Zettaijin]

Thoughts of Darkness had some neat ideas, but suffered from poor execution. Worst product ever? I'm sure there are worse, but it certainly doesn't rank very high.

What did ToD give us?

-The answer to "what would happen if a vampire bit a mind flayer?"
-A relative of Strahd
-Some information about Bluetspur, helping to establish the mood and general feel of the domain
-A rare "high level" module set in RL
-A rare attempt at Eldritch horror in RL
-A precursor to the Nightmare Lands in the form of the nightmare encounters and rules for nightmare disturbed rest

It wasn't a complete waste, but yes, it certainly wasn't worth the price of admission at the time.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I'll pipe up again to defend some of the "bad" stuff. I was actually surprised that the forgotten terror was as good as it was, considering the dreaded crossover. At least it tried to do something different and not just a dungeon crawl with a darklord to kill. I don't remember the details clearly, but it was definitely in the same vein as the Nightmare Lands and When Black Roses Bloom, which are both rather well liked.

EtCR... for what it is, seems pretty good. It's not in the Ravenloft setting, (and there are some questionable art choices, yes we all remember) but it's a good update of the Ravenloft module. It could have been both, which is a missed opportunity, but that doesn't mean it's a bad product.


Now, Iron and Blood on the other hand, I cannot defend in the slightest. It is indefensible on all fronts.

[HuManBing]

Thoughts of Darkness also had a really cool Ice Storm waterfall trap.

The trap is probably the only thing I remember though.

[brilliantlight]

Just to lighten things up and get over Jim gloating over his copy of Farewell to the Flesh I came up with my top 5 worst Ravenloft products list. Excluding novels. They would take up the entire list. Agree or disagree, let's have fun with this.

5. Book of Crypts.
I get the idea behind this. Ravenloft is young and only has one adventure at the time. D&D being module oriented had to come up with some quick adventures for the new Ravenloft. The problem is the lack of execution. The adventures could have taken place anywhere and in fact did take place in new places not even mentioned in the Ravenloft Boxed Set. And really, most of the adventures did not feel like Ravenloft at all. A big swing and a miss.

4. Forged of Darkness.
During this period Ravenloft was coming out with a product every month. Those were great days. But something had to be filler and Forged of Darkness is the poster boy for filler product. Maybe a few good ideas but mostly forgetable stuff just not worthy of the purchase price. But hey, at the time we all knew it was filler so why dwell on it.

3. Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends.
Was this an attempt to sneak in adventures when White Wolf was not having it. Was this an attempt to just get some scary stories published. Who knows. The impression I got after reading Dark Tales was what the hell was that. The book is hard to read, boring, and overly complex. The adventures within are more trouble than they were worth. In a time when we all knew Ravenloft's days were number, I expected better from one of it's final products.

2. Howls in the Night.
Woe is Mordent. Long neglected, long forgotten, but wait here comes an adventure set in Mordent called Howls in the Night. What a let down. Hands down the worst Ravenloft Module by far mainly for being such a missed opportunity. What we hoped for was Gaz type module detailing its land and people. What we got was a short Choose your own Adventure type module about some dogs and a curse that could have taken place anywhere there was a swamp. I could go on cursing this product but I don't want to get mad.

1. Champions of Darkness.
I could do a full page essay on why this product sucks eggs. I could go on about how the freelance writers didn't know jack about Ravenloft. I could go on about what a souless read this book is. I could go on and on. But all I have to do is mention the three most vile words known to Ravenloft fans. Sheriff von Zarovich. UGH!

Thats all for today folks. Join me next time when I ramble my two cents about the top 5 best Ravenloft products.

It just shows you how people are different as none of these would have cracked my top five with the exception of Champions of Darkness. Although the Book of Crypts is not the best it is not among the worst either. I like Forged of Darkness as it has many nice ideas about cursed items. I have converted one or two of them to PF and used them. I liked DT and DL outside the Bogymen and I had a lot of fun with Howls in the Night. But to each his own, it is a matter of taste.

Mine would be Champions of Darkness (You covered it well, as you said even more could be said about how bad it is), Thoughts of Darkness (as what kind of RL adventure doesn't even describe the curse behind the whole thing?), The Shadow Rift (Too disjointed for me), House of Strahd (Which could have been better developed), Van Richten's Guide to the Mists (Could be better developed). The last two aren't really bad but the rest of the RL products I have are better.

Interestingly, although they aren't official products nothing from QTR and any other netbooks I have crack the list. Maybe because the people doing them are really interested in RL.

[brilliantlight]

Just for the record I did not The Forgotten Terror, but I did not expect much from a pointless crossover.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about The Forgotten Terror was how good the prequel Castle Spulzeer was: it set up a fantastic backstory (as characters, Chardath, Marble, and Maleffluent are all fantastic), but then TFT just became... weird...

Yeah, I think weird is the right word. Some of the scenes might make good Nightmare Lands scenarios, however.

I rather liked it, probably because it was wierd. I like wierd once in a while and the psycological aspect of it was interesting IMO. I am in the minority here but so be it.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

5. Book of Crypts. It's not that it's bad, it's just bland. The adventures aren't even adventures they're clunky scenes that can be difficult to work into an on-going campaign. Also, it wasn't until Domains of Dread that Liffe was even codified.

4. Thoughts of Darkness. At what stage is a Ravenloft PC even going to approaching 20th level? Lyssa is badly handled in this adventure, and she wasn't redeemed fully until CotN: Vampires.

3. Shadowborn. Makes the Shadowborn Cluster suffer from Dragonlance Syndrome. There's nothing for the players to do in Shadowborn manor now, as Alexi's done it. If you want to use the domain again afterwards, you've got to make a whole new set of stats for Alexi/Ebonbane, making his entry in Darklords moot.

2. Iron and Blood. It's a Ravenloft beat-'em up. And it's not very good. At all.

1. Champions of Darkness. I've mentioned once or twice my contempt for this book. I'm not going to retread old ground and go into detail, but my key points are;

*It completely contridicted the first Gazetteer which came out a month or so before it.
*The author admitted that he made his home campaign canon because he thought it cool.
*It completely misses the point, tone and themes of Ravenloft.
*The rules are broken.

I could go on, but I won't.

[brothersale]

For me, the most disappointing Ravenloft products are the ones that didn't get made.

The "S" series non-Core Gazetteers, and the Ebonacht novel trilogy.

http://www.flamesrising.com/cover-screaming-tower/

Does anyone know what is happening with the Ebonacht novel trilogy? or has it once again stumbled at the last minute off a cliff, and needs reanimating once more