Alt- Gundarak

[ewancummins]

Yeah, he seemed the kind of vampire before Dracula, from the 18th century "boo!" stories but instead of being a wretch, he was also insanely powerful.
Would help get Barovians laugh their faces off to stupid foreigners that suggested Strahd was vampire. They would point to their neighbors and say "That's a vampire! A guy that steals girls, suck their blood and throw the corpses to his mad son. And when people rise against him, he has them nailed on trees outside his abode of evil."


All in all though, I didn't like KotBRose Gundar; he was a caricature 2D character from what I remember. A clear-cut villain. More like a force of evil than a true villain with goals and purpose. He seemed to be there to make people miserable. Like a chaotic Drakov more or less, not a chaotic Strahd.

Dread Possibility:
Gundar is not the Darklord.
Maybe Medraut is the true lord?
Or maybe it's the Erlking or some accursed soul people identify with the Erlking?

[alhoon]

That's rich... and certainly deserves more explanation and exloration than an awesome one-liner.

[ewancummins]

That's rich... and certainly deserves more explanation and exloration than an awesome one-liner.

Indeed.

I may develop it further.

I'll need to find and read Feast of Goblyns, Knight of the Black Rose., and whichever Book of S- has Duke Gundar notes.
\

[alhoon]

There's no Gundar notes in the Gaz. Just a few things about his rule.

Keep in mind that non-Darklord Gundar is not exactly non-canon. After he was revived by some idiots in an accident, Gundar walks the land no longer a Darklord. What's to say he was actually the Darklord or the sole Darklord? IIRC Dominiani got the domain soon after Mer-whatever died anyway.
As of those idiots? He didn't just drink their blood, he tore them limb for limb. Because he's Gundar.

He was supposed to be a 6th lvl Aristocrat/10th lvl fighter eminent vampire. I.e. one of the most powerful warriors of the core, in not THE most powerful.

If I changed anything in him from the traditional vamp, would be that his gaze wouldn't be domination\charm etc. But paralysis\fear. He really didn't seem the type to seduce.

[Nevermorrow]

IIRC, Teufeldorf means something like "devil's village." It's one of those silly pun names that I changed for my campaign. I made up the name Gleyfels and used that.

[ewancummins]

IIRC, Teufeldorf means something like "devil's village." It's one of those silly pun names that I changed for my campaign. I made up the name Gleyfels and used that.

I'd keep it.

It's not silly if the village is/was a center of worship for the Erl-King.

Or there's some other local legend about a 'devil' associated with the place.

We certainly have plenty of places in this country with 'devil' or something similiar in the name.

http://gizmodo.com/hail-satan-a-map-of- ... 1456016654

Note that some of these are towns; it's not just natural features or roads or what have you.

---
Gleyfels does sound nice, though. Whatever works for the DM.

[Cromstar]

It's not silly if the village is/was a center of worship for the Erl-King.

Or there's some other local legend about a 'devil' associated with the place.

All this Erlking talk makes me wonder if, perhaps, you kept Gundar, this wouldn't somehow be tied into him and his curse. I mean, a supernatural possibly-evil force hovering just out of existence in his realm...Gundar either has a hand in its existence or knows about it and is unable or unwilling to be involved.

Actually, going to the Wild Hunt well for ideas, this passage from Wikipedia stuck out:

Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it.[9] Mortals getting in the path of or following the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead. A girl who saw Wild Edric's Ride was warned by her father to put her apron over her head to avoid the sight.[10] Others believed that people's spirits could be pulled away during their sleep to join the cavalcade.

...Would Duke Gundar, undisputed ruler and master of his domain, fear the Erlking?

[ewancummins]

I'm going to avoid an adventure spoiler.


Suffice it to say that one manifestation of the Wild Hunt does appear in one Ravenloft domain, in canon.




I'll have to kick around the Erlking stuff more.

But I now have some ideas for Gundarak that justify, to me, keeping it around as its own domain.

[Nevermorrow]

IIRC, Teufeldorf means something like "devil's village." It's one of those silly pun names that I changed for my campaign. I made up the name Gleyfels and used that.

I'd keep it.

It's not silly if the village is/was a center of worship for the Erl-King.

Or there's some other local legend about a 'devil' associated with the place.

We certainly have plenty of places in this country with 'devil' or something similiar in the name.

http://gizmodo.com/hail-satan-a-map-of- ... 1456016654

Note that some of these are towns; it's not just natural features or roads or what have you.

---
Gleyfels does sound nice, though. Whatever works for the DM.

That's actually cool; it's not silly if there's a plausible reason for it. Even better if there's a creepy reason for it.

[Cromstar]

I'm going to avoid an adventure spoiler.


Suffice it to say that one manifestation of the Wild Hunt does appear in one Ravenloft domain, in canon.

I have yet to see an official D&D version of the Wild Hunt that didn't fall flat, IMO.

VIEW CONTENT:

If we are talking about the one in Castles Forlorn...I especially dislike that one, and the very reason why can be spotted in the first line of its description "...a powerful force acting for good." I want to know where THIS idea came from because its completely and totally unrelated to anything I've ever seen or read about the Wild Hunt. At the best, the Wild Hunt is a force-of-nature type occurance, in that it is neither good nor bad, it just is. Other interpretations, its a sinners eternal punishment (as either the hunted or the hunter, depending), or its lead by a great evil itself. I've never seen any version where the observance of the Wild Hunt was anything but a cause for worry, even if it just passed you by. Even the most benign versions, like Odin's hunt, usually signaled weather changes or the coming of war or famine.

Also, the hunter in that module travels on foot. And that's just blatant horse-poop. Nobody in a Wild Hunt gets away by following the dogs ON FOOT.

Really, considering the pseudo-Celtic origins of the entire domain, I don't know why they had to go and drag the name of the Wild Hunt into this, when there were any number of good choices for a 'last desperate attempt to stop the evil that is loose amongst us.' Especially considering they claim the Wild Hunt is a force for good, and then NOPE, SURPRISE, Its been corrupted by Ravenloft! Which isn't a surprise considering its source has never really been identified as a force for good.

Heck, this hunt is actually pretty close to the original version Gary Gygax detailed in Deities and Demigods. How's that for corruption? In that version, when a great evil walked a land tended by Celtic druids, there was a chance the Hunt would spawn. The Hunt spawns 10 miles from the 'source' riding directly at it. Any being that seeks out the noise is automatically ensnared, and a 25% for any others spotting the Hunt, with a 10% chance to be the hunted instead of a hunter. If the source is spotted before any others become the hunted, the source is then hunted; otherwise the hunt turns on the nearest game animal. Either way, the hunt carries on for 10 miles after passing the source (and if the source is inside a building where the Hunt won't go, it will pass within inches of the structure) and then it all disappears. It even explicitly states that Hunters will do things out of their control, including the possibility a paladin will hunt and kill innocents as a result of the Hunt.

It closes the entry by pointing out that the Hunt most often appears in tales where it fights and is killed by the hero of the tale, implying that the Hunt is neither good nor evil...it simply is.

[ewancummins]

I'm going to avoid an adventure spoiler.


Suffice it to say that one manifestation of the Wild Hunt does appear in one Ravenloft domain, in canon.

I have yet to see an official D&D version of the Wild Hunt that didn't fall flat, IMO.

VIEW CONTENT:

If we are talking about the one in Castles Forlorn...I especially dislike that one, and the very reason why can be spotted in the first line of its description "...a powerful force acting for good." I want to know where THIS idea came from because its completely and totally unrelated to anything I've ever seen or read about the Wild Hunt. At the best, the Wild Hunt is a force-of-nature type occurance, in that it is neither good nor bad, it just is. Other interpretations, its a sinners eternal punishment (as either the hunted or the hunter, depending), or its lead by a great evil itself. I've never seen any version where the observance of the Wild Hunt was anything but a cause for worry, even if it just passed you by. Even the most benign versions, like Odin's hunt, usually signaled weather changes or the coming of war or famine.

Also, the hunter in that module travels on foot. And that's just blatant horse-poop. Nobody in a Wild Hunt gets away by following the dogs ON FOOT.

Really, considering the pseudo-Celtic origins of the entire domain, I don't know why they had to go and drag the name of the Wild Hunt into this, when there were any number of good choices for a 'last desperate attempt to stop the evil that is loose amongst us.' Especially considering they claim the Wild Hunt is a force for good, and then NOPE, SURPRISE, Its been corrupted by Ravenloft! Which isn't a surprise considering its source has never really been identified as a force for good.

Heck, this hunt is actually pretty close to the original version Gary Gygax detailed in Deities and Demigods. How's that for corruption? In that version, when a great evil walked a land tended by Celtic druids, there was a chance the Hunt would spawn. The Hunt spawns 10 miles from the 'source' riding directly at it. Any being that seeks out the noise is automatically ensnared, and a 25% for any others spotting the Hunt, with a 10% chance to be the hunted instead of a hunter. If the source is spotted before any others become the hunted, the source is then hunted; otherwise the hunt turns on the nearest game animal. Either way, the hunt carries on for 10 miles after passing the source (and if the source is inside a building where the Hunt won't go, it will pass within inches of the structure) and then it all disappears. It even explicitly states that Hunters will do things out of their control, including the possibility a paladin will hunt and kill innocents as a result of the Hunt.

It closes the entry by pointing out that the Hunt most often appears in tales where it fights and is killed by the hero of the tale, implying that the Hunt is neither good nor evil...it simply is.

RE: Wild Hunt in

VIEW CONTENT:

Forlorn. Yes, that's the one I meant. I like the basic idea, but I'm not certain of how I'd use it.
Maybe the Wild Hunt crosses domain borders and ides through neighboring domains sometimes?

[thekristhomas]

I'm going to avoid an adventure spoiler.


Suffice it to say that one manifestation of the Wild Hunt does appear in one Ravenloft domain, in canon.

I have yet to see an official D&D version of the Wild Hunt that didn't fall flat, IMO.

VIEW CONTENT:

If we are talking about the one in Castles Forlorn...I especially dislike that one, and the very reason why can be spotted in the first line of its description "...a powerful force acting for good." I want to know where THIS idea came from because its completely and totally unrelated to anything I've ever seen or read about the Wild Hunt. At the best, the Wild Hunt is a force-of-nature type occurance, in that it is neither good nor bad, it just is. Other interpretations, its a sinners eternal punishment (as either the hunted or the hunter, depending), or its lead by a great evil itself. I've never seen any version where the observance of the Wild Hunt was anything but a cause for worry, even if it just passed you by. Even the most benign versions, like Odin's hunt, usually signaled weather changes or the coming of war or famine.

Also, the hunter in that module travels on foot. And that's just blatant horse-poop. Nobody in a Wild Hunt gets away by following the dogs ON FOOT.

Really, considering the pseudo-Celtic origins of the entire domain, I don't know why they had to go and drag the name of the Wild Hunt into this, when there were any number of good choices for a 'last desperate attempt to stop the evil that is loose amongst us.' Especially considering they claim the Wild Hunt is a force for good, and then NOPE, SURPRISE, Its been corrupted by Ravenloft! Which isn't a surprise considering its source has never really been identified as a force for good.

Heck, this hunt is actually pretty close to the original version Gary Gygax detailed in Deities and Demigods. How's that for corruption? In that version, when a great evil walked a land tended by Celtic druids, there was a chance the Hunt would spawn. The Hunt spawns 10 miles from the 'source' riding directly at it. Any being that seeks out the noise is automatically ensnared, and a 25% for any others spotting the Hunt, with a 10% chance to be the hunted instead of a hunter. If the source is spotted before any others become the hunted, the source is then hunted; otherwise the hunt turns on the nearest game animal. Either way, the hunt carries on for 10 miles after passing the source (and if the source is inside a building where the Hunt won't go, it will pass within inches of the structure) and then it all disappears. It even explicitly states that Hunters will do things out of their control, including the possibility a paladin will hunt and kill innocents as a result of the Hunt.

It closes the entry by pointing out that the Hunt most often appears in tales where it fights and is killed by the hero of the tale, implying that the Hunt is neither good nor evil...it simply is.

RE: Wild Hunt in

VIEW CONTENT:

Forlorn. Yes, that's the one I meant. I like the basic idea, but I'm not certain of how I'd use it.
Maybe the Wild Hunt crosses domain borders and ides through neighboring domains sometimes?

VIEW CONTENT:

Kinda like the Headless Horseman from Darklords?

[Cromstar]

I just assumed the Hunt didn't exist (at least not in any observable, interactive way) until it coalesced where it wanted. Basically, in Ravenloft, its a product of the Mists and/or Dark Powers. Or possibly its a nebulous, magical entity of some sort that only takes form occasionally...

Actually, considering the power that beliefs can grant, if something like this were worshiped or feared enough by the local population, that would make sense. And if it ties into a Dark Lords' own fears, desires, and insecurities, the DPs definitely have a reason to let it do so.

So that said, the idea the Hunt occasionally passes through other nearby domains definitely raises the stakes a bit. Honestly, the Wild Hunt seems like it was tailor made to pop up in Ravenloft at times...its not really so different from a normal hunting party...but those little differences...

@thekristhomas

VIEW CONTENT:

I really, really liked the Headless Horseman version there, mostly because I think its one of the best transitions into (or out of) Ravenloft for a 'normal' D&D party. And the Hunt could work that way too, though I always saw the Hunt as being less about evil and more about the primal urge to hunt...but that could easily be a curse, as I'm pretty sure 'primal urge to hunt/kill' covers a few canon Dark Lords.

[ewancummins]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m35vj ... 1_1280.jpg

Roslof Wild Hunt