CONFIRMED: Ravenloft for 5th Edition

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Edited to add: Ravenloft can be anything to anyone, regardless of race or gender preference, for as long as the people who play it are having fun and aren't hurting anyone. This thread is no longer amusing.

[alhoon]

People make too many assumptions, based on a 3-4 line comment somewhere in an article. There no reason to assume that Barovia will be part of a wild orgy with its own community of trangender Asian mermaids.

[Skyrock]

I'm not too thrilled about a reboot that mangles the source material to forcefully inject 'diversity' and 'progressiveness', either. I don't mind it where it makes sense without a second thought (like most sci-fi and cyberpunk worlds), and I can live with it when it is properly rationalized within the logic of the setting (like the character Azeem in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - his background story may be a bit of a stretch, but actual history has given us even greater oddities like Yasuke),
It could be done in a sensible way that still retains the internal logic of the original setting, like a travelling Vallakan trader trapped within the choking mists, or fellow stragglers from a material plane.
(My guts feeling, though, is that the Wizards will go the lazy route and will just have a few local NPCs be black and brown, just as in 3E's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft there were suddenly halfling vistani.)

We are still well off in our hobby, as we still have GMs who can either add an rationalization to actually mesh it with the setting, alter it or in the worst case outright discard it.

[Joël of the FoS]

Barovia will be part of a wild orgy with its own community of trangender Asian mermaids.

Where? Where?

---

Ravenloft can be anything to anyone, regardless of race or gender preference, for as long as the people who play it are having fun and aren't hurting anyone. This thread is no longer amusing.

Indeed, it isn't fun anymore.

OK, guys, Frankie says relax.

1) tomokaicho, and others, unless you are a vistani seer, we don't know what will be in the book, so it isn't the time to assume that kind of extreme things from an unexplained comment dropped in an interview. IMHO, that would be extremely surprising if non-hetero sex issues were really that important in CoS, no? My speculation is that they will propably just leave an open door for it in the background description, and that will be about it. So I do not see the need to rant anymore about this, until the book is out and we can finally see for real what it's about, OK?

2) If you have a problem with this kind of non-hetero fantasy, well, just ignore it in your game. It reminds me of when people were strangely angry because WotC was alterning between he and she in the text books to try to attract more ladies to the game. Just ignore it if your personal convictions are somehow offended by it.

So guys, do not put more rants here on this matter until the book is out, and we see for real what's in the book. Thank you for your understanding that not everybody shares your views, could be more open minded, and thus may even find them offensive.

Back to non-sex/race speculations and discussions

Joël

[alhoon]

About that exchanging between he and she in 3E books... that was odd and making the text kinda harder to read. But I didn't shed any tears and just trudged through that weird decision that probably didn't add more than 12 women in the hobby.
Every time I showed one of those books (3E handbook) to a woman friend, she also found it weird, not empowering. When I told them "they did it to make women feel more included" they usually pointed at the naughty paladin of 3E handbook as "and what's that teenager's fantasy doing there then?". Happened in 2 out of 3 situations.

OK, I realize I rant about it like... 19 years too late.

[Guardian of Twilight]

Well said. I'll likely look over my copy of the original Ravenloft module and add some things that I like and remove what I don't in Curse of Strahd, just as I've done with every sourcebook or module over the years. This isn't really a different scenario, and WotC doesn't have any say in our home games. I'll be happy to run Curse of Strahd for my friends and family, and let them have fun and make memories that will last a lifetime. Heck, if I enjoy it enough, I might even consider running it at GenCon this year for people to sign up for. Only time will tell, right?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Indeed, if it wasn't clear already, from what I said before and what Joel said now. DROP THE SUBJECT. THE END.

ETA: the above isn't directed at Guardian of Twilight (who posted immediately before) or any poster in particular. It's just an official moderator directive to put the thread back on topic. We can continue to talk about Curse of Strahd. Just let's avoid the minefield of racism/sexism/diversity/tokenism/sexuality/etc. Please.

[Jester of the FoS]

Moderator power abusing aside:

Historically, Wallachia, the progenitor of modern Romania is in SE Europe, closer to the Mediterranean and Middle East than England. And was part of the Muslim Ottoman Empire, which included much of the Middle East and northern Africa.
People there were not "white" per se.

Plus, the Mists can grab anyone from anywhere and deposit them in Barovia. It seems unlikely the the Dark Powers are only going to grab people of the Barovian ethnicity.
After a few centuries, there would be a lot of diversity in the land.

Okay, aside dropped. Back to the topic.


So, listening to the podcast, it does sound like the expansion of Barovia is on the small scale. Little locations, so it might still work with the campaign setting. It focuses on the valley around the village of Barovia, so it is expansionary rather than revisionary.

[alhoon]

I guessed that was their goal too. Additions that someone that never knew what Ravenloft is could enjoy and that could also work nearly seamlessly for the veteran that has every Ravenloft material ever produced. I.e. while I doubt we would see the Thaani, I also doubt we would see Halfling vistani either.

[ewancummins]

Indeed, if it wasn't clear already, from what I said before and what Joel said now. DROP THE SUBJECT. THE END.

ETA: the above isn't directed at Guardian of Twilight (who posted immediately before) or any poster in particular. It's just an official moderator directive to put the thread back on topic. We can continue to talk about Curse of Strahd. Just let's avoid the minefield of racism/sexism/diversity/tokenism/sexuality/etc. Please.

[Guardian of Twilight]

I was just able to listen to the podcast, and hearing that Tracy Hickman is actually excited by this adventure makes me all the more excited. I'm really looking forward to seeing the maps that have been made for this, and reading over the new parts. I really hope that this will become a classic adventure for 5E that people talk about for years to come.

[Zilfer]

I do hope there is fluff in CoS. I think that will hopefully be the main thing I take out of it. I may run my players through it but I don't know if it will be 5e or not. Haven't really bought anything related to that yet since I've been mostly Pathfinder these last few years. Does anyone know if the Tarokka deck is being sold seperately or with the preorders?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Does anyone know if the Tarokka deck is being sold seperately or with the preorders?

It seems it's a separate product.
"Players will also love to get their hands on a physical tarroka deck of cards produced by Gale Force 9 and available with the release of the adventure."

[Zilfer]

Does anyone know if the Tarokka deck is being sold seperately or with the preorders?

It seems it's a separate product.
"Players will also love to get their hands on a physical tarroka deck of cards produced by Gale Force 9 and available with the release of the adventure."

Unfortunate but it will be done. I must have it.

[Jester of the FoS]

I was just able to listen to the podcast, and hearing that Tracy Hickman is actually excited by this adventure makes me all the more excited. I'm really looking forward to seeing the maps that have been made for this, and reading over the new parts. I really hope that this will become a classic adventure for 5E that people talk about for years to come.

It sounds like they're slipping in as many gothic and horror adventure locations as they can, suggesting a creepy windmill as one.

So, really, it's the expansion we saw in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft but more thematic & atmospheric, less tactical, and based on stuff that the original author couldn't fit into the module.

No word on Vistani halflings yet. That was weird in 3e, but I can imagine a band of halflings traveling alongside vardos as companions. That's better than the 4e version where being a Vistani became a feat. Ugh.