Creating a Domain

[Hell_Born]

I was suddenly hit by the urge to create a domain based around either the Covenant Estate from Clive Barker's Undying or the Udolpho Mansion from Cold Stark House, a short story in the Genevieve Undead novella.

Problem is, I've never made a domain before so I have no idea what to do... could anyone out there help me? I can post (limited) descriptions of the two estates if people don't know them, but I can't wrap my head around putting them into Ravenloft (other than the fact either one would be an Island of Terror).

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Here is how I go about creating domains:

1. Look at who would be the darklord.

2. Create the darklord's curse.

3. Think of the other important characters in the background/domain and work out how they fit into things.

4. Build up the background for the domain, the main characters and the darklord. Also decide on where the domain is, that is very important in working out the final details.

5. Finish detailing the darklord and give him/her/it statistics and rules, etc.

6. Design the domain using the set up of those in the RL Core Rules or RLPHB as a source template.

7. Look it over and make sure everything fits.

8. If you feel like something, or feel that something is missing, change or invent something to put in to make it a little more unique from other lands.

9. Read through it in detail several times, making sure it is all correct, if something doesn't work, again change it or come up with something new.

10. Lean back in your seat and realise you have not eaten, slept, gone to the toilet or shaved since you started work on the domain.

11. Realise that with you exending inactivity, you have lost your family, friends, job and the use of your legs (coz you been to busy to get up form your comfy seat).

12. Go insane when the pc crashes and you lose all your hard work to a glitch

Steps 10 and onward are apparently optional, but we shall see

[Hell_Born]

I'm no good at writing backgrounds and stuff...

I can't really decide who the Darklord should be, I'm thinking either make it Patrick Galloway (the guy you play as during the game), the Undying King (the demonic entity responsible for the curse of the Covenants) or make the five Covenant siblings Co-Darklords. Can't think of a curse either...

As to location... the game was set in some corner of Ireland... maybe it was originally in Gothic Earth then got pulled to Ravenloft? I had planned it to be an Island of Terror, as it doesn't really fit into the Core or any of the Clusters...

Ravenloft Core Rules? All I got is the Ravenloft Campiagn Setting, will that do?

There's a lot of stuff I'll have to skip or change; the enemies for one (the Howlers, the Skarrow, the Trsanti, the Flickering Stalker, the Monto'Shonoi, the Sil Lith and all the rest don't really fit), the desolated outer-planar city of Oneiros, the land of Eternal Autumn, the Past Monastary... going to be a pretty big job!

I thank you for your guideline, do you have suggestions on what to do to create the domain?

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I can't really decide who the Darklord should be, I'm thinking either make it Patrick Galloway (the guy you play as during the game), the Undying King (the demonic entity responsible for the curse of the Covenants) or make the five Covenant siblings Co-Darklords. Can't think of a curse either...

I've never played the game or read the book, so I can't really help you there

Ravenloft Core Rules? All I got is the Ravenloft Campiagn Setting, will that do?

Oops, that's the one I meant

There's a lot of stuff I'll have to skip or change; the enemies for one (the Howlers, the Skarrow, the Trsanti, the Flickering Stalker, the Monto'Shonoi, the Sil Lith and all the rest don't really fit), the desolated outer-planar city of Oneiros, the land of Eternal Autumn, the Past Monastary... going to be a pretty big job!

Stuff always needs changing, but for the creatures, try finding something suitable in the MM's, DoDark and DoDread and other books available, you never know what you might find.

I thank you for your guideline, do you have suggestions on what to do to create the domain?

Sadly, as I already said I have not played the game or read the book, so I can't Perhaps someone else here is familiar with them and will be able to help?

[Hell_Born]

I didn’t think anyone out there would know anything about Undying, so I wracked my brains and managed to recollect back to when I had a copy…

The game is set on a large estate in Ireland, you play as Patrick Galloway, a scholar of the arcane and a battler of the supernatural, banished from Ireland after the death of his wife, seemingly by his hands (in reality slain by the spellcraft of a rival of his, a warlock by the name of Keisinger). He has returned at the request of his old war friend, Jeremiah Covenant, to solve the mysteries inhabiting the estate.

The Covenant Estate holds two unusual locations; a ruined monastery (destroyed in a magical ritual gone wrong) and an island with five standing stones and a crude stone table forming a stone circle. Eons past, a powerful demonic entity called the Undying King was imprisoned there, along with the Scythe of the Celts, a crude scythe possessed by a demonic entity which devours souls (or is it blood? I can’t remember…) and which is the only weapon which can stop the tainted Covenants.

Long ago, Jeremiah and his siblings (his sister Bethany and her twin brother Aaron, the middle child- and black sheep of the family- Ambrose and Lizbeth the youngest) went out to the stone circle with one of their father’s occult texts. As a joke, Jeremiah began reading a passage. Unfortunately, the passage he chose was a ritual of unlocking, which awoke the Undying King and allowed it to infect the children with its dread essence. Since then, 4 of the Covenant children have perished and arisen as twisted monsters, when Jeremiah dies, the Undying King will be freed…

Jeremiah is the eldest and has yet to succumb to the malevolent energies of the Undying King, but the combination of his old war wound and his smoking means that his death may not be far off. In Ravenloft class, Jeremiah is probably an Aristocrat, with maybe one or two levels of Fighter (he was a soldier after all).

Bethany is a Mage (Wizard or Sorceress, hard to differentiate with these characters). She is responsible for Aaron’s undead state, and perished at the hands of the warlock Keisinger. Cunning, intelligent, powerful, horribly warped by the taint and evil to the core, Bethany knows the most about the true nature of the Undying King and it’s taint on the Covenants.

Aaron was an artist (a painter) in life, but Bethany killed him as a sacrifice for magical power. The combination of his torturous death (he was skinned alive and hung up like a side of beef in the cellar, after which Bethany ripped his lower jaw out and buried it under the floorboards in the kitchen of her summer house) and the taint have caused him to become a Ghost (probably around 3rd Magnitude). As a Ghost, he can manifest himself and physically interact with things. He normally appears as his human self, but when he wishes to attack his image becomes that of his current state (skinless, with no lower jaw and an array of spike-tipped chains and meat hooks impaled in his body, mainly his arms). If his missing jawbone is found and attached to his body his spirit is drawn back into it and he becomes a Corporeal Undead.

After being affected by the taint, Ambrose became an extremely violent and sadistic child, he was expelled from boarding school when he was found torturing a dog, he later fled the estate after beating his father to death with a pool cue. Chased by the police, he leapt from the cliff to his death- in reality he swam into a secret cove his pirate and smuggler ancestors had used long ago. Is now the leader of the brutal Trsanti, a tribe of mercenary gypsies similar in nature to a cross between Huns and Vistani. Ambrose is a Fighter specializing in the Great Axe, when he takes possession of Patrick Galloway’s Gel’zibar Stone he grows into a hideous giant version of himself.

Lizbeth was a socialite in life, the spitting image of the Covenant’s beautiful mother, who dies birthing her. She died of a wasting disease (at least that’s what they say…) but the taint caused her to rise again as a vile, cannibalistic Ghoul Lord (Lady?). Lizbeth is the queen of the savage reptilian Howlers and spends most of her time hiding in the Family Mausoleum, though she also roams the caverns which go under the house and connect it to the Ruined Monastery.

Patrick Galloway never really saw himself becoming a supernatural investigator, but that all changed when he battled a group of Trsanti, slaying their mage-chief and taking the magical Gel’zibar Stone from his neck. The Stone increases magical power, and is greatly desired by his enemy Keisinger and by the tainted Covenants, who know it will increase their power and aid their master. In Ravenloft terms, Patrick is probably a dual-classed Fighter/Wizard with the Firearm and Exotic Weapon (Scythe) proficiencies.

Keisinger is an arrogant, vicious Wizard who has caused Patrick much harm. Keisinger was drawn to the Covenant Estate by the rumours of dark magic that the villagers whispered about. He used Bethany and her obsession with magic to get onto the estate, acting as her tutor until he gained all he desired and slew her as a sacrifice to the Undying King. In game, Patrick encounters and kills him in the deserted city of Onoirous (sp).

That’s most of what I can remember, I really need some help with this…

[Corrupted_Loremaster]

A few thoughts:

1. Patrick wouldn't really work as a darklord without some major changes, he's simply to much of a hero. On the opposite end, the Undying King is presumably a being that is innately evil, like demons and devils, and thus doesn't qualify by the normal guidelines either. If I had to choose, I say either Jeremiah or Keisinger as darklord.

2. I've always thought of Bethany as an evil druid simply because a great deal of her abilities seemed nature based, but that might just be me.

3. A connection between the Trsanti and the Vistani might make for an interesting little twist, not quite sure how though. Long lost cousins maybe?

[Hell_Born]

It's nice to know I'm not the only person out there who's played Undying.

I didn't think that Patrick would be suitable Darklord material, and Keisinger is more suited for "hanger-on", so I planned to make either Jeremiah Darklord or make the Covenant's co-Darklords.

Yeah, I agree, Bethany's probably better as an evil Druid (I don't think the Fallen Child of Nature prestige class suits her though, how do I make her evil-aligned without giving up all her Druid magic?).

Yeah, connecting the Vistani and the Trsanti was something I had planned.

Do you have any suggestions as to converting the game's enemies to Ravenloft beasties? Cause they'd probably work in Ravenloft- more so in Gothic Earth, but still they fit the setting. I'm also open to suggestions on how to convert the spells (if any should be included) and what to make the Scythe of the Celts... Basic outline running through my head is +3 Scythe with Vampiric Regeneration and Haste, Curse... not to sure, but it did drive an entire monastery mad with bloodlust and it's apparently inhabited by some kind of alien intelligence, maybe make it sentient and blood-thirsty?

[Hell_Born]

Okay, the hit counter says this topic has been looked over 99 times, but I’ve only received 3 replies. I’m interested in anything anyone who wants to post, I’m not focussing on the advice of a few people, I’ll consider anything anyone posts.

[Hell_Born]

I know I’ve read before about domains containing miniature domains within them. As is, the city of Oneiros and the land of Eternal Autumn can’t really be included, but I thought maybe I could turn each of them into a kind of “pocket domain” encapsuled within the Covenant Estate. Maybe Keisinger and Bethany (who are naturally the Darklords of their respective domains, Oneiros for Keisinger and Eternal Autumn for Bethany) have a modified Darklord’s Curse; they can exit their personal domain and roam the domain of the Covenant Estate, being part of it after all, but they’re still bound to the Estate, they cannot leave it.

Maybe there might be a way to include the Monastery (Past), but I doubt it.

Also, I did a little thinking about Patrick. For the Covenant Estate to have become a Domain, he must have failed in his mission to slay the Undying King. Two options present themselves to me:
1: Patrick is dead, but his ghost still guards the Gel’zibar Stone and the Scythe of the Celts, knowing that they are the only things that can defeat the Darklord he continues to protect them, waiting and hoping that one day a hero will come to take them up against the Covenants.
2: Patrick has lost his mind and become a raving madman, he cannot remember anything about himself or his former life, all he knows now is that the twisted creatures that roam the Estate are abominations which must be killed. So now he wanders across the Estate, appearing out of nowhere to slay and butcher monsters before fading away again (helped by the Mists naturally). That might be a way to get the players involved, have Jeremiah (if he’s the Darklord, if the Covenant’s become co-Darklords then he’ll probably be their spokesman amongst outsiders, still seeming human) hire them to kill Patrick, who he tells them is a psychopathic lunatic who has been murdering people and livestock on the estate.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Instead of tracing this domain to Gothic Earth or some other "outlander" realm, perhaps you could base it on some of Ravenloft's established history. The Covenants might be replaced by a family of Forfarian petty nobles, who'd fled Forlorn and assimilated into the Core in the early days of the demiplane. However, a daughter of the family rediscovered the nastier elements of the old druidic religion and, in her search for power, engineered the downfall or corruption of her entire family, except for one brother who now lives as a haunted adventurer. This last brother now seeks others to help him undo his corrupt sister's handiwork, before he too falls prey to the cursed heritage that has consumed his siblings.

This wouldn't be an exact translation of the Undying game -- which, let's face it, means the game session would be ruined if one of your players knows the original plotline -- but rather a new story strongly inspired by the characters and dramatic events of "Undying". Making Bethany the deliberate instigator of the family's downfall rather than an innocent who's infected by some ambiguous evil force would make her an ideal darklord, and tracing the family to Forlorn would let you make the domain rather Celtic in flavor, yet much grimmer and spookier than either straight-up D&D druidism, or the IRL Celts.

[Hell_Born]

No Offense Rotipher, but from the feedback I've received I doubt there are many people out there who've played Undying (I'm the only one in my local area who has anyway). Your suggestions are interesting, but I think I'll keep that as a "last resort", I'd really prefer a more "direct" approach. Don't get discouraged, it was an excellent idea, it's just I don't really think Bethany has the potential to pull it off as a true Darklord.

Does anyone out there have any suggesstions for 3.5 edition stats for the creatures of Undying? The Howler would probably be something like a Medium Size creature with Int around 9 (it's an animal, but a animal smart enough to cling to the ceiling and coordinate its attacks), good jumping ability and dual claw and bite attacks.

[The Nightmare Man]

Does anyone out there have any suggesstions for 3.5 edition stats for the creatures of Undying? The Howler would probably be something like a Medium Size creature with Int around 9 (it's an animal, but a animal smart enough to cling to the ceiling and coordinate its attacks), good jumping ability and dual claw and bite attacks.

Well, perhaps you could provide for us, some other examples of creatures of the Undying. That way, we can determine more accurately, what type of stats to suggest.

For example, you mentioned this Howler creature. What other types are there?

[Hell_Born]

Alright, here are the descriptions of the various enemies:

The Skarrow is about the size of a man, it has a humanoid upper torso, a serpentine lower torso, it has human intelligence, it's head has no eyes (they're set in its chest, it just has empty holes in its head) and a cluster of tentacles surrounding it's mouth, it can burrow into the ground and reappear anywhere and it spits gouts of blinding venom from a distance and uses claws up close. It's very vulnerable to cold damage.

The Sil Lith is a Small creature, being basically a humanoid raven (like a wereraven in hybrid form, but the actual size of a raven). It has a gaze attack which screws up the target's sense of perception for a while; things keep swimming from near-to-far and back again. It can scratch and peck in the melee, but it prefers to use its gaze attack, as its both very vulnerable and intelligent.

Trsanti are basically particularly brutal human primitives, thier (all-female) wizards are low level (up to level 3 spells) and they tend to use daggers and pistols (tribal cheiftans use Thundersticks, a Ravenloftian shotgun from one of the Quoth the Ravens).

The Jile is one of two plant-based monsters found in the land of Eternal Autumn. The Jile bears some resemblence to a cross between a sunflower and a rosebush, its abouth waist-high on the average human. It spits venom from a distance and has three "mouths"; one in it's flower-head, the other two on long vines which it uses to attack from a distance.

Handmaidens are definately not maidens, they're some kind of she-demon who resemble human woman wrapped up entirely in intricate shawls, veils, cloaks and robes. They're a lesser demon (around the level of an Imp) but they can levitate at will, have human intelligence and are advanced spell casters (favouring the Lightning Bolt spell).

Flickering Stalkers are one of the most annoying enemies; the basically resemble a predatory fish with four long tentacles. They move by levitations, are Small creatures, and fade into and out of the Near Ethereal constantly (acts something like a Blur spell).

Monto'Shonoi are the hardest to fit in. In appearence, they resemble a malformed head with lipless mouth and two spindly, claw-fingered arms growing out of their sides. I can't really describe their physical appearance in way that does them justice . They attack by clawing and biting. The basic (or Lesser) Monto'Shonoi are slightly larger than a normal man's head, the Greater Monto'Shonoi are bigger than a man! The Giants have an "inhale" attack, where they suck wind to pull things towards them.

Verago dwell in the city of Oneiros and resemble humans entirely hidden by brown robes and cowls. They're really made of energy, are fairly weak, are skilled magic users and, if they think they're going to be beaten, try to grab onto their opponent and self-destruct, inflicting magic damage.

Sleed are the second plant enemy, Tiny piranha-like seedpod things which hop across the ground in great numbers. Weak individually, but fail to take them all out and they'll be feasting on your bloody carcass (in this case, Fireball and Cone of Cold are your best friends).

The Hound of Gel'zibar is massive, lion-like beast, drawn to the power of the Gel'zibar Stone. This creature is an ally in the battle against Ambrose in the original game. Tough, fast, strong and with an innate Teleport ability, this creature stands as high as a man at the shoulders and is a nightmare to kill.

Jemaas and Dri'nen are two different forms of primitive tribesmen found in the Land of Eternal Autumn. Jemaas are like neanderthals, dressed in the skin of all the creatures they can catch (including normal humans). THe Dri'nen are tall and gangly, they are cannibals and headhunters with an innate magic ability: they can "skim" about ten feet, a triple speed move which makes them blurred (harder to hit and more resistant to damage).

Other enemies are poltergiests, skeletons (though maybe Curst Monks would be better, considering their background...) and, in the Monastery Past, Monks and their Monk/Cleric (Wizard?) Abbot.

[Hell_Born]

Hello? Testing testing 123 hello? I know this topic's pretty much dead, but I never gave up the idea and I'm BEGGING for assistance. If no one thinks that this domain could ever get off the ground then I'll cancel it, but I really would like it if people could give me a hand with this.

[Jack of Tears]

Honestly, while I think the storyline from Undying would fit well in a RL game, I don't feel it should be a domain.

As you and others have stated, there really is no dark lord. (though, a thought off the top of my head might be to make the family's original patriarch the villain. Perhaps he manipulated his children into opening the portal, as he could not, for whatever reason. He may have had decent intentions ... thought he could use the power they released to help his family and preserve his bloodline. In this case you would have to play up the fact that he held is family in high regard and convinced himself that the children would come to no harm. The curse manifests not directly against the lord, but instead by destroying his family as he watches and knows he is to blame. I know this is straying from the material ... but as it currently sits, I don't think a faithful adaption will work.)

Additionally, the storyline is fairly restrictive .. what will pcs do in the setting other than attempt to unwravel the single overriding mystery? No domain should be designed as a "one trick pony".

I would, instead, simply recommend writing up the family as one of Ravenloft's many damned bloodlines. You could drop them into an already established domain and see what fun might arise from their interaction with the current rulers. Remember, there are many stories, sad and dispicable, that occur in RL all the time without the added weight of a domain.