Creating Ravenloft-Like Products

[Ultramyth]

As a writer, some of my work has certainly been influenced by Ravenloft. My first book was about better roleplaying, and the second on vampires from myth and folklore. Both, I must say, I was inspired to write due to my experiences game mastering Ravenloft.

My next is about bringing a renaissance to a fantasy world (though it will be far more detailed than those domains found in Ravenloft).

I was thinking today, in between writing sessions, about ravenloft's system of corruption and how it could be built upon. I developed a system that while not identical to Ravenlofts, is certainly compatible with it, and offers a number of ideas regarding personal corruption and the seduction to evil (the inspiration also came from excessive amounts of time playing through Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords).

My question is this:

Would you as ravenloft fans and d20 horror consumers be offended to see more 'ravenloftesque' products useful to your campaign out there, or is it something you welcome?

I'm talking about products that compliment the setting, building on its themes or giving you the tools to further enhance your campaigns with fine details.

Would you find these unofficial accessories benneficial, or would you just see them as a rip off?

I had a hard time deciding on whether nor not to include salient powers and age categories in The Immortal: Vampires because I was concerned Ravenloft players would be offended by their inclusion (I can see how someone might cough 'ripoff') in the book, but decided to keep them in because Dragons have age categories in the RSRD and deities have divine salient abilities which are in essence salient powers.

My work isn't about selling books (I suck at selling myself anyway), I'm writing more for myself than anyone else, but I care about what people think and like to think that they get all they can out of my writing.

Please let me know what you think.

[Le Noir Faineant]

That always depends on the product, of course.

For example, I frequently use books from the Penumbra line from Atlas Games in my current campaigns. Now, while they aren't specifically linked to any setting, they fit very well into my creations.

In any case, one has to recognize that the official RL products cover nearly every aspect of playing until now; or at least every COMMON aspect...
If I was to buy a 3rd party book, then it would not be *just because it bears my logo, like with RL or GH*, but because it offered me something really special.

Now, ask yourself, can you really offer the game community something it doesn't already have?




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Praise me, for I ascended to EVIL GENIUS right now!


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[Ultramyth]

Well, that's what I pride myself on doing.

My first book was entirely focused on roleplaying, teaching players what roleplaying is really about, and how to better roleplay in their game, and on teaching the DM how to encourage it.

My second, while definately not the first to cover vampires, was the first (to my knowledge) not only to offer vampire types actually derived from mythology and folklore, as well as popular fiction, but also to provide rules for creating your own vampires (because I know everyone's got their own opinion about what a vampire should be).

I'm only interested in creating material that is, if not completely original, innovative, and covering aspects of the covered material in new and interesting ways.

[Charney]

As a Ravenloft player, I wouldn't be offended because I wouldn't buy the books. Being a student, I now only buy RL products.

It might help the genre anyway cause players who have those RL inspired books might then want to play in RL.

[Joël of the FoS]

Me, I'd probably get them if there is a good part of it that I can use in RL / or is interesting to read for a RL DM.

Keep in mind that RL is a small market, so labelling it "Ravenloft" might narrow your market.

Joël

[Ultramyth]

I'm not really concerned about making money as such. It's really only a hobby anyway for the moment. I wouldn't market an entire book specifically to a ravenloft playing audience, but rather, make it broad and compatible with everyone's campaign. Hopefully if it would be really well executed, inspire people to roleplay better and explore d20 horror as a genre, hopefully luring people towards Ravenloft.

[tec-goblin]

I like Ravenloft-esque products and I wouldn't be offended in any way. That's why I am looking forward to Heroes of Horror.
That doesn't mean that I would buy anything RV-esque, though - a book on dark fey would probably interest me though .

After all, I've participated in a Ravenloft-esque netbook (Sea of Knowledge Issue 1, featuring Horror themes about the 7thSea/SBA game)