The Reviews for the Review Section thread

[Manofevil]

2. Yango wins.

Uh, Nitpick hear guys but wasn't it Yagno Yango sounds like some funky new dance.

[Willowhugger]

True and fixed.

[Willowhugger]

Bleak House

Summary: The PCs are taken prisoner by Cerebral Vampires on a ship to Domina and become patients of the insane Doctor Dark Lord of said realm. There, they find Doctor Ruldolf Van Ritchen whose gone quite insane. Leading him back to civilization, they uncover a far reaching plot involving a ressurected Baron Metus and a insane Vistani Ghost that culminates at Rudolf Van Ritchen's childhood home.

Bleak House, the Death of Rudolph Van Ritchen, almost reads better than it's played. It's the second best adventure in the Ravenloft line and one that I've used on several occasions. It even gets around the problem of "What do I do about a NPC whose a dynamic leader and hero?" by driving poor Doctor Van Ritchen insane. Honestly, because he'd been a hero for most of my games, it was rather tragic honestly for the PCs to find him in the state they did (I hid the name of the module as well as the material before the adventure).

I will confess that I didn't particularly care for the death of Rudolf in this particular scenario for the terms of necessity. Rudolf's "retirement" had always rung false for me, even in the Guidebook to the Vistani and I believed that he would always continue the fight until the bitter end. The time of Unparralleled Darkness was also one that was extremely annoying for me because it was too incredibly far off to likely ever be detailed with the way gamelines were. I would have preferred Gennifer and Laurie to take the mantle more directly.

Part 1: The Island of Dominia gets a good writeup and I will tell you this piece is the best of the one's I've run because not only is the horror done by alien weirdness but it's also done in a Gothic manner. I've used this asylum on Eberron, Cthulhu Earth, and several other locations. There's just something wonderful about a Doctor who doesn't make you sane but makes you more crazy. I think, though, that it would have been better to mention that the Doctor was a scientiffic genius (twisted as he might be) than just saying all of it was a gift of the Dark Powers.

Part 2: A fairly straight forward Vampire Hunt. Baron Metus is a character that's fascinating in many respects because he's basically "only" a mature vampire but his scheme with the psionic poles, the abudance power of his lair, and even something like Time Stop make him a lot more powerful than the players expect. It was nice to see that Doctor Van Ritchen's 'first kill' wasn't some all powerful demigod like Strahd figure though but a fairly typical vampire honestly. There were some complaints about amputation giving awesome psionic abilities but I did the "hand wave" answer of saying that Doctor D built a machine to enhance his powers (he was clearly capable of such)

Part 3: Bleak House itself was an adventure that is the most Gothic ever done in Ravenloft with the whole "High Spirits" aspect of repeating the actions on the day that they died being done exceptionally well plus the gradual decay of the environment around the Pcs. It was suitably iconic that Doctor Van Ritchen, if he had to die, died slaying a Darklord of Ravenloft (abet one of an island of terror).

Some general complaints. Claudia and the Dwarf (whom I sadly have since forgotten the name of) were both characters who made a number of appearences of in Van Ritchen's texts so that their backgrounds don't fit. Claudia, in fact was a recurring NPC that the players developed an overwhelming hatred for the vampiress Merilee for thanks to her murdering her (she was also a love interest). Claudia's causal dismissal is something that I didn't much care for and I had her in the role of the "good ghost."

If I had one complaint against the module, it would probably be that Madame Darklord is not particularly tragic at all and unsuited as a Darklord. She pretty much reinforces the stereotype that Vistani ARE lying, murderous, scum.

Nevertheless, it's not enough to lower the game's score and 5 out of 5 blood drops.

[Willowhugger]

Children of the Night Vampires

Summary: 13 Vampire NPCs and mini adventures that are given for DM's use in the land of mists.

Children of the Night: Vampires is a work that I am honestly almost as fond of as the Monstrous Manual II of Ravenloft, since both make the assumption that DM's are more interested in unique monsters than flat out canon fodder that don't have anything resembling a tragic backstory or horror elements beyond the fact that they are evil. The mini adventures of the books were interesting and usable, if rarely up to module speed and better used in the midst of 'larger' adventures. Nevertheless, the NPCs were quite invaluable.

Jander Sunstar being Chaotic Neutral and still alive was a good decision by the developers, no matter how many people complain about the character's suicide being interrupted. While I don't particularly care for the Time Travel (it didn't work in 'Champions of the Mist' either), the Mists preventing Jander from killing himself was a joke that is pure Dark Powers sadism. Ravenloft is like the Hotel California, you can check out but you can never leave. It was the first real confirmation of nonevil vampire options too.

The module had a few stinkers honestly with Mulger D'Ajust being...yes...a Dwarven vampire and Ezra being a vampire thief (*yawn*). Lyssa Von Zharovich's adventure unfortunately stunk since it more or less made her completely unusable as a villainess (I can't explain why without giving away the included adventure really). Furthermore, it did nothing to expand on her background or make her any less tragic. In my campaigns, I have Lyssa Von Zharovich as the creation of Strahd and the Baroness of Blood to his Dracula. Marla the Pendagallan is also another example of a character without too much zing. In fact, didn't I read about her destruction in the Ecology of the Pendagallan where she was destroyed by Rebecca Cryptgarden (I know because that was my favorite Dragon fiction of all time)?

I'm softer on some of the vampires because Heather Shadowbrook may be a WEIRD vampiress but with alittle tweaking, she could be a powerful recurring nemesis in Tepest and the same goes for Jack Bequick (whose bizarity can be terrifying if the DM knows how to play him). Myxitizajal is actually one of my favorite villains because the adventure is actually wonderful once you get past the oddity of a vampire ixitxachitl. A town gives sacrifices to a local "sea god" who murders them and then forgets the person ever existed. I added takes that this is the third town that has been completely depopulated and had the players told by the 'Sea Demon' that there were thousands of his kind as they killed him. It was quite freakish and made the ixitxachito's actually monsters to be feared. Alexi I used as a party 'sidekick' oddly enough as the vampire accidentally created a huge band of bandits by not knowing how to prevent their ressurection and other unintentional 'whacky' deeds. Becks pretty one note but oddly would make a better darklord than the current Captain.

Moosha, Don Pablo, and Lady Adeline are all perfect though and I'm glad for their inclusion. All of them are tragic in their own way and while Adeline is irredeemable scum, she remains the best henchwoman for any Dark Lord (or henchman for that matter).

4 blood drops out of 5.

[Willowhugger]

Well I don't think I'm qualified to review Carnival so I'll call it on my reviews unless anyone has any review for other ones. I never could figure out what to DO with Carnival honestly so while I've read it, I never got to use it. My players just...shyed away from a Freak Show based concept sadly.

[Willowhugger]

House on Gryphon Hill

Summary: The Pcs are hypnotized by a Mesmerist and find themselves in Ravenloft's distant past where the Alchemist Strahd is struggling against the Creature Strahd while Azalin the Lich watches on. The Weathermay family is caught in the middle.

The House on Gryphon Hill really needed an update to celebrate it's anniversary since the game really is more responsible for Ravenloft's development than the classic module in many ways. The problem is that the adventure doesn't really make any sense sadly yet is absolutely ooozing with Ravenloft history truly. It also probably is what's responsible for an unfortunate trend that haunts RL in the fact that you can just do whatever the hell you like and brush it off with plot fiat.

Don't understand how it can be that bad? Let me explain the adventure...

Strahd Van Zharovich is a LG Alchemist who has created the Apparatus that he uses to cast aside the Beast from his personality while having memories and flashbacks of murdering everyone in the Castle, Tatyana, and so on and no real knowledge of who he was to begin with. This somehow is tied to Strahd himself (the Vampire) arriving, who is accompanied by a Lich and quickly enslaves a local werewolf tribe plus has a horrible collection of undead that they put underneath the House on Gryphon Hill that Strahd Alchemist just happens to be living in. The PCs enter the picture by being hypnotized and thus arriving there.

*checks the author* No, it was done by the Hickman's rather than David Lynch.

This is a seminal piece of Ravenloft history and it's a tragedy no ones bothered to figure out what the Hell is going on here. The irony is that the adventure is easily enough cleaned up if you just make some general assumptions about things that are explained away in the context of the story by removing the 'This is weird, let's inserted' and giving it a coherent narrative.

My simple changes were

1. Strahd Von Zharovich and Azalin have 'escaped' the Demiplane of Dread and found themselves on another world entirely through one of their spells. Strahd tells Azalin to "sit tight" while he visits and discovered another Tatyana while passing himself off as an Alchemist. During his time at Gryphon Hill, he found himself finding a copy of the Apparatus Manual and built himself one....hoping to cast away his vampire Curse. It's from I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin but adds a wonderful twist.

The PCs are dealing with the REAL Strahd the entire time.

2. The Creature Strahd is an oddly simple Crimson Death Mist that also possesses the ability to possess people. This is CLASSIC Strahd except he's completely without his usual nobility and basically possesses people left and right while ranting I, Strahd and Tome of Strahd moments that PCs should recognize instantly. The story will end with it repossessing Alchemist Strahd and the two struggling for control.

3. The PCs just arrive in old Mordent, no fever dream, no craziness like that.

4. Azalin is the person responsible for the transposession of individuals as largely he's found his own copy of the Apparatus Manual and is largely disgusted with Strahd letting himself be distracted from his goal but is interested in seeing whether the Undead can be transplanted into the minds of the living (it's a potential cure for Irek). As part of his activities, he'll take the Alchemist's bride rather than the creature. He also has enslaved the Timothys. He may switch bodies himself to fool the PCs if he's faced them before.

The great irony is Azalin is completely uniterested in what's going on and largely just amusing himself until he feels he just have to causally drag Strahd back if he has to (which he could easily do but he's being needlessly complex because well...he's Azalin)

5, Heather House has either NO Zombies or they've tunneled under it from Gryphon Hill.

6. The final confrontation with the Creature Strahd will ironically have Tatyana (Weathermay's daughter) possessed and Good Strahd forced to draw it into himself. The PCs' actions from there will effect things or the Mists will just sweep them up.

7. Little George Weathermay will be there and inspired by the PCs (I know it's impossible timeline wise!)

Almost the entire adventure is there but its coherent narrative is fixed.

The normal adventure I give 1 drop out of 5 while I ran the above for 5 out of 5.

[Steve Miller]

Marla from "CotN: Vampires" was in a Dragon Magazine article? Cool. She was one of my favorites in CotN. (Three-way with her, Moosha, and Don Pablo.)

[Willowhugger]

Marla from "CotN: Vampires" was in a Dragon Magazine article? Cool. She was one of my favorites in CotN. (Three-way with her, Moosha, and Don Pablo.)

Well either that or it was parallel writing where a Pendagalan named Marla whose massacred a religious order and living in a monastary is the subject of an article.

I thought it was intentional.

[Jennifer]

Hi willowhugger,
I really enjoyed your reviews here. Nice of you to take the time to do them.

[Steve Miller]

Marla from "CotN: Vampires" was in a Dragon Magazine article? Cool. She was one of my favorites in CotN. (Three-way with her, Moosha, and Don Pablo.)

Well either that or it was parallel writing where a Pendagalan named Marla whose massacred a religious order and living in a monastary is the subject of an article.

I thought it was intentional.

Sounds too similar to be a coincidence, I agree!

[Willowhugger]

Thanks! I live for encouragement Jennifer.

Yeah, I only wish I could tell you which Halloween issue it was. I believe it was the one with the vampire and two skeletons on a leash.

Though I've started this thread to review stuff that wasn't reviewed on the site, I'll do these this one before doing novels.

Van Ritchen's Aresenal

Summary: The Weathermay Sisters detail various NPCs, equipment, and methods of hunting monsters.

Van Ritchen's Arsenal is a work that starts once more the story of a Herbolist shop in Mordentshire that is devoted to the destruction of the undead. Basically, it follows Jennifer and Laurie's quest to contact their "uncle's" contacts to take over the family business of fighting the undead.

I recall a certain Kargatane who shall remain nameless (his initials are JM) strongly endorsed the Twins role as the heirs of Doctor Van Ritchen. They're certainly bubbly and lovable but I'm really sure after multiple readings that they're systemic of the "New Ravenloft"'s problem with Mood.

Aside from the possibility that one is a werewolf, that never affects their lives in any meaningful way, the twins have no tragedy about them or misery that is born from the setting. They react to the idea of hunting monsters with the same chipper attitude of Nancy Drew. If one were to retitle it "Linda Danvers and Barbara Gordon: Vampire Hunters" then it would not seem terribly out of place.

Doctor Van Ritchen was a scholar who had suffered deeply for his role as a vampire hunter and you knew he got his kills with buckets of blood. The dismissal of the twins as heroines by most of their readers is actually justified though since they really haven't faced that much shadow in their lifetimes. I may be harping on an element too much but since they're the narrators, their idle gossip is infecting most of the damn pages. Alanik Ray, S (which would have been a rapidly different tomed book than Doctor van Ritchen's but more in tune with his style), or George Weathermay would have been better narrators.

The rest of the book is exceptionally well done though and the information on Alchemy left my mouth wetted for more. The whole portrayal of it finally got Alchemists to have a halfway decent reputation and its ties to Pardion helped invigorate the setting. Information on things like the Danse of the Dead, explosives, and the magic items section are all well done. We finally get some stats on some old favorites too with the Fraternity of the Darkness gaining a powerful new member (and of course, the only one to take the two kids seriously).

The meat of the book was the Templates though, the Vampire the Masquerade like sections that are a welcome addition here. Anchorite of the Mists, Avenger, Crypt Raider, Guardian Seeker, Hallowed Witch, Knight of the Shadow, well, they're all good. All splendidly done.

3.5 out of 5 blood drops with nearly 4 if not for the irritation of the Weathermay Girls, attractive as they may be.
[/b]

[Willowhugger]

Knight of the Black Rose

Summary: A novel following Lord Soth's arrival in Ravenloft to his Darklordship.

Knight of the Black Rose is one of the better Ravenloft novels of the line. However, it's one of the books that also seems to illustrate one of the weaknesses of the line. In this case, that the land is so obviously artificial that it's occasionally difficult to take the story seriously. Also, the flaw that by following a Darklord, you really don't have much to fear in the land of Mists.

The book features Lord Soth in one of his few appearences in Dragonlance or Ravenloft fiction. The character is immensely popular for the overwrought nature of his story (somewhat like Raistlin but lacking even his redeeming qualities). This book does something that the others do not though in the fact that they allow Lord Soth to finally cut loose and slaughter everything around him so that it's no longer IMPLIED menace but we actually know why people are terrified of him. Knight of the Black Rose is like most books of D&D in that it reads like a module in many places with a great deal of hack'n'slash. However, unlike most novels, the violence is well described and actually rousing to read. Lord Soth is an engaging figure in his stomping of the Demiplane and it has some of the thrill of a comic book where Superman is fighting Doomsday.

The rest of the work has some good inspirations for underdeveloped characters. Strahd is at his 'I am not a noble soul but a psychotic looney who pretends to be noble' best, we recieve some of the little work that describes Gundarak, we recieve some characterization on the Vampire Lord, and the character of Magda is one of the few amusing sidekick characters. James Lowder knows about making entertaining characters and that's something that a lot of writers could learn.

It's a great extension of the Third Book of the Test of the Twins and I endorse it.

3.5 out of 5.

Also for those who wonder about its cannonicity. For Dragonlance, no. For Ravenloft, yes.

[Steve Miller]

These are some excellent reviews you've been posting, Willowhugger.

[Brandi]

(Three-way with her, Moosha, and Don Pablo.)

I had to read that twice before realizing you weren't proposing to write some kind of horrible fanfic story.

[Willowhugger]

Glad you think so Steve.

It's good to revisit my collection too.