Café de Nuit

The whole Rakshasa thing surprised me as well, when I first read about it, but the idea appealed me for some reason, so me keep. Perhaps the appeal lies precisely in that it is unexpected, yet really fitting when you really think about it. The Rakshasa is a great yet often overlooked monster for master criminal and manipulator types. Moreso, Moriarty's right hand man Colonel Morran is known to have spent a great deal of time in India, which might explain how the invidividuals first met.

This is a very personal point of view, but to me, Masque of the Red Death is really all about explaining real-world and literature events with a creative use of D&D monsters and magic. Moriarty turning out to be a Rakshasa fits really well into this philosophy. Understandably, it didn't appeal to all.

As for the lack of human evil in Masque of the Red Death, I don't think the problem is really that serious: Delphine LaLaurie is undisputably the most cruel and sadistic villain in the entire book, while Sarah Winchester is easily the creepiest. Also note that those villains who *do* turn out to be real monsters in the Red Death universe, are characters of fiction, and, although interesting, their crimes are oftentimes far less despicable than what real people have done during our history.

Igor the Henchman wrote:... Also note that those villains who *do* turn out to be real monsters in the Red Death universe, are characters of fiction, and, although interesting, their crimes are oftentimes far less despicable than what real people have done during our history.

This is certainly true. If you ask a dozen people to name the most famous serial killer of all time, more than half of them will probably say "Jack the Ripper". And yet, to our knowledge, the Ripper only committed five (or possibly six) murders.

Not that there's anything morally right about that, but think about the serial killers of our day. Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc.--all of them outdid Jack the Ripper, committing two, three, five, even ten times the number of murders.

And these are just the people who committed murders one at a time... saying nothing of the dictator-types who starved or killed millions.

Probably part of the Jack the Ripper mystique is the fact that he openly taunted the world. Modern serial murderers only survive by their anonymity - they are as wolves in sheep's clothing. But Saucy Jack was a completly different animal - he taunted society, dared the law to stop him, and got away scot-free. He might not have racked up a high bodycount, but he did something more powerful - he attacked the sense of security that is so critical for civilization.

Perhaps its best that the Ripper never be portrayed as a vampire, or someother monster. To writeoff his murders as simple and base hunger would be to undermine the devastating effect he had on civilization.

I wasn't impressed with how the Ripper was handled in the original Masque box.

It seemed too important to the author that everything had to take place in America, not leave the Ripper in Britain. And the evil-ghost-wife-thing never sat well with me.

Nor I. It seemed like to much of a cop-out.

Red Jack had nothing to do with Jack the Ripper except for the word Jack.
A much better idea for an adventure would have been a detailed map of London and a list of characters who could either be suspects, victims, witnesses, or impediments to the investigation.

I have to echo the last two comment, Red Jack would have been an decent adventure if it had not been connected to Jack the Ripper. Had it been presented as such I might have even used it in one of my campaigns...but as it stands now, in the present form, the thought hasn't even crossed my mind. I have to much respect for the actual mystery surrounding Jack the Ripper. Such a well known historical figure deserves a better storyline in MotRD. Especially given the wealth of information available about the crimes and their victims.

Anyone doing a horror version of Jack The Ripper would do well to pay attention to the appendices to From Hell...