Break the World: A Contest

[DeepShadow of FoS]

We don't have to write out an adventure outline, but does it affect our chances if we do? I mean, if we get all inspired, will that cramp the style of the FoS who are asked to flesh it out?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Also, just as DVD was a multi-part adventure, can/should we write this as a series of events? I'm thinking something along the lines of the Grand Conjunction series, only with a little more cohesion: a series of adventures dealing with different DL's, piling up the little changes until the world finally cracks.

Is that too ambitious for this contest?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Last question, I swear: can we have multiple entries?

[Isabella]

My boyfriend and I once came up with an epic Ravenloft campaign. It involved the Dark Powers hiring the outlander PCs to "clean up" the Dread Realms' poorly written, ill conceived, and just plain stupid Darklords. The PCs would hop from domain to domain, killing the Darklord and collapsing it behind them as they escaped into the mists. The PCs would start their grand tour by staving in Baron Evensong's harpsichord. Other highlights would include:

-Killing Malus "I'm a first level commoner" in one hit.
-Duking it out in a Pirates of the Caribbean-esque three way sea battle between the werebat captain, the wereshark captain, and the ghost captain. (Don't ask how they all got into one place)
-Fighting through the dungeon of really dumb D&D monsters (http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm) to reach Easan the Mad and slap him so hard the demon comes out.
-Killing Tsien Chaing in a final epic battle because there's nothing else to do with her.

The huge collapse of lands and people into the mist would cause substantial changes to the demiplane. Obviously, the campaign was somewhat untrue to the mood of the source material (seeing as it was intended as a colossal joke) so I'd never submit it to the contest. But I thought I'd share.

[Jester of the FoS]

We don't have to write out an adventure outline, but does it affect our chances if we do? I mean, if we get all inspired, will that cramp the style of the FoS who are asked to flesh it out?

The "outline is not mandatory" if for people who just might not know how to structure an adventure or for people who have alot of really cool ideas but can't string them together.

Also, just as DVD was a multi-part adventure, can/should we write this as a series of events? I'm thinking something along the lines of the Grand Conjunction series, only with a little more cohesion: a series of adventures dealing with different DL's, piling up the little changes until the world finally cracks.

Is that too ambitious for this contest?

Time is a consideration. A couple, small Children of the Night adventures but a series of three or full adventure might be beyond us to get published in time. But most adventures do have chapters and breaking a tale up makes a big tale easier to play...

Last question, I swear: can we have multiple entries?

Sure. Just don't expect to win multiple times.

[The Giamarga]

Yay. Go Deepshadow!

What will happen to the non-winning hooks?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

My boyfriend and I once came up with an epic Ravenloft campaign. It involved the Dark Powers hiring the outlander PCs to "clean up" the Dread Realms' poorly written, ill conceived, and just plain stupid Darklords.

As silly as it may sound, this is sort of what I would expect from such an adventure. Not exactly killing off the more odious DL's, but smoothing, fleshing out, weaving together, etc. Not just change for change's sake, but genuine improvement of the setting.

I personally prefer to retcon rather than kill off DL's, as we've seen with Reckonings: Salt-Biter had a bodycount but nothing truly tragic or gothic, so I added that. Likewise Van Reise. Such are the joys of developing your own setting.

[nothri]

That was my big question: Do you intend this to serve the functions that events such as the Grand Conjunction and the kargatane adventure Death Undaunted did? E.G.- clean up and smooth out black spots on the setting? I have my own thoughts on some things in RL that could be run better. One of the big ones being the nature of the god's worshipped in the setting. One of my players recently said it best "Well....basically my choices are Ezra if I don't want to worship a deity with a clearly evil or backwards agenda whose church is more mainstream." I'd appreciate more variety in the gods....or rather, I'd appreciate more ambigious gods. The Wolf god, for instance, has potential as a sort of "god of the hunt" for wilder domains, to say nothing of what he could represent to monster hunters or those seeking to cure lycanthropy. But instead, he's depicted as a monstrously evil creature that only a deranged human or werewolf could ever want to worship. I'd like more gods along the lines of Hala, with some branches of faith that can be considered good and some that come from evil entities like Hags. It would be nice if more of the gods had a wider reach than just single domains. Wider reach and wider appeal.

[Jester of the FoS]

Well, there are four branches of Ezra with one being not-so-good.
I'm not a fan of big multi-god pantheons. Very fantasy while Ravenloft is a tad more real-world and folky/faerie tale-ish. I'm happy with the rigid lawful god (ala the Catholic church) and the less dogmatic but more splintered faith (Anglican) with some wiccan thrown in for good measure.

Ideally though, this would be a not-so-Grand Conjunction. I'd love for this to tweak things just enough that some rough edges get smoothed. But too much change might end up pushing us away from the base setting and any eventually official adaptations. It's a fine line between too minor of a change to stand out and so major as to make the world unrecognizable or lose a familiar element.

[Baduin9]

There are some changes in the D&D planes - Ethereal is replaced by Shadowfell and there is a new plane - Feywild (Faerie). Ravenloft can be set in the Astral instead of Ethereal, - this shouldn't cause any problems.

Since the Material Plane is mirrored by Feywild and Shadowfell it would be well if the Ravenloft was also accompanied by them. Shadowfell is easy - it is the present Ethereal with the addition of the Grey Realm (Darkon) and Shadow Rift. Shadow Rift should be the place when Shadowfell opens into Ravenloft.

Feywild would be useful as the explanation for the demihumans and other elements which don't exactly fit into a Gothic world. Fey, elves, dwarves, dragons, goblins etc should generally dwell in Faerie (Feywild) and only occasionally appear in Ravenloft proper.

As for the explanation of this, I think it should include Gwydion breaking free, destroying the domain boundaries and beginning to destroy Ravenloft. Dark Powers manipulate the PCs into researching and conducting a ritual to bind him again, this time finally - eg by changing him into a gigantic black mountain/statue.

[Nathan of the FoS]

As for the explanation of this, I think it should include Gwydion breaking free, destroying the domain boundaries and beginning to destroy Ravenloft. Dark Powers manipulate the PCs into researching and conducting a ritual to bind him again, this time finally - eg by changing him into a gigantic black mountain/statue.

Like in Fantasia?

[Baduin9]

I didn't watch it. I was thinking about Watchers from the Night Land.

http://www.thenightland.co.uk/nightart.html#content

Anyway, if Gwydion is to get out, he must be imprisoned in some other way - otherways it would be too boring.

[Brandi]

I'm not a fan of big multi-god pantheons. Very fantasy while Ravenloft is a tad more real-world and folky/faerie tale-ish.

"Hmph."


"Indeed."


"Silly gweilo."

[Sylaire]

For me, at least, it's not so much the number of deities in the pantheon but the way they're treated in the game setting.

I'm not too fond of FRPG-style multi-deity pantheons where each deity basically has its own church rather than being part of a single, unified religious cosmology. Take the Forgotten Realms, for example: despite the fact that everyone agrees who the gods are, worshippers of individual deities are treated as if they're from completely different cosmologies and world-views (i.e. it's as if a follower of Torm and a follower of Mystra are as different as a Christian and a Hindu).

Ultimately, I'd like to see a religious picture in Ravenloft which more accurately resembles the real-world model: where if you are a Halan, you don't believe Ezra is a deity, and so on (except for a certain group of people who might suggest that Ezra, Hala, the Wolf God, etc., are all faces of an imperfectly perceived divinity...). This is especially relevant given the widely divergent backgrounds of some of the domains: Sithicus is rooted in Krynn, Har'Akir and Sebua are Egyptian-pantheon based, Nidala has the (alleged) faith of Belenus, Forlorn has its druids, the Ezran faith (and its different "denominations") fill in for Christianity in the western and central Core, and so on.

Putting that together with the notable limits on deities poking their noses in fantasy-style, and what you get is not so much a pantheon of deities but a broad selection of different religions, some or all of which may have some access to Divine Truth (which gets especially weird where clerical magic is concerned). Honestly, I'd actually like to see fewer religions, come to think of it, but given the "piecemeal" creation of domains--especially since so many of them mirror the past existence of outlander domain lords--I'm not sure it's really possible.

[WolfKook]

For me, at least, it's not so much the number of deities in the pantheon but the way they're treated in the game setting.

...

Ultimately, I'd like to see a religious picture in Ravenloft which more accurately resembles the real-world model: where if you are a Halan, you don't believe Ezra is a deity, and so on (except for a certain group of people who might suggest that Ezra, Hala, the Wolf God, etc., are all faces of an imperfectly perceived divinity...). This is especially relevant given the widely divergent backgrounds of some of the domains: Sithicus is rooted in Krynn, Har'Akir and Sebua are Egyptian-pantheon based, Nidala has the (alleged) faith of Belenus, Forlorn has its druids, the Ezran faith (and its different "denominations") fill in for Christianity in the western and central Core, and so on.

I do like the religious scene in Ravenloft just because of its resemblance to RW religion: The ezrans are divided into four sects, the same god, different views. To them, Halans are pagans and witches. Halans, OTOH, see Ezra as a former sister of their faith, not as a goddess, while for followers of Bane, both goddessess are just concubines of the Lawgiver. No one in the Core reveres Akiri or Rajian deities, while most akiri and rajian revere the whole pantheon, instead of a single deity (With a greater adherence to a particular god, as happened in RW politheistic religions). As I said, I do like that. A lot. It's indeed much more complex and deep as religions in other D&D settings.