Café de Nuit

When I first got into DnD 2nd Ed., I liked the idea of liches. I found a book called Van Richten's Guide to the Lich and decided to get it. I then realized it was from a setting called Ravenloft, where one entire nation was ruled by a lich.

I got the Ravenloft Black Box set, and the rest is history.

Back in the early '80s I was a teenager obsessed with collecting hard-to-find and out-of-date "serious" and/or historical vampire novels such as those by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Les Daniels. I happened to come across the original I6:Ravenloft module in a bookstore and, being an on-again, off-again D&Der, snatched it up with great interest (still have it today!). I immediately fell in love with the story about Strahd and Barovia, and soon I was DMing the game for a group of friends. Hardly ever play anymore, but I can read old products, netbooks and FoS publications and immediately fall into "the story" again....

Interestingly, I am *not* a fan of horror in general. Can't stand Stephen King, Anne Rice, etc, and I loathe most horror films I've ever seen.

However.

I've loved ghost stories my entire life, and I adore the Victorian Gothic movement. (Though I confess, I still have not yet read Castle of Otranto.) Though I've read scifi and fantasy (including most of the *shudder* Dragonlance saga and a good chunk of the Forgotten Realms books) most of my life (my family owns 3000+ books...) I did not get into gaming until my early twenties. I believe I came across Ravenloft while browsing for pdf books (which were generally cheaper) at Paizo and DriveThruRPG. Read the blurbs, realized it was Gothic Horror and that it was a setting that could adapt to my love of Victorian era stuff (imagine my delight with MOTRD) and was hooked. This was about, oooh, five or six years ago.

To date, it remains the only setting I've actually run a campaign in. Turns out, despite my dislike of most horror, I'm really quite good at scaring the pants off people...

^It was similar with me, I was drawn more toward the Gothic/Romantic elements of Ravenloft after reading the novels than I was in the horror elements. I've always been a fan of the classic BnW films of Universal, but to me their not really "horrific" at all, they're usually about some kind of outcast or loner who is persecuted and eventually destroyed for being different after being labeled by society as "monstrous". I liked that Strahd was this kind of character, and I've always loved fantasy and sci fi novels and gaming, like Dragonlance etc as you mentioned, Robert E. Howard, etc. so it was a logical extension. I liked that Ravenloft was its own self-contained, intimate universe, and had some great villains and awesome history and backstory. Very different from the high/epic fantasy I had been involved with prior to.

My story is so not interesting. Is word of mouth interesting?

I've been RPing since 2003, starting with free-form PbP. Actually, the first game I was in was campy but based on gothic horror and Alice in Wonderland. I moved to RP in MMOs and that is where I met Kaitou Kage. KK runs a PbP Planescape game with both NeoTiamat and me in it. KK kept mentioning this mysterious game called EoA run by NT, and I asked him what it was. Blabla history blabla horror blabla adventure. I said, "IS IT STEAMPUNK?!" and he said "Sorta."

Right. So I was invited to join the next game because I had expressed interest. Historical gothic fantasy. That is rad.


EDIT: Hang on. Christopher Lee likes Ravenloft?! *swoons*

I don't think it was meant as Christopher Lee likes Ravenloft so much as Christopher Lee *films* had helped engender the poster's love of gothic horror, which then translated to Ravenloft?

Ken mentioned on the Christopher Lee thread that Hammer horror films made him interested in Ravenloft.

Vague male pronoun. Ah well! At least Christoper Lee is a huge NERD who begged to play SAHROOMAAAAHN.

Actually started out playing Dragonlance back in 2nd edition with my best friend up the road. Then one faeful day a ranger and a paladin road into a fog bank......

Picked up I6 years ago when on a family vacation, looking for something to read. Found it tucked away in the magazine rack of a radio-control-car hobby store. Found Gryphon Hill after. The original black box wouldn't be published for a few years yet. Played the original, but my players never could get into the spirit. More interested in loot and numbers, rather than setting and mood. Shelved it, and later bought modules and supplements for reading - such a rich setting...

I think I was about 14 or 15 when my good friend and then DM had his 1st of 3 bouts with cancer. With his game on hold another buddy let me read his 2nd Edition Van Richten's Guide to Werebeats and soon started a campaign that has lasted about 12 years now. I've loved the setting ever since.

I'm happy to say that our original DM is cancer free and runs with us as well.

Nerit wrote:

Ken mentioned on the Christopher Lee thread that Hammer horror films made him interested in Ravenloft.

Vague male pronoun. Ah well! At least Christoper Lee is a huge NERD who begged to play SAHROOMAAAAHN.

He was a good friend of Mervyn Peake as well, author of the Gormenghast books which are a good read for anyone interested in Ravenloft ( the darklord Steerpike. ).

I saw this




And though "wow what a cool looking vampire, wait this is D&D? what setting?" and then the mist took me to the realm of dread

Ah! The dread-elfin pirate Strahd! I always thought he had awesome hair, but the costume was a bit over the top.

Welcome to the forum!!

LadySoth wrote: Ah! The dread-elfin pirate Strahd! I always thought he had awesome hair, but the costume was a bit over the top.

Welcome to the forum!!

Yes i knwo it doesnt look anithing like Strahd is suposed to look like XD but i still think it has a very ravenloftian fell and it looks very good (come on it looks like an eviler Lestat with black hair and claws)

thanks for the welcoming