Baduin9 wrote:1. Time, Distance, and secrets: My solution is simple. Never say outright what the distances between towns are, how many people dwell in town etc. That is more realistic, in any case - when you go to some town, do you SEE how many people live there? You can see that a town is small, or big, that it is surrounded by wall with wilderness outside, or has widespread suburbs etc. Descriptive sizes, as in DMG - thorp, hamlet to metropolis are okay, but there is no need to use numbers with them. Large City can have 20 thousand dwellers, but also 5 thousands or 100 thousands - there is no need to specify it. Don't say how many soldiers is in the army - it is a secret, anyway.
Similarly with the history - as few dates as possible, and no distinguishing between false and true history. You can say what people say - who needs more?
Completely agree here, if we spend our time drawing up complex production and population scenarios there'll be little time left to create NPC's, backdrops, adventures and such.
This is still a game right?
Baduin9 wrote:As for secrets: do it as the Dying Earth RPG does. They don't have GM books. Instead, every monster has three different descriptions and statblocks - and stats are often relative to average attributes of PCs. Similarly with secrets - books gives popular superstitions and contradictory divagations of scholars. GM decides which one, if any, is true.
Also, it's easy enough, with books such as VR guides where you can find additional abilities, origins and versions for monsters you could always keep your players guessing.
Baduin9 wrote:2. Domains - as for me, Darklords should be still bound to their domains, BUT domain borders shouldn't be stable. Darklords could and should battle to move domain borders. That way, they are still in prison, but can enlarge their cells - at the expanse of their neighbours. The way to do it would be two - by armed conquest, and by persuading people.
You don't need to persuade people to want to be part of your domain. If people are believing in religion popular in your domain, using your language, possess your Cultural level, follow your traditions, the border will change accordingly.
This sounds to much like planescape for my tastes. Being that domains are prisons, I dont think darklords should be able to change the size of their "cells" on their own. Now if the neighboring domain loses its darklord, a new darklord may be chosen or the domain may be divided amongst its neighbors, like gundarak did.
Baduin9 wrote:And the other way round - Darklords set the Cultural level and Magic level of their domain (at least in the center, near the borders there can be influence from the neighbouring domain), prevalent traditions and modes of behaviour of people, etc. - even weather, to an extent.
As long as the darklord doesnt set these cultural and magic levels consciously I agree; darklords are powerful and all, but at the end of the day they are cursed and being punished for their sins. The cultural and magic level should fit the darklord or their curse.
Baduin9 wrote:3. There should be no closing domain borders. Darklords certainly could make it DIFFICULT to enter or leave their domain - by changing weather, misdirecting travellers etc.
4. Darklords have usually a lair, or castle, or other centre of power - usually a Sinkhole of Evil. I would call it Demesne (or similar). As we have enlarged domains, this place could use some of the former domain abilities. Specifically, Darklord could close the borders of his demesne - but only if he is inside. To leave it, he has to open the borders.
That way, you can have politics, war, trade, etc. But, you can also close adventurers in with a Darklords in his castle, or inside the village of Barovia.
They could have both abilities as I mentioned to Wolfcook on a previous post, border closing is a storytelling device. Also, no real reason for a darklord to have his domain closed at all times, and honestly, the DM plays the darklord, if you want to prevent abuse of this on your table, just dont abuse it. I'll get back to borders further on. And you can still have politics and such as they already exist in published products, for example, the four towers.
Baduin9 wrote:5. Many of the published adventures are about killing darkords. On the other hand, according to the official "history" most of the darklords were not killed. So - are the darklors to be killed, or not?
My suggestion - I would create a lesser class of villains, in contrast to Lords they could be called Vassals. They should be bound to domain, similarly to the Lord, should possess Demesnes, and certain powers over the nearby land (although subject to Lords.) They could close their Demesnes - although in this case it is possible, although difficult, to escape despite closure, and Darklord can forced their Demesne open. They should be similar in some respect to the Darklord - mostly vampires in Barovia, wizards or undead in Darkon.
In that way you can have difficult enemies to kill without great political upheaval.
6. With several Vassals in the domain, you don't have to decide who is the darklord. In most famous domains, like Barovia, it is obvious, but in others you can present several options for the GM.
If a Darlord of the Core is slain, his domain never disappears. It is either taken over by a Vassal, or divided between neighbours.
7. It should be made clear that Darklords are immortal, and don't die of age until slain.
A whole different subject now, darklords should be played carefully by a DM, to kill or not to kill a darklord should be his decision on his table. But in order to have a continuity in "Ravenloft Reanimated" they should be kept alive if only to keep them available for the DM's who wish to use them.
As for the vassals idea, if you are trying to have a buffer between your PC's swords and your darlord, just have a villian or henchman there to be the buffer, no need to tie someone else to the darklord's land, that should be their own.
Having vassals as possible options of who could the darklord be also seem unnecessary, being how the very existence of darklords is unknown to most already and the identities of them even more so. If your player's characters learn that darklords exist, then they can start making their own guesses, how would you know that gipsy girl in Invidia is the darklord? or that famous and well loved minstrel in Kartakass? or the alter ego of some nova vassan noble(if you even know Tristan has an alter ego)? or correctly pinpoint anyone else?
Finally, regarding darklord's deaths, as with every darklord it should be according to their curse, for example Ivana's death could very well eventually be at the hands of a protégé as her mother's death was, and that doesnt even mean she can not keep being a darklord as a ghost or such.
Baduin9 wrote:8. Dwarves and Elves - if there is to be a greater prominence of demihumans, they should return to their folkloric roots. There is no need for elves and dwarves in cities, where they differ from humans only with their ears or height. Dwarves should live underground, either in mines or in mountains, and elves in their own faery realms, either hidden in forest, in invisible castles, or in the strange magical "planes" accessible by sidhe mounds, or as magical isles hidden in the sea. A good source for this are Norse legends and book of Poul Anderson - "Broken Sword" and "Three Hearts and Three Lions"."
Agree here as well, but not many changes are needed though, elves are already recluded to Sithicus and a single part of Darkon as are Dwarves to their city in Tempe Falls IIRC, cant even remember a place where you can find gnomes, while halflings are supposed to be generally accepted they are still common in Darkon only.
Baduin9 wrote:"pathetic fallacy"
I'll check that closely when I have a bit more time and comment then
Baduin9 wrote:Closing Domain Borders makes trans-domain politics nearly impossible. You can invent ways to attack a darklord - a surprise invasion, a small group of assassins - but they are only half-measures. Nothing stops a darklord afraid of an attack from closing the border and keeping it closed.
On the other hand, the ability to stop PCs - and perhaps some important NPCs - from leaving a domain plays quite important role in the creation of horror, so it should certainly remain.
There are several problems from here on, for starters, borders close to keep people in, not out. With of course the exception of Azalin and perhaps a few other's whose borders might prove a problem tryin to cross them from either side... Adam's storms come to mind.
Baduin9 wrote:The solution? Ditch closing the border, and introduce in its place an ability of a darklord to stop specific people from leaving his domain. He must know well the people in question - he cannot simply keep everybody in. "New arrivals" to Ravenloft are especially easy to be affected in that manner.
So how come "new arrivals" are well known to the darklord for him to trap them?
Baduin9 wrote:The precise way in which the character is prevented from closing the border should be specific for each darklord. Present rules about closing the border would work in the pinch. I would prefer something more subtle - like the characters getting lost in the forest and returning to the place they started from etc.
Each darklord already closes its border in its own way, some could be more subtle i agree, but some dont need changes.
Baduin9 wrote:Most importantly, the darklord cannot keep anybody out. Or, rather, he cannot hermetically close his border against arriving people, but he can defend it against invasion. That defence would be much more weaker than the current closing of the border, and would usually be represented by extremely bad luck plaguing invaders (bad weather, lightining strikes, plague etc). The story of Falkovnian invasion into Borca is a good example how this could be done.
They already cant, exceptions mentioned before.
Baduin9 wrote:This is, of course, the basic consequence of darklord's power over his domain. On the other hand, each invasion, especially when supported personally of the opposing darkord from his border, tends to weaken darklord's hold over his domain. The border can move, leaving some areas in the power of the invading darklord. There the invaders would benefit from "home advantage".
So, invasions would be dangerous and risky, but certainly possible.
Invasions already are possible, and darklords could try expanding their domains, but really it seems Drakov is the only one who has not noticed they wont be able to do so, and the only one who is interested in doing so. Only the dark powers should have this kind of control over the demiplane.
I'll also rename the wiki and give you all the link once it is done, what does everyone think of "Ravenloft Reanimation"?
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My version of "Ultimate Ravenloft" can be seen in my *Ravenloft Origins* game, chat logs available here at the Café de Nuit.
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