Café de Nuit

alhoon wrote:Certainly interesting.

About the rest:
- Can't say I liked how "An angel and a fiend may be found in a tavern arguing over fine wine"... it doesn't fit at all with my concept of Angels and fiends. The way I see it, an angel wouldn't rest with a fiend nearby and a fiend wouldn't tolerate an angel's presence. Angels IMC are perfect beings and Fiends are ... the opposite of perfect. No fallen angels or Lawful Neutral succubi.

That's more or less the same description of Sigil in the 2nd ed. products, though.

- Iuz is still around... so Vecna wasn't in Ravenloft (or is still there).

No, Vecna's long since gone from Ravenloft, and Iuz's return to Oerth was resolved in the 3e era.

- On Mystara there are "Warring empires" so Alphatia hasn't sunk to the bottom of the sea (or came out), nor Thyatis has been irrevocably trashed by the immortals who are now, nearly divine status instead of all powerful Gods.

I think you're reading too much into this particular quote.

Bluebomber4evr wrote:

- Iuz is still around... so Vecna wasn't in Ravenloft (or is still there).

No, Vecna's long since gone from Ravenloft, and Iuz's return to Oerth was resolved in the 3e era.

- On Mystara there are "Warring empires" so Alphatia hasn't sunk to the bottom of the sea (or came out), nor Thyatis has been irrevocably trashed by the immortals who are now, nearly divine status instead of all powerful Gods.

I think you're reading too much into this particular quote.

Really? What happened with Iuz?

And of course I'm trying to read too much over the first setting I ever used. Like the first love, I won't forget it. I was 14 or 15 when I realized that my struggling hero, fighting goblins and snakes in dusty, Eye-of-the-beholder-like dungeons, could one day become one of the most powerful Gods, creating and populating planes.

FWIW, I don't think this points to reboots or republications. It's just that, for once, WotC is doing the smart thing, and plugging products they are actually selling to people via DTRPG. If there's ever a return, of any setting except FR, at any point, then I expect full reboots based on the earliest publications for the respective settings. (As in, the products that were best known and most widely distributed. To give you an example, as charming as Krynn looked at the end of the "Rise of Solamnia" series, who of those that bought the old "Tales of the Lance" box really read that one?)

Realistically, I expect adventure-related promotion of old settings, similar to what Wizbro is already doing with Greyhawk and "Princes of the Apocalypse". Or, a high degree of "modularity", as Skyrock says. Now, that we will eventually see RL return for 5e is a no-brainer, I think. I6 and I10 are too widely known, still, and too widely regarded as classics. - Now, I personally would welcome, without any vitriol, that the next book they release had all the chapters named in the book's index.

Le Noir Faineant wrote: Realistically, I expect adventure-related promotion of old settings, similar to what Wizbro is already doing with Greyhawk and "Princes of the Apocalypse". Or, a high degree of "modularity", as Skyrock says. Now, that we will eventually see RL return for 5e is a no-brainer, I think. I6 and I10 are too widely known, still, and too widely regarded as classics. -

They are selling the old adventures already. With D&D next rules it's not hard to play Ravenloft and House on Gryphon hill straight from the book with a little work more than they needed back in 1986.

Well, that's true, but, and don't get that the wrong way, "so what"? - Like, if there was a correlation between product availablity and customer awareness, especially in our market sector, wouldn't we all be playing, what, Tekumel? Now, I am not going to pretend I was the big business oracle, and it's a bit idle to think about it, given that the 5e DMG is not even out yet, but I bet you an Illithid tattoo, FR won't remain the only classic setting in print for 5e. RL might only be rebooted in adventure form, given how the plains have been smooched together ever since 3e, but I cross my fingers for Greyhawk.

I'm optimistic about Dragonlance as well.

That's where I am less optimistic, at least for the immediate future: First, the Dragonlance RPG books by MWP constitute pretty much the dream run on the setting (with the notable exceptiion of Taladas), and second, the setting itself was approaching a dead end pretty fast, with - slight spoilers ahead - the last few original characters having their grand finale in "Spectre of Sorrows", and the "Rise of Solamnia" trilogy advancing the setting to a point of almost Faulknerian closure. (As in, you learn what the descendants of the descendants of the descendants of secondary and tertiary characters of old are doing, and finish the book with thoughts eerily similar to "and so they lived happily ever after".)

That said, a Dragonlance reboot, and especially one that was not meant as a cheap cash-in would have go me all Christopher Walken on you guys!

Not "Sleepy Hollow" or "Army of God" Christopher Walken, of course. More like "Weapon of Choice" Christopher Walken:

Le Noir Faineant wrote:That's where I am less optimistic, at least for the immediate future: First, the Dragonlance RPG books by MWP constitute pretty much the dream run on the setting (with the notable exceptiion of Taladas), and second, the setting itself was approaching a dead end pretty fast, with - slight spoilers ahead - the last few original characters having their grand finale in "Spectre of Sorrows", and the "Rise of Solamnia" trilogy advancing the setting to a point of almost Faulknerian closure. (As in, you learn what the descendants of the descendants of the descendants of secondary and tertiary characters of old are doing, and finish the book with thoughts eerily similar to "and so they lived happily ever after".)

That said, a Dragonlance reboot, and especially one that was not meant as a cheap cash-in would have go me all Christopher Walken on you guys!

Is that where Soth is now?

Chilling out with Christopher Walken, you mean? -_- Perhaaaaaaaaaaaaaps.

Le Noir Faineant wrote:That's where I am less optimistic, at least for the immediate future: First, the Dragonlance RPG books by MWP constitute pretty much the dream run on the setting (with the notable exceptiion of Taladas), and second, the setting itself was approaching a dead end pretty fast, with - slight spoilers ahead - the last few original characters having their grand finale in "Spectre of Sorrows", and the "Rise of Solamnia" trilogy advancing the setting to a point of almost Faulknerian closure. (As in, you learn what the descendants of the descendants of the descendants of secondary and tertiary characters of old are doing, and finish the book with thoughts eerily similar to "and so they lived happily ever after".)

That said, a Dragonlance reboot, and especially one that was not meant as a cheap cash-in would have go me all Christopher Walken on you guys!

I'm less optimistic for Dragolance for that reason too. There have been so many changes and it was a setting so focused on its characters. There are fans of each time period, and each period is so different, releasing a book for everyone would be hard.

tarlyn wrote:Is that where Soth is now?

Dead.

Guys! Rise of Tiamat! Dragons!
That's free advertising of Dragonlance right there.

...If you know what you're seeing. If you started playing D&D, what, ten years ago, chances are, you don't.

Someone in Italy who just got the DMG had this to say (courtesy of ENWorld):

Fear/horror: Ravenloft is mentioned. The Domains of Dread are demiplanes, typically reached by the Shadowfell. Fear: make a wisdom save or be frightened for 1 minute. Horror saves are based on Charisma. On a failed save a character can become mad with short term insanity, long term and indefinite. Each type has a table that you can roll on.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/#ixzz3Ji1VLYQe

Traps: A little too much work...
I prefer the simplicity of rolling to disable without having in mind how the trap works to assign difficulties and think of ways to bypass/disarm the trap.

Anyway, I found extremely devious to hide the trapped flagstone under a carpet to make detection even harder. Who would be so dishonorable as to hide a trap's flagstone under the carpet? Completely unchivalrous. Should be against the laws of warfare/dungeon building.
"Guards, avoid the carpet" is too easy to follow and removes nearly any risk of accidental triggering while your intuitive intruder would have a really hard time spotting that the carpet is just so slightly uneven towards the center (I.e. disadvantage on an already difficult roll) since carpets especially fluffy ones do that.