Café de Nuit

THE BURNING PEAKS CLUSTER (CAVITUS / TOVAG)

In keeping with the uh... house cleaning mandate of the ToUD event, it's time to say goodbye to this duo of domains and let them dissolve away into the mists.

My reasons are three...

1) We already have a vampire and lich conflict between Strahd and Azalin, so this pair of darklords is derivative.
2) Vecna is way too overpowered for the campaign setting. Uber-powerful baddies just aren't as fun to play with. (Don't worry, I'll turn my attention to Gwydion eventually, as well).
3) Adventures involving Vecna and Kas feel much better suited for Greyhawnk rather than Ravenloft, and I think it was a mis-step to add them. (I suspect including them in the campaign setting was an attempt to bump up the sales of Ravenloft products by that tried and true cross promotion that TSR loved to do back in the day.)

Jeremy16 wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 5:27 pm 1) We already have a vampire and lich conflict between Strahd and Azalin, so this pair of darklords is derivative.
2) Vecna is way too overpowered for the campaign setting (don't worry, I'll get to Gwydion in time). Uber-powerful baddies just aren't as fun to play with. (Don't worry, I'll turn my attention to Gwydion eventually, as well).
3) Adventures involving Vecna and Kas feel much better suited for Greyhawnk rather than Ravenloft, and I think it was a mis-step to add them. (I suspect including them in the campaign setting was an attempt to bump up the sales of Ravenloft products by that tried and true cross promotion that TSR loved to do back in the day.)

I'm very much in favor of jettisoning The Certain Undead Gentleman Whose Name Begins with the Letter V. This does a nice job of capturing why.

Didn't Vecna, like, already canonically escape?

Hey, and regarding the dread possibility we supposedly should forget:
What if The Core dissolving into islands of terror isn't the aftermath of the ToUD, but the ToUD itself?
The 'darkness' is the isolation each domain is in. And it's, like, for 1-5 years, as an in-between stage. We could build, like, a campaign where the party travels through the mists from one domain to the next looking for a way to put the demiplane back together.
And when they do, it's going to be very different - because of the years spent in seperation, but maybe also because it was literally put together differently.

WDYT about a new sea?
Maybe one where more darklords are inside the sea rather than on a spooky ship or island, for once?
An aboleth in a rivalry with the God Brain?
A siren of some sort?
A new take on Atlantis, if you gotta have humans around?
An Ursula expy?

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 9:25 pm Didn't Vecna, like, already canonically escape?

Yes, in Die Vecna Die!, which should probably be placed in late 751 or some time in 752 to put it between the last of the other 2e modules and the start of the 3e timeline. That depends on Ravenloft Wobbly Time, since Vecna Lives! is in 581 CY on Oerth and 732 BC in Ravenloft, and Die Vecna Die! is in 591 CY on Oerth, but can't be in 742 BC because the Burning Peaks Cluster doesn't form until 750 BC. Vecna didn't just escape, he speedran getting out of Ravenloft.

The 4e Living Forgotten Realms campaign also had Tsien Chiang get sprung. Of note, she was aided in this by Karadrach, a fallen angel who had once guarded the Words of Creation. Using the Words of Creation was part of Vecna's escape plan, so it's possible that's a semi-reliable way to get out of Ravenloft (semi because being able to use them in a novel way would be beyond most characters).

The Dark wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 11:44 pm

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 9:25 pm Didn't Vecna, like, already canonically escape?

Yes, in Die Vecna Die!, which should probably be placed in late 751 or some time in 752 to put it between the last of the other 2e modules and the start of the 3e timeline. That depends on Ravenloft Wobbly Time, since Vecna Lives! is in 581 CY on Oerth and 732 BC in Ravenloft, and Die Vecna Die! is in 591 CY on Oerth, but can't be in 742 BC because the Burning Peaks Cluster doesn't form until 750 BC. Vecna didn't just escape, he speedran getting out of Ravenloft.

The 4e Living Forgotten Realms campaign also had Tsien Chiang get sprung. Of note, she was aided in this by Karadrach, a fallen angel who had once guarded the Words of Creation. Using the Words of Creation was part of Vecna's escape plan, so it's possible that's a semi-reliable way to get out of Ravenloft (semi because being able to use them in a novel way would be beyond most characters).

DM: So your bard is finally level 3. What subclass do you pick?
Me: College of Creation.
DM: Interesting. Can I ask why?
Me: I felt like it.

- four years later -
Azalin: A deal? What could possibly give me that would be worth the cost?
My level-20 bard: What if we said we can free you?
Azalin: Do you think you can - I've been trying for eons, what makes you think you can -
My level-20 bard: you see, I happen to master an ancient technique called The Words of Creatio -
DM: I'm not crying. There's just something in my eye.

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 9:56 pm WDYT about a new sea?
Maybe one where more darklords are inside the sea rather than on a spooky ship or island, for once?
An aboleth in a rivalry with the God Brain?
A siren of some sort?
A new take on Atlantis, if you gotta have humans around?
An Ursula expy?

I have it programmed for the Mistworld.

The Dark wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 11:44 pm

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 9:25 pm Didn't Vecna, like, already canonically escape?

Yes, in Die Vecna Die!, which should probably be placed in late 751 or some time in 752 to put it between the last of the other 2e modules and the start of the 3e timeline. That depends on Ravenloft Wobbly Time, since Vecna Lives! is in 581 CY on Oerth and 732 BC in Ravenloft, and Die Vecna Die! is in 591 CY on Oerth, but can't be in 742 BC because the Burning Peaks Cluster doesn't form until 750 BC. Vecna didn't just escape, he speedran getting out of Ravenloft.

The 4e Living Forgotten Realms campaign also had Tsien Chiang get sprung. Of note, she was aided in this by Karadrach, a fallen angel who had once guarded the Words of Creation. Using the Words of Creation was part of Vecna's escape plan, so it's possible that's a semi-reliable way to get out of Ravenloft (semi because being able to use them in a novel way would be beyond most characters).

Even if Vecna's been canonically released, there's a further reason for me calling out and dispatching this cluster. See my posts below for details...

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 9:56 pm WDYT about a new sea?
Maybe one where more darklords are inside the sea rather than on a spooky ship or island, for once?
An aboleth in a rivalry with the God Brain?
A siren of some sort?
A new take on Atlantis, if you gotta have humans around?
An Ursula expy?

Even though I plan on demoting a majority of the darklords within both seas of the Core, I also have big plans to shake things up when I get to around to them.

Also, if you're looking for a Ravenloftian take on Atlantis, you should check out the Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer. They have a whole domain hiding down there called the Drowning Deep!

DAGLAN (THE DUSKREACH CLUSTER, ETC.)

Oh yes, this is happening! You can accuse me of being overly nostalgic, I don't care. This is the centerpiece for my post-TOUD Ravenloft that I call the Return of the Lost (at least, that's the working title). Basically, it's just an excuse to bring back some old, neglected, or blink-and-you'll-miss-them domains. I mean, what could be more apocalyptic than the return of a bunch of bad guys you thought had already been taken out?

My own preference is to add a whole batch of these domains onto the Southern core right under Hazlan, Sithicus, and Valachan (henceforth know as the New South). First, I want to extend the southern border of the Core to provide either an overland route to the desert domains of the Amber Wastes cluster or possibly Southern Sea that would provide a sea route to the Verduous Lands cluster. I think clusters in general suffer from their remoteness from the main action in the Core, and these two just seem to fit better somewhere “down south” to me.

Second, an expansion to the original Core is long overdue. Adding more domains to the Southern Core gives Hazlan, Sithicus, and Valachan more neighbors to interact. As it stands, I don't feel like most adventuring parties have many good reasons to visit these places.

Getting back to the domain of Daglan specifically, who should be the darklord – Daglan or Radaga? My vote goes to Radaga because Ravenloft already has enough necromancers running around.

In this version of the domain, I would have the Crown of Souls return with Daglan trapped inside. Of course, his main goal would be to escape and become the darklord again, but in the meantime he uses his mental influence to thwart Radaga's plans. And obviously, Radaga's darklord curse should center around her vanity. Maybe she can be like the evil queen from Snow White, obsessed with finding and killing anyone considered more beautiful than her? Eh, it's a start, at least...

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 9:45 pm Hey, and regarding the dread possibility we supposedly should forget:
What if The Core dissolving into islands of terror isn't the aftermath of the ToUD, but the ToUD itself?
The 'darkness' is the isolation each domain is in. And it's, like, for 1-5 years, as an in-between stage. We could build, like, a campaign where the party travels through the mists from one domain to the next looking for a way to put the demiplane back together.
And when they do, it's going to be very different - because of the years spent in seperation, but maybe also because it was literally put together differently.

This is the best use of the 5e material in my opinion. A little blink before things gel back together. 780 BC to me is the connection of all these lands into a cohesive realm. Sail from Mordent to Souragne and reach it every time. No more Islands of Terror, just terrifying islands in the sea.

This plays into what Jeremy16 is suggesting also, and I get the feeling few enough of the members of this forum are also members of our Facebook group, the Ravenloft Cartographic Society, that they didn't see me posit this inevitability there last year. But it's there...

DARKON

This is a tough one because we already have several different canon iterations of this domain. There's the OG domain with Azalin in control. Then, the Necropolis phase with multiple demilords ruling over various regions, and finally we have the 5E version where the land is literally falling apart and being eaten by the mists.

Simple Substitutions – There's lots to choose from here. Lowellyn Dachine (aka Death) has got to be at the top of the list, though. If you want to go further afield maybe Styrix, the Night Hag, could fit the bill (even though she seems more interested in escaping, not ruling). More candidates include Azalin's vassaliches (Balipur or Foedus) but it seems kind of cheap to replace one lich with another, though. The same thing goes if you wanted to try and stage a return for Darculus, the fabled witch-king of the Arcane Age. Why just switch one overbearing, magical overlord with another?

What about Ebb the Shadow Dragon? Now that would be an interesting twist - having one of the Demiplane's most fantasy-oriented domain be ruled over by a traditional fantasy creature!

If I had to add my own thing, I'd introduce a Conan the Barbarian like figure who arrives on one of the coasts and works his way towards the center of the land, killing off all the evil creatures he encounters (goodbye to all those demilords from the the Requiem box set) until his final, successful confrontation with Azalin.

Basically, this swaps out an evil wizard for an evil fighter, but I think it's an elegant way to keep the fantasy trappings of the domain but switch up its dynamic. Unlike Azalin who had the domain firmly in his grip, this figure isn't very good at governing at all, so he basically has to venture forth from his citadel to quell various uprisings, essentially eternally campaigning but never truly ruling.

Evil Evolved – If ever there was a domain that deserves an epic apocalypse it's this one. And the only way I see that happening is if the fabled Gray Realm actually stages its long-awaited invasion of the world of the living. (Yes, this is sounds very similar to 5E Falkovnia, but I think this idea works better here rather than that domain.)

The only question is what this invasion from the land of the dead looks like. Actually, that's not the only question, there's also the matter of how this thing gets started. I don't want all the cities to be completely decimated, so a Requiem type of event is out of the question. The best I can come up with is a mysterious soul stone that gets unearthed and is accidentally triggere, causing gates leading into the Gray Realm to open up (possibly this is one of Azalin's more esoteric escape schemes). Perhaps one specific graveyard found within each major settlementt is activated, causing a Ghostbusters type “uh oh” moment where all the spirits of the dead pour through the gate and begin attacking.

My only caveat is that I don't want this invasion to spread to the entire domain, as that would make it boring and uninviting. (I mean, have you seen the tourism numbers for the City of the Dead in Keening?) So some sort of protective barriers or elements would have to be put in place to prevent the dead from completely taking over.

Extreme Makeover Edition – I'm at a loss here. I can't think of anything worse than what Azalin has already put this domain thru, so I'm taking a mulligan on this one. It would be too much of a waste completely throwing out all of the rich history and lore associated with it.

Well let Drakov take it over, only to discover that Darkon is too big to be governed with his iron hand approach and without magic and undead enforcer.

Mistmaster wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2026 9:42 am Well let Drakov take it over, only to discover that Darkon is too big to be governed with his iron hand approach and without magic and undead enforcer.

I'm trying to avoid swapping one darklord out for another. I want to advance the campaign setting, not just rearrange it.

Plus... Spoiler Alert: Vlad is not going to survive the ToUD in my version of things!