Café de Nuit

... I may never truly be sure in whom to place my Trust and Distrust. My search for steadfast allies had taken me through lands where anyone could be a wolf in the fold, or a rat behind the walls. I had encountered dozens of people who were not what they seemed, and had heard the tale of malicious creature that lurked among its hosts own organs. But I can no longer second guess my few allies, lest I go hopelessly mad. I will need all the help I can get, regardless of their motives, because it's time to get back to the basics... To hunt the greatest plague in the land. To set to rest those who will not leave this realm. To banish the creatures that prey on the living to unnaturally extend their horrid existences.... The Undead. For if my travels and travails have taught me anything, it is the truth that Death is not the End...

The Fraternity of Shadows is now accepting submissions for the 26th installment of Quoth the Raven, the annual Ravenloft netbook that, like the undead, refuses to die. Adapted from a suggestion by forum-dweller Epically, the theme for the 2019 issue will be Death is not the End.

The Undead have been a focal point of Ravenloft since the very beginning, and they have never left. After all, they've been killed once already, and still won't go away. Ghosts, Vampires, Zombies, Mummies... From the lowly skeleton to the mighty lich, and even the weird ones like the mohrg. They are some of the most evocative enemies and can even make for inspiring heroes. Because after all, every one of us will find ourselves dead one day, and who wants to stay that way?

As always, we are looking for anything related to Ravenloft, Masque of the Red Death, or horror in general. The theme is deliberately open ended, but still a suggestion, not a restriction. If you have something great that doesn't fit in with the theme, send it in anyway!

Ruleset doesn't matter! We accept articles using any edition of D&D rules, or even other systems. Some of the best articles don't have any rules text at all! And if you're interested in having your rules converted to another system, let us know. There are lots of volunteers eager to help.

See our submission guidelines for official rules.

Submit your articles to QTR@fraternityofshadows.com. The deadline is September 30th, 2019, but feel free to send your articles in early, especially if you're looking for feedback.

And remember, if you've killed it once, kill it again just to be safe....

Death is not the end... faux-paths to immortality which may include undeath but not necessarily are on theme?

alhoon wrote:Death is not the end... faux-paths to immortality which may include undeath but not necessarily are on theme?

Sure!

Would a Lamordian lightning-revenant count, cause I'm toying around with that idea.
Also, I know theres a formatting guide for submissions, but I just want clarification: Make it as simple as possible but follow the capitalization/spell italization guide is the key?

I was thinking about taking the material about undeath regarding Eberron (from the Eberron manuals and monster manual III, IV and V) and giving same uses in Ravenloft.

could it counts or is there some problems? (maybe copyright, I am not expert on that matter)

Can we use public domain images? if yes, what size? What about art we've bought in the DMGuild?

KingCorn wrote:Would a Lamordian lightning-revenant count, cause I'm toying around with that idea.

Sure! (remember, the theme is a suggestion to get the ideas flowing, not a limitation)

Also, I know theres a formatting guide for submissions, but I just want clarification: Make it as simple as possible but follow the capitalization/spell italization guide is the key?

The real key is consistency. If you have one NPC that's "female NG Human Rgr8" and another that's a "8th-level Male Ranger Chaotic Neutral gnome" I will silently be cursing at you as I proofread. Keep things that are similar in the same capitalization, use the same abbreviations and order of things throughout (even better if they are the official ones). Also, spellcheck and grammar check.

Starscream wrote:I was thinking about taking the material about undeath regarding Eberron (from the Eberron manuals and monster manual III, IV and V) and giving same uses in Ravenloft.

could it counts or is there some problems? (maybe copyright, I am not expert on that matter)

Sure! We, by necessity, reference copyrighted material. You can't really have a Ravenloft fanzine without using Ravenloft characters. Whether it's Ravenloft or Eberron, it's still WotC's IP, and it's just as legally gray as the rest of our stuff. We do our best not to step on their toes, and so far they leave us alone. For our purposes, as long as you're not copying text directly, you can use whatever official reference materials you have. (citing which ones both helps the reader find your source material, and drives people toward purchasing the products so probably would make WotC happy if they notice, and is also just the right thing to do)

alhoon wrote:Can we use public domain images? if yes, what size? What about art we've bought in the DMGuild?

Sure! that's what public domain is for. For size, check with Jester, but I imagine it's pretty easy for him to resize. Art you've bought in the DMGuild is probably a no-no. Just because you bought the right to download it doesn't mean you have the right to republish it, and we certainly don't. Check whatever licensing info came with the file, but I'm guessing no.

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:

Starscream wrote:I was thinking about taking the material about undeath regarding Eberron (from the Eberron manuals and monster manual III, IV and V) and giving same uses in Ravenloft.

could it counts or is there some problems? (maybe copyright, I am not expert on that matter)

Sure! We, by necessity, reference copyrighted material. You can't really have a Ravenloft fanzine without using Ravenloft characters. Whether it's Ravenloft or Eberron, it's still WotC's IP, and it's just as legally gray as the rest of our stuff. We do our best not to step on their toes, and so far they leave us alone. For our purposes, as long as you're not copying text directly, you can use whatever official reference materials you have. (citing which ones both helps the reader find your source material, and drives people toward purchasing the products so probably would make WotC happy if they notice, and is also just the right thing to do)

Thank you for the answer! I was not planning to write the stats block of the monster, spell, and so on. I would give eventually a brief description and the book name and page number where to find the complete description.
I plan to start from there and at least for monster suggesting to add or modify some monster's powers with the Ravenloft rules of undead's salient abilities.

I have only the doubt about images, but I can left them out.

I am glad to announce that my list of another 100 new darklords is almost complete and will be ready on schedule, if God wills. Most are going to be even better and more developed than the previous 100 in the former QtR, as I had more time to put thought into them
There will also be a list called "Deadly Denizens", with 50 new NPCs, which is also almost complete.
I must say I wasn't sure I would be able to create so many darklords year after year, but it turns out that when you open your mind to the Mists, they give out their secrets...

I am thinking of writing an 'Ecology of the Quevari', but given my schedule and how long these articles take to write, there is no way that I will make the deadline, or even anywhere near the deadline.

I have submitted two of my four planned articles.

And now I'm three on four.

4 on 4 my summer graphomany attack is over.

Mistmaster wrote:4 on 4 my summer graphomany attack is over.

Kudos. Will you drop us a hint about their content, some teaser perhaps?

Three of them are revised version of material I already posted on this forum;