Expedition to Deephollow Smials

[Pacal of Palenque]

Most years in October I play a group through some version of I6. The last 2 years I’ve played groups through Curse of Strahd. This year I wanted to try something a bit different.

I wanted to run Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - with a twist. I did this once many years ago (partially).

In that case I only used the zombie plague first section and not the Castle Ravenloft). In that case I made the Village of Barovia a subterranean outpost of a great dwarven hold. Without going into a ton of details here, I replaced Danovich with a Tcho-Tcho Priest from the Lovecraft Mythos - the Campaign was focused around an incursion into the world by the Twin Obscenities.

As I thought about options for modifying Expedition to Castle Ravenloft I spent some time brainstorming using Azalin as the antagonist - changing the Ireena bits to be centered around Azalin’s curse and his son Irik. I think the idea has some merit and I may very well do that in the future.

Today I thought about halfling vampires for some reason my mind wandered to Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. I really like this idea, here’s what I have so far:

n was the only child of the prosperous Deephollow clan. He exhibited signs of their strangeness all through his life - remaining a bachelor, wandering far from home, etc. As Ostran entered his middle years he suddenly left on an adventure. When Ostran returned He initially resumed his life - but something had changed in him. Ostran Deephollow’s vampirism is tied to his adventure away from home, I plan on working his adventuring career into the story a bit.

Deephollow Smials is now a dark place, avoided by all halflings. The darkness has also crept into the homes and towns of the nearest Farthing as well. I have not yet decided on Ostran’s goal , except that it will NOT be “Brook No Rival”. I do not plan to make a halfling version of Ireena. Ostran’s dark tale will be similar to but not identical to Strahd’s.

Warden Dannad’s (a Yondalla worshipping halfling version of Danovich) fell ill from a curse - inflicted by Ostran. Dannad tried to use the magic of the sacred hearth to purring his son. But Ostran had befouled the hearth. Dannad’s son, Alton, was turned into an abomination - wracked by flames that constantly scorch his flesh but never consume it.

Alton escaped the church and slew several villagers. They all rose as pyre zombies as well, burning inwardly with a corrupted version of Yondalla’s hearth magic.

Deephollow Smials will be large but not nearly as large as Castle Ravenloft. I’m alright with this as it will allow me to trim any sections out that I don’t like or that are too difficult to modify to the different story.

I have intentionally included strong parallels to Bilbo’s story in the background that I have so far. I think it will help the group quickly digest parts of the backstory and I personally think it’s kinda cool. I definitely plan on omitting some parts of the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft altogether (have not decided for sure on any of it though) and obviously plan to rewrite large sections of the adventure.

Given that I’m very early in the process, I would love to hear any and all ideas that you have for a halfling-centric version of Castle Ravenloft. The PC’s don’t need to be halflings and I expect that most of them will not be.

On a personal note, I’ve been reading this forum for over a decade. A couple of months ago an awesome post on this message board helped me rewrite an ending of my version of Neither Man Nor Beast. The idea was that Markov tried to recreate his wife every few years when he grew very lonely - but he cannot control her and she rebels. I replaced Akanga with a giant boar broken one. It worked really, really well - so thank you to whoever’s great idea that was.

[The Lesser Evil]

Interesting. So it sounds like the adventuring life corrupted Ostran, perhaps in a manner similar to Bilbo had he not abdicated the Ring. Is there some fell magic item or artifact that contributed to Ostran's corruption and vampirism? Could it be his obsession with the item, rather than an obsession with a woman whose love he could never own, lead to his damnation?

What other remnants might exist of Ostran's former adventuring life? Are there any old adventuring compatriots or enemies still around? Does he have a Smeagol-like predecessor?

Another thing to think about is finding equivalencies that might fit a halfling based scenario better. If you keep the module's werewolves, perhaps you can replace them with wererats, and make their forests a warren of wererat tunnels.

[ewancummins]

It might be fun to give Ostran variant vampire powers and vulnerabilities.
Something individualized or the halfling vampire of the Ravenloft campaign setting bestiary, perhaps?



Scale. It will be amusing if human or elf PCs are simply too tall to easily and swiftly move about the halfling homes and delves, and must stoop or sometimes crawl. Penalties to combat with certain weapons and reduced movement rates may apply.

[Mischief]

Interesting. So it sounds like the adventuring life corrupted Ostran, perhaps in a manner similar to Bilbo had he not abdicated the Ring. Is there some fell magic item or artifact that contributed to Ostran's corruption and vampirism? Could it be his obsession with the item, rather than an obsession with a woman whose love he could never own, lead to his damnation?

Smeagol as a vampire darklord? That sounds interesting.

Strahd is fundamentally self-centered and blind at reflecting his real failures. I think this is best embodied by the fact he doesn't prepare the spell feather fall when an Ireena reincarnation is alive. That one spell could have saved her, but it's not useful to himself so why prepare it? Strahd does not laments over what he could have done, but that he was not chosen and that he does not possess Ireena.

I have intentionally included strong parallels to Bilbo’s story in the background that I have so far. I think it will help the group quickly digest parts of the backstory and I personally think it’s kinda cool. I definitely plan on omitting some parts of the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft altogether (have not decided for sure on any of it though) and obviously plan to rewrite large sections of the adventure.

Given that I’m very early in the process, I would love to hear any and all ideas that you have for a halfling-centric version of Castle Ravenloft. The PC’s don’t need to be halflings and I expect that most of them will not be.

So what are Ostran's drives and fears? I think the home reflects the personality.
Second, what are you looking to make your players feel? Ravenloft is like the ruins of a man's life. Squandered beauty and grandeur let fall to ruin like a self-inflicted punishment. There's a fright around every corner. It's also a somewhat overwhelming slog with a vampire poking in to hit and run.

I think Castle Ravenloft best represents "squander" and Strahd losing his humanity. There's nice stuff he doesn't want to get rid of, but the castle is overgrown, filthy, and cluttered like its abandoned - the human desire to maintain it is no longer with him so he lives in a filthy nest.

[Pacal of Palenque]

I really like a few of these ideas. Thanks for the suggestions!

Using the tight quarters and claustrophobia of the Smials against the PCs will be great! I can’t believe I didn’t think of replacing the werewolves with a clan of wererats.

I need to spend a little more time thinking about Ostran’s adventuring career and companions. I like the idea of making his obsession about a treasure that he brought back with him from abroad, in place of Ireena. A ring feels a little too... on the nose though...

I’m not sure whether I want Ostran to have returned as a vampire, been hunted down by a villainOur vampire seeking revenge, or cursed by the treasure that he returned with. I need to give this some more thought. Thanks for the ideas and suggestions so far!!

[Mischief]

I like the idea of making his obsession about a treasure that he brought back with him from abroad, in place of Ireena. A ring feels a little too... on the nose though...

A mirror is a fantasy classic - even better if you can step into it and have a fight in the mirror world.

[Pacal of Palenque]

I really like the idea of a silvered, plane mirror. A mirror also plays well with the size dynamic because what would have been easily portable for a human (or similarly sized creature) becomes slightly more cumbersome for a halfling.

I’ll have to put some thought into the mirrors effects. On one hand I like the LotR style Rings of Power that enhance the power of the wielder’s spirit type of generic effect without in game stats.

On the other hand I like the idea of the Eluvians from Dragon Age. Maybe the mirror is (or was broken). Did Ostran fix it, is he seeking a means to fix it still. In this case maybe the realm that it grants access to is more like the wraith realm from LotR than the alternate dimension of Dragon Age.

[The Lesser Evil]

I wonder if the cursed mirror would have any special interaction with a vampire darklord? Would it have some special power/pqin for him since he doesn't leave a reflection? Or is Ostran an exception to the no reflections for vampires rule?

[ewancummins]

I wonder if the cursed mirror would have any special interaction with a vampire darklord? Would it have some special power/pqin for him since he doesn't leave a reflection? Or is Ostran an exception to the no reflections for vampires rule?

Maybe the mirror stole his soul and left his soulless body behind, trapped between life and death. This would be the origin of his vampirism.

And if anybody else looks in it, he sees Ostran's soul rather than his own reflection.

[ewancummins]

I really like the idea of a silvered, plane mirror. A mirror also plays well with the size dynamic because what would have been easily portable for a human (or similarly sized creature) becomes slightly more cumbersome for a halfling.

I’ll have to put some thought into the mirrors effects. On one hand I like the LotR style Rings of Power that enhance the power of the wielder’s spirit type of generic effect without in game stats.

On the other hand I like the idea of the Eluvians from Dragon Age. Maybe the mirror is (or was broken). Did Ostran fix it, is he seeking a means to fix it still. In this case maybe the realm that it grants access to is more like the wraith realm from LotR than the alternate dimension of Dragon Age.

That wraithlike realm could be the Near Ethereal in Ravenloft.