Café de Nuit

Hey everyone, I need to pick the collective brainpower of the Fraternity.

I've decided to, tentatively, begin a gazetteer project for fun. It will run somewhat similar to the Gazetteers for Mystara which I've been collecting recently, which gave me the inspiration to try. I'm aware of the Doomsday Gazetteers, but good luck finding those. I'm starting with Mordent since I'm currently running a campaign there. I intend to try and research Mordent thoroughly to put in a proper timeline and maybe make up some false history for those who like the details. I do wish to incorporate some elements of the 5E reboot (the good ones) and make a full Mordent which hopefully, be a proper 5E setting.

My question for the fraternity is this: As of the last published Ravenloft product (or whichever product it was mentioned in), what year was it in the Land of Mists? I know 5E rolled the clock back for Curse of Strahd and VRGR kept it, so just what year was it in the Barovian Calendar when the last Ravenloft product in previous editions was published?

Timeline was adding a year every year. OK, not clear.

The 3e RL developpers added a Barovian year with every real time year passing by, so the plots evolved naturally, not too quick, not too fast. (possibly it was also the case in 2e, I do not remember)

And year 755 was officially set with the release of the RL3e book, in 2001.

(Year 2022 means Barovian calendar 776, but it doesn't mean much as the developpment of Ravenloft stalled with the arrival of 4e, then 5e went completely another way.)

Last published book in the 3e era was in 2005, meaning the 3e setting evolved canon-wise until year 759 Barovian calendar.

FYI, the FoS Reports, that came after the end of the 3e era, sort of Gazetteers for the places without official 3e Gazetteers, started in 759, and are slowly evolving (but not at the rate of one / one year, more like one every tenth (Souragne, Zherisia and the Nocturnal Sea were set in 760, I guess the Sea Of Sorrows should be follwing soon after in this calendar)

Sadly, if I'm not mistaken, drivethrurpg makes available old stuff of the 2e and 3e era, but not the 3e official five books of the Gazetteers...

Okay, thank you for the information!

Joël of the FoS wrote:Sadly, if I'm not mistaken, drivethrurpg makes available old stuff of the 2e and 3e era, but not the 3e official five books of the Gazetteers...

That must be a new development...

HyperionSol wrote: I've decided to, tentatively, begin a gazetteer project for fun. It will run somewhat similar to the Gazetteers for Mystara which I've been collecting recently, which gave me the inspiration to try. I'm aware of the Doomsday Gazetteers, but good luck finding those. I'm starting with Mordent since I'm currently running a campaign there.

Gazetteer III is the one that focuses on Mordent and its neighbors, and is one fo the best int he series. I know it is hard to get a hold of, but it is worth it, imo.

That said, i'd be interested in your project. You may want to look at John W. Mangrums Unofficial Ravenloft Timelien on this site....which is honestly pretty darn official. It predates the 3rd edition stuff but is very useful for fleshing out history in a setting where that is never easy. Also, you'll find Ryan Naylor and I took a crack at history in the form of Core Formation projects, whicha re also hosted int he Mausoleum on this site. His Illustrated History of the Core, and my Core Genesis Version 4 might be what you need to jumpstart your ideas. Keep us updated on your gazetter, there is no such thing as too much personal canon!

I don't undestand why DrivethroughRPG would do this. Or the developer. There are tons of other WW-era products in there. I have the Gazeteers in dead-tree form but I have been seeing the Gazeteers up for sale for years.

Maybe because they are more world-building than a weekend in hell, plus they have rebooted everything.

The other 3e books are still there Mephisto, and those are not WotC books. WotC have nothing to do with them.

alhoon wrote: Sat Feb 05, 2022 7:36 pm The other 3e books are still there Mephisto, and those are not WotC books. WotC have nothing to do with them.

Yes I know that but since the rest of the White Wolf books are there, there has to be an explanation.
It depends on the licence agreement probably and since WotC rebooted everything maybe the agreement doesn't let White Wolf upload their Ravenloft edition without Hasbros licence.