Adapting the "Red Death" module
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:20 am
I recently picked up the MotRD boxed set, and have been reading through it. I absolutely love the module Red Death (not to be confused with the boxed set itself, or the evil entity, or the short story, or the disease. I'm talking about the adventure set in Prospero Hall.
With Ghostsighted character and a clockmaker in my Ravenloft party, I can't resist sending them up against the Ebony clock and its ghostly minions. So I'm going to transplant it to Ravenloft. There are a couple ways I could go with this:
1) Have Prospero Hall and environs transplanted to RL by the mists direct from Gothic Earth, like Odiare was.
or
2) Rework the backstory replacing Dracula with Strahd (or Drakov) and Transylvania with Barovia (or Falkovnia).
I'm leaning to option 2, since I fear that mentioning real Earth place names will seem silly in a Ravenloft adventure. (Like the Star Trek episodes where they time travel to "the present"). And while it may shock the players, Dracula's name won't mean as much to the characters as Strahd's.
So I'm thinking of going with Strahd instead of Vlad, based mainly on Dracula's curse which is far too eloquent for Drakov, I think.
So the trouble becomes, how to explain Poe? Change his name and call him Mordentish? Have the book come through the mists? Have it come from Odiare?
Also, the manor house is BEAUTIFUL and detailed. It seems a shame to only use 7 or 8 rooms. Any ideas what's in the rest of the house? Has anyone run this adventure? How did it go? what did you add or take away? What happens to Prospero after the clock is destroyed?
With Ghostsighted character and a clockmaker in my Ravenloft party, I can't resist sending them up against the Ebony clock and its ghostly minions. So I'm going to transplant it to Ravenloft. There are a couple ways I could go with this:
1) Have Prospero Hall and environs transplanted to RL by the mists direct from Gothic Earth, like Odiare was.
or
2) Rework the backstory replacing Dracula with Strahd (or Drakov) and Transylvania with Barovia (or Falkovnia).
I'm leaning to option 2, since I fear that mentioning real Earth place names will seem silly in a Ravenloft adventure. (Like the Star Trek episodes where they time travel to "the present"). And while it may shock the players, Dracula's name won't mean as much to the characters as Strahd's.
So I'm thinking of going with Strahd instead of Vlad, based mainly on Dracula's curse which is far too eloquent for Drakov, I think.
So the trouble becomes, how to explain Poe? Change his name and call him Mordentish? Have the book come through the mists? Have it come from Odiare?
Also, the manor house is BEAUTIFUL and detailed. It seems a shame to only use 7 or 8 rooms. Any ideas what's in the rest of the house? Has anyone run this adventure? How did it go? what did you add or take away? What happens to Prospero after the clock is destroyed?