Café de Nuit

There's a fantastic Gothic PC game called "Clive Barker's Undying", which features a family living on an island off the coast of Ireland. Strange things are happening with the family, and their estate is haunted by misshapen beasts and twisted flora.

But the most dangerous of all are the family members themselves, who have stumbled onto a magical tome and misused its powers. Each member of the five siblings has some type of magical curse which gives them superhuman powers. Fortunately for the heroes, the family members are all fighting among themselves and plotting each other's extinction.

For a FPS, Undying was remarkably atmospheric. I remember terrifying moments of trekking through catacombs, expecting something horrid at every corner. In a groundbreaking move, they emphasized a few levels where you never met any enemies at all - your wits were engaged at making it through the level, staying on path, and solving a few of the problems in your way.

Does anybody else remember this game? I know it didn't sell well, but those who did get to play it will likely not forget it, and it strikes me as a perfect setting for an Island of Terror adventure or mini-campaign.

I own this game and love it!!! It totally reminded me of Ravenloft and that mansion in the beggining is very scary.

I recommend this game. Every Ravenloft fan should play it.

I've got a friend who showed it to me a few times. I think it started pretty Gothic but some of the end monsters we just a bit too "monstery" for Ravenloft, personally.

kelnage wrote:I've got a friend who showed it to me a few times. I think it started pretty Gothic but some of the end monsters we just a bit too "monstery" for Ravenloft, personally.

If you use the Nightmare Lands for the other world it all works out fine. After all, the final boss may be quite Cthulhu-esqe, but that can fit into Ravenloft (the creature of darkness that will over run the world if not held back).

I actually converted the Scythe a few years ago for one of my games.

Another good game for Ravenloft, The Clocktower.

I thought all five members of the family (plus the additional human who arrives later) were perfectly done. I agree the monster bosses were sometimes overly supernatural, but for the most part, they were brilliantly introduced.

The Undying King itself (the big thing at the end) was faintly ridiculous, but the run of the mill enemies were all great. Howlers were particularly enjoyable. Of the humans, the most fun were Lisbeth, Aaron, and Ambrose - you really got a feel for a family embued with supernatural powers, but still slaves to the passions and limitations that bound all humans.

I'm thinking of writing this as a stand-alone Island of Terror adventure.

>>I'm thinking of writing this as a stand-alone Island of Terror adventure.<<


I'd rather see a writeup of the family and their curses, without the addition of the setting itself. In this way you could drop the npcs into any setting and campaign without the need of limiting them to a one-shot adventure.

I tried to turn the game into a Domain, but nobody could help me. All I managed to accomplish is under the topic Creating a Domain. There's not really anything there, but you might find something of use.

There is a thread on the Wizards board about this. If you go to the Ravenloft thread there's one called "Undying: A Ravenloft Conversion". A few proposed stats for the Covenant family are there, as well as a couple of ideas as to how the final monstrous bosses can be incorporated into the rest of Ravenloft's plot.

Another setting I thought of, which might work well with the Ravenloft mould, is "The Wasp Factory", a novel by Iain Banks.

ALthough it's set in the modern era, it could easily be transposed to a pre-WWI or late renaissance period. The story concerns a father and son duo living on an island off the coast of Scotland, and venturing out every so often to the mainland for supplies and company. The son lives a quasi-shamanistic existence, praying to invented gods and torturing animals in a series of sacrifices. He has all the makings of a Ravenloft Dark Lord: sadism, fratricide, infanticide - as well as a dark and terrible secret about his own origins that not even he suspects.

A damn good read on its own, and an interesting setting for PCs to explore if they dare.

HuManBing wrote:The story concerns a father and son duo living on an island off the coast of Scotland, and venturing out every so often to the mainland for supplies and company. The son lives a quasi-shamanistic existence, praying to invented gods and torturing animals in a series of sacrifices.

Sounds like Yagno Petrovna's ideal asylum-roommate.