Café de Nuit

Anyone ever tried putting their adventurers through one? And I don't just mean "charlatans putting on a scare for various nefarious reasons"-- I mean a story which in many ways could be set in any world, but happens to be in Ravenloft.

For example, in GazII S mentions the great passion for gardening and flowers among the halflings in Rivalis, and adds that Baron Windfoot and his family consider orchids "worth their weight in gold." What if it gets out of hand, leading to an orchid version of the Dutch tulipmania? Adventurers might be asked not to investigate supernatural phenomena but to guard rare flowers, or help a wealthy merchant find better flowers, or even less savory possibilities ("I hear the dung of the goblyns of Forlorn is a superior fertilizer, and I want the best for my beauties. 100 gold skulls for every pound you bring back!")...

Sure one can generate adventures for RL which require the inclusion of no monsters. No setting needs monsters in order to create interesting adventures.

One of my campaigns revolved chiefly around the exploits of a traveling carnival. The characters pulled off thefts, confidence scams, performed plays, dealt with interpersonal trials, were arrested and escaped from a prison and not for months did they run into a non-human monster.

Another adventure involved a perfectly human serial killer and efforts to uncover his identity.

Considering the nature of ravenloft, human villains should be just as common - if not more so - than inhuman threats. Humans make the most intersting "monsters", when used properly. One can look at our own world for inspiration.

Monsters are a rarity in my game - they players are currently travelling from town to town, trying to track people down, and the majority of the game has been spent talking to perfectly normal people, and finding work so they can actually pay their way. Most of it could be directly ported into an utterly non-fantastical game.

That said, on the few occasions that the party has been foolish enough to wander into the wilds of Barovia, they've suffered for it. This has mostly taken the form of wolf packs, but as they've recently leveled up they got to meet some Jack Frosts on Mt. Ghakis. They're happy to keep to the comparitive safety of the towns after that.

Bloody Morgan