Café de Nuit

WotC has posted a new Domain of Dread for the Shadowfell on their website for subscribers to Dragon Magazine.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdod/2009May

Graefmotte is probably the closest that we will be seeing to new Ravenloft-type material from Wizards (other than Ari's novel). It even mentions the dark powers, and the domain itself was drawn into the Shadowfell by the mists. True, it does have gnolls, but that can always be adjusted if you don't include them in your play.

I hate these. They're such a tease. Clearly part of the world of Ravenloft and clearly showing they are releasing material yet not even close to what we want.
It's like releasing an Eberron campaign setting that only features Xen'Drick or a Forgotten Realms articles only on Maztica.

Can you give us a rundown on what the Darklord's crime and curse are? I wouldn't normally ask, but without a credit card, I can't get a subscription, even though I want to, so that means I can't read these articles.

Come to think of it, could you also tell me what the Darklord's crime and curse were for the other Domain of Dread that got published in eDragon?

What's wrong with gnolls?

Graefmotte is probably the closest that we will be seeing to new Ravenloft-type material from Wizards (other than Ari's novel).

Actually there's also Sunderheart. Let's not forget Sunderheart!

Can you give us a rundown on what the Darklord's crime and curse are?

Not sure, but rumor has it that Gaefe abused some kids then he tripped and died.

Come to think of it, could you also tell me what the Darklord's crime and curse were for the other Domain of Dread that got published in eDragon?

She's basically a tiefling with a zombie stuck up in her back. Not that there's anything wrong with that in terms of darklordship, but basically they were cruel.

If Shadowfell is anything like Sunderheart then it can't be all that good

I'm really confused...that teaser paragraph describes Ravenloft exactly but calls the plane Shadowfell?


Oh, and does this have anything to do with the Keep on the Shadowfell?

In the mainstream 4E setting, the Shadowfell is a parallel plane of shadow and death, where the spirits of the dead go before their final judgment.

Among other things, Domains pop up there, ruled by cursed Darklords.

alhoon wrote:What's wrong with gnolls?

They worship a different god than humans, and whenever they try to settle in a human city, housing prices go down.

HuManBing wrote:

alhoon wrote:What's wrong with gnolls?

They worship a different god than humans, and whenever they try to settle in a human city, housing prices go down.

And when the flinds arrive, you're liable to have problems with flind-led gnoll street gangs forming virtually overnight.

The crulety isn't what got her Cursed.. she had sworn to be together eternally with her lover, then he grew depressed and bored and she got tired of him and in a gruesome trap, doped up a beautiful girl to have him lured into having his way with her, killing her, and eating her -- thus poisoning himself on the slow toxin she'd been injected with.

Thus the sin being her betrayal of their promsie to "be together with one another" and their sworn love.... and thus.. its a little high-fantasy, but it's suitably Ravenloftian in its irony.

All of Sunderheart gave me a really strong Clive Barker vibe, and such a punishment suits that motif and mood quite well, so I was actually rather pleased with Sunderheart.

Not seen the other one yet.

Nice comment, Jack. Thanks to Catman Jim, I have seen Graefmotte, and I have to say, that I think it's a lot weaker than Sunderheart is. Basically, Lord Graef had already seen two of his sons dead in other battles, so he was determined that his youngest son would not leave his lands to fight in the army of Nerath; as far as he was concerned, the gnolls were far enough away that they wouldn't trouble his lands, and even if they did, it was his son's duty to save his strength for the preservation of Graefmotte rather than dying far away.

His son saw things differently, the two quarrelled, and in the fight Geoffery Graef fell over and fatally shattered his skull, his father watching dispassionately as he died on the floor, declaring that it was better he died like this than moulder on some far-flung battlefield. Of course, the last messenger from Nerath had inadverdently led an army of gnolls to Graefmotte, who promptly attacked the hold. Lord Graef promptly abandoned his dying son to lead the counterattack, becoming as savage as his bestial opponents in the efforts to throw them back. As the gnolls were broken and fled, the ruined village was swallowed by mists and reformed in the Shadowfell.

Now, Graefmotte molders and starves in the Shadowfell. The immortal Lord Graef rules over a crumbling village of barely a few hundred souls, a land torn between gangs of gnolls, packs of cannibalistic humans, and undead risen from both species, with each "faction" feeding upon the other two.

Hell_Born wrote:Nice comment, Jack. Thanks to Catman Jim, I have seen Graefmotte, and I have to say, that I think it's a lot weaker than Sunderheart is.

Same opinion here.

Sunderheart didn't please me as it was extremely high in fantasy monsters, and low on gothic atmosphere. However, the curse was original, if a little too visible to my taste. Could quickly be reworked to fit well within Borca.

Graefmotte is much weaker. The "lord"'s current curse is near inexistant, if simply being forced to stay inside the domain.

And the reason Graefmotte was turned to a domain is somewhat weak too: a father trying to make sure his only son will avoid the draft accidentaly murders his son, and watch him dies, satisfied at last that his son won't go to the war. It's feeble:

(During the discussion where the lord tries to convince his son not to go to the war) It happened quickly. They exchanged blows. Geoffrey (the son) stumbled, fell, and struck his head on a table. Durven (the BBEG) stood over his son's twitching body, watching without remorse as his eyelids fluttered. Durven watched his son die.

The same night gnolls attack, houses prices go down, and the lord lead his soldiers agains the gnolls. He became cruel and savage against his enemies. He becomes mortally wounded and then the mists rises.

He became darklord by accident, not really by choice!

The domain description lacks interesting plots, other then "let's get out of there". The only plot in fact is the weekend-in-hell ways to get out of Graefmotte (the same as Sunderheart): the first suggested is kill the lord and escape, or bring him to repent his "sin".

The only other route is to confront Durven (the BBEG) with his sin, and force him to acknowledge his crime in murdering his son.

But was it murder by choice.

Joël

As I said, Sunderheart has a high (but, given this is mainstream D&D) acceptable level of fantasy elements, and it fits its Barkerian mold well, and the curse, like has been said, is quite visible, but also in theme for the mileu of Barker's body-horror works.

Graefmotte... well its not bad, but having read over it.... yeah, see above. It feels a touch weak. At least it openly mentions the Dark Powers....

I remain guardedly optimistic.. we may not see the setting's rules (yet; when the time comes for a 4th Edition Heroes of Horror....) but we've seen the setting's elements handled with far less dignity and respect before, and the fact that between the Shadowfell, and our poster boy Strahd's canonical existence as of Open Grave, plus some very Ravenloftian elements of the default setting of the new Edition (heroes are exemplars -- see Domains of Dread's commentary, it was similar; civilization is isolated; the populace tends to be sheltering from threats of the frightening world outside; etc.), then add on a few real mechanical blessings (Skill Challenges; Passive awareness to keep that shock as shocking as possible without cheating the players' abiltiies, etc.) and you have a 'core' D&D that is far friendlier to our favorite setting than it has been in quite some time.

Which is one reason why I find myself so loving 4th, after being alienated heavily away from D&D by other systems during the 3rd Edition era.

Joël of the FoS wrote:The domain description lacks interesting plots, other then "let's get out of there". The only plot in fact is the weekend-in-hell ways to get out of Graefmotte (the same as Sunderheart): the first suggested is kill the lord and escape, or bring him to repent his "sin".

That's 4e Ravenloft. 100% Weekend in Hell like the game's new 100% dungeon crawl adventures and board game feel.