Café de Nuit

I have searched through the forum threads and seen the topic of Dread Elemental Domains/Planes come up several times. Does anyone here still like the idea? Here is what I would so with them.

First, they would be domains, but they would not be a cluster.

The Dread Elemental Domain of Grave would be located underneath the land of the Core. You may have to dig deep in order to reach it, or you may find it when just digging a shallow hole. The domain itself is a field of endless graves with tombstones, some Mausoleums scattered throughout as well, and some trees every few hundred feet or so. The "sky" of the domain is pitch black, someone looking from the domain ground who saw someone who has dug a hole into it would think it looks like there is a hole in the sky. I got the idea of the Domain being underneath the land from some forum poster in one of the old thread I looked at. Thanks whoever you are.

The Dread Elemental Domain of Blood can be found anywhere on the open sea. It moves at random and you only know you are in it when you notice the water changes to blood.

The Dread Elemental Domain of Mists is simply the Mists themselves.

The Dread Elemental Domain of Pyre...I am not sure what to do with it yet.

I always thought it would make sense that when a person steps into the mists and is enveloped by them and finds themselves lost in them for any amount of time, that they still need to be standing and walking on something solid. Something that still feels like ground if they try to pick it up. It would make sense if that something were the surface of the Elemental Domain of Grave you describe. It would make further sense if, when a boat or ship is enveloped by the mists, that the liquid that it floats across (obscured by the mists of course) would be the surface of your Elemental Domain of Blood. The mists, of course, would prevent even the smells from rising from these surfaces, but let's just say that if someone gets it into their heads to bring up a bucket of water or dig a hole, well, rather gruesome results ensue.

I've never come across this before. But those ideas give me sick, twisted thoughts for all new places to explore.

Pyre would sometime be glimpsed in the burning of witches, in firing of villages, in the intolerable heat of blast furnances, and infernal of forest fires.

All right, I have been thinking about some possibilities for Dread Elemental Domains for the Positive and Negative Energy Planes, but I am still not sure what to do with them. I like the idea of Ravenloft having its own set of Inner Planes of a sort though.

The Positive Energy Dread Elemental Domain could be filled with life that feeds on decay. So, lots of maggots and beetles.

The Negative Energy Dread Elemental Domain...I am not sure yet.

Some feedback/ideas:

POS/NEG

I don't think a plane/domain full of maggots and beetles sounds very scary, to be honest. It could be cool in another setting, but personally- I wouldn't use it in Ravenloft. It's more gross than Gothic.

The positive and negative planes are kind of boring even in the standard cosmology. Is there really any need to include 'dread' versions of these planes in Ravenloft? There are no negative or positive dread elementals anyway, are there? My advice is to leave this one out of the mix. YMMV, of course.


GRAVE-
Your take on Grave is brilliant. You should definitely use it! It's great because you have used imagery that reflects the theme, but you kept the squick factor low. You've made a place that the PCs might actually want to explore. I can see interaction with ghouls ( or some other intelligent creatures, perhaps tomb gaurdians of some type) taking place in the domain of "Grave. "

BLOOD-

A sea of blood fits the blood elementals- but I wouldn't use it myself. I find that vast amounts of blood and gore may disgust my players, but do not usually frighten them. Less is more with blood and guts. Do what works for you, of course!


I would suggest a domain that reflects themes of blood, bleeding, vascularity etc without such a high gore factor. Imagine rusty soil, stained streams, trees with dull red sap, hanging vines, swamps full of mosquitos and leeches, etc. The blood elementals could be the guardians of the place (they are too big for leeches and mosquios to destroy, although they may attract such pests). I would imagine that the blood elementals are usually hidden beneath the surface of the earth or waters, and well up when outsiders transgress some boundary or taboo.

PYRE

Dunno- but make it something more than just a region of eternal flames. I think it ought to be dangerous, but not completely hostile to normal life.


MISTS-

I think you should have an actual domain, and not just have the Mists be the realm of the Mist elementals. Maybe you could have a semi-ethereal city inhabited by ghosts and their mist elemental servitors? Ghost cannot pass through the building stuff of the city; they react to the stuff as if it were solid matter. Mist elementals may flow through cracks, vents, etc with great ease , of course. The PCs will be able to move through the mist-stuff as if it were custard (slows 'em down, impairs visibility- but they can push through it and it will close up behind them).

I'd give each domain a darklord. Make these places actual domains, in other words. The darklords should not be dread elementals, although they might well be elemental type creatures like genies. I'd avoid using always or usually evil monsters like the efreet. That's predictable.

I have some notes on a pyromaniac ent (someone else's idea, I just fleshed it out). He might make an interesting darklord for Pyre.

ewancummins wrote:Some feedback/ideas:

POS/NEG

I don't think a plane/domain full of maggots and beetles sounds very scary, to be honest. It could be cool in another setting, but personally- I wouldn't use it in Ravenloft. It's more gross than Gothic.

The positive and negative planes are kind of boring even in the standard cosmology. Is there really any need to include 'dread' versions of these planes in Ravenloft? There are no negative or positive dread elementals anyway, are there? My advice is to leave this one out of the mix. YMMV, of course.

To lower the squick factor on the Positive Energy Domain, I would have all of the maggots be underneath the land, or hidden under things like maggots in real life tend to be. I imagine the land being a verdant forest with lots of rotting vegetation and animal matter that provides nutrition. The death fuels the growth. There would be lots of Deathless (Positive energy powered "undead") in this domain.

I still have nothing for the Negative Energy Domain though.

GRAVE-
Your take on Grave is brilliant. You should definitely use it! It's great because you have used imagery that reflects the theme, but you kept the squick factor low. You've made a place that the PCs might actually want to explore. I can see interaction with ghouls ( or some other intelligent creatures, perhaps tomb gaurdians of some type) taking place in the domain of "Grave. "

Thank you, although as I said in my OP, I got the idea for the domain being an endless field of graves from some poster here.

BLOOD-

A sea of blood fits the blood elementals- but I wouldn't use it myself. I find that vast amounts of blood and gore may disgust my players, but do not usually frighten them. Less is more with blood and guts. Do what works for you, of course!


I would suggest a domain that reflects themes of blood, bleeding, vascularity etc without such a high gore factor. Imagine rusty soil, stained streams, trees with dull red sap, hanging vines, swamps full of mosquitos and leeches, etc. The blood elementals could be the guardians of the place (they are too big for leeches and mosquios to destroy, although they may attract such pests). I would imagine that the blood elementals are usually hidden beneath the surface of the earth or waters, and well up when outsiders transgress some boundary or taboo.

I really like your idea, and it is more subtle than mine. The land could also have a red fog that occasionally rises up. Perhaps this red fog is a sign that the PCs have entered the domain.

PYRE

Dunno- but make it something more than just a region of eternal flames. I think it ought to be dangerous, but not completely hostile to normal life.

An idea I had for Pyre was to have it only appear when a large fire has been made. The domain would be especially likely to appear if the fire was set as a result of a crime of passion.

MISTS-

I think you should have an actual domain, and not just have the Mists be the realm of the Mist elementals. Maybe you could have a semi-ethereal city inhabited by ghosts and their mist elemental servitors? Ghost cannot pass through the building stuff of the city; they react to the stuff as if it were solid matter. Mist elementals may flow through cracks, vents, etc with great ease , of course. The PCs will be able to move through the mist-stuff as if it were custard (slows 'em down, impairs visibility- but they can push through it and it will close up behind them).

I like your idea for Mist too, perhaps those who get lost in the Mists end up here, die in some manner, be it starvation or being slain by the creatures that lurk within and become ghosts themselves.

I'd give each domain a darklord. Make these places actual domains, in other words. The darklords should not be dread elementals, although they might well be elemental type creatures like genies. I'd avoid using always or usually evil monsters like the efreet. That's predictable.

Yeah, I would make Darklords for all of the Dread Elemental Domains.

I have some notes on a pyromaniac ent (someone else's idea, I just fleshed it out). He might make an interesting darklord for Pyre.

Cool, post it if you want.

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... &hilit=ent

The original idea was Raf's- I just expanded it with a background.

Just an idea but maybe you should if you want to include the positive and negative planes as sort of demi plane domains is to mix the two together since they are opposing forces. You could even have two darklords for them and possibly a reason for the conflict. This way death fueling life as you put it could function and perhaps variate between the two. The planer traits could shift and things could get quite disturbing at times when they clash or one wins out for a time.

I will think on it some and try to come up with some more suggestions but I really like this thread!

A G Thing wrote:Just an idea but maybe you should if you want to include the positive and negative planes as sort of demi plane domains is to mix the two together since they are opposing forces. You could even have two darklords for them and possibly a reason for the conflict. This way death fueling life as you put it could function and perhaps variate between the two. The planer traits could shift and things could get quite disturbing at times when they clash or one wins out for a time.

I will think on it some and try to come up with some more suggestions but I really like this thread!

That might be cool.


You could have a Byronic anti-hero sort of necromancer (living ,mind you, not an undead creature) fighting an evil Deathless in a long, long struggle.

A G Thing wrote:Just an idea but maybe you should if you want to include the positive and negative planes as sort of demi plane domains is to mix the two together since they are opposing forces. You could even have two darklords for them and possibly a reason for the conflict. This way death fueling life as you put it could function and perhaps variate between the two. The planer traits could shift and things could get quite disturbing at times when they clash or one wins out for a time.

I will think on it some and try to come up with some more suggestions but I really like this thread!

The idea of the two being in conflict is certainly a good idea...maybe the two domains can leak into each other.

Ewan: I will read the background for the Treant and post my thoughts a little later.

Galeros wrote:

A G Thing wrote:Just an idea but maybe you should if you want to include the positive and negative planes as sort of demi plane domains is to mix the two together since they are opposing forces. You could even have two darklords for them and possibly a reason for the conflict. This way death fueling life as you put it could function and perhaps variate between the two. The planer traits could shift and things could get quite disturbing at times when they clash or one wins out for a time.

I will think on it some and try to come up with some more suggestions but I really like this thread!

The idea of the two being in conflict is certainly a good idea...maybe the two domains can leak into each other.

Ewan: I will read the background for the Treant and post my thoughts a little later.

Cool beans.

ewancummins wrote:

Galeros wrote:

A G Thing wrote:Just an idea but maybe you should if you want to include the positive and negative planes as sort of demi plane domains is to mix the two together since they are opposing forces. You could even have two darklords for them and possibly a reason for the conflict. This way death fueling life as you put it could function and perhaps variate between the two. The planer traits could shift and things could get quite disturbing at times when they clash or one wins out for a time.

I will think on it some and try to come up with some more suggestions but I really like this thread!

The idea of the two being in conflict is certainly a good idea...maybe the two domains can leak into each other.

Ewan: I will read the background for the Treant and post my thoughts a little later.

Cool beans.

All right, I read it, and I think he could make a good Darklord for the Domain of Pyre. I am still thinking up the exact visuals for Pyre though.

When all this is done I will compile it and see if I can get it up on the site (With credit going to everyone who contributes).

Galeros wrote:All right, I read it, and I think he could make a good Darklord for the Domain of Pyre. I am still thinking up the exact visuals for Pyre though.

When all this is done I will compile it and see if I can get it up on the site (With credit going to everyone who contributes).

Ah, I'm glad you like Tindertwig. He's a good start for a darklord, but he needs fleshing out.

We can submit these elemental themed domains to QtR, perhaps.


I really like AG Thing's idea of a positive /negative of /life force/entropic power struggle with two darklords in one domain.

I like Galeros' idea of abundant decay and life feasting on decay. Fungi should be included, IMO.

In designing domains and darklords, I think the Lord should generally come before than Land. That way, the land can be designed to fit the darklord's personality, crimes, curse, history, etc.

I suggest, therefore, that we work out darklords for five or six domains:

Pyre
Grave
Mists
Blood
Pos/Neg

Note that these are not actual domain names- just place holders. A good name for each will come along in time I'm sure.

Once you have your darklord and his curse, making the rest of the domain becomes easier. YMMV, but this approach works for me.

ewancummins wrote:

Galeros wrote:All right, I read it, and I think he could make a good Darklord for the Domain of Pyre. I am still thinking up the exact visuals for Pyre though.

When all this is done I will compile it and see if I can get it up on the site (With credit going to everyone who contributes).

Ah, I'm glad you like Tindertwig. He's a good start for a darklord, but he needs fleshing out.

We can submit these elemental themed domains to QtR, perhaps.


I really like AG Thing's idea of a positive /negative of /life force/entropic power struggle with two darklords in one domain.

I like Galeros' idea of abundant decay and life feasting on decay. Fungi should be included, IMO.

In designing domains and darklords, I think the Lord should generally come before than Land. That way, the land can be designed to fit the darklord's personality, crimes, curse, history, etc.

I suggest, therefore, that we work out darklords for five or six domains:

Pyre
Grave
Mists
Blood
Pos/Neg

Note that these are not actual domain names- just place holders. A good name for each will come along in time I'm sure.

Once you have your darklord and his curse, making the rest of the domain becomes easier. YMMV, but this approach works for me.

Tindertwig with some fleshing out could be the Pyre Darklord as I already said.

The Darklord for Grave could be...maybe based on Carl Von Tanzler? He was a German Immigrant to the U.S. in the 1930s who fell in love with one of his patients, but she died and he stole her body and kept it for quite a while. He may have eve tried to revive her. The Darklord could be eternally combing the endless graveyard searching for his dead love's tomb...Or is that too much a copy of Strahd? He even has the Von in his name. I think it might be but it was the first idea to come to my head.

We could keep the idea of someone looking for a loved one, but instead it is a family member and not a love interest. The Darklord's loved one was buried somewhere in the Core, but due to circumstances they do not know where. In the process of looking for their loved one so that they could try and revive them, they committed some terrible crime due to desperation and ended up becoming the Darklord of the Domain of Graves, sentenced to endless comb through the graves believing their loved one has been buried there, but in reality perhaps their loved one never got a proper burial and simply rotted.

For the Domain of Blood, maybe someone (likely a Lamordian Doctor) who believed they could save a dear friend by giving them blood transfusions, but in order to do so they lured innocent people under false pretenses of helping them with their sickness, and drained all of the blood from them in order to help his or her friend.

I will post more ideas as I come up with them.