Is it Ravenloft? Are there any other of the locations of the old Ravenloft setting aside from Barovia? Does the adventure take place (partly or wholly) in the Demiplane of Dread?
Right now it's just Barovia though (I need to verify) I think you may be able to use other Domains of Dread in DM's Guild material.
Ravenloft was ALWAYS meant to be about Barovia, and Barovia alone. It's the name of the Castle, nothing else.
Quote from: Christopher Brady;901292Ravenloft was ALWAYS meant to be about Barovia, and Barovia alone. It's the name of the Castle, nothing else.
I do like some of the other Domains of Dread but really I agree with you. I like Ravenloft as being just Barovia.
Van Richten's background is a straight lift from the guides to Vampires and the Vistani, and the Tarokka deck comes from Forbidden Lore. A few Barovian locations are taken in broad strokes from the 2E material as well. But while Barovia's a "domain of dread" in the Shadowfell, there's no reference (aside from van Richten's Darkonese origin) to any others, and a lot of stuff that jars with the 2E/3E material, such as a new religious system, dusk elves in (comparative) abundance, and a version of the Dark Powers and Strahd's pact with them that's radically different.
It's much more an I6 nostalgia trip, with nearly as many nods to the Rahasia module and Greyhawk as to the 2E setting. :)
Quote from: Christopher Brady;901292Ravenloft was ALWAYS meant to be about Barovia, and Barovia alone. It's the name of the Castle, nothing else.
Personally, as much as I liked the original module, I loved the complete setting for long term play. But the name Ravenloft did create a lot of confusion early on because the world itself didn't have a proper name. I remember one of the module writers had an NPC greet the players newly arrived on the demi-plane and by saying 'welcome to Ravenloft'. In later products they moved away from that, suggesting the people just called the world 'the world' or by the name of their domain.
The complete setting name is Domains of Dread. Ravenloft is actually a tiny part of it.
Quote from: Christopher Brady;901292Ravenloft was ALWAYS meant to be about Barovia, and Barovia alone. It's the name of the Castle, nothing else.
Always? The same authors wrote a sequel (Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill) which wasn't set in Barovia or involved Castle Ravenloft at all, but in a place called Mordentshire.
It's not like the idea of the Demiplane of Dread was out of nowhere, it took the premise of the sequel (that there were other places of gothic horror) and linked them together.
And as far as the naming goes, I don't see how it's more confusing than Greyhawk (which is a city and a setting as well as the castle and dungeons) or Blackmoor (ditto)
I saw an old friend tonight and he was raving about this module. My interest went from zero to sixty.
Quote from: Christopher Brady;901322The complete setting name is Domains of Dread. Ravenloft is actually a tiny part of it.
It was called the Demiplane of Dread, but the books sometimes called the setting itself Ravenloft (the Domains of Dread were the individual domains). The main continent was sometimes just called the Core. Most players and GMs just referred to the world as Ravenloft and the castle as Castle Ravenloft. Even most of the books (including the original black boxed set) say "Ravenloft" when talking about the setting. People usually know what you mean regardless of which one you use. The only problem early on was they had some sloppiness establishing what the inhabitance of the setting themselves called the world (which I think is a pretty important point). Sometimes it was Ravenloft, sometimes it was "the world". I think there was even a discussion of it eventually in the DoD book or the Red Boxed set (but I'd have to go back and review to be sure).
Quote from: JeremyR;901324And as far as the naming goes, I don't see how it's more confusing than Greyhawk (which is a city and a setting as well as the castle and dungeons) or Blackmoor (ditto)
I think it was only confusing in that the writers for some of the early supplements and modules were not clear on what the inhabitance of Ravenloft called the world. And people started to realize something about folks saying "Here in Ravenloft" just felt a bit off. Even The Demi-plane of Dread didn't quite fit there either. I can't remember when it was exactly when, but at some point, they clarified that the regular folk living there mostly just called it 'the world' or sometimes referred to it by their respective Domain name. But it wasn't confusing outside of that issue (if I said "the game is set in Ravenloft" 100% of people knew what I meant). They only got confused about what their characters should call the setting.
DM's Guild Question!!!
Can we write stuff for ALL of Ravenloft (aka access all the TSR setting stuff) or can we ONLY write for Barovia?
I'm a big Ravenloft fan and I've also heard great reviews by friends about Curse of Strahd, so its almost getting me to consider 5e.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;901357I can't remember when it was exactly when, but at some point, they clarified that the regular folk living there mostly just called it 'the world' or sometimes referred to it by their respective Domain name. But it wasn't confusing outside of that issue (if I said "the game is set in Ravenloft" 100% of people knew what I meant). They only got confused about what their characters should call the setting.
I noticed a lot of people sort of ignored that it was a working 'world' and treated each domain as a mini-plane. With a few exceptions (and when a knowing DL wanted to shut down a domain), normal people could pass from one domain to the next, and many areas were supposed to be beautiful. If crazy-hungry vampires or cannibal hippies are munching on the population every day, not only would the horror disappear but the various lands would be unpopulated in no time.
Quote from: Spinachcat;901406DM's Guild Question!!!
Can we write stuff for ALL of Ravenloft (aka access all the TSR setting stuff) or can we ONLY write for Barovia?
I'm a big Ravenloft fan and I've also heard great reviews by friends about Curse of Strahd, so its almost getting me to consider 5e.
Unless they've changed it, (and they may have!) you can only write stuff for the Realms.
There's a lot of player's options stuff drawing on 2E and 3E Ravenloft material up for sale, but I haven't seen anyone expand the setting proper past Barovia.