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Author Topic: Ravenloft: Realm of Terror (Boxed Set)  (Read 1648 times)

Bedrockbrendan

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Ravenloft: Realm of Terror (Boxed Set)
« on: October 22, 2011, 08:23:49 PM »
The Realm of Terror boxed set was released in 1990 and was an effort to create a gothic horror setting for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (2nd edition). It drew inspiration and core concepts from  the 1983 module Ravenloft and its 1986 sequel Ravenloft II: House on Gryphon Hill. Many regard Realm of Terror (sometimes called the Black Boxed Set) as a classic others consider it an incomplete effort.

A true boxed set, Realm of Terror comes with 4 full color maps, 24 cardstock sheets (with images of people or places on the front and more details on the back), a plastic overlay with hexes for overland movement and one 144 page rule book. The cover is illustrated by Clyde Caldwell (and is very typical of his style--I am pretty sure he modeled the maiden on the cover after Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) while the interior illustrations are excellent black and whites done by Stephen Fabian.

For me, Realm of Terror was the first real AD&D product I purchased with the intent of running as a gamemaster. While I already owned a few other settings, I was only familiar with them as a player. Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance interested me but never inspired my imagination the way Ravenloft did. If I remember correctly I bought the black box immediately after reading The Knight of the Black Rose, which I devoured in a day or so. So for me there is a lot of nostalgia with this one.  

When I first read the Realm of Terror boxed set in 1991, I sat down in a chair and barely moved until I had finished. It filled me with an immediate need to read all the classic gothic stories I had heard of but never read (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc) but also seek out the works of a guy named Lovecraft (who I hadn't heard of before but the text mentioned a number of times). Now I have just finished re-reading the entire thing and can see why it was so attractive to me as a 14-year old. At the same time some elements of it are clearly lacking.

The book has 16 chapters and a monster appendix. Just going to zip through these quickly so the review doesn't end up being ten pages. Chapter I: From Gothic Roots is a basic overview of the gothic literary genre. Chapter II: The Demiplane of Dread provides the basic conceits of the setting without going into too much detail. Chapter III: Reshaping Characters explains how character classes/races are altered by Ravenloft (diminished turning, demihumans are shunned, etc) and provides a new mechanic that rewards/punishes evil called the Powers Check. Chapter IV: Fear and Horror Checks covers new mechanics for dealing with terror in the setting. Chapter V: Werebeasts and Vampires offers a new approach to handling these creatures as well as some major changes in how they operate. Chapter VI addresses curses, Chapter VII is devoted to the Vistani and Chapter VIII explains how to utilize fortune telling. Chapters IX and X cover altered spells and magic items (also include new magic items). Chapter XI: Lands of the Core describes all the Domains of the Core while Chapter XII details the Islands of Terror. Chapter XIII is a pretty beefy section full of NPCs (not just domain lords, but also villains and heroes). Chapter XIV: Bloodlines shows the genealogy of major lords (with some intentional gaps and implied relationships). Chapter XV: Techniques of Terror is a very solid explanation of bringing horror and fear to the game table. Chapter XVI has some good adventure ideas and is followed by seven new monsters.

With that out of the way I would like to address the portions I didn't like (often a surprise as I remembered this being a better product than it really is).

The Chapter on the gothic tradition fails to really provide much of an overview of the literature involved. It mentions a few in passing, but it really needs a history of gothic horror stories in there somewhere. There is a reading list, and it is a start, but entirely inadequate and lacking any real explanations of the entries. I just wanted more from this section.

Realm of Terror is very much a product of its time. Sometimes it confuses the gothic tradition it is trying to emulate with the game it is written for. Basically it occasionally provides advice or examples that are more suited to a writer work shop than an RPG rule book. I don't want to overstate this, as it does concede RPGs are different from horror stories in very significant ways...it's just that it seems to ignore this sometimes.

Another problem, which is really a feature of most Ravenloft products during TSR, is the domains could have used more information. I am all for keeping things simple and concise, but simple and concise shouldn't be throw-away text. Some of the domain entries (which are basically cut and pasted into the next several rule books) lack meaningful information for the GM.

Finally, while I will be praising the writing in a moment, it also deserves some criticism. It is a little over the top at times. The writers could tone things down a notch. The book almost has the opposite problem of Domains of Dread (which I found too straight forward and dry).

Now the stuff I liked. First off, to me the rule book is leagues better than Domains of Dread. Primarily because the writing is more evocative and because it focuses on gothic rather than attempting to infuse the setting with high fantasy and romance. It also has a lot more useful information than DoD in a number of areas: a complete chapter on the vistani, new magic items, a thorough chapter on creating horror in an RPG and it actually includes some monsters.

I really like the original method for powers checks in this book better than the one offered in either Domains of Dread or the Red Boxed Set. This is odd because I thought I would have preferred the newer approach. However, after giving this one some thought, the simplicity of having 6 stages instead of 13 really makes things easier to wrap your head around as a GM. Also not assigning a % for every conceivable offense frees you up to wing it on the fly (when you are dealing with a mere 1-10% range you really don't need percentages set in stone). And I think the simplicity of the Horror/Fear checks also works better. I also like that they didn't get into madness. Cthulu does madness very well, Ravenloft not so much.

Chapter V: Werebeasts and Vampires is excellent for one simple reason: it is all about reworking monsters to make them more interesting and deadly. They add age categories and unique powers/vulnerabilities for vampires. Lycanthropy is dealt with in more detail as well (also made more contagious and harder to eliminate). I do think they could have devoted this chapter to monsters in general rather than just covering the two creatures.

The chapter on the Vistani is very good. I really noticed the lack of solid material on them in Domains of Dread and was happy to see I hadn't misremembered how the Realm of Terror handled them. They get an entire chapter that goes over powers, culture, etc. There is more than enough here to explain what the Vistani are and how they fit into the setting.

The Techniques of Terror chapter is perhaps the best in the book (and much better in my opinion than the small section DoD devoted to it). It really covers effective techniques for setting the mood. Now some of them are overated by the writers in my opinion. I have run Ravenloft for years and am of the opinion that it placed far too much emphasis on narrating the game as if you were reading from a novel (something touched on in Realm of Terror and expanded upon in later products). But that aside, most of the other advice in this chapter is spot-on and inspiring. The adventure ideas in the following chapter are also pretty darn good (if a little lean).

One of the things that really sets the Black Boxed Set apart is the inclusion of stock cards. These are a nice touch and they even better than I recalled. A couple are just Caldwell illustrations with game information on the back (including town guard stats), but the rest are either NPC or location cards. This is important, because the way the cards are done are meant to emphasize the non-dungeon crawl approach of Ravenloft (something the book takes pains to explain). The locations are usually domain lord castles or estates. On one side there is an illustration of the structure (which you can show your players to set the mood) and on the other is the same image in black and white but with text explaining what each section of the building contains. They are not maps but simple diagrams. These are not locations to explore like dungeons but places characters may visit as guests or prisoners (or both). The NPC cards are also domain lord related and work much the same way, providing details about domains lords and their immediate family or friends.

Finally I like the look of Realm of Terror (and I realize some people have a very different opinion). The heavy borders, the bold text, Fabian's black and whites, they all pull you into the setting. Overtime I feel this ingredient slowly slipped from the line (and was most notable with the departure of Fabian).

For the most part I was pleasantly surprised. At the same time I think nostalgia influenced my memory of Realm of Terror a bit, but the nostalgia had some justification. Certainly if it wasn't for this product I never would have read Shelley, Stoker, or Lovecraft (or at least I would have encountered them much later and maybe with less enthusiasm). More important this is what got me going as a GM and has held me in pretty good stead since.